Silicon Valley Reads tackles environmental sustainability

Kickoff for community reading program set for Jan. 31.

The lineup for this year’s Silicon Valley Reads includes books and events that explore the creating a more environmentally sustainable future, not only in Santa Clara County but worldwide.

The theme for the 2024 community reading engagement program, which kicks off Jan. 31, is “A Greener Tomorrow Starts Today.” At the kickoff event, NBC Bay Area reporter Damian Trujillo will moderate a conversation with featured authors Heather White and Lily Brooks-Dalton, along with Favianna Rodriguez, president of Oakland’s Center for Cultural Power, and teen climate activist Alexandria Villaseñor.

Rodriguez and Villaseñor contributed essays to the book “All We Can Save,” which shares the wisdom and experiences of dozens of women actively contributing to environmental initiatives in the United States. These women are scientists, journalists, farmers, lawyers, teachers, activists and innovators who come from different backgrounds.

This book and the two other Silicon Valley Reads selections are meant to encourage meaningful conversations among readers, facilitated in part by events hosted by libraries across Santa Clara County. White’s “One Green Thing” is a guide to taking action for a more sustainable world. Through anecdotes from her upbringing in East Tennessee to her experiences parenting in Montana, environmentalist White demonstrates how people can contribute to the environmental movement.

Brooks-Dalton’s fictional work, “The Light Pirate,” is set in a small coastal town in Florida that’s preparing for a powerful hurricane. Divided into four parts—power, water, light and time—this “Good Morning America” Book Club pick delves into the challenges posed by extreme weather and rising sea levels.

Throughout February and March, Silicon Valley Reads will offer a range of free virtual and in-person public programs suitable for all ages. Programming will cover a vast range of environmental and sustainability topics that include author talks, panel discussions, educational events, demonstrations, home and garden, outdoor events, activities for students and story times, and more.

The kickoff  starts at 7 p.m. at the Visual Performing Arts Center at De Anza College in Cupertino. Doors open at 6 p.m. The free event will be livestreamed by the Commonwealth Club of Silicon Valley. Register to attend at https://www.siliconvalleyreads.org/calendar.

Attendees are encouraged to visit the Euphrat Museum of Art next to the performing arts center for “Sacred Terrain,” an exhibition focused on the beauty and healing power of the natural world that features Bay Area artists including Rodriguez. The Euphrat will be open before the program at 6 p.m., and after the program until 9 p.m.

For more information about Silicon Valley Reads, visit SiliconValleyReads.org.