Submitted by the Lopez Island Library
The Friends of the Lopez Island Library invite the public to their 2019 annual meeting on Saturday, Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. at the Lopez Center, featuring keynote speaker Dahr Jamail, a journalist and author of the recent book “The End of Ice: Bearing Witness” and “Finding Meaning in the Path of Climate Disruption.” After nearly a decade overseas as a war reporter, the acclaimed journalist Jamail returned to America to renew his passion for mountaineering, only to find that the slopes he had once climbed have been irrevocably changed by climate disruption. In response, Jamail embarks on a journey to the geographical front lines of this crisis — from Alaska to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, via the Amazon rainforest — in order to discover the consequences to nature and to humans of the loss of ice. Accompanied by climate scientists and people whose families have fished, farmed, and lived in the areas he visits for centuries, Jamail begins to accept the fact that Earth, most likely, is in a hospice situation. Ironically, this allows him to renew his passion for the planet’s wild places, cherishing Earth in a way he has never been able to before.
Dahr Jamail’s stories have been published in Truthout, The Sunday Herald in Scotland, The Guardian, Foreign Policy in Focus, Le Monde, Le Monde Diplomatique, The Huffington Post, The Nation, The Independent and Al Jazeera, among others. Jamail is currently and has been a feature writer for Truthout.org, and his climate feature page there is titled Climate Disruption Dispatches. His writing has been translated into French, Polish, German, Dutch, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic and Turkish. On radio as well as television, Jamail has reported for Democracy Now! and Al-Jazeera, and has appeared on the BBC, NPR and numerous other stations around the globe. Jamail will be signing and selling books (cash/check only) after his presentation on Sept. 7.
Jamail’s presentation will be introduced by the Friends of the Lopez Library. The purpose of the Friends is to provide ancillary support to the Lopez Island Library facility and staff, and to promote library awareness. The Friends of the Library raises funds to pay for things that the library taxing district’s general budget does not cover. Funds raised by the Friends have been used to produce all the free library programs available to the public, and to purchase such items as computers, shelving and display cases, and the renovation of the community meeting room and basement. They also pay for work on the library grounds, including landscaping, pruning, walkway and driveway maintenance. The Friends host a very popular used book sale each year on July 4 and the Saturday after Thanksgiving. In addition to book sales, the Friends sell Lopez Library Logo gift items at the library including aprons, coffee mugs and book totes. The program will include information for how to support or get involved with the Friends of the Lopez Library.
