At 6:00 p.m., on Wednesday, May 14, 2025, I’ll be presenting “The Future of Climate Change in the Berkshires.” The presentation takes place at Griswold Memorial Library, 12 Main Rd., Colrain, MA.

As the author of the literary climate fiction series The Steep Climes Quartet, I’ll be discussing the effect of climate change in our day-to-day lives and in our near-future lives. The book series presents deeply explored characters who are Berkshire County-based and who are experiencing climate change as the rising greenhouse gases exact costs on us all. Kill Well takes place in 2026 and Dear Josephine in 2029, and I’ll illustrate key points in the presentation using excerpts from these novels.

What can be done about climate change is the oft-asked question by many American citizens increasingly concerned about the consequences of climate change. The transition away from a fossil fuel-based energy system to a clean energy system is the most fundamental and effective action we can pursue nationally and internationally, but we can expect the massive and well-entrenched fossil fuel industry to strive for current profit levels for as long as possible.

Perhaps the biggest challenge ahead for us is to understand the real-world concerns we should focus on, which is the costs of climate change in our own households. Can we accept the costs of dealing with climate change, and is there really any other choice? After all, doing nothing about reducing carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions is the vastly more expensive choice of all.

This presentation is supported by MCC and Town of Colrain Cultural Council, with promotion assistance from Citizens’ Climate Lobby and 350Mass-Berkshires.org.