A clear-eyed and urgent vision for a new system of political governance to manage planetary issues and their local consequences. Deadly viruses, climate-changing carbon molecules, and harmful pollutants cross the globe unimpeded by national borders. While the consequences of these flows range across scales, from the planetary to the local, the authority and resources to manage them are concentrated mainly at one level: the nation-state. This profound mismatch between the scale of planetary challenges and the institutions tasked with governing them is leading to cascading systemic failures. In the groundbreaking Children of a Modest Star , Jonathan S. Blake and Nils Gilman not only challenge dominant ways of thinking about humanity's relationship to the planet and the political forms that presently govern it, but also present a new, innovative framework that corresponds to our inherently planetary condition. Drawing on intellectual history, political philosophy, and the holistic findings of Earth system science, Blake and Gilman argue that it is essential to reimagine our governing institutions in light of the fact that we can only thrive if the multi-species ecosystems we inhabit are also flourishing. Aware of the interlocking challenges we face, it is no longer adequate merely to critique our existing systems or the modernist assumptions that helped create them. Blake and Gilman propose a bold, original architecture for global governance―what they call planetary subsidiarity―designed to enable the enduring habitability of the Earth for humans and non-humans alike. Children of a Modest Star offers a clear-eyed and urgent vision for constructing a system capable of stabilizing a planet in crisis.

An engaging exploration of what makes work meaningful, by a popular Buddhist monk and cultural commentator In our hectic days filled with long hours, endless emails, and tedious virtual meetings, it’s hard to stay connected to the higher purpose of work – to see past the grind and embrace what we’re really trying to achieve. In this engaging and illuminating book, Japanese Buddhist monk Shoukei Matsumoto offers a fresh take on what it means to find satisfaction at work. Presented in the form of an imagined conversation between a Western businessperson and a temple priest, this far-ranging exploration covers everything from embracing simplicity and communicating with clarity to the importance of daily rituals, insights on avoiding burnout, and even what it means to be a good ancestor. Along the way, you’ll discover ancient wisdom and contemporary ideas – all thoughtfully presented in the context of modern daily life. Whether you’re a recent graduate or a seasoned professional, this meaningful guide offers a fresh perspective, and more intentional way forward.

Every living thing has two bodies. To be an animal is to be in possession of a physical body, a body which can eat, drink and sleep; it is also to be embedded in a worldwide network of ecosystems. When every human body has an uncanny global presence, how do we live with ourselves? In this timely and elegant essay, Daisy Hildyard captures the second body by exploring how the human is a part of animal life. She meets Richard, a butcher in Yorkshire, and sees pigs turned into boiled ham; and Gina, an environmental criminologist, who tells her about leopards and silver foxes kept as pets in luxury apartments. She speaks to Luis, a biologist, about the origins of life; and talks to Nadezhda about fungi in an effort to understand how we define animal life. Eventually, her second body comes to visit her first body when the river flooded her home last year. The Second Body is a brilliantly lucid account of the dissolving boundaries between all life on earth.