Frequently Asked Questions

If you have a relationship with a local community group, place of worship, or existing book club, that’s a great place to start. If not, reach out to friends, family, neighbors, and/or coworkers.  Do your best not to overthink who belongs—social science research tells there are a lot more people who are concerned about the climate crisis than there are people who talk about it.

Your Reading Group can meet anywhere: a living room, a garden, a coffee shop, a community space, a library, a pub . . . as long as you can comfortably fit and are allowed to chat, you’re in a Reading Group space!

Yes! While in-person gatherings can be especially powerful, we also recognize that your climate community may not all live in the same place, or may not have the ability to gather weekly in person.  To help capture more of the community building magic in an online environment, we recommend keeping cameras on as much as possible and making generous use of the chat feature.

Absolutely! We think it can be generative (and fun!) to have a co-facilitator. There’s no single right way to facilitate a Climate Wayfinding Reading Group. Some Groups have one Lead, others co-lead or rotate the role each week. The structure bends to fit you and your community.

Information about finding the physical book, audiobook, and e-book can be found on this page. If you’re interested in placing a bulk order, see this page for a discount. Many local libraries also offer “Reading Sets” or “Book Club Kits” with multiple copies of books for reading groups to check out. Reach out to your friendly librarian to see if they can put one together for Climate Wayfinding.

Unfortunately, we don’t have the infrastructure to connect folks to existing Reading Groups. If you haven’t heard about one happening in your area through your usual channels, then the best way to join a Reading Group is to start one! If you are hungry for this kind of heart-forward climate conversation, chances are, there are others nearby who are as well. Join an upcoming Orientation to find out more about what’s involved and get support. If you have a flyer for your Reading Group, we are  happy to share it on IG stories to promote the group to the broader All We Can Save community.

Reading Group Leads are encouraged to measure the impact of their Group using The All We Can Save Project’s 8 Dynamics Tool. While every reader is invited to complete the poll as an individual at the beginning and end of the Climate Wayfinding experience, seeing a Group’s collective shift can be a powerful moment of affirmation and community building.

To measure your Group’s collective shift, you’ll need to slightly modify the agendas for sessions 2 and 8, and set up a Group Lead account beforehand. Detailed instructions for this process can be found here. If you have questions, email info@allwecansave.earth.

The Climate Wayfinding experience is intentionally designed and most effective when completed in full.  That being said, we know that life happens. We recommend that everyone commit to—and make their best effort to attend—all 8 sessions, while extending generosity and grace when things inevitably don’t work out exactly as planned.

Most Climate Wayfinding Reading Groups meet for eight 75–90 minutes sessions. However, if it makes more sense for your Group to meet for fewer, longer sessions, or more, shorter sessions, we trust your judgement! Whatever format you use, we recommend beginning each session with poems and music, and ending each session with a closing circle and closing quote.

The community element is core to Climate Wayfinding. Our recommended Reading Group size is 9–24, but you can run the program with a smaller group of participants. (A number divisible by 3 is useful for trios, but not essential!)

Whether you’ve facilitated many times before or have never done anything like this, you can lead a Reading Group! The format is designed to hold you as much as it holds your participants. For those who are newer to facilitation, and want to go deeper into the craft of holding space for a group, there’s a section in the back of the book called “Guidelines for Gathering as a Group.” There you’ll find suggestions for how to show up as your best self, create a warm and open environment, hold space well, and tune the experience to your community’s specific needs.

What is unfolding on our planet brings with it big feelings. Be prepared for expressions of emotion. Tears and laughter are both beautiful things. We often say that if you can support a friend going through a hard time, you can run a Reading Group. If someone seems overwhelmed by strong emotions, a gentle, empathetic question is often the best response: How can I support you? 

Importantly, we are not asking you to hold a group therapy space or to play the role of a therapist. If someone needs more than you can offer, guide them to additional resources at climatewayfinding.earth.