Edited by Luisa A. Igloria, Aileen Cassinetto and Jeremy S. Hoffman.
Paloma Press, 2023.
In the U.S., the congressionally mandated Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5) report is currently in development, and groups of scientists from all over the country and Caribbean are overseeing the synthesis of published research for regional and topic-specific chapters. For the first time, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy through the U.S. Global Research Program has included the arts to encourage wider participation in the National Climate Assessment, and help visualize the impacts of climate change. Dear Human at the Edge of Time: Poems on Climate Change in the United States is offered as a companion to NCA5, and an additional opportunity to participate in the urgent conversations on environmental justice.
Edited by Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellows Luisa A. Igloria & Aileen Cassinetto and NCA5 Chapter Lead Dr. Jeremy S. Hoffman, the anthology’s 70+ contributors include Union of Concerned Scientists Director of Strategic Climate Analytics Erika Spanger and U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón, with a Foreword by Claire Wahmanholm and Afterword by Dr. Sam Illingworth.
Luisa A. Igloria is the author of numerous books of poetry, including Maps for Migrants and Ghosts, co-winner of the 2019 Crab Orchard Poetry Prize. She was the inaugural winner of the Resurgence Prize (UK), the world’s first major award for ecopoetry. A Louis I. Jaffe Professor and University Professor of English and Creative Writing, she teaches in the MFA Creative Writing Program at Old Dominion University, which she directed from 2009-2015. She was appointed Poet Laureate of the Commonwealth of Virginia 2020-22, Emerita. In 2021, she received an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship.
Aileen Cassinetto was named an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow in 2021 and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts 100 honoree in 2023 for her contributions to building regenerative and equitable communities through poetry. Her ecopoetry projects were featured in Copenhagen’s Nature & Culture Poetry Film Festival, Lift-Off Filmmaker Sessions, and in Americans for the Arts’ Arts Link magazine. She is the author of two poetry collections, and her work has appeared in American Poets, Poetry, and poets.org, among others.
Jeremy S. Hoffman is the Director of Climate Justice and Impact at Groundwork USA and an Affiliate Faculty at the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs and the Center for Environmental Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. He specializes in Earth science communication, data-driven and community-based participatory science, and has years of experience developing experiences for science center exhibitions. Most recently, Dr. Hoffman was appointed Chapter Lead for the Fifth National Climate Assessment, and served the Science Museum of Virginia as their Climate and Earth Scientist, completing the requirements of a three-year NOAA Environmental Literacy Grant. Visit jeremyscotthoffman.com to find out more about his work, research, and science communication.
