Community Action Guide
Birding to Change the World
In this uplifting memoir, a professor and activist shares what birds can teach us about life, social change, and protecting the environment.
Trish O’Kane is an accidental ornithologist. In her nearly two decades writing about justice as an investigative journalist, she'd never paid attention to nature. But then Hurricane Katrina destroyed her New Orleans home, sending her into an emotional tailspin.
Enter a scrappy cast of feathered characters—first a cardinal, urban parrots, and sparrows, then a catbird, owls, a bittern, and a woodcock—that cheered her up and showed her a new path.
Community Action Guide
This action-guide expands on the book’s main themes. It aims to connect you to your neighbors, both feathered and human. And to nature which surrounds you, whether you live in a large city, tiny town, or in the countryside. I’ve written it with nature lovers, teachers, students, citizens and neophyte birders in mind. It can be used to develop curricula or for community organizing. And not just on behalf of birds!
About the Author | Trish O’Kane
An environmental educator who uses action-research to promote environmental and social justice, Dr. Trish O’Kane created the “Birding to Change the World” service learning course and program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison while completing her doctorate. She believes in harnessing the power of passionate, knowledgeable and energetic students to help solve community and global problems.
“[Birding to Change the World offers] reflections on ways that watching birds can renew our joy in nature, and maybe even transform our lives. . . O'Kane's story is richer in scope than I can convey here. . . Her book is a beautiful love letter to local activism and especially to the birds who teach her so much. . . [She invites] us to see the beauty of birds in our world and to act for their well-being.” — NPR.org