What does a sustainable New York City look like to you? I imagine lush micro gardens, biophilic architecture (a building methods that connects people with nature), rooftop farms, and clean transit, air, and water as pathways that give people, plants, and wildlife the opportunity to live side-by-side-by-side in ways that benefit all.
In biomimicry, we begin our design process by asking how nature would solve a specific problem we have with a question framed as “How would nature (the problem we want to solve)?”. My question above would be framed as “How would nature build a sustainable New York City?” This is a question that has occupied by headspace for years as I traverse through different projects and future visioning sessions.
In the spirit of an image being worth 1,000 words, I created these images with Canva Magic Studio AI to show how nature might build a sustainable New York. Is this a city you’d like to visit? Is this a city where you’d be happy to live? What are the first steps we can take now to make this our New York?
LoveReading, the UK’s leading book recommendation website, named my upcoming novel, Emerson Page and Where the Light Leads, an “Indie Book We Love”. This is based on their ambassador readers providing top reviews for the book. A huge thank you to the LoveReading team for this recognition. I’m excited for readers to have this story when it launches everywhere books are sold on May 14th!
“Beautifully described and written. As a reader, you are rooting for her to win the fight for good.”
“A fantastical tale, imaginative world, and beautifully crafted story that allow the reader to become part of the story. Altogether thoroughly entertaining and literally spellbinding.”
“A fantastical tale that combines an academia style vibe (think Indiana Jones’ hunts for lost artefacts) with magical creatures. Into a mythical world, Emerson works to carry on her mother’s work, and we’re seeing a young teen and her family manage grief and try to come to terms with loss. This element adds another dimension to a magical adventure, and gives the story a lot of heart.‘Emerson Page and Where the Light Leads is part fantastical quest and part coming-of-age. It’s an easy to read story that teens and young adults will love. ‘Emerson Page and Where the Light Leads’ by Christa Avampato is book two in the Emerson Page series. I would recommend starting this series with book one, ‘Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters’ in order to fully immerse yourself in Emerson’s story.”
One of my great joys is encouraging a love of books and reading among children and young people. I send cards and a small gift from Emerson (and her, dog, Friday) to young readers whenever I know someone who’s bought my Emerson Page books for them. Each one is unique. If you’d like Emerson and Friday to send one to a young person in your life who loves the books, let me know. Books continue to take me on adventures, and it’s a privilege for me to open up these new worlds for others and share some light.
“People partner with nature”. I created this image with the help of Canva’s Magic Media AI tool
As a storyteller and sustainability advocate I focus on people who aren’t committed (yet) to protecting nature because that’s where the greatest change happens. This means I’m often faced with people who deny climate change, feel hopeless, or think technology and / or someone else will restore the planet’s health.
The entire episode is enlightening, and one point in particular helped me. No species in history, humans included, has ever been hardwired to protect the planet. They (we) are hardwired to promote the successful perpetuation of our genetics. Said another way, at their base all living things first focus on their future generations surviving and thriving. This means people aren’t naturally focused on environmental conservation. It must be intentional. It’s a skill that takes practice. Therefore, the work I’m doing with naysayers, the hopeless, and technocrats is training and re-skilling them. I’m a teacher, a guide, and learning takes times. That reframe is helping me think about my work with more compassion and patience.
Our long-term planning capabilities make us unique and distinct from other species. This doesn’t mean we’re smarter, wiser, or superior. It means we have a responsibility to be conscientious global citizens who care for each other and future generations, other species with whom we share this planet, and ecosystems that make our existence possible.
While there is a lot of fanfare on International Women’s Day and much to celebrate if we look at the (very) long arc of history, gender inequities all over the world are vast and sadly, growing. In recent years, women’s gains have been reversed with actions like the repeal of Roe v. Wade in the U.S. and the outsized negative impacts of the pandemic on women such as loss of healthcare, education, and employment opportunities, increased hunger, and skyrocketing gender-based violence.
Equal pay for equal work is still a distant dream: On average, U.S. women earn 16% less than men who do the same job, making 84 cents for every dollar earned by a man. Women of color in rural areas are paid 44% less than rural white, non-Hispanic men doing the same job, making just 56 cents for every dollar. And let’s not forget women are expected, and sometimes required and forced, to do the lion’s share or totality of work to care for children and a home at great sacrifice to their own personal wellbeing and aspirations.
To truly realize equity and equality of women, we must uplift them in real, tangible, actionable ways. So today, on this International Women’s Day, do this: listen to, encourage, and offer assistance by every means you have to help a woman in your life fulfill a dream they have, whether it’s a personal or professional endeavor. And then tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow do the same. A world of more and better opportunity for women is a better world for all people and all beings.
Commit to not only celebrating International Women’s Day but making every day a day we move women closer to equity and equality in every way in business, government, and society. Women have more than earned seats at every table everywhere. Build a longer table. Add more chairs. Listen. Respond. Activate. Repeat. Again and again and again. For as long as it takes. Women are worthy.
I’m excited to have a book launch party in New York City for my novel, Emerson Page and Where the Light Leads. While I work out some fun details, here is a save the date for Friday, May 31st at 7pm. I hope you’ll add this to your calendar and I look forward to seeing you at the party!
I’m so excited for this next chapter of her adventure to be out in the world. A million thanks to everyone who’s loved us and cheered us on through our journey.
I’m smiling from ear to ear as I close out the week with two more reviews of my novel, Emerson Page and Where the Light Leads, from people for whom I have enormous respect: Felicia Sabartinelli and Matt Joseph Misetich.
“It’s rare to find a book that not only ignites your imagination but explores the varying degrees of grief with such beauty and skillful precision. Through mystical creatures and new worlds, Avampato does an incredible job of balancing fantasy and folklore with the complexities of human emotion. This is – in many ways – an immersive and powerful ride through Emerson’s journey into young adulthood and the importance of finding one’s power. Readers, young and old, will not be able to put this down.” ~Felicia Sabartinelli, award-winning essayist, poet, public speaker, and creator of Ferocious. https://www.feliciasabartinelli.com/
“A thoroughly enchanting ride. Christa Avampato drops us into a wondrous world dazzling with imagination and magic. But what sets this apart is her keen ability to make us somehow relate so strongly, and so universally, to a story otherwise steeped in pure fantasy. A book drowning in charm. Avampato brings her own light and magic to familiar-yet-extraordinary settings alive with warmth, honesty, and an eclectic cast that will please even casual YA readers.” ~Matt Joseph Misetich, Senior Executive and Partner at Pipeline Media Group. https://pipelinemediagroup.com/
Christa Avampato 