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Steve Hamm Zooms in from the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow to discuss his book, The Pivot: Addressing Global Problems Through Local Action with Adult Services staff member Isaac Shub.
Steve Hamm is a freelance writer and documentary filmmaker living in New Haven, CT. He writes about climate change, leadership, innovation, business, information technology, globalization, and medical science. For his new book, The Pivot: Addressing Global Problems Through Local Action, he was embedded in Pivot Projects, a global collaboration formed at the beginning of the COVID crisis that set out to help communities pivot in more sustainable directions. The book follows the group's journey and evolves into a broader story about how human beings react to a crisis, pull together, and seek to make the world a better place. Hamm's previous books included Smart Machines, about how artificial intelligence will affect business and society; The Rise of the Data Cloud, about data analytics and business; and The Race for Perfect, about the evolution of mobile computing. Hamm also makes feature-length community-building documentaries aimed at helping to educate, foster goodwill, and help solve difficult problems. His films include The Village: Life in New Haven's Little Italy; Shift Change, about community policing in New Haven; Fentanyl Madness, about the opioid crisis; and A River Speaks, about Connecticut's Mill River and also about humanity's complex relationship with the rest of nature.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
When the world reemerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems likely that it will have transformed irrevocably. Can societies already reeling from climate change, income inequality, and structural racism change for the better? Does the shock of the pandemic offer an opportunity to pivot to a more sustainable way of life?
Early in the crisis, a global volunteer collaboration called Pivot Projects was formed to rethink how the world works. Some members are experts in the sciences and the humanities; others are environmental activists or regular people who see themselves as world citizens. In The Pivot, the journalist Steve Hamm―who embedded in the enterprise from the start―explores their efforts and shows how their approach provides a model for achieving systemic change. Chronicling the group’s progress along an uncharted path, he shows how people with a variety of skills and personalities collaborate to get things done.
Through their work, Hamm examines some of today’s most important technologies and concepts, such as systems thinking and modeling, complexity theory, artificial intelligence, and new thinking about resilience. The book features vivid, informal profiles of a number of the group’s members and brings to life the excitement and energy of dynamic, smart people trying to change the world.
Part journal of a plague year and part call to action, The Pivot tells the remarkable story of a collaborative experiment seeking to make the world more sustainable and resilient.
AGE GROUP: | Teens (13-17) | Adults (18+) |
EVENT TYPE: | Virtual Program | Literature, Arts, and Culture | Education and Lifelong Learning |
TAGS: | Environment | BSI | Books Sandwiched In | book discussion | author |
The Ives Main Library, designed by renowned architect, Cass Gilbert in 1911, is a cornerstone of the historic New Haven Green. The facility is a community treasure and features unique design details, including several WPA-era murals. Ives is open 54 hours a week, Monday-Saturday, and houses major public service departments for children and teens as well as adult reference, a computer tech center and Ives Squared, a newly renovated space for innovation and entrepreneurship.
2019 Recipient of National Medal for