Join us on Thursday, November 12th as we welcome Spencer R. Scott to the shop for the release of As If We Were Staying! Save the date! RSVP is not required, but appreciated. Seats are first come, first served and can be guaranteed with the purchase of a book or a $3 sliding scale donation to our program.

About the book

Inspired by his experience starting Solar Punk Farms and studying the resilience of living systems, biologist Spencer R. Scott helps us envision our collective future in a more hopeful way.

In an age of ecological emergency and social breakdown, how do we find the hope and determination to live on this planet as if we were staying?

Inspired by the solarpunk movement’s insistence that our vision of the future must be galvanizing, biologist and environmentalist Spencer R. Scott chronicles his journey from biotech research to the co-founding of the queer regenerative community and education hub, Solar Punk Farms. Weaving memoir and scientific inquiry, Scott reframes capitalism as an environment we’ve unconsciously adapted to in order to survive and documents the internal and external process of re-adapting to the realities of our ecological world. Only through community and collective action, he finds, can we make survival—and joy—beyond capitalism possible.

Bridging science and personal experience with optimism and lyricism, As If We Were Staying is an invitation to meet our precarious reality together and begin building a future worth inhabiting.

About the author

Spencer R. Scott, PhD, is a biologist, environmentalist, and cofounder of Solar Punk Farms. He writes stories at the intersection of science, ecology, and wellbeing, and his work has been featured on NPR, and in Sierra Club, Grist, Outside, The Bold Italic, and other publications. He lives in California

About the bookstore

The Booksmith is an independent bookstore located in the Haight Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco since 1976.

Please note:

• Check-in for the event will begin at 6:45pm.
• Priced ticket holders (Book+seat, Pay it Forward!+seat) will have seats held until 7pm. Arrivals after 7pm will be allowed admission, but seats are not guaranteed.
• General admission ticket holders will be offered seats at check-in on a first-come, first-served basis. May be standing room.
• Space at the door on the day of the event is usually available, but not guaranteed.
• Books will be for sale on the night of the event.
• ADA accessible. Bathrooms on site during event hours.
• Events typically end between 8:30 and 9pm.
• Questions? tickets@booksmith.com