ABBY REYES cut her teeth doing rural environmental legal assistance in the Philippines, her father's homeland, and walking alongside the Colombian U'wa Indigenous pueblo for dignity against big oil. She directs community resilience at University of California, Irvine, supporting community-academic partnerships to accelerate community-owned just transition solutions.
""This book is the voice of the U'wa in the words of Abby, and these memories of the truth are a primary source of respect, help, and coordination for the defense of Mother Earth."" —JUAN GABRIEL JEREZ TEGRIA-KUANAKUVO (U'WA NATION), legal advisor for international affairs at AsoU'wa, the Association of the U'wa Traditional Authorities and Cabildos U'wa ""[This book] couldn't have come at a better time as we humans navigate so many upheavals and make necessary decisions about our climate future."" —DONNA CHAVIS (LUMBEE NATION), founder of the RedTailed Hawk Collective and program manager of Climate and Energy Justice, Friends of the Earth US ""A single searing thread connecting one story of murder and grief to the story of climate change."" —MIYA YOSHITANI, codirector of Movement Innovation Collaborative ""Essential reading, filled with exactly the kind of truth that this precarious moment demands."" —KAIRA JEWEL LINGO, author of We Were Made for These Times ""[This book] pulls the reader all the way through to what we need to continue life on Earth."" —JOANNA MACY, PhD, author of World as Lover, World as Self ""Astonishing and brilliantly told.... A story you should read to understand the healing powers of the deepest pain."" —NICHOLAS THOMPSON, CEO of The Atlantic ""Written with the delicacy of a novel and the pace of a thriller, this book will find a place among memoirs of spiritual enlightenment as well as among classic stories of political education."" —ANGELA P. HARRIS, JD, codirector of the Critical Justice Institute ""As a Colombian, as a Latin American, as a lawyer, but mostly as a mom, friend, and daughter ... reading Truth Demands created space for me to face my own fear and pain. To step toward my own healing, and in so doing, my country's healing."" —ASTRID PUENTES RIAÑO, UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment ""A raw rendering, artfully crafted in a way that kept me spellbound from beginning to end."" —JACQUI PATTERSON, executive director of the Chisholm Legacy Project Resource Hub for Black Frontline Climate Justice Leadership ""Anyone who considers themselves a climate activist or wants to become one must experience this painful and beautiful story."" —KATIE REDFORD, JD, cofounder of EarthRights International ""A gift to all of us who long for the sovereignty of our bodies, our water ways, and our ancestral ways of being in relationship to the land."" —ROSA ESPERANZA GONZÁLEZ, founder of Facilitating Power ""Moving and gorgeous ... required reading for students of social transformation and those yearning to find their place."" —TERRY LYNN KARL, PhD, author of The Paradox of Plenty ""The key narrative of this century is about humanity's fight to overcome fossil fuel interests, and this book tells the story more completely than any I've read.... Harrowingly beautiful."" —DANNY KENNEDY, author of Rooftop Revolution ""A gripping feat of storytelling."" —SEEMA JILANI, MD, global health advocate ""A raw, honest, and wise memoir of healing—charts a course for all of us across waters roiled by personal and systemic trauma."" —MARTIN WAGNER, JD, former managing attorney of the International Program, Earthjustice ""This graceful work of politics and art is a testimony to resistance and strength."" —ANNIE LEONARD, former executive director of Greenpeace USA ""An incredibly timely reading for anyone who wishes a wise political overview of standing in alliance with Indigenous peoples."" —NINA SIMONS, author of Nature, Culture, and the Sacred