Exploring the Intersection of Care and Sustainability in 'Homing'

Homing: A Quest to Care for Myself and the Earth by Alice Irene Whittaker explores the deep connection between personal healing and environmental stewardship. Through reflections on grief, belonging, and sustainability, the book invites readers to reimagine care as a transformative act for both self and planet.

In the face of ongoing environmental and social crises, the need to redefine our relationship to care, both for ourselves and for the planet, has never been more urgent. In her debut book, Homing: A Quest to Care for Myself and the Earth, Alice Irene Whittaker invites readers on a reflective and transformative journey, exploring how caring for ourselves is intrinsically linked to caring for the world around us.

A book about seeing Earth as an extension of self

Alice Irene Whittaker was addicted to productivity, perfectionism, and discipline. She was used to rushing between multiple jobs, her demanding ballet training, and volunteering for social justice causes, making sure that every single moment of her day was accounted for. But then she finds herself as a new mother, commuting four hours a day into the city and exhausted by the state of the world and paralyzed by climate guilt and anxiety. Something has got to give. Overnight, Alice Irene and her husband decide to retreat to a cabin in the woods, in search of a new kind of life.

Surrounded by creek, meadow, and forest, Alice Irene begins a new lifelong journey of repairing her fractured relationship with both herself and the natural world. Dismantling a history of anorexia, obsessiveness, and workaholism, she decides to stop taking and start caretaking. She asks herself, “How can I take care of the Earth if I don’t know how to take care of myself?”

Her quest takes her to meet a renowned economist-rancher in Colorado, to stand at the side of a runway at a sustainable fashion show in Portland, and to witness firsthand rewilding of wolves in Yellowstone. She interviews and learns from dozens of people who are building homes, growing food, making clothes, raising families, and living their lives in regenerative ways.

Braiding together her personal journey with the stories of others who are tending to the Earth, Alice Irene Whittaker has crafted a lyrical, relatable memoir about regeneration and moving from a life of despair to a life of care. Searching for the spaces between the sorrow of wildfires and the beauty of wildflowers, Homing is about returning home to our bodies, geographies, communities, and place, all as a part of nature (Freehand Books).

About Alice Irene Whittaker

Alice is a writer, communications consultant, and environmental advocate with a passion for storytelling as a tool for transformation. With over a decade of experience working in environmental justice, sustainability, and community engagement, she has supported organizations across North America in creating impactful change. Her work is informed by a commitment to empathy, creativity, and relationship-building. Through Homing, Alice offers readers a personal yet universal exploration of what it means to navigate care in a fractured world.