Global temperatures are likely to rise 1.5 degrees Celsius within the next two decades. This means that the floods, wildfires, droughts, heatwaves, and other extreme weather that have come to mark our summers are here to stay.
Even though statistics seem devastating, climate activists argue that not all hope is lost and that individuals can still make an effort to improve the state of our planet.
With sea levels and temperatures rising, it’s never been more crucial to identify and solve the issues of carbon footprints to create a more sustainable way of living.
One of the things you can do can be as simple as picking up a book. By better understanding our planet, you will be able to make well-informed decisions about the protection and conservation of the Earth.
The following list of titles contains some of the best books about the environment and climate change aimed at educating and empowering us to take action.
1. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Robyn Wall Kimmerer, who is a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and a botanist, shares her thought-provoking perspective in this 2013 bestseller.
She is informed by both the teaching of her indigenous ancestors and western science. Her captivating descriptions reframe our relationship with life on Earth, and she encourages curiosity and compassion for everything that nature provides.
2. Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future by Elizabeth Kolbert
In Under a White Sky, Elizabeth Kolbert explores what humans are doing to the planet. She meets physicists attempting to shoot small diamonds into the stratosphere to cool the Earth, researchers trying to develop a super coral that will be able to survive on a hotter planet, and engineers turning carbon emissions into stone in Iceland.
Kolbert manages to show us how our actions are negatively affecting the planet, rather than just telling us that they are. She talks about how intensely we have implanted ourselves in every natural process. Still, Kolbert points out that people come up with big and crazy ideas, and sometimes these ideas actually work.
3. All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis edited by Ayana Johnson and Katharine K. Wilkinson
This book is a collection of poetry, essays, and art by 60 leading women climate activists. Through humanitarian, scientific, and artistic excellence, this book will not only inspire you but will preserve your sense of hope for the future. This book is a great way to introduce the topic of climate change to a young adult or a pre-teen.
4. Our Final Warning: Six Degrees of Climate Emergency by Mark Lynas
This book offers a look into to future of our civilization and our Earth if current rates of global warming remain. The author describes the likely impacts of global heating and the resulting climate catastrophe.
Lynas concludes that the entire future of human civilization depends on what we do now. Even though it might seem like you’ve wandered into a science-fiction movie, it’s just geophysics.
5. The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming, by David Wallace-Wells
In The Uninhabitable Earth, Wallace-Wells transforms scientific predictions into a reality, painting horrific portraits of what life will look like at each degree of warming. He predicts cascading natural disasters, global plagues, geopolitical war, food insecurity, and climate displacement, among other grim realities.
The predictions are merciless, terrifying, and completely self-inflicted. The book is a wake-up call to everyone who reads because, in the words of the author himself, it’s much worse than you think.
Final Thoughts
As natural disasters occur with worrying frequency and the temperature of the Earth rises, our planet is going toward a breaking point from which we may not be able to turn back, so we need to act fast.
You can evaluate and improve your relationship with the planet by educating yourself about climate change. Hopefully, this list has inspired your next round of reading materials and gifts.
Now, after reading that, do you want to know the quality of the air you breathe? Download AirCare – our free mobile app that tracks air pollution from your pocket, and check out the AirCare blog!
