Climate change is no joke. As we are quite aware. Every day we are shown images and news stories that shock and sadden us. But is there anything we can do? We think so! And so do these five books!
The End of Nature by Bill McKibben
“Our comforting sense of the permanence of our natural world, our confidence that it will change gradually and imperceptibly if at all, is the result of a subtly warped perspective. Changes that can affect us can happen in our lifetime in our world—not just changes like wars but bigger and more sweeping events. I believe that without recognizing it we have already stepped over the threshold of such a change; that we are at the end of nature. By the end of nature I do not mean the end of the world. The rain will still fall and the sun shine, though differently than before. When I say 'nature,' I mean a certain set of human ideas about the world and our place in it.”
The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert
“Though it might be nice to imagine there once was a time when man lived in harmony with nature, it’s not clear that he ever really did.”
Climate Wars by Gwynne Dyer
“The most basic change necessary to our collective survival is underway: the last redefinition of humanity - gradually extending from family to tribe to nation to the human race.”
The God Species by Mark Lynas
“It would be easy to laugh this off were it not so obviously counterproductive. The idea that tackling climate change means accepting profound levels of intrusion into our everyday lives – and the economic disaster of dramatic drops in consumption and living standards – is an illusion that is actually shared by the Green left and the libertarian right.”
The Great Transition: Shifting from Fossil Fuels to Solar and Wind Energy by Lester Russell Brown
“But a 2011 study led by Harvard Medical School professor Paul Epstein concluded that from the ground to the power plant, coal indirectly costs the U.S. economy an astounding $345 billion per year, largely because of the associated health care burden from air pollution and because of the climate change impacts.”
