Earth Day for Adults

Inspirational and motivational non-fiction reads for Earth Day.

Updated April 15, 2023
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The climate book
Thunberg, Greta
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER We still have time to change the world. From climate activist Greta Thunberg, comes the essential handbook for making it happen. You might think it's an impossible task: secure a safe future for life on Earth, at a scale and speed...
Fire and flood : a people's history of climate change, from 1979 to the present
Linden, Eugene
Paper Book
Winner of the American Meteorological Society's Louis J. Batton Book of the Year Award From a writer and expert who has been at the center of the fight for more than thirty years, a brilliant, big-picture reckoning with our shocking failure to address climate change. Fire and...
Heart to heart : a conversation on love and hope for our precious planet
Bstan-?dzin-rgya-mtsho, Dalai Lama XIV
Paper Book
From His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Mutt's cartoonist and award-winning author Patrick McDonnell comes a powerful and timely gem of a book on how to heal our relationship with the planet and each other. At the Dalai Lama's residence in Dharamsala, India, an...
Wilderness tales : forty stories of the North American wild
Fuss, Diana
Paper Book
A dazzling collection of short stories about North American outdoor life-both classic and contemporary-from James Fenimore Cooper and Jack London to Margaret Atwood and Anthony Doerr and many more. The North American landscape, in its rich and rugged variety, has inspired an...
Birdgirl : looking to the skies in search of a better future
Craig, Mya-Rose
Paper Book
British-Bangladeshi birder, environmentalist and activist Mya-Rose Craig is an international force. In her moving memoir, Birdgirl, she chronicles her mother's struggle with mental illness, and shares her passion for social justice and fierce dedication to preserving our planet.
Under a white sky : the nature of the future
Kolbert, Elizabeth
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction returns to humanity's transformative impact on the environment, now asking: After doing so much damage, can we change nature, this time to save it? RECOMMENDED BY PRESIDENT OBAMA AND BILL...
The uninhabitable earth : life after warming
Wallace-Wells, David
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "The Uninhabitable Earth hits you like a comet, with an overflow of insanely lyrical prose about our pending Armageddon."--Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY...
All we can save : truth, courage, and solutions for the climate crisis
Johnson, Ayana Elizabeth
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER . Provocative and illuminating essays from women at the forefront of the climate movement who are harnessing truth, courage, and solutions to lead humanity forward. "A powerful read that fills one with, dare I say . . . hope?"-The New York Times ...
A brief history of Earth : four billion years in eight chapters
Knoll, Andrew H.
Paper Book
Harvard's acclaimed geologist "charts Earth's history in accessible style" (AP) "A sublime chronicle of our planet." -Booklist, STARRED review How well do you know the ground beneath your feet  Odds are, where you're standing was once cooking...
Guardians of the valley : John Muir and the friendship that saved Yosemite
King, Dean
Paper Book
Finalist for the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography *"We see through this book the immense power of language...to change the minds of lawmakers and tourists alike." --The New York Times Book Review *"A poignant portrait of an era when mere...
Our fragile moment : how lessons from Earth's past can help us survive the climate crisis
Mann, Michael E.
Paper Book
In this sweeping work of science and history, the renowned climate scientist and author of The New Climate War shows us the conditions on Earth that allowed humans not only to exist but thrive, and how they are imperiled if we veer off course.   For the...
Full of life : exploring Earth's biodiversity
Thomas, Isabel
Paper Book
Science meets design in this graphically stunning introductory tour of Earth's amazing biodiversity This artful and accessible guide to Earth's Tree of Life - the reference tool used by scientists to organize the incredible variety of living things on our planet - helps young...
Saving seeds : a home gardener's guide to preserving plant biodiversity
Jason, Dan
Paper Book
Much of our food comes from seeds. But where do our seeds come from? And where are they going? For much of human history, farmers saved their own seed stocks to ensure a good harvest from year to year. In the mid-twentieth century, governments became involved in seed saving, creating massive seed...
The healthy vegetable garden : a natural, chemical-free approach to soil, biodiversity and managing pests and diseases
Morgan, Sally
Paper Book
Whether you're an experienced gardener, homesteader, or market farmer, this A-Z, soil-to-table guide shows you how to reduce chemical inputs; naturally enrich your growing ecology; and create a hardy, nutrient-dense, and delicious crop. "There are few gardeners (or farmers) I know who...
Cool food : erasing your carbon footprint one bite at a time
Downey, Robert, Jr.
Paper Book
In Cool Food, celebrated actor and philanthropist Robert Downey Jr. and New York Times bestselling author Thomas Kostigen team up to discover how we can erase our carbon footprints--one bite at a time. What we eat matters--to us, and to the planet. Cool food is a game-changing new food...
Becoming a sustainable runner : a guide to running for life, community, and planet
Muir, Tina
Paper Book
Becoming a Sustainable Runner is not just another running guide on developing the physical attributes to run faster or longer. What it will help you achieve is a newfound purpose that merges your passion for running with your concern for your health, your community, and the environment. It...
The great displacement : climate change and the next American migration
Bittle, Jake
Paper Book
Shortlisted for the 2024 Carnegie Medal for Excellence "The Great Displacement is closely observed, compassionate, and far-sighted." --Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Under a White Sky The untold story of climate migration in the United...
The end of Eden : wild nature in the age of climate breakdown
Welz, Adam
Paper Book
New Yorker Best Book of the Year "Exquisite."-DAVID WALLACE-WELLS "At once an elegy and an exhortation."-ELIZABETH KOLBERT "A book that goes deeper than any before into the meaning of the climate breakdown for all the rest of creation."-BILL McKIBBEN...
The 21 : the true story of the youth who sued the US government over climate change
Rusch, Elizabeth
Paper Book
Compelling and timely, award-winning author Elizabeth Rusch's The Twenty-One tells the gripping inside story of the ongoing landmark federal climate change lawsuit, Juliana vs. United States of America. The Twenty-One is for readers of Christina Soontornvat's All Thirteen, fans of...
Wasteland : the secret world of waste and the urgent search for a cleaner future
Franklin-Wallis, Oliver
Paper Book
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 BY THE NEW YORKER, THE GUARDIAN, and KIRKUS REVIEWS An award-winning investigative journalist takes a deep dive into the global waste crisis, exposing the hidden world that enables our modern economy--and finds out...
Crossings : how road ecology is shaping the future of our planet
Goldfarb, Ben (Environmental journalist)
Paper Book
Some 40 million miles of roadways encircle the earth, yet we tend to regard them only as infrastructure for human convenience. While roads are so ubiquitous they're practically invisible to us, wild animals experience them as entirely alien forces of death and disruption. In Crossings,...
The parrot and the igloo : climate and the science of denial
Lipsky, David
Paper Book
In 1956, the New York Times prophesied that once global warming really kicked in, we could see parrots in the Antarctic. In 2010, when science deniers had control of the climate story, Senator James Inhofe and his family built an igloo on the Washington Mall and plunked a sign on top: AL GORE'S...
The devil's element : phosphorus and a world out of balance
Egan, Dan
Paper Book
A New Yorker Best Book of 2023 * A Smithsonian Staff Favorite of 2023 The New York Times best-selling author on the source of great bounty--and now great peril--all over the world. Phosphorus has played a critical role in some of the most lethal...
Year of no garbage : recycling lies, plastic problems, and one woman's trashy journey to zero waste : a memoir
Schaub, Eve O.
Paper Book
"Eve's brave and honest experiment reveals the shocking impact of the throwaway society we've become and at the same time showing small ways we can all do better." --Rebecca Prince-Ruiz, founder of Plastic Free July Year of No Garbage is Super Size Me meets the...

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