Books for a Better Planet: Reading for World Environment Day (June 5)

World Environment Day is the United Nations day for encouraging worldwide awareness and action to protect our environment.

Updated June 1, 2024
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Rising : dispatches from the new American shore
Rush, Elizabeth A.
Paper Book
FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE IN GENERAL NONFICTION WINNER OF THE NATIONAL OUTDOOR BOOK AWARD A CHICAGO TRIBUNE TOP TEN BOOK OF 2018 A GUARDIAN, NPR's SCIENCE FRIDAY, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, AND LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF 2018 ...
How to give up plastic : a guide to changing the world, one plastic bottle at a time
McCallum, Will
Paper Book
As read by James Corden, Fearne Cotton, Jim Chapman and Dougie Poytner. 'We have a responsibility, every one of us' David Attenborough Around 12.7 million tonnes of plastic are entering the ocean every year, killing over 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals. ...
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...
Losing Earth : a recent history
Rich, Nathaniel
Paper Book
By 1979, we knew nearly everything we understand today about climate change--including how to stop it. Over the next decade, a handful of scientists, politicians, and strategists, led by two unlikely heroes, risked their careers in a desperate, escalating campaign to convince the world to act...
Are we smart enough to know how smart animals are?
Waal, F. B. M. de
Paper Book
What separates your mind from an animal's? Maybe you think it's your ability to design tools, your sense of self, or your grasp of past and future--all traits that have helped us define ourselves as the planet's preeminent species. But in recent decades, these claims have eroded, or even been...
Salvage the bones : a novel
Ward, Jesmyn.
Paper Book
Winner of the National Book Award A New York Times Best Book of the 21st CenturyAn Atlantic Great American Novel of the Last 100 Years "A taut, wily novel, smartly plotted and voluptuously written . . . Jesmyn Ward makes...
Fen, bog & swamp a short history of peatland destruction and its role in the climate crisis
Proulx, Annie
Paper Book
From Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Proulx--whose novels are infused with her knowledge and deep concern for the earth--comes a riveting, revelatory history of our wetlands, their ecological role, and what their systematic destruction means for the planet. A lifelong...
Weather permitting : twenty-five years of ice storms, hurricanes, wildfires, and extreme climate change in Canada
St. Clair, Chris
Paper Book
From the longtime host of The Weather Network comes a behind-the-scenes look at Canada's biggest weather events and climate phenomena. For more than twenty-five years, Chris St. Clair was on the frontline of Canada's biggest weather events as a popular presenter on The Weather...
Finding the mother tree : discovering the wisdom of the forest
Simard, S.
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER * From the world's leading forest ecologist who forever changed how people view trees and their connections to one another and to other living things in the forest--a moving, deeply personal journey of discovery "Finding the Mother Tree...
Gathering moss : a natural and cultural history of mosses
Kimmerer, Robin Wall.
Paper Book
Living at the limits of our ordinary perception, mosses are a commonbut largely unnoticed element of the natural world. GatheringMoss is a beautifully written mix of science and personalreflection that invites readers to explore and learn from the elegantlysimple lives of mosses.
The Earth: A Biography of Life: The Story of Life On Our Planet through 47 Incredible Organisms
Panciroli, Elsa.
Paper Book
It is difficult to conceive of the vast scale of the history of life on Earth, from the very first living organisms that developed in hydrothermal deep-sea vents to the diversity of life today. The evolution of life is a sweeping epic of a tale, with twists and turns, surprising heroes and unlikely...
Planet earth iii
Brandon, Michael Gunton, Jonny Keeling A
Paper Book
The official tie-in to the third instalment in the legendary Planet Earth franchise Few places on Earth remain untouched by humans, creating challenges for the wildlife we share it with. We have entered a new age, and we must look at the splendour of the natural world through a...
Hope matters : why changing the way we think is critical to solving the environmental crisis
Kelsey, Elin
Paper Book
"This book comes at just the right moment. It is NOT too late if we get together and take action, NOW." --Jane Goodall Fears about climate change are fueling an epidemic of despair across the world: adults worry about their children's future; thirty-somethings...
Fire Weather : The Making of a Beast
Vaillant, John.
Paper Book
PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST * A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR * FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN NONFICTION * A stunning account of a colossal wildfire and a panoramic exploration of the rapidly changing relationship between fire and humankind from the...
A good war : mobilizing Canada for the climate emergency
Klein, Seth
Paper Book
In A Good War, author and activist Seth Klein looks at the Second World War strategies and shows how they can be repurposed today for a rapid transition. He demonstrates that this change can create jobs and reduce inequality while tackling our climate obligations. From enlisting broad public support...
Braiding sweetgrass
Kimmerer, Robin Wall.
Paper Book
A New York Times Bestseller A Washington Post Bestseller Named a "Best Essay Collection of the Decade" by Literary Hub As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member...
Adrift : a novel
Brideau, Lisa
Paper Book
The Strand Critics Awards Best Debut Nominee Crime Writers of Canada Best First Novel Award Finalist Evergreen Award Nominee "Crackles with urgency and humanity...a book made to meet the moment. A must read." --Katie Lattari, author of Dark Things I Adore For fans...
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 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...

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