7 Books To Explain Why Climate Change is Happening and What You Can Do About It
At one end there’s people calling climate change a hoax or an unproven hypothesis. Meanwhile, the rest of the world feels its devastating consequences. It’s hard to ignore rising sea levels, melting glaciers, increasing snow storms, and droughts. Even NASA researchers agree that it’s getting hotter in here. 2018 saw record temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere, and all this during La Niña, a global cyclical climate phenomenon that is usually associated with cooling temperatures. Will 2019 continue the trend? Current predictions make it seem likely.
Never in history has it been more important to understand the complexity of climate change and how it’s impacting us as individuals, employees, and global citizens. So, we’ve compiled 7 eye-opening books which offer scientific evidence, analysis, and expert opinion on the challenges and implications of global warming. Get informed and get involved—it could be you coming up with innovative ways to tackle this impending emergency.
1. The Burning Question by Mike Berners-Lee and Duncan Clark
The Burning Question
- 16 min reading time
If you feel that clean energy solutions and technologies can reverse climate change, this book exposes that they don’t necessarily solve the pressing equation. Berners-Lee and Clark attribute the problem to a deepening dependency on oil, coal, and gas. They suggest abandoning our current energy reserves and putting more fuel into the ground. The book also analyzes what combination of technology, politics, and psychology are needed to accomplish those very goals.
2. A World Without Ice by Henry Pollack
A World Without Ice
- 13 min reading time
- audio version available
A conversation on global warming cannot take place without addressing melting glaciers, ice caps, and polar bear habitats. So geophysicist Pollack takes us on a journey through the history of ice and how its slow disappearance has impacted Earth over the years and could potentially make our planet unlivable in the future. While the author’s focus remains largely on the politics surrounding global warming in the US, his wake-up call is just as relevant for the rest of the world.
3. The Necessary Revolution by Peter Senge, Bryan Smith, Nina Kruschwitz, Joe Laur, Sara Schley
The Necessary Revolution
- 10 min reading time
- audio version available
The Necessary Revolution details the narratives of inspirational individuals and environmentally conscious organizations that have partnered to reduce water usage, create social change, improve resource productivity, and bring down environmental impact. Reading this book could greatly benefit those trying their best to build a sustainable future.
4. Renewable by Jeremy Shere
Renewable
- 15 min reading time
Traveling from coast to coast, science journalist Jeremy Shere collects anecdotes from environmental scientists and scholars and reports the history and the latest developments around alternative energy and renewable resources. If you’re interested in how innovators like Henry Ford, Nicola Tesla, and Thomas Edison were involved in the renewable energy debate, this is the perfect read for you.
5. Green Illusions by Ozzie Zehner
Green Illusions
- 19 min reading time
- audio version available
Ever wondered if mother nature has some giant beef with us poor humans? Well, this book invites you to consider that maybe the problem begins with humans’ consumption habits. Could women’s rights, walkable communities, and improved governance positively impact climate change? Author Ozzie Zehner persuasively argues for a new look at our old consumption patterns.
6. Comfortably Unaware by Dr. Richard A. Oppenlander
Comfortably Unaware
- 12 min reading time
- audio version available
Our simple daily food choices could not have such a huge impact on this planet—or could they? Comfortably Unaware analyses how animal meat, which many consider as one of the tastiest food source, is having a huge impact on the current levels of pollution.
7. Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
Silent Spring
- 10 min reading time
- audio version available
Though it took place more than 50 years ago, the story told by Rachel Carson in Silent Spring still has great relevance today. Recent years have been the warmest on record, and biological diversity and ecological resilience are being put to the test on a daily basis. Humanity has a long history of trying to control and dominate nature, rather than living harmoniously with it, and this has resulted in the creation of many destructive forces. This story is a stark reminder of Joni Mitchell’s iconic line: “Don’t it always seem to go, that we don’t know what we got till it’s gone.”
It’s never been more important to be informed. Blinkist gives you the most important ideas from best-selling books on climate change, commerce in China, Russian politics, race issues in the US, and everything else you need to know from the news in 15 minute doses of audio or text. Now’s the time to put your world into context—we’re here to help you do it. Come get in the know.
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Climate change presents us with numerous challenges and to help you understand different aspects of this issue, we recommend these articles:
Watergate: How You Can Help Prevent The Next Cape Town Crisis
Are We Already Living Through The Sixth Mass Extinction?
The Burning Question: What This Summer’s Heatwave Says About Climate Change
