My summer goal is to read one book each week. So far, it has gone well!
The fist list contains the sustainability books I have read this year along with my personal thoughts. The second list contains the sustainability books I want to read.
Books I have read:
- Flight Behavior– Barbara Kingsolver
“Kingsolver’s riveting story concerns a young wife and mother on a failing farm in rural Tennessee who experiences something she cannot explain, and how her discovery energizes various competing factions—religious leaders, climate scientists, environmentalists, politicians—trapping her in the center of the conflict and ultimately opening up her world.”- This book looks at environmental issues from the perspective of a climate change denier. Climate change still seems to be more of an issue of politics than of the environment. I occasionally felt frustrated while reading the book, but I appreciated the fact that this book allowed me to see the topic change from the point of view of someone whose life is vastly different from my own.
- Climate Changed: A Personal Journey through the Science– Philippe Squarzoni
“With the most complicated concepts made clear in a feat of investigative journalism by artist Philippe Squarzoni, Climate Changed weaves together scientific research, extensive interviews with experts, and a call for action. Weighing the potential of some solutions and the false promises of others, this groundbreaking work provides a realistic, balanced view of the magnitude of the crisis that An Inconvenient Truth only touched on.”- If you are into graphic novels, this is the book for you. I have not read many graphic novels, so I missed a lot of the smaller details in the drawings when I started the book. Squarzoni explains the science of climate change in a way that it is easy to understand and interesting to read.
- No Impact Man– Colin Beavan
“Bill McKibben meets Bill Bryson in this seriously engaging look at one man’s decision to put his money where his mouth is and go off the grid for one year—while still living in New York City—to see if it’s possible to make no net impact on the environment. In other words, no trash, no toxins in the water, no elevators, no subway, no products in packaging, no air-conditioning, no television . . .What would it be like to try to live a no-impact lifestyle? Is it possible? Could it catch on? Is living this way more satisfying or less satisfying? Harder or easier? Is it worthwhile or senseless? Are we all doomed or can our culture reduce the barriers to sustainable living so it becomes as easy as falling off a log? These are the questions at the heart of this whole mad endeavor, via which Colin Beavan hopes to explain to the rest of us how we can realistically live a more “eco-effective” and by turns more content life in an age of inconvenient truths.”- I loved this book. Beavan clearly addresses the struggle to balance a sustainable lifestyle with societal demands. I could empathize with the author’s mixed feelings when it came to choosing between convenience and having a smaller environmental impact. The book is humorous, but it also has moments that make you question your life choices.
Books I want to read:
- Living Well Now and in the Future: Why Sustainability Matters– Randall Curren and Ellen Metzger
“Curren and Metzger put intergenerational justice at the heart of sustainability; discuss the need for fair (as opposed to coercive) terms of cooperation to create norms, institutions, and practices conducive to sustainability; formulate a framework for a fundamental ethic of sustainability derived from core components of common morality; and emphasize the importance of sustainability education.” - The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History– Elizabeth Kolbert
“In prose that is at once frank, entertaining, and deeply informed, The New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert tells us why and how human beings have altered life on the planet in a way no species has before. Interweaving research in half a dozen disciplines, descriptions of the fascinating species that have already been lost, and the history of extinction as a concept, Kolbert provides a moving and comprehensive account of the disappearances occurring before our very eyes. She shows that the sixth extinction is likely to be mankind’s most lasting legacy, compelling us to rethink the fundamental question of what it means to be human.” - In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto– Michael Pollan
“Michael Pollan’s last book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, launched a national conversation about the American way of eating; now In Defense of Food shows us how to change it, one meal at a time. Pollan proposes a new answer to the question of what we should eat that comes down to seven simple but liberating words: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. Pollan’s bracing and eloquent manifesto shows us how we can start making thoughtful food choices that will enrich our lives, enlarge our sense of what it means to be healthy, and bring pleasure back to eating.”
I hope this helps anyone who has been looking for a new book to read!
Written by Michaela Burrell, Class of 2020
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