Blowout Rachel Maddow explains how multi-national fossil-fuel corporations use corrupt debt-trap tactics to exploit 3rd world countries, impoverishing residents there and degrading the atmosphere everywhere

Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer lovely stories, lovely writing, lovely attitude; writes as a Native- American and as a PhD biologist; goes over the importance of an honorable harvest, as well as the benefits of examining gratitude; also mixes in ramifications of American genocide; the best kind of slow book

The Burning Earth Sunil Amrith the author goes back hundreds of years to look at the connections between our harming plants and animals, and our harming fellow humans; he brings a non-European historical perspective to colonialism, environmental degradation, as well as up-to-date analysis

Carbon Detox George Marshall my previous favorite; fantastic at explaining how to integrate the scientific, the personal, and the political; not easy to get a copy of and a bit dated (2007); the first book I'd seen where someone speculated a guess at a tons-of-pollution-to-human-death ratio

Choked Beth Gardiner "Life and breath in the age of air pollution"; exposes how people are currently suffering and/or dying worldwide; admits that her flying habits create pollution; puts a focus on local pollution

The Climate Book Greta Thunberg (Editor) a fantastic collection of articles by scientists who know their stuff; written for the general public; if her message was music, one could say she only occasionally hits a wrong note; and she has an impressive list of critics - from Vladimir Putin to Donald Trump to Xi Jinping

The Climate Diet Paul Greenberg the best "x # of things you can do" book I've seen; it's simple and well thought out; the author is a journalist and makes his points in a clear manner; good resource list at the back

The Coming Famine Julian Cribb doesn't spend much time on climate pollution; but does a good job exploring weather-related famine; makes the case for both large/inexpensive agricultural practices

as well as local-organic-permaculture type farming

Drawdown Paul Hawken (Editor) a comprehensive accounting of many effective ways to reduce ghg pollution (agricultural practices, for example); well-researched; a great resource; it has especially good explanations of the population issue and the importance of women's rights

Encyclical on Climate Change & Inequality Pope Francis the book was translated from Italian and there is a decent amount of scientific jargon, so it's not a quick read; uses less than one page to make excuses for the anti- birth-control position of his Church; the rest of the work carefully explains how pollution causes bad weather

Enviromedics Jay Lemery and Paul Auerbach excellent primer on the medical/human impact of pollution via a scientific perspective; plus engrossing life and death vignettes from their clinical practice; not enough mention of causes of pollution

Fire and Flood Eugene Linden a well-written history of responses to global warming (since the 70's) by: US political leaders, the businesses community (especially insurance companies), scientists, the news media, and the general public; Linden was a reporter covering these events for most of that time

Fire Weather John Valiant An award winning book; long, but after the opening section (re chemistry & history) it's a page-turner; a life or death story of a Canadian oil-city being destroyed by wildfire.

How the World Really Works Vaclav Smil if you like science, this book for you; first-world citizens

"could reduce...average per capita energy use by large margins and...retain a comfortable quality of life";

unfortunately he minimizes the methane leaks problem; but his excellent two paragraph description of the greenhouse phenomena (pg. 178) is the clearest explanation of the problem I've read

Inconspicuous Consumption Tatiana Schlossberg "If we can connect climate change to our own lives, we'll be more inclined to do something about it...when it comes to both personal choice, and political engagement"; this book was the inspiration for the stopping shopping Solutions page; fast-fashion is as bad as fast-food

Industrial Strength Denial Barbara Freese "Eight stories of corporations defending the indefensible, from the slave trade to climate change"; great true-story explanations of how some business leaders have used logic and emotion to engage in clearly unethical behavior, and continue to do so today

Learning to Die in the Anthropocene Roy Scranton a slim volume; emotionally powerful; based on his being stationed in Iraq during the U.S. war there, and his post-war re-adjustment struggles; includes thoughtful metaphor of bee behavior; must we fight wars over oil?

Let's Ask Marion Marion Nestle a physically small book packed full of rich "nutrients for thought", regarding health, politics, farming, etc; she writes about the food issue from a variety of angles; covers problems and straightforward steps to solve them

The Lorax Dr. Suess (Theodor Geisel)

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."

Material World Ed Conway Well-written book explaining 6 crucial materials in our 21st century world. His overview of how sand is essential to modern civilization, in multiple ways, is the longest chapter.

Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Climate Change Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway long, well-documented, and infuriating; tales of harassment and intimidation of naive scientists; plus powerful professional PR campaigns; all paid for by corporate behemoths

Not the End of the World Hannah Ritchie This book seemed a lot more reasonable (when she wrote it) before the right-wing ascendance and eco backlash. However, she has plenty of evidence to bolster her don't-neglect- the-good-news argument. For more on her spectacular body of work, see: Our World in Data

Renewable Energy Bruce Usher a well-done primer that briefly covers global energy transitions of the past in order to give a better context for events of today and tomorrow; the economics are simply explained; he writes with an optimistic tone, which is refreshing, but is it warranted today?

Tales of Two Planets John Freeman (Editor) "Stories of Climate Change and Inequality in a Divided World";

moving testimony about unwelcome ecological changes in every corner of the globe; powerful personal accounts; read it if you're still wondering whether the weather is changing, or if you've lost touch with humanity

There Is No Planet B Mike Berners-Lee A great global warming "handbook" with some similarities to this website; he's a scientist and business consultant who uses plenty of numbers, but with clear explanations; he mentions a pollution to death ratio, and warns about Jevons paradox; a good choice as an introductory climate text

Under the Sky We Make Kimberly Nicholas my top pick; understands the science; has plenty of climate science experience to draw from; her personal story fits with political growth; thoughtfully explains the importance of social contagion; plus she has great newsletter

We're All Climate Hypocrites Now Sami Grover "When I first started writing this book, my goal was to debunk the idea that individual action was worthwhile … for the climate movement. I couldn't have been more wrong."

Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet Thich Nhat Hahn (and Chan Khong) some of his talks and writings mixed with recent thoughts from Sister Khong; she has a background in media, so if the Buddhist approach isn't for you, the media-oriented angle is worth the read; besides, who's against compassion?

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