My 2022 Climate Reading List

One of my goals for 2022 is to read *at least* one climate book a month. Here are the 12 books I’ve put on my “to read” list for the year. They are fiction and non-fiction, some are climate specific, while others are about broader environmental or sustainability topics. I hope there’s at least one book on this list that appeals to you. They are not written in any kind of order.

There’s not necessarily a logic to the books I’ve chosen, they’re just the ones that look most interesting to me. There are dozens of interesting climate books out there and even if you don’t read any of these, I’d encourage you to look for a book that appeals to you. Whether you want to learn more about the science, or some specific implication of climate change, whether you want to read a contrarian opinion or you want to learn how to talk with your kids about it, there are books out there.

The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells – This book explores some worst-case scenarios for climate. Written by a novelist, it created quite an impact when it was published in 2019.

All We Can Save – Perhaps the antithesis if Well’s work, this is an anthology of stories about hope and climate. I believe all of the stories were written by women.

Half Earth by E.O. Wilson – The late Harvard professor was a champion of biodiversity. He was also my commencement speaker when I graduated college. He advocated for habitat conservation for most of his life, and proposed that we set aside 50% of the land and water for nature.

The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson – The acclaimed novelists’ most recent work has shown up on a number of “best climate book” lists. This “Cli-fi” novel was published in 2020 and follows characters as they attempt to prevent the worst of climate change.

The Future We Choose by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac – From the lead negotiators at the 2015 Paris Climate Summit, they present their vision for meeting the Paris goals and discuss the consequences if we fall short. I suspect this is will be the most approachable of the books. If you’ve never read a climate book before, it may make sense to start with this one.

Don’t Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change by George Marshall – Published in 2014, this book explores climate psychology. There are still millions of people who deny the reality of climate change, and hopefully this book can shed some light on how we can get through to them.

As Long as the Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock by Dina Gilio-Whitaker – Environmentalism has a serious racism problem and white voices are often elevated at the expense of everyone else. Indigenous people have been fighting for environmental justice for centuries and that history is often lost.

Storming the Wall: Climate Change, Migration and Homeland Security by Todd Miller: The UN estimates that there may be as many as 1 billion climate refugees by 2050. That number dwarfs all previous refugee crises and our systems simply aren’t prepared to handle it. The vast majority of these people will be come from poor tropical countries and threaten to overwhelm temperate climate havens.

Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope by Katharine Hayhoe: One doesn’t usually associate evangelical Christianity with climate action, but that’s exactly who Katharine Hayhoe is. In fact she’s often accused of being a false Christian because of it. This books is specifically aimed at climate activists who are trying to connect with so-called climate skeptics, particular if they are conservative Christians. Hayhoe argues that the messenger is often more important than the actual message. Someone without credibility will never be convincing.

Regeneration: Ending the climate crisis in on generation by Paul Hawken – A sequel to Hawken’s book Drawdown, this book goes beyond net zero emissions and into something he calls the “regeneration” movement. I suspect this will be the most ambitious and optimistic of all the books on the list.

The Good Ancestor: How to Think Long Term in a Short-Term World by Roman Krznaric – Climate change is a multigenerational problem. We will not see the full effects in our lifetimes, whether we do everything right or we completely fail. Our cultural outlook has become extremely short-term, and it has pretty significant consequences. Long-term thinking has a rich history in many cultures around the world, but it’s sadly lacking in our modern, hectic, American-style culture that predominates at the moment.

Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth – This may be the most technical book on the list. I’ve seen Raworth speak about her theory, which is simple in principle if not in practice. Imagine the world is two concentric circles. The smaller circle represents the minimum amount of resources needed for everyone on earth to have a decent standard of living. The larger circle represents the maximum resources we can use sustainably. The goal is to stay between those two circles, this area is referred to as the doughnut.

I’d be very interested to know if anyone reads these and what their opinions are.

Next week I plan to discuss the most important climate actions we can take as individuals.

That’s all for now, stay safe and have a nice (long) weekend.