Task #15: Read a book about climate change

[Book Riot]

Use this space to discuss books you're reading or that might fit the 15th Read Harder task.

[Bonnie G.]

Not sure if I will go with fiction Salvage the Bones or non-fiction The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

[Karen]

The Overstory by Richard Powers - would this fit?

In nonfiction - This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate by Naomi Klein maybe.

[Rachael]

Fiction I read last year for a cli-fi prompt: Ship Breaker

What I am reading this year: The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth's Past Mass Extinctions

[Amy J.]

I'm probably going to read The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert for this prompt.

[Chrissy]

I may go with The Secret Lives of Glaciers since the author visited my school this year.

[Milena]

Karen wrote: "The Overstory by Richard Powers - would this fit?

In nonfiction - This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate by Naomi Klein maybe."

Yes, The Overstory fits.

[Rachel]

Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming

[Risa]

This is a helpful list from the Earth Day Network of "13 must-read books on climate change": https://www.earthday.org/2019/08/27/1...

[Harper]

The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming is a Goodreads Choice nominee for 2019.

[Cassie]

would The Southern Reach Trilogy count?

[Shelley]

New York 2140 was a really good realistic look at how society will deal with climate change.

[Eliza]

Going with Fevered: Why a Hotter Planet Will Hurt Our Health -- And How We Can Save Ourselves (and I had to scroll through roughly 4,387 romance novels with Fevered in the title to find this on the GR list. LOL!

[Beth]

Cassie wrote: "would The Southern Reach Trilogy count?"

It could, but I think a choice from Jeff VanderMeer that would fit better would be Borne

[Beth]

I'm going to try Clade for this, but I've had The Overstory on my list for such a long time.

Anyone looking for other fiction selections for this task could check out just about anything from Paulo Bacigalupi

[Judith]

Probably going to go with The Seabird's Cry: The Lives and Loves of the Planet's Great Ocean Voyagers by Adam Nicholson, but in case I find there's not enough in it about climate change, I also have No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference: Illustrated Edition on Mt TBR (although I may use that for the YA non-fiction task)

[Gail]

I'm looking The Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan for this one, it was a UW-Madison Go Big Read pick (but I didn't get to at the time).

[Octavia]

I just want to say that I read This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate by Naomi Klein earlier this year, for the 2019 Read Harder challenge (the business task), and it was OUTSTANDING.

I'd really recommend it for this task if you're on the fence about what to read.

[Megan]

Would The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming count?

[Jackie]

Some possibilities from my tbr:

The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World
The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth's Past Mass Extinctions
The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
Spying on Whales: The Past, Present, and Future of Earth's Most Awesome Creatures

[Rebecka]

I recommend Maja Lunde's The History of Bees and The End of the Ocean, two works of fiction where the theme climate change is central to the stories. I particularly enjoyed the first one, The history of the bees.

[Book Riot]

Hi everyone! Our rec post for this task is available now. https://bookriot.com/2019/12/24/ficti...

[Eden]

It could be a double dipper!!
Judith wrote: "Probably going to go with The Seabird's Cry: The Lives and Loves of the Planet's Great Ocean Voyagers by Adam Nicholson, but in case I find there's not enough in it about climate ch..."

[Emerging]

I have World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse by Lester R. Brown on my shelf and may do that one -- but have not yet decided.

[Hope]

I’ve had Silent Spring by Rachel Carson in man to-read pile for a while. It’s not current but still seems largely relevant.

[Audra]

Here's another one I was able to pull from my TBR, Flight Behavior.

[Maddy]

I'm going to wait for Our House is On Fire to come out - Greta Thunberg's memoir.

[Marie]

Just read in The New Yorker (my literary magazine!) that Gun Island is about climate change. It's literary fiction with elements of folklore and mystery.

[Leslie (updates on SG)]

Megan wrote: "Would The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming count?"

Definitely. It crushed my soul last year, but I think everyone needs to read this book.

[Candace]

This is tough one for me since I don't usually read books about climate change, but that's what this challenge is all about! I'm reading Don't Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change for this task.

[Mary]

I can't recommend American War enough. Climate change is a major driver in the story, and the main character is a refugee if you want to double-dip.

[Kari]

I do a lot of environmental work and lobbying and would love a rec that talks positively about changes and steps individuals can make to help. I work with people that have a lot of anxiety about climate change, and at times feel helpless. I'd love to give them something that empowers, rather than frightens. Not saying that fear isn't a powerful motivator and very necessary at times, but I think it can send some particularly anxious people into such despair they don't act at all.

So any recs that take a more positive, pro-active, here's-what-you-can-do spin on this topic?

[Jessica]

Kari wrote: "I do a lot of environmental work and lobbying and would love a rec that talks positively about changes and steps individuals can make to help. I work with people that have a lot of anxiety about cl..."

Maybe one of these will work for you:
https://bookriot.com/2019/07/29/books...

[Elise]

I just finished The Age of Miracles, which -- surprisingly -- was basically about the way the changing climate affects a little girl's life when the climate change is due to the planet slowing down. What say y'all - think that counts? It's not the "real" climate change, but I don't know that the challenge requires it to be carbon-as-cause.

[Salwade]

The Water Knife could work for this.

[Jackie]

Elise wrote: "I just finished The Age of Miracles, which -- surprisingly -- was basically about the way the changing climate affects a little girl's life when the climate change is due to the pla..."

Oh I think you're fine. I don't think it has to be about real-world current-day climate change in order to count.

[Alexis]

Can I suggest these: The Dragon Quartet Omnibus, Volume 1?

I thought the premise of these was unique. Each book centres around a human-dragon pair, except that each dragon corresponds with one of the four elements and each one is spread throughout history in a way that tracks environmental degradation, from the first earth-oriented pair set in medieval Germany, to the water-based pair in an polluted future not so different from our own and eventually leading up to the pair based around fire in a far flung future where the Earth is ecologically devastated.

It actually kind of reminded me of Atlas Shrugged in some ways.

Then there's some time travel stuff that lets them interact with each other and the overall arc has a huge environmental focus.

If you're a fantasy geek, these might be a strong choice.

[Emily]

Is anyone reading We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast? Thinking this will likely be my pick, although the fiction options are very enticing!

[Bee]

Has anyone found a book by a queer author for this one?

[Sonia]

Hope wrote: "I’ve had Silent Spring by Rachel Carson in man to-read pile for a while. It’s not current but still seems largely relevant."

Silent spring is more about pesticides and not climate change. A good read though!

[Bonnie G.]

MMD wrote: "Has anyone found a book by a queer author for this one?"

You may want to check out Tentacle

[Bonnie G.]

Kari wrote: "I do a lot of environmental work and lobbying and would love a rec that talks positively about changes and steps individuals can make to help. I work with people that have a lot of anxiety about cl..."

How about How to Give Up Plastic: A Guide to Changing the World, One Plastic Bottle at a Time?

[Bee]

Bonnie, that looks perfect! Thank you!

[Kari]

Yes, Bonnie, exactly the kind of thing I’m looking for. Thank you.

[Bonnie G.]

MMD wrote: "Bonnie, that looks perfect! Thank you!"

Glad it works for people. These issues seem so big and baffling (one option for helping the planet always seems to make problems in another area) so I liked that this book was was really focused and practical in its approach. It helped me make better choices.

[Jessica]

I'm reading The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World right now as mentioned by another poster. . . and holy goodness is it ever a page turner. It's like a thriller, but horribly real!

[Rosemary]

I recommend Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver for this category - fiction but all too realistic. I read it last year but if you haven't, it's a good choice.

[Rosemary]

Audra wrote: "Here's another one I was able to pull from my TBR, Flight Behavior."

Good choice! I read it last year so it wouldn't work for me, but it definitely fits.

[AJ]

I'm wondering if Dune by Frank Herbert would work for this. What do you think?

[Carol]

I have three books by Robert Macfarlane on my TBR pile.- The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot, Underland and The Wild Places. Is any of them a good choice for this challange? My other choices are The Water Knife or The Overstory. Decisions, decisions!!!