Books for Earth Day
Maverick climate scientists, forest wisdom, and plastic squid—this Earth day, discover more about the Earth we live on!
March 22, 2022
Looking for more books on nature? Check out some of our past lists!
- Books for Earth Day (2021)
- Books for National Gardening Day (2021)
- Ten eBooks to Read This Arbor Day (2020)
- What to Read for National Wildlife Day (2020)
Connecting With Nature
The Arbornaut
A Life Discovering the Eighth Continent in the Trees Above Us
Meg Lowman
One of the world’s first tree-top scientists—a pioneer in her field—chronicles her story, taking us around the world and launching us into the life and work of a scientist and ecologist who offers hope despite devastation across the world.
Finding the Mother Tree
Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest
Suzanne Simard
A personal and scientific work on trees, forests, and the author’s profound discoveries of tree communication.
Trees of North America
The Complete Identification Reference to Trees
National Audubon Society
From the creators of the world’s most trusted field guides—a go-to source for millions of nature lovers—comes a completely new and unparalleled reference work: the most comprehensive, authoritative, and up-to-date guide to the trees of North America.
Environment and Climate Change
The Atlas of Disappearing Places
Our Coasts and Oceans in the Climate Crisis
Christina Conklin, Marina Psaros
A heavily illustrated book and narrative about the threat of rising sea levels around the world.
The Brilliant Abyss
Exploring the Majestic Hidden Life of the Deep Ocean and the Looming Threat That Imperils It
Helen Scales
A marine biologist brings to vibrant life the extraordinary ecosystem of the deep ocean, which has a huge effect on our daily life, in this fascinating book that is at once a revelation and a clarion call to preserve this vast unseen world.
The Day the World Stops Shopping
How Ending Consumerism Saves the Environment and Ourselves
J.B. MacKinnon
Consuming less is our best strategy for saving the planet-but can we do it? In this thoughtful and surprisingly optimistic book, journalist J.B. MacKinnon investigates how we might achieve a world without shopping.
Electrify
An Optimist’s Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future
Saul Griffith
Saul Griffith lays out an accessible, rigorously-researched plan to decarbonize the U.S. economy in time to address climate change. His plan, in short, is to “electrify everything.”
The Heartbeat of Trees
Embracing Our Ancient Bond With Forests and Nature
Peter Wohlleben
Thirty-one essays examine new scientific discoveries to show how humans are deeply connected to the natural world, in an era of climate change, where many of us fear we have lost our connection to nature.
Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid
The Fraught and Fascinating Biology of Climate Change
Thor Hanson
Hanson tells the story of how nature-both plants and animals, from beech trees to beetles-are meeting the challenges of rapid climate change head-on, adjusting, adapting, and sometimes noticeably evolving.
Islands of Abandonment
Nature Rebounding in the Post-Human Landscape
Cal Flyn
An investigative journalist looks at places where nature is flourishing in the absence of humans, such as the irradiated grounds of Chernobyl and a vast forest of extinct and endangered species in the DMZ between North and South Korea.
The Last Winter
The Scientists, Adventurers, Journeymen, and Mavericks Trying to Save the World
Porter Fox
A blend of narrative travelogue, history, and climatology is set against the end of ice, snow, and winter as we know it.
Superman’s Not Coming
Our National Water Crisis and What We the People Can Do About It
Erin Brockovich
The environmental activist and consumer advocate, whose case against Pacific Gas and Electric was dramatized in an Oscar-winning film, looks at our present situation with water and reveals the imminent threats and shows us how we can each take action.
This is Climate Change
A Visual Guide to the Facts : See for Yourself How the Planet is Warming and What It Means for Us
David Nelles, Christian Serrer
A visual all-in-one guide to climate change filled with easy-to-understand infographics explaining the latest scientific findings.
Under a White Sky
The Nature of the Future
Elizabeth Kolbert
So pervasive are human impacts on the planet that it’s said we live in a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene. Kolbert takes a hard look at the new world we are creating. One way to look at human civilization, she says, is as a ten-thousand-year exercise in defying nature. He she explores the ways in which our capacity for destruction has reshaped the natural world. From the Mojave to Iceland and Australia, she examines how the very sorts of interventions that have imperiled our planet are increasingly seen as the only hope for its salvation. –
Warmth
Coming of Age at the End of the World
Daniel Sherrell
Written from inside the climate movement, the author, in this memoir, love letter and an emotional work of criticism, reveals how the crisis is transforming our relationships to time, to hope and to each other.
Animal Conservation
The Bald Eagle
The Improbable Journey of America’s Bird
Jack E. Davis
Featuring stories of Founding Fathers, rapacious hunters, heroic bird rescuers and the lives of bald eagles themselves, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Gulf presents a sweeping cultural and natural history of the bald eagle in America, demonstrating how this birds’ wondrous journey may provide inspiration today.
Beloved Beasts
Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction
Michelle Nijhuis
A vibrant history of the modern conservation movement-told through the lives and ideas of the people who built it.
Gardening
The Beginner’s Guide to Growing Great Vegetables
Lorene Edwards Forkner
A novice-friendly, month-by-month reference by the former Pacific Horticulture editor and author of The Handmade Garden includes coverage of such topics as soil health, sun exposure, correct watering and effective mulching and fertilizing.
How to Grow Your Own Food
An Illustrated Beginner’s Guide to Container Gardening
Angela S. Judd
Did you know you could grow vegetables, fruits, and herbs in containers? Well, now you can take your houseplants to the next level by growing home-grown produce and seasoning that will taste delicious in all of your favorite dishes.