Climate Change Reads

Climate change is the continuing transformation of the weather and climate on Earth, and the earliest references to this concept date back to Ancient Greece. From the 19th-century origins of the Greenhouse Effect to 20th-century research projects on carbon emissions, climate change has developed into a controversial and politicized issue in the 21st century. We created this study guide collection, from Marc Reisner’s Cadillac Desert (1986) to David Wallace-Wells’s The Uninhabitable Earth (2019), to help you chart the past, present, and future of climate change, including its environmental consequences and recommendations for making positive changes.

Publication year 2016

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Environment

Tags Science & Nature, Climate Change

Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life (2016) is Pulitzer Prize-winning author, biologist, and environmental advocate Edward O. Wilson’s in-depth look at the planetary threat of mass extinction, known as the Sixth Extinction, taking place at humanity’s own hands. The current rate of extinction is nearly 1,000 times higher than during the pre-human era, and traditional conservation movements will not work fast enough to save the natural world. However, Wilson argues that there is still time... Read Half-Earth Summary

Publication year 2010

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Economics, Environment

Tags Business & Economics, Science & Nature, Climate Change, World History, Politics & Government

Written by historians Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming (2010) is a nonfiction account of how a loose-knit group of scientists—Fred Seitz, Fred Singer, Bill Nierenberg, and Robert Jastrow—with similar political agendas worked to prevent government regulation by creating the appearance of scientific debate on several topics. These topics included smoking (both first- and secondhand hand... Read Merchants of Doubt Summary

Publication year 2017

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Teamwork

Tags Science Fiction, Climate Change, Fantasy

New York 2140 is a 2017 dystopian/science fiction novel by Kim Stanley Robinson. Through the viewpoints of multiple characters, global warming and its consequences acts as a backdrop to examining issues of greed, exploitative capitalism, the occasional need for revolution, and the importance of teamwork when organizing against a system. New York 2140 is a cautionary tale about global warming, and an illustration of the author’s fondness for resilient, tough New Yorkers.The novel unfolds in... Read New York 2140 Summary

Publication year 2009

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Environment

Tags Sociology, Education, Education, Climate Change, Biography

No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process is an autobiography published in 2009. Author Colin Beavan, tired of being a liberal who only lectures his wife about not wearing fur, decides to dedicate himself, his wife Michelle, and their toddler Isabella to a year of creating no impact on the environment. His... Read No Impact Man Summary

Publication year 1993

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Truth & Lies, Climate

Tags Symbolic Narrative, Afrofuturism, Science Fiction, Climate Change, Fantasy, Classic Fiction

Parable of the Sower is a science fiction novel, the first in author Octavia E. Butler’s two-part Parable series. Butler followed this 1993 publication with Parable of the Talents in 1998. Also known as the Earthseed series, the duology follows a community in a dystopian/post-apocalyptic version of the 21st-century United States. The societal collapse is due to environmental and class issues, including corporate power and greed, climate collapse, and growing inequality between the upper and... Read Parable of the Sower Summary

Publication year 2021

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Space, Science & Technology, Environment

Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, Horror & Suspense, Science Fiction, Climate Change, Health, Science & Nature, Technology, American Literature, Fantasy, Action & Adventure

Publication year 2018

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Climate, Social Class, Science & Technology, Environment

Tags Science & Nature, Climate Change, Journalism, World History, Politics & Government

Publication year 2011

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Gender Identity, Birth, Mothers, Climate

Tags Gender & Feminism, Natural Disaster, African American Literature, Climate Change, Southern Literature, Modern Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction

Salvage the Bones tells the story of the Batiste family in Bois Sauvage, Mississippi, in the twelve days leading up to Hurricane Katrina. Claude Batiste’s wife, mother of Randall, Skeetah (Jason), Esch and Junior, died a few years ago, right after Junior was born. The kids still live with their father, in an area called the Pit. They are a poor, black family, who mainly survive on what Claude can make by salvaging and then... Read Salvage the Bones Summary

Publication year 2008

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Childhood & Youth, Environment, Teamwork

Tags Mythology, Fantasy, Coming of Age, Animals, Arts & Culture, Climate Change, European History, American Literature, Children`s Literature, Action & Adventure

The Battle of the Labyrinth is a fantasy-adventure novel inspired Greek mythology and written in 2008 by Rick Riordan. It is the fourth in the Percy Jackson series.The novel begins with Percy Jackson is at his freshman orientation at Good High School. Rachel Elizabeth Dare helps him fight two empousai, spectres who were disguised as cheerleaders. Percy flees to Camp Half-Blood, but Rachel remains. Percy is reunited with Annabeth, and they learn Grover is in... Read The Battle of the Labyrinth Summary

Publication year 2011

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Environment

Tags Science & Nature, Climate Change, Education, Education, Business & Economics, World History, Politics & Government

Author and journalist Charles Fishman published The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water in 2011. This nonfiction book examines the history and origins of water, the rising concern of water scarcity, and our changed relationship with the substance. Fishman asserts that people generally take water for granted, even though it is crucial to the environment and to society. The book examines how we can repair this dismissive attitude, which Fishman contends... Read The Big Thirst Summary

Publication year 1992

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Apathy, Hope, Loneliness, Gender Identity, Birth, Future, Politics & Government, Power & Greed

Tags Science Fiction, Action & Adventure, British Literature, Climate Change, Depression & Suicide, Grief & Death, Health, European History, Immigration & Refugeeism, Love & Sexuality, Natural Disaster, Politics & Government, Horror & Suspense, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Fantasy

The Children of Men is a dystopian 1992 science fiction novel by P.D. James set in 2021, years after the onset of a mass infertility epidemic. Unless scientists can discover a cure, there will be no more births and the human race will go extinct when the youngest generation dies. This scenario allows James to explore many themes, including existentialism, the meaning of a good life, and the corrupting nature of power.The novel switches between... Read The Children of Men Summary

Publication year 2017

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes The Past, Environment

Tags Science & Nature, Climate Change, World History

The Death and Life of the Great Lakes is a nonfiction book of science journalism delving into key past and present issues surrounding the ecology, politics, and commerce of the Great Lakes. The book was published in 2017 and was the recipient of the J. Anthony Lukas Award as well as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Author Dan Egan is a reporter who covers the Great Lakes for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He is... Read The Death and Life of the Great Lakes Summary