Annotated Bibliography
This bibliography is both too long and too short. It is too long for most purposes, yet it is far from complete. These are not even necessarily the ”best” out there: that depends on your needs!
Table of contents:
• Recent general books on climate change
• Approaches to dealing with climate change
• Climate and health/planetary health
• Sustainability for you and your home
• From activists’ point of view, if that is how you lean
• Communicating climate change and climate justice
• Works on religion and climate
• Plastic
Recent general books on climate change
Knowledge To Power; the comprehensive handbook for climate science and advocacy. John Perona. Ooligan Press, Portland State University, 2021. Excellent background and discussions of relevant topics by a scientist, academic, lawyer, and activist.
Saving Us; a climate scientist’s case for hope and healing in a divided world. Katharine Hayhoe. One Signal Publisher (Simon and Schuster), 2021. The title says it all. A climate scientist, with “street cred,” she is the chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy. Much in here about communicating and reaching out. She lives in Texas and is an evangelical Christian, so she has walked that walk and talked that talk. Readable and a bit optimistic.
The Carbon Almanac; it’s not too late. Forward by Seth Godin (this is a large collaboration by the Carbon Almanac Network). Portfolio Penguin, 2022. A collection of short chapters with good graphics. Very useful, full of interesting material succinctly presented. Great to peruse.
The Thinking Person’s Guide to Climate Change. Robert Henson. AMS books 2nd ed., 2019. This is from the American Meteorological Society. At almost 500 pages I haven’t tried to read it through, but it is a good reference with a lot of great information and practical suggestions.
Approaches to dealing with climate change
General
Drawdown, the most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming. Edited by Paul Hawken. Penguin Books, 2017. This is a massive undertaking called “Project Drawdown,” a review and assessment with short discussions of pros, cons and economics of 100 tactics to draw down carbon from the atmosphere, all ranked. Well researched. Worth having even if a bit dated. Hope for a revised edition. Good to peruse.
No Miracles Needed; how today’s technology can save our climate and clean the air. Mark Z Jacobson. St Martin’s Press. 2023. We can do this. A deep and useful dive into Wind Water Solar as solutions. The miracle will be if we have the political and social will to get it done! Dr. Jacobson is a professor in engineering at Stanford and an environmental activist.
Speed and Scale, an action plan for solving our climate crisis now. John Doerr. Penguin, 2021. Well written by a venture capitalist, so a certain perspective. This is one area we need to look for solutions, in the world we live in. We need innovation and innovation needs funding. Good to peruse as there are relatively short discussions.
The Carbon Footprint of Everything. Mike Berners-Lee. Greystone Books, 2022. While it doesn’t quite cover everything, it is a fascinating and eye-opening read, full of surprises and insights.
Similarly, the book “Food and Climate Change Without the Hot Air.” SL Bridle. UIT Cambridge, 2020 has the carbon footprint of foods with great discussions about what it takes to get it on your plate.
Good News, Planet Earth! What’s being done to save our world, and what you can do too! Sam Bently. DK Penguin Random House, 2023. A positive and hopeful little book, good for perusing, actions big and small.
Regeneration, adaptation and sustainability (including soil and sustainable agriculture)
Regeneration, ending the climate crisis in one generation. Paul Hawken. Penguin books, 2021. Same group as Drawdown (see above), but a different approach. More discussions, though generally brief, less quantitative than Drawdown.
Climate Change Adaptation, an Earth Institute sustainability primer, Lisa Dale. Columbia University Press, 2022. A readable and relatively short introduction to the critical subject of adaptation.
Thriving, the breakthrough movement to regenerate nature, society and the economy. Wayne Visser. Fast Company Press, 2022. Profit from his wisdom of years of active participation and academic study, but mostly his optimism and hopefulness. It won’t be to everyone’s taste, but full of helpful stories and ideas.
Regeneration, feeding the world without devouring the planet. George Monbiot. Penguin, 2022. The first chapter on soil alone is worth the price of admission.
The Science of our Changing Planet (previously called: How We’re F***ing Up Our Planet). Tony Juniper. DK, 2021. Well-illustrated and bite-sized discussions, covers a lot of ground. Good to peruse.
Dirt! The movie. A wonderful documentary from 2009 about soil, and a bit about sustainable agriculture and traditional farming methods.
A World Without Soil, the past, present, and precarious future of the earth beneath our feet. Jo Henderson. Yale University Press, 2021. This scientist says it all about the state of soil.
Growing a Revolution, bringing our soil back to life. David R Montgomery. WW Norton, 2017. A bit older, but a good read by a good writer, a MacArthur Fellow and academic.
Sustainable Food Production, an Earth Institute Sustainability Primer. Shaheed Naeem, Suzanne Lipton, Tiff Van Huysen. Columbia University Press, 2021. From the Earth Institute, Columbia University. Not long, but a bit dense. Great global perspective and examples.
Climate Change, Fires, Floods, and Infectious Disease. The Lancet Microbe. Editorial. Volume 2, issue 9 E415, September 1, 2021.
Videos: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is one of the most quoted and reliable sources of information on climate change. The most recent IPCC reports, the 2021-2022 Sixth Assessment Reports (AR6), had the input of 234 experts from 64 countries, was based on more than 14,000 scientific papers, and was approved by 195 governments after exhaustive review. There are videos for each of the three AR6 sections. The videos are 9-14 minutes long and are a very useful summaries: Mitigation of Climate Change; Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability; The Physical Science Basis; these links are to the videos on YouTube. You can also access them under reports (under the “explore” button) on the website.
Climate Town is a YouTube series of videos. A lot of great information delivered in a fun and interesting manner.
A positive series with short enthusiastic and informative episodes is “The Anti-Dread Climate Podcast.”
Climate and health/planetary health
These are most relevant to health professionals (and others) particularly interested in planetary health.
The first two are excellent texts that are from more of a public health perspective. The third is a bit more clinically oriented.
Planetary Health, protecting nature to protect ourselves. Ed. Samuel Myers and Howard Frumkin. Island Press, 2020.
Planetary Health, safeguarding human health and the environment in the Anthropocene. Andy Haines, Howard Frumkin. Cambridge University Press, 2021.
Global Climate Change and Human Health, from science to practice. Jay Lemery, Kim Knowlton, Cecilia Sorensen. Jossey-Bass (Wiley), 2021. This book takes a more clinical approach and is a great place to start to review the medical literature on relevant topics.
Planetary Health, human health in an era of global climate change. Jennifer Cole. CABI, 2019. A shorter book than the others on planetary health, in part from material from a 2018 report of the Rockefeller Foundation Economic Council on Planetary Health, Oxford Martin School, Oxford. A nice take on the subject, a relatively brief introduction.
The Lancet Countdown puts out a yearly report in the fall on health and climate change. The 2022 report came out October 26 2022. It has about 300 contributors, is truly global and comprehensive. The 2023 report is available as well. There are online key findings and visual summary sections. The Lancet Countdown Europe 2024 is also available.
Climate and Health, Towards Climate-informed Care and Advocacy is a course given by Dartmouth Health that consists of six one-hour presentations. They are free to watch on YouTube.
A course on health and climate change offered by Harvard can be accessed for free to audit through EdX.
Health Professionals and the Climate Crisis: Trusted Voices, Essential Roles Commentary. Edward Maibach, Howard Frumkin, Samantha Ahdoot. First published: 03 March 2021
New England Journal of Medicine climate change articles. A great resource. Powerful editorials, helpful articles.
Call For Emergency Action to Limit Global Temperature Increases, Restore Biodiversity, and Protect Health. Lukoye Atwole et al N Engl J Med 2021; 385:1134-1137. A powerful editorial, signed by the editors of some 200 medical journals from around the world. “As health professionals, we must do all we can to aid the transition to a sustainable, fairer, resilient, and healthier world. Alongside acting to reduce the harm from the environmental crisis, we should proactively contribute to global prevention of further damage and to action on the root causes of the crisis.”
The World Health Organization wrote a brief summary of the IPCC AR6 findings regarding health and climate change.
Climate Clinic podcasts are part of the Global Consortium on Climate Health Education. There are four podcasts:
1. Be the Expert: reviews and discusses pertinent medical and public health/medical literature
2. Be the Change: adaptation and mitigation solutions and inspiration
3. Code Green: medical student and education oriented
4. Code Red: climate emergencies in relatively real time emphasizing health aspects
The Journal of the American Medical Association started a series on Climate Change And Health and continuing medical education is available.
Sustainability for you and your home
Rewiring America offers a free PDF book on electrifying your home.
How to Prepare for Climate Change, a practical guide to surviving the chaos. David Pogue. Simon and Schuster 2021. The subtitle captures the occasional “survivalist” tone, but there are indeed a lot of excellent suggestions for dealing with problems climate change inflicts on us already, from small suggestions for increasing resiliency to preparing for large disasters.
From activists’ point of view, if that is how you lean
What Can I do? The path from climate despair to action. Jane Fonda. Penguin Books, 2020. A call to action. Part memoire.
How To Change Everything, the young human’s guide to protecting the planet and each other. Naomi Kline with Rebecca Stefoff. Atheneum Books for Young People, 2021. For progressives and activists of all ages.
Communicating climate change and climate justice
The Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. Very well respected. They are particularly interested in tracking attitudes about climate change. They developed the often quoted “Six Americas.” They do have material for educators, and a section on messages that work.
Experts say story-telling is important in framing discussions of climate change. Here are two books full of stories of resilience in the face of climate change and injustice:
What Climate Justice Means, and why we should care. Elizabeth Cripps. Bloomsbury Continuum, 2022.
Climate Justice, hope, resilience and the fight for a sustainable future. Mary Robinson. Bloomsbury, 2018.
How To Talk to Your Kids About Climate Change, turning angst into action. Harriet Sugarman. New Society Publishers, 2020. It has won multiple awards and has some very good advice, not only for talking to kids.
The group EcoAmerica offers a free PDF about “framing” discussions
There are also articles on communicating climate change listed on the page of NEJM articles.
Preparing presentations
Also see the section on communication and presentations on this website. Here is material available from the resource section of the website of The Global Consortium on Climate and Health out of Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, including slides, presentations, courses and a bibliography.
The bad guys
As if you didn’t already know…
Merchants Of Doubt, how a handful of scientists obscured the truth on issues from tobacco smoke to climate change. Naomi Oreskis, Erik M Conway. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019 (published originally 2010). There is the reasonable questioning of science, it is part of the territory. Then there is dark money, greed and obfuscation. We saw all this before, with pollution and cigarettes, for example. Lying for money, even when it causes pain and death, is not new to climate change! What some will do for money and power never ceases to amaze.
Merchants Of Doubt. Documentary. (2014) Director: Robert Kenner, Screenplay: Robert Kenner, Kim Roberts. An adaptation of the book of the same name, it is not just about climate change.
The New Climate War, the fight to take back the climate. Michael E Mann. Hachette Book Group, 2021. A long but well-researched book by a top climate scientist.
The Petroleum Papers. Geoff Dembicki. GreystoneBooks, 2022. A history of disinformation, lies and manipulation by the oil companies with a starring role for Koch industries told by a journalist.
The Parrot and the Igloo; Climate and the Science of Denial. David Lipsky. W.W. Norton and Company, 2023. A bit idiosyncratic in style, but a colorful and insightful look at the topic of denial and the bad guys with eye-opening stories.
A good summary of what the oil companies knew going back 50 years. Exxon made some excellent predictions. As reported in the Guardian, the journal Science published an article in January 2023 documenting that ExxonMobil knew what was going on and lied.
A powerful Ted Talk by Al Gore, “What the fossil fuel industry doesn’t want you to know,” from July 2023, highlights oil company lies, but manages to end on a hopeful note!
A good website that is skeptical of the skeptics is Skeptical Science.
The podcast Climate Deniers Playbook does deep dives into climate denial that are well researched, but presented informally and with humor.
Works on religion and climate
Laudato Si’ An encyclical by Pope Francis in 2015. A pretty revolutionary, green new deal document. Whether or not you are Catholic, this is a document worth perusing if you want to know what the Pope thinks or someone you know does.
The book Saving Us by an evangelical Christian, Katherine Hayhoe (see above), shows that religion is not inherently a natural enemy of climate activism. And why should it be, other than for political or economic gain?
Another book from a spiritual leader’s perspective, one who does not evoke a creator deity, the Tibetan Buddhist the Dali Lama, is Our Only Home: A Climate Appeal to the World. Dali Lama (with Franz Alt). Bloomsbury Sigma, 2020. Again, there are other Buddhists, like the late Thich Nhat Hanh, who have written about these topics.
There are many other books and resources that go over religious, indigenous and other spiritual traditions that deal with sustainability (there is some about this in several books above). Those interested are encouraged to explore. A great place to start is Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. Robin Wall Kimmerer. Milkweed editions, 2015. This book is by the founder and director of the Center for Native People’s and the Environment, “an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation,” who is a scientist and professor. A best-seller for good reason. There is also a young adult edition (with Monique Gray Smith and illustrations by Nicole Neidhart. Zest Books, 2022)
The Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences and Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences put out a text in May 2024 Planetary Protocol for Climate Change Resilience: A new way to navigate through the climate crisis.
Plastic
How to Give Up Plastic, a guide to changing the world one plastic bottle at a time. Will McCallum. Penguin Books, 2018. A short book with some good information and ideas.
Plastic Soup, an atlas of ocean pollution. Michael Roscam Abbing. Island Press, 2019. From the group Plastic Soup Foundation.
The Plasticology Project. Paul Harvey. Indie Express P/L Australasia, 2022. A fast-reading book by an environmental scientist.
The Plastic Problem, 60 small ways to save the earth. Aubre Andrus. Lonely Planet Global, 2020. A small book for kids, but some good ideas for all!
Reckoning With the U.S. role in Global Ocean Waste. A consensus study report of the National academies of science, engineering and medicine. National Academies Press, 2022. Very deep, and very authoritative, eye opening.
A Poison Like No Other how microplastics corrupted our planet and our bodies. Matt Simon. Island Press, 2022. A great book on microplastics.
Biodiversity and extinctions
United Nations Report: Nature’s Dangerous Decline ‘Unprecedented’; Species Extinction Rates ‘Accelerating.’ From the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. “1 million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction, many within decades.”