Planet Aqua
With global warming disrupting our weather and a future of droughts, floods, hurricanes and wildfires, Planet Aqua by Jeremy Rifkin provides a thought-provoking take on Earth’s land masses and water reserves. He suggests rethinking the waters as a ‘life source’ rather than a ‘resource’ and reassessing science, governments, nature, economies and education to live more harmoniously on our water planet.
For the past 6 months, the big climate change conversations in Europe and beyond have focussed on a ‘Blue Deal’ to accompany the ‘Green Deal’, the expanded agenda of the European Union, which may be a turning point in the way the human species relates to water. The Planet Aqua book certainly adds to this critical conversation, focussing on solutions for the water-energy-food crisis and learning how to adapt to the hydrosphere.
Woodland Wisdom
Suitable for both adults and teens, the illustrated book Woodland Wisdom by Nick Pierce is a peaceful read. It features countless facts about the floral and fauna of forests, along with myths and woodland folklore. There are factual pieces on tree identification and practical foraging advice for those who want to head out into nature an understand the species they’re seeing.
The miscellany also details traditional woodland crafts, with simple step-by-step guides that show readers of any age how to make homes for birds and bugs, ways to whittle wood and preserve flowers. There’s even a section on forestry care, including coppicing and pollarding for those who want to help preserve and protect a woodland.
In addition to all the interesting, easy-to-digest content and beautiful botanical illustrations, the book looks lovely; it has a classic fabric casing featuring a gold-foiled woodland design, so it’ll look lovely on your coffee table and will inspire younger readers to pick it up and hopefully learn some facts and fiction about our country’s woodlands.
100 Ways to Save the Planet
Little projects is a great way to get children interested in sustainability issues from a young age. This book by Tom Jordan with vibrant illustrations by Joshua Rice is packed with engaging activities – 100 of them – for easy things that kids and teens can do to take a productive step towards building a brighter future for our planet and becoming a ‘Green Superhero’.
The hardback contains simple tips that deliver instant environmental benefits, along with dozens of practical projects to care for birds, grow fruit and veg, batch cook, build biospheres and create wildlife corridors. It also includes ideas for getting other kids involved, such as organising a school seed bank and going on discovery walks together.
The ideas in 100 Ways to Save the Planet not only empower youngsters to become ‘environmental superheroes’ through fixing, swapping, recycling and sharing, it also contains fascinating facts on everything about our world, from woodlands, water and weather to energy, animals, the sky and stars. It’s a book I’ve enjoyed reading myself and I’m sure kids of all ages will love it too.
The Fourth Coming
In a time of climate change, economic upheaval and conflict, with governments and institutions jeopardizing our planet, a groundbreaking approach to saving humanity has been offered by philosopher and mathematician Francis Keith Robins.
In his book The Fourth Coming – How God Mathematics Can Put the World to Rights he shows how thought processes in the natural sciences, social sciences, humanities and more can be reshaped through mathematics, with a vision to create a society that is inclusive, equal, and peaceful. This revolutionary approach aims to alter the trajectory of human history.
Robins graduated from Bradford University with a mathematics degree and has worked external auditor within the Civil Service and as a member of the Audit Commission, giving him a logical and meticulous approach to problem-solving, which is now focused on the potentially planet-saving thinking he shares in this book.
Off The Grid
I’ve shared this book on my blog before but I thought it was very relevant to the sustainability topic so I’ve included it again. This Thames & Hudson book Off The Grid by Dominic Bradbury is full of inspirational off-grid homes from across the US.
Proving that sustainability doesn’t mean going without comfort and aesthetics, the buildings highlighted in the book are all places I’d be perfectly happy to live – and rather luxurious too. But they all have one thing in common: they’re proudly off-grid properties that not only showcase innovative solutions for sustainable energy, but that make living wild a practical and achievable dream.
I hope you enjoy these books if you have a read of them in the future and please share your own recommendations for books on sustainability and environmental matters in the comments below. I’d love to hear what you’ve enjoyed reading and to check them out for myself. 🙂
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Some items in this blog post have been gifted to me and the pink links indicate a gifted product, affiliate link or information source. All thoughts and opinions in this post are based on my own experience and I am not responsible for your experience 🙂
