A Reading List for Climate Week NYC

edited by Audrea Lim

Capturing the riveting stories and hard-won strategies from a broad cross-section of pivotal environmental actions—from Standing Rock to Puerto Rico—The World We Need offers a powerful new model for the larger environmental movement and inspiration for concerned citizens everywhere.

by Kimberly Nicholas

Saving ourselves from climate apocalypse will require radical shifts within each of us, to effect real change in our society and culture. But it can be done. It requires, Dr. Nicholas argues, belief in our own agency and value, alongside a deep understanding that no one will ever hand us power—we're going to have to seize it for ourselves.

by Leah Thomas

Aimed at educating the next generation of activists, this introduction to the intersection between environmentalism, racism, and privilege is simultaneously a call to action and a pledge to work towards the empowerment of all people and the betterment of the planet.

by Sara Hughes

City governments are rapidly becoming society's problem solvers. As Sara Hughes shows, nowhere is this more evident than in New York City, Los Angeles, and Toronto, where the cities' governments are taking on the challenge of addressing climate change. 

edited by Seth Godin

A collaboration between hundreds of writers, researchers, thinkers, and illustrators that focuses on what we know, what has come before, and what might happen next. Drawing on over 1,000 data points, the book lays out carbon’s impact on our food system, ocean acidity, agriculture, energy, biodiversity, extreme weather events, the economy, and human health.

edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson & Katharine K. Wilkinson

Curated by two climate leaders, an anthology of provocative essays and illuminating artwork by dozens of women at the forefront of the climate change movement provides representative, nuanced, and solution-oriented recommendations for fast and appropriate responses.

by Ashley Dawson

Cities are ground zero for climate change, contributing the lion’s share of carbon to the atmosphere, while also lying on the frontlines of rising sea levels. Dawson offers an alarming portrait of the future of our cities, describing the efforts of Staten Island, New York, and Shishmareff, Alaska residents to relocate; Holland’s models for defending against the seas; and the development of New York City before and after Hurricane Sandy.

by Eduardo Garcia; illustrations by Sara Boccaccini Meadows

A deeply researched and user-friendly guide to the things we can do every day to fight climate change. Based on Garcia's popular New York Times column “One Thing You Can Do,” this fully illustrated book proposes simple, accessible solutions to slash emissions and waste in our daily lives.

by Aja Barber

A call to action for consumers everywhere, Consumed asks us to look at how and why we buy what we buy, how it's created, who it benefits, and how we can solve the problems created by a wasteful system.

by Vanessa Nakate

A founder of the Rise Up Climate Movement discusses ways we can all build a livable future, with a focus on the role of African voices, while revealing the rampant inequalities within the climate-justice movement.

by Mario Alejandro Ariza

A deeply reported personal investigation into the present and future effects of climate change in Miami and other major coastal cities.

by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac

The authors outline two possible scenarios for our planet. In one, they describe what life on Earth will be like by 2050 if we fail to meet the Paris Agreement’s climate targets. In the other, they lay out what it will be like to live in a regenerative world that has net-zero emissions. They argue for confronting the climate crisis head-on, with determination and optimism. 

by Hope Jahren

An award-winning geobiologist describes how the science behind key inventions has helped us, but ultimately hurt the earth, and offers science-based tools for fighting back.

by Jonathan Safran Foer

An urgent call to action on climate change that shares insight into the climate denial mindset while identifying meat farms as a primary source of environmental pollutants.

by Hal Harvey and Justin Gillis

Sharing first-hand accounts of people already making needed changes, an energy policy advisor and longtime New York Times reporter offer everyday citizens a guide to the seven essential changes our communities must enact to bring our greenhouse gas emissions down to zero.