Celebrate National Earth Day (4/22) with these informative and essential reads that promote awareness for the health of our environment and encourage us to be one with nature.
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Science in Nature:
Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future by Elizabeth Kolbert
The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Sixth Extinction returns to humanity’s transformative impact on the environment, now asking: After doing so much damage, can we change nature, this time to save it?
“Beautifully and insistently, Kolbert shows us that it is time to think radically about the ways we manage the environment.”—The New York Times
“What makes Under A White Sky so valuable and such a compelling read is Kolbert tells by showing. Without beating the reader over the head, she makes it clear how far we already are from a world of undisturbed, perfectly balanced nature—and how far we must still go to find a new balance for the planet’s future that still has us humans in it.”—NPR
Available in Hardcover, Trade Paperback, and eBook Editions.
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Hacking Planet Earth: Technologies That Can Counteract Climate Change and Create a Better Future by Thomas M. Kostigen
An exploration of the cutting-edge technology that will enable us to confront the realities of climate change.
“Thomas Kostigen takes us on a fascinating tour of innovations worldwide, some uplifting and some ominous, that may help us to manage climate change.”—Dr. Robert Lempert, Nobel Peace Prize winning member, United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
“Kostigen travels to the ends of the earth on a daring and thrilling eco adventure to discover who and what can save our dying planet, and he comes back with great stories, astonishing ideas, and radiant hope for our collective future.”—Bradley Trevor Greive, New York Times bestselling author and host of Animal Planet
Available in Trade Paperback, eBook, and Audio Editions.
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Listen to a Clip from the Audiobook.
Sounds Wild and Broken: Sonic Marvels, Evolution’s Creativity, and the Crisis of Sensory Extinction by David George Haskell
A lyrical exploration of the diverse sounds of our planet, the creative processes that produced these marvels, and the perils that sonic diversity now faces.
“[A] glorious guide to the miracle of life’s sound.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Earth sings and rings and warbles: a musical planet, maybe the only one in the universe. As David George Haskell tells it in his captivating new book, Sounds Wild and Broken, it is astonishing good fortune—and a fearsome responsibility—to be given this music and the ears to hear it with . . . Sounds Wild and Broken offer[s] one delight after another.”—Kathleen Dean Moore, Scientific American
Available in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
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Listen to a Clip from the Audiobook.
The Loneliest Polar Bear: A True Story of Survival and Peril on the Edge of a Warming World by Kale Williams
The heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful story of an abandoned polar bear cub named Nora and the humans working tirelessly to save her and her species, whose uncertain future in the accelerating climate crisis is closely tied to our own.
“A moving story of abandonment, love, and survival against the odds.”—Dr. Jane Goodall
“The polar bear is a symbol of great majesty and beauty, but it’s also part of an ecosystem that includes some of the most resilient and remarkable people on earth. None of them deserve the trauma that climate change is now inflicting. This book tells the story of the companies that put our planet in this predicament, and how we might get out of it.”—Bill McKibben, New York Times bestselling author of Falter
Available in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
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Listen to a Clip from the Audiobook.
Life on the Rocks: Building a Future for Coral Reefs by Juli Berwald
The story of the urgent fight to save coral reefs, and why it matters to us all.
“A courageous and passionate look at the exquisite symbiotic world of coral—and of the human spirit. In entwining deeply personal stories of love and loss and hope on the reefs and in her own family, Berwald offers insight that could not be more relevant to our lives.” —Jennifer Ackerman, author of The Bird Way and The Genius of Birds
“[A]n excellent study of efforts to save the reefs . . . Solidly researched, sharply observed, and compassionately rendered, the parallel struggles in Life on the Rocks make for science writing that is illuminating on several levels.” —Booklist, starred review
Available in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
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Be One with Nature:
Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest by Suzanne Simard
From the world’s leading forest ecologist who forever changed how people view trees and their connections to one another and to other living things in the forest—a moving, deeply personal journey of discovery.
“Vivid and inspiring . . . For Simard, personal experience leads to revelation, and scientific revelation leads to personal insight . . . Finding the Mother Tree helps make sense of a forest of mysteries. It might even persuade you that organisms other than ourselves—even fungi—have agency.”—Eugenia Bone, The Wall Street Journal
“Like Charles Darwin’s findings, Simard’s results are so revolutionary and controversial that they have quickly worked their way into social theory, urban planning, culture and art. Simard’s work knocked 19th-century notions of inevitable competition off their pedestals. If a forest is a commons where the fate of the weakest is tied to that of the strongest, then we have a lot of rethinking to do.”—The Washington Post
Available in Hardcover, eBook, Audio, and Large Print Editions.
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Listen to a Clip from the Audiobook.
Watch Suzanne Simard’s TED Talk: How Trees Talk to Each Other.
The Wild Year: A Field Guide for Exploring Nature All Around Us by Kristyna Baczynski
An illustrated guide to exploring nature, one surprising season—and plant—at a time.
Whether you’re an avid nature lover or newly discovering the world outside your door, you’ll find information and inspiration in this beautifully illustrated pocket companion. Organized by season, its colorful pages are brimming with wondrous wildflowers and plants to discover as you wander, forage, and explore—from alder, foxglove, and fireweed to rosehip and mistletoe.
Artist Kristyna Baczynski blends writing, research, and illustrations that celebrate more than ninety plant specimens, drawn in detail for identification, along with historical, scientific, and folkloric information highlighting the unique backstory and beauty of these everyday natural wonders.
Available August 30th in Trade Paperback and eBook Editions.
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Pig Years: A Memoir by Ellyn Gaydos
This captivating memoir is a “startling testimony to the glories and sorrows of raising and harvesting plants and animals” (Anthony Doerr, bestselling author of All the Light We Cannot See), as an itinerant farmhand chronicles the wonders hidden within the ever-blooming seasons of life, death, and rebirth.
“Lyrical and cleareyed insight into farming from a writer devoted to both crafts . . . Gaydos describes the realities of farm life with honest precision, neither indulging in unnecessary dramatizing nor shying away from the numerous harsh realities . . . A complex and fraught portrait of a lifestyle that is simultaneously protective, precarious, and resistant to change.”—Kirkus Reviews
“The rhythms of Ellyn Gaydos’s new memoir, Pig Years, are the rhythms of nature, of life itself and, yes, death, too. No wonder the book, with its slow burn of uncomfortable facts and sober truth, burrows under the reader’s skin.”—Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author ofChances Are
Available June 14th in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
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Make a Difference:
How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint: 365 Practical Ways to Make a Real Difference by Ellen Tout
The ultimate guide to minimizing your impact on the environment, with hundreds of practical ways to help combat the climate crisis.
Turn over a green leaf in every aspect of your life with this comprehensive guide. Packed with a wealth of information and practical, professional and up-to-date advice about making achievable and sustainable changes, this book can show you how to take a responsible approach to all aspects of your lifestyle including shopping, eating, travel, home life and work habits.
Available July 12th in Trade Paperback and eBook Editions.
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Things You Can Do: How to Fight Climate Change and Reduce Waste by Eduardo Garcia; Illustrated by Sara Boccaccini Meadows
Learn what you can do right now to reduce your carbon footprint with this inspiring, accessible, stunningly illustrated book based on Eduardo Garcia’s popular New York Times column.
“This beautiful and practical book on the climate crisis is for people of all ages, packed with wonderful pictures, powerful stats, and sound advice.”—Mike Berners-Lee, author of There Is No Planet B
“Eduardo Garcia examines every aspect of modern living—from how we cool and heat our homes, to what we eat, to where we shop, to how we get around, to what we wear, and more. He offers sustainable alternatives that not only reduce carbon emissions but also happen to enrich our lives and bring us more joy.”—Anne-Marie Bonneau, author of The Zero-Waste Chef
Available in Trade Paperback and eBook Editions.
Click to Read an Excerpt.
Send a Postcard from the Park:
Subpar Parks Postcards: Celebrating America’s Most Extraordinary National Parks and Their Least Impressed Visitors by Amber Share
From the creator of the wildly popular Instagram account—@subparpaks—and 2021 New York Times bestseller Subpar Parks, a collection of postcards with iconic and hilarious illustrations, some brand-new and exclusive to this collection.
With Subpar Parks, both on the rapidly growing Instagram page and in the book, author and illustrator Amber Share combines two things that seem like they might not work together yet somehow harmonize perfectly: beautiful illustrations of our national parks and the eye-popping one-star reviews disappointed tourists have left online.
Now, fans of the parks and of Amber’s work can enjoy a book of twenty-two postcards, each featuring an illustration of a popular park, presented in a postcard-book format.
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Get Outside:
Outdoor Kids in an Inside World: Getting Your Family Our of the House and Radically Engaged with Nature by Steven Rinella
The “imperative call to action” (Nick Offerman) for parenting tough, curious, and competent kids who feel at home in the outdoors, from the New York Times bestselling author and host of the TV series and podcast MeatEater.
“A revelation for families struggling to get kids to GO OUTSIDE, or to just stop using the darn smartphone.”—Michaeleen Doucleff, PhD, New York Times bestselling author of Hunt, Gather, Parent
“For many years, I have been laboring to answer the question of how to get all of our kids off the couch and back outside into nature. Now I can just hand their parents this book—an imperative call to action that contains the secrets to living better through getting outside, and having fun while doing it.”—Nick Offerman, New York Times bestselling author of Paddle Your Own Canoe
Available May 3rd in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
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Listen to a Clip from the Audiobook.
A Listen for Kids:
One Turtle’s Last Straw: The Real-Life Rescue That Sparked a Sea Change by Elisa Boxer; Read by the Author
The inspiring true story of how one small turtle and kids all over the country sparked an environmental movement. Based on the viral video that created awareness of the harm caused by plastic straws, this heart-wrenching story is a perfect tool for teaching children about sustainability.
Slurp! A boy finishes his drink and tosses it in the trash, straw and all. He moves on without another thought . . . In the waters off of Costa Rica, scientists spot an endangered sea turtle and pull him aboard to study him. But he has something stuck in his nose. A barnacle? A stick? No . . . it’s a plastic straw! This heroic story of one turtle’s rescue reminds us that even the smallest straw can hurt our ocean life–and that the smallest demand for change can grow into something big!
Available May 10th in Hardcover, eBook, and Audiobook.
Listen to a Clip from the Audiobook.
