Shuswap Climate Action Society
supporting community knowledge and solutions
Welcome to Climate Reads!
There are so many books on the topic of climate change that we decided to start a book club. Below we share some of the books we have discussed in our most recent Climate Reads! meetings, including a thumbnail of the book with a link to find out more.
Our next meetings are Tuesday September 29, 6:00 PM and Tuesday November 3, 6:00 PM at the Salmon Arm Library, Piccadilly Mall. So please join us for some great conversations about some incredible books!
Value(s): Building a Better World for All by Mark Carney (2021) – This book, published four years before Carney became PM, is a National Bestseller and winner of the 2021 National Business Book Award. Wikipedia states "The book examines the role of values in shaping social and economic systems and argues that the market economy has drifted from its moral foundations by prioritizing short-term financial gain over such societal values as fairness, resilience, and sustainability." As expected, there’s a lot of economics and economic jargon, but there are chapters on the environment and climate change which made it more interesting for our readers.
What If We Ge It Right? Visions of Climate Futures edited by Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson (2024) – This recently published book was a New York Times Bestseller. The editor is a renowned marine biologist and climate expert who has curated a series of essays, poetry and conversations by a group of dynamic people who are willing to imagine what seems impossible. An excellent read that is very focused on climate solutions.
I Want A Better Catastrophe: Navigating the Climate Crisis with Grief, Hope and Gallows Humor by Andrew Boyd (2023) – The author is a writer, humorist and climate activist. In this book the reader is taken along for the ride as the author sets out on his quest to learn how to live with the impossible news of our climate doom. In this quest he meets with 8 leading climate thinkers, or as he calls them, “remarkable hopers and doomers”. Our reader found the book fascinating and complex. Definitely not a quick or easy read but well worth the time and effort.
Our Green Heart: The Soul and Science of Forests by Diana Beresford-Kroeger (2024). Dr. Beresford-Kroeger is an Irish botanist, medical biochemist, polymath, and author. In this book she challenges us to explore the science of forests and discusses how they will save us from climate breakdown as well as ways we can do our part to protect them. This book inspired a lively discussion about its various aspects, such as how the book was structured, the author’s lyrical prose, the wide variety of knowledge she shared and what we each learned. Definitely recommended as an important climate read!
A Brief History of the Earth's Climate: Everyone's Guide to the Science of Climate Change by Dr. Steven Earle (2021) - This is not a new book but it is an accessible, illustrated, myth-busting guide to the natural evolution of the Earth’s climate over 4.6 billion years, how and why human-caused global warming and climate change is different and more dangerous, and how to counter skeptics and deniers with sound science.
The Lost Trees of Willow Avenue: A Story of Climate and Hope on One American Street by Mike Tidwell (2025) – This book is by an American writer and climate change activist who decided in 2023 to keep a record for a full year of the impacts of climate change on his one urban block. The result is full of surprises and true stories of human struggle and dying local trees. The reader enjoyed the local theme and found it an engaging and hopeful read!
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E Frankl (1946) – This book, originally published in 1946, was written by an Austrian neurologist, psychologist, philosopher and Holocaust survivor. The book is based on his personal experiences and those of people he treated and has been an inspiration for spiritual survival for many people for many years. The reader recommended it as it shows us the importance of hope when faced with seemingly insurmountable problems, like the ones we face now with the climate crisis.
A Psalm for the Wild-Built and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, by Becky Chambers - this duology of novellas is known as the Monk and Robot Series. These books, first published in 2021 and 2022 respectively, are best sellers and won the Hugo-Award in 2022. The duology is categorized as Solarpunk which is (according to Wikipedia) a literary, artistic, and social movement, closely related to the hopepunk movement, that envisions and works toward actualizing a sustainable future interconnected with nature and community. The "solar" represents solar energy as a renewable energy source and an optimistic vision of the future that rejects climate doomerism, while the "punk" refers to do it yourself and the countercultural, post-capitalist, and sometimes decolonial aspects of creating such a future. The reader highly recommended these books as a fun, easy and hopeful read!
Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life by E.O. Wilson (2020) - Pulitzer Prize–winning author and world-renowned biologist Edward O. Wilson states that in order to stave off the mass extinction of species, including our own, we must move swiftly to preserve the biodiversity of our planet. Half-Earth | Edward O Wilson | W. W. Norton & Company (wwnorton.com)
Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium https://www.uvic.ca/pcic/index.php - PCIC is a regional climate service centre at the University of Victoria that conducts applied research and provides practical information on the physical impacts of climate variability and change in the Pacific and Yukon Region of Canada. We collaborate with climate researchers and regional stakeholders to produce data-based products and online tools in support of long-term planning.​ Although not a “book” it was recommended as an excellent source of “hard core” climate data. In particular the Extreme Events Webinar was recommended, as a summary of severe weather events like heat domes and rain events that have occurred globally.
Other worthy reads:
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Pastoral Song (2021) by James Rebanks, an acclaimed chronicle of the regeneration of one family’s traditional English farm.
Planta Sapiens (2022) by Paco Calvo with Natalie Lawrence, provides a window into the astonishing realm of plant intelligence.
A Perfect Moral Storm: The Ethical Tragedy of Climate Change (2011) by Stephen M. Gardiner, in which the looming climate catastrophe is reframed as an ethical failure.
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Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning (2006) by George Monbiot. ‘I defy you to read this book and not feel motivated to change’ THE TIMES
The Lives of a Cell: Notes from a Biology Watcher (1974) by Lewis Thomas. This book explores the world around us and examines the complex interdependence of all things.
Build Beyond Zero (2022) by Bruce King and Chris Magwood. "Net Zero" has been an effective rallying cry for the green building movement, signaling a goal of having every building generate at least as much energy as it uses.
More books will be added as Climate Reads! meet and discuss the books we find interesting!
Please email us if you are interested in joining Climate Reads!