Mark Lynas’ 2008 book Six Degrees soon became a must-read for anyone concerned about the speed and severity of global heating. In its 2020 incarnation, updated to reflect the most recent scientific research and projections, Lynas’ analysis of how the world will change with each degree of warming pulls no punches about what’s at stake. But in leaving space for optimism and hope, the evidence he sets out becomes a powerful call to action as well as a timely and terrifying warning.
First published in 1939, Steinbeck’s powerful tale of greed, corruption and the consequences of intensive farming is a stark reminder that man-made environmental disasters are far from new. The story tells how the beleaguered Joad family, forced to join the great wave of migrants leaving the poverty of Oklahoma’s ruined Dust Bowl, travels in search of the green orchards of California, with its “golden oranges hanging from the trees”. But there’s trouble in paradise…
Imagine two concentric circles, one inside the other: a social foundation to ensure the protection of every human being, and an ecological ceiling to prevent the overshooting of the planet’s boundaries. This is the doughnut: the ecologically safe and socially just sweet spot in which humanity can thrive. Widely hailed as a radically ground-breaking work, Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics identifies the seven critical ways in which mainstream economics has betrayed global society.
Debunking the myth of ‘rational economic man’ and unpicking the argument that economic growth must continue at all costs, Raworth offers an exciting and viable roadmap for bringing humanity into the sweet spot represented by the doughnut. A must-read for anyone interested in transforming the global economic system into a force for good within the means of the planet.
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Ever since its publication in 1962, Rachel Carson’s eloquent, ground-breaking investigation into the devastating effects of pesticides has been recognised as a landmark environmental text. It is also proof that literature can lead to actual change: Silent Spring’s meticulous scientific examination of the widely-used chemical agent DDT and its consequences galvanised activists, the public and policy-makers alike, triggering legislative changes which ultimately led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States.
Carson’s masterpiece is also a reminder that it is through connecting with the natural world that we can find the resources to save it: “Those who contemplate the beauty of the Earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.”
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From its first line – “It is, worse, much worse, than you think” – Wallace-Wells’ urgent, unapologetic wake-up pulls no punches. Published in 2019, it maps out how humankind’s current trajectory will lead to a seismic shift in politics, culture, and history itself unless we dismantle our delusion of invincibility and begin to embrace our own agency and harness the transformative power of collective action. Because as Wallace-Wells reminds us, the stakes could not be higher: “If we emit carbon dioxide at anything like current rates for the next two decades, the game is over.”
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“The planet, for the first time, has been entirely reconfigured. It is as if there were no nature left.” McKibben’s classic 1989 work, which has had a profound impact on the environmental movement, makes a stirring plea for a fundamental philosophical shift in the way we relate to the non-human world. Emphasising the profound transformation of the planet through anthropogenic climate disruption and environmental devastation, McKibben explores how humans have disassociated from their natural environment, and come to see “nature as construct”. It is only through recognising our interconnectedness with the natural world, he argues, that we can find and implement sustainable solutions.
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When Schumacher’s original eco-bible was published in 1973, it had a profound effect on people who were ready to question mainstream economics and became a global best-seller. “Wisdom demands a new orientation of science towards the organic, the gentle, the non-violent, the elegant and the beautiful,” argues Schumacher, whose collection of essays contrasts the efficiency of large-scale industrial systems with the resilience and flexibility of smaller, decentralised models.
In challenging the paradigm of mindless economic consumption, Schumacher advocates for the concept of “enoughness” and argues that economic systems should service communities, not corporations.
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Jeremy Lent’s iconic work, described by George Monbiot as “the most profound, brilliant and potentially world-changing book I’ve read this century,” dissects the profound ways in which our cultures shape our understanding of the world. With rigour and lyricism, Lent explores the synthesis of cognitive, religious, philosophical, scientific and political systems that make up our civilizational structures, illuminating the intricate connections between language, myth, and belief systems.
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“It is always easier to deny reality” writes Naomi Klein, “than to allow our worldview to be shattered.” Yet as her powerful polemic demonstrates, denialism has become a potent, corrosive and lucrative industry. Interlacing social, economic, and environmental narratives, she exposes the stark reality of the fossil fuel agenda, confronts the deep-rooted myths of capitalism, and explores how a radical shift in humanity’s values and systems can lead to a fairer, more sustainable future.
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“We should preserve every scrap of biodiversity as priceless,” writes the naturalist, biologist and ecologist E.O. Wilson. By the time of his death in 2019 Wilson’s pioneering work in the fields of biodiversity and socio-biology had made him one of the world’s most influential scientists.
Over the decades Wilson became increasingly alarmed by humankind’s destruction of the world’s fragile ecosystems. In The Future of Life he argues that we have a moral obligation to restore and conserve them if we are to survive: “Destroying a rainforest for economic gain is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal.”
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