Climate change

With Greta Thunberg visiting Iowa City, it seems right to highlight some of our items that deal with climate change, the many ways it affects us, and what we can do.

The uninhabitable earth : life after warming

David Wallace-Wells

304.28 /Wallace-Wells
Nonfiction, Science

"It is worse, much worse, than you think. If your anxiety about global warming is dominated by fears of sea-level rise, you are barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possible. In California, wildfires now rage year-round, destroying thousands of homes. Across the US, "500-year" storms pummel communities month after month, and floods displace tens of millions annually. This is only a preview of the changes to come. And they are coming fast. Without a revolution in how billions of humans conduct their lives, parts of the Earth could become close to uninhabitable, and other parts horrifically inhospitable, as soon as the end of this century. In his travelogue of our near future, David Wallace-Wells brings into stark relief the climate troubles that await--food shortages, refugee emergencies, and other crises that will reshape the globe. But the world will be remade by warming in more profound ways as well, transforming our politics, our culture, our relationship to technology, and our sense of history. It will be all-encompassing, shaping and distorting nearly every aspect of human life as it is lived today. Like An Inconvenient Truth and Silent Spring before it, The Uninhabitable Earth is both a meditation on the devastation we have brought upon ourselves and an impassioned call to action. For just as the world was brought to the brink of catastrophe within the span of a lifetime, the responsibility to avoid it now belongs to a single generation"--

The end of ice : bearing witness and finding meaning in the path of climate disruption

Dahr Jamail

363.73874 /Jamail
Science, Nature, Nonfiction

"After nearly a decade overseas as a war reporter, the acclaimed journalist Dahr Jamail returned to America to renew his passion for mountaineering, only to find that the slopes he had once climbed have been irrevocably changed by climate disruption. In response, Jamail embarks on a journey to the geographical front lines of this crisis--from Alaska to Australia's Great Barrier Reef, via the Amazon rainforest--in order to discover the consequences to nature and to humans. In [this book], we follow Jamail as he scales Denali, the highest peak in North America, dives in the warm crystal waters of the Pacific only to find bleached coral reefs, and explores the tundra of St. Paul Island where he meets the last subsistence seal hunters of the Bering Sea and witnesses its collapsing food web. Accompanied along the way by climate scientists and people whose families for centuries have fished, farmed, and lived in the areas he visits, Jamail begins to accept the fact that Earth, most likely, is in a hospice situation. Ironically, this allows him to renew his passion for the planet's wild places, cherishing Earth in a way he has never been able to before. Like no other book, The End of Ice offers a firsthand chronicle of the catastrophic reality of our situation and the incalculable necessity of relishing and caring for this vulnerable, fragile planet while we still can."--Dust jacket.

Losing Earth : a recent history

Nathaniel Rich

363.73874 /Rich
Science, Nonfiction

"By 1979, we knew nearly everything we understand today about climate change--including how to stop it. Over the next decade, a handful of scientists, politicians, and strategists, led by two unlikely heroes, risked their careers in a desperate, escalating campaign to convince the world to act before it was too late. [This] is their story"--

The fate of food : what we'll eat in a bigger, hotter, smarter world

Amanda Little

338.19 /Little
Nonfiction, Science, Nature

"In this fascinating look at the race to secure the global food supply, environmental journalist and professor Amanda Little tells the defining story of the sustainable food revolution as she weaves together stories from the world's most creative and controversial innovators on the front lines of food science, agriculture, and climate change"--

Here : poems for the planet

811.608 /Here
Poetry, Nature, Science

"HERE: Poems for the Planet is a lovesong to a planet in crisis. Summoning a chorus of over 125 diverse poetic voices, this anthology approaches the impending environmental crisis with a sense of urgency and hopefulness. Now more than ever is the time for this book as it seeks to galvanize readers, students, teachers, philanthropists and everyday people to address the realities of climate change head on and become individual catalysts for change. Here looks at the world with a renewed sense of courage, fighting fear that so often leads to indifference and cynicism. The anthology also includes an activist guide, created in tandem with the Union of Concerned Scientists, and an introduction by His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. With these poems, we hope you will see with new eyes what the astronauts saw the first time they peered down from space at our tiny world"--

On fire : the (burning) case for a green new deal

Naomi Klein

363.7 /Klein
Science, Nature, Political, Nonfiction

"For more than twenty years, Naomi Klein has been the foremost chronicler of the economic war waged on both people and planet-and an unapologetic champion of a sweeping environmental agenda with justice at its center. In lucid, elegant dispatches from the frontlines of contemporary natural disaster, she pens surging, indispensable essays for a wide public: prescient advisories and dire warnings of what future awaits us if we refuse to act, as well as hopeful glimpses of a far better future. On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal gathers for the first time more than a decade of her impassioned writing, and pairs it with new material on the staggeringly high stakes of our immediate political and economic choices. These long-form essays show Klein at her most prophetic and philosophical, investigating the climate crisis not only as a profound political challenge but as a spiritual and imaginative one, as well. Delving into topics ranging from the clash between ecological time and our culture of "perpetual now," to the soaring history of humans changing and evolving rapidly in the face of grave threats, to rising white supremacy and fortressed borders as a form of "climate barbarism," this is a rousing call to action for a planet on the brink. With reports spanning from the ghostly Great Barrier Reef, to the annual smoke-choked skies of the Pacific Northwest, to post-hurricane Puerto Rico, to a Vatican attempting an unprecedented "ecological conversion," Klein makes the case that we will rise to the existential challenge of climate change only if we are willing to transform the systems that produced this crisis. An expansive, far-ranging exploration that sees the battle for a greener world as indistinguishable from the fight for our lives, On Fire captures the burning urgency of the climate crisis, as well as the fiery energy of a rising political movement demanding a catalytic Green New Deal"--

Climate justice : hope, resilience, and the fight for a sustainable future

Mary Robinson

363.7 /Robinson
Nonfiction, Science, Nature

"Holding her first grandchild in her arms in 2003, Mary Robinson was struck by the uncertainty of the world he had been born into. Before his fiftieth birthday, he would share the planet with more than nine billion people--people battling for food, water, and shelter in an increasingly volatile climate. The faceless, shadowy menace of climate change had become, in an instant, deeply personal. Mary Robinson's mission would lead her all over the world, from Malawi to Mongolia, and to a heartening revelation: that an irrepressible driving force in the battle for climate justice could be found at the grassroots level, mainly among women, many of them mothers and grandmothers like herself. From Sharon Hanshaw, the Mississippi matriarch whose campaign began in her East Biloxi hair salon and culminated in her speaking at the United Nations, to Constance Okollet, a small farmer who transformed the fortunes of her ailing community in rural Uganda, Robinson met with ordinary people whose resilience and ingenuity had already unlocked extraordinary change. Powerful and deeply humane, Climate Justice is a stirring manifesto on one of the most pressing humanitarian issues of our time, and a lucid, affirmative, and well-argued case for hope."--Dust jacket.

Climate of hope : how cities, businesses, and citizens can save the planet

Michael Bloomberg

363.73874 /Bloomberg
Nonfiction, Science, Nature

"The 2016 election left many people who are concerned about the environment fearful that progress on climate change would come screeching to a halt. But not Michael Bloomberg and Carl Pope. Bloomberg, an entrepreneur and former mayor of New York City, and Pope, a lifelong environmental leader, approach climate change from different perspectives, yet they arrive at similar conclusions. Without agreeing on every point, they share a belief that cities, businesses, and citizens can lead--and win--the battle against climate change, no matter which way the political winds in Washington may shift. In Climate of Hope, Bloomberg and Pope offer an optimistic look at the challenge of climate change, the solutions they believe hold the greatest promise, and the practical steps that are necessary to achieve them. Writing from their own experiences, and sharing their own stories from government, business, and advocacy, Bloomberg and Pope provide a road map for tackling the most complicated challenge the world has ever faced."--Jacket.

Kiss the ground : how the food you eat can reverse climate change, heal your body & ultimately save our world

Joshua Tickell

631.584 /Tickell
Nonfiction, Science, Health

"Discover the hidden power soil has to reverse climate change, and how a regenerative farming diet not only delivers us better health and wellness, but also rebuilds our most precious resource--the very ground that feeds us. Josh Tickell, one of America's most celebrated documentary filmmakers and director of Fuel, has dedicated most of his life to saving the environment. Now, in Kiss the Ground, he explains an incredible truth: by changing our diets to a soil-nourishing, regenerative agriculture diet, we can reverse global warming, harvest healthy, abundant food, and eliminate the poisonous substances that are harming our children, pets, bodies, and ultimately our planet. Through fascinating and accessible interviews with celebrity chefs, ranchers, farmers, and top scientists, this remarkable book, soon to be a full-length documentary film produced by Leonardo DiCaprio will teach you how to become an agent in humanity's single most important and time sensitive mission. Reverse climate change and effectively save the world--all through the choices you make in how and what to eat"--

Just cool it! : the climate crisis and what we can do : a post-Paris Agreement game plan

David T. Suzuki

363.73874 /Suzuki
Nature, Science, Nonfiction

For decades, Canadian scientist, activist, and broadcaster Suzuki (The Sacred Balance) has spoken up on behalf of the environment. With journalist coauthor Hanington, he updates the message, taking into account the points established at the UN 2015 Paris Agreement. At that conference, almost all nations made commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and set a date by which they would stop burning coal, oil, and gas. The authors remind governments, businesses, and individuals that honoring these "breakthrough" commitments requires making major changes. They acknowledge that fighting global warming is challenging and expensive, but contend that ignoring it would be catastrophic. They state that agricultural solutions should revolve around sustainably working with nature and storing more carbon in soil, and that technological solutions should include building a smart power grid and storage to manage renewable energy that is replacing fossil fuels. More controversial statements are about economics and politics: that producing carbon pollution indicates market failure, that mainstream economics must value natural capital and ecological services, and that governments must lead the global shift from fossil fuels. As in Suzuki's earlier books, the tone is practical about the means to make change yet passionate about preserving an environment that supports biodiversity and human civilization.

Drawdown : the most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming

363.73874 /Drawdown
Nonfiction, Science, Nature

Ten years ago, environmentalist, entrepreneur, and writer Hawken reported, in Blessed Unrest, on diverse activist groups working independently "toward ecological sustainability and social justice." The results of their efforts, along with those of numerous scientific inquiries, generated Hawken's latest contribution to the global sustainability movement, Project Drawdown. "Drawdown" is the point at which greenhouse gases will peak and begin to decline, "the most important goal for humanity to undertake." And one toward which, as Hawken and his contributors so assiduously record in this comprehensive and exacting compilation of vivid exposition and data, we are making progress. Hawken's coalition of experts in fields as varied as biology and economics, geology and engineering, along with such writers as Elizabeth Kolbert, Bill McKibben, and Michael Pollan, take full measure of the 100 "most effective solutions" in a meticulous inventory of current global-warming-reversing practices that are "commonly available, economically viable and scientifically valid." Richly illustrated and accessible, if fervently detailed, this enlightening inventory, backed by an open-source database, covers advances in energy, land use, food, transport, and buildings. The diverse discoveries and achievements, all lucidly explained, from modest domestic adaptations to infrastructure advances, forest restoration to wave and tidal energy, do attest, as Hawken observes, to the power of "our collective imagination, creativity, and conviction." A rigorous and profoundly important resource.