Five beach reads that will get you thinking this summer!

Sand- check. Cocktail- check. New RubyMoon bikini- check.

Good book? Check.

Nothing beats unwinding and getting into a good book. Here’s a roundup of some of the most popular books on sustainability and the environment. Get informed- whilst getting brown.

Collapse: How societies choose to fail or survive, Jared Diamond:

Diamond makes an enquiry into how societies such as the Mayan community and the people of Easter Island, collapsed. Using a range of past and present case studies, Diamond highlights the conditions needed for societal collapse, and what needs to be done to avoid it. Stories of serial self-inflicted ‘ecocide’ can lead us to draw conclusions about the fate of our current situation. Not the jolliest of reads but certainly thought-provoking. Have booze on hand when reading.

 

This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate, Naomi Klein:

This International Bestseller is a must read for those who care about the future of our planet. Framing our current climate crisis as one based around the conflict between capitalism and the planet, Klein pins the blame firmly on capitalism. She explores how climate action has taken a backseat politically as a result of a larger corporate agenda.

Gaia: A new look at Life on Earth, James Lovelock

In this work Lovelock posits the earth is a living thing, as its own organism. His ideas were often passed by as eccentric. Now, however, as climate change climbs higher and higher up the agenda, many of his predictions about the earth are coming true. Modelled as a modern day prophecy, this is a must read for non-scientists who want to understand more about the earth as a complex system and our place in it.

 

When a Billion Chinese Jump: How China will save mankind or destroy it, Jonathan Watts

Watt’s travels across China, from industrial waste lands to beauteous mountains, witnessing different responses to the encroaching environmental disaster. He portrays individual lives and responses, from those at the top of society and those at the bottom, in a way that cannot leave the reader unaffected.  It highlights especially the role our individual actions can have in making a difference to our planet.

 

When the Rivers Run Dry: What happens when our water runs out?, Fred Pearce

Dealing with the worldwide water crisis, Pearce emphasises how now, water ‘is the new oil’. He explains how we got to this point of increasing hose pipe bans and drought warnings, in the UK and worldwide. This is sure to get you thinking about your own water usage, or wastage. Let’s not be putting ‘if it’s yellow let it mellow’ signs up in the bathroom though.

By Roisin McCormack

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