In honor of Earth Day — well, Earth Month, really — our team has shared a list of their favorites in the climate space right now.
From books, podcasts, and pop culture, to influential folks they’d love to sit down to dinner with, we hope you enjoy our recommendations for what you might want to check out this April.
We’re also thrilled to bring back our “Voices to Power” theme from 2021 this Earth Month in our Look Up: Voices to Power story series: featuring a weekly publication that grounds us in the people of the climate movement — encouraging us to “look up” and onward toward solutions that are happening right now across our communities. (Essentially, let’s be different from folks in Netflix’s Don’t Look Up film!) Each story will step into the lives and leadership of individuals working on climate change, from youth activists to creative communicators, educators to coffee suppliers. Keep your eye on our social media @climategenorg for weekly story releases!
For now, we hope you enjoy our Earth Month list. Don’t forget to share your own favorites with us, too!
What are some of your favorite books you’ve read about climate change? Or, a book you’d like to check out?
All We Can Save edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine K. Wilkinson, This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein, The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline, and waiting at the library for me: Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes Through Indigenous Science by Jessica Hernandez. — Jason Rodney
The Overstory by Richard Powers, The Myth of Human Supremacy by Derrick Jensen are two of my favorites. I am currently reading Islands of Abandonment by Cal Flynn. — Trevor Cobb
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, Beyond Growth by Herman Daly — Ethan Quezada
I am a huge proponent of climate fiction and my most recent favorite in this genre is The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline. It centers the importance of story, the knowledge of Indigenous peoples, and the possibility of hope and resilience in the face of challenge and oppression. I also have a deep love for the Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, which I argue is one of the first pieces of climate fiction. — Kristen Poppleton
I’ve been reading a lot of climate change picture books and YA climate fiction lately, with a few adult nonfiction sprinkled in! Some favorites:
- Paradise on Fire by Jewell Parker Rhoades—great middle-grade novel
- All the Feelings Under the Sun by Leslie Davenport—amazing for upper elementary and middle school readers
- All We Can Save edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine K. Wilkinson
I’m looking forward to reading:
- Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
- A Bigger Picture: My Fight to Bring an African Voice to the Climate Crisis by Vanessa Nakate
- Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy
- Blue Mar by Francesca G. Varela
— Marie Fargo
I would like to check out Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore, as I think sea level rise is already one of our biggest climate change impacts/threats to the United States, and would love to hear about deeper impacts to life as we know it. — Seth Spencer
Oryx and Crake / The Year of the Flood / Madd Addam (this is a trilogy by Margaret Atwood); Yellow Bird by Sierra Crane Murdoch; Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann. — Denise Fosse
I absolutely love Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (anything from Milkweed Editions, honestly, is worth a read). An American War by Omar El Akkad is some truly riveting albeit disturbing climate fiction about what a world might look like after fossil fuel use is outlawed. The Future Earth by Eric Holthaus paints the picture of what a resilient future can look like if we collectively organize to make it so. — Lauren Boritzke Smith
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolburt, and Winning The Green New Deal edited by Guido Girgenti and Varshini Prakash. — Claire Cooke
Any podcasts you’d recommend?
Stories from Home: Living the Just Transition and For the Wild. — Jason Rodney
Money.power.land.solidarity: the “Love Blooms Eternal” episode, specifically. — Daniela Kunkel-Linares
I listen to podcasts to learn new things, laugh, and explore ways of living in the world we live in. I loved learning about tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, and land rights through the first season of the podcast, This Land. The Hysteria podcast is irreverent and sassy and makes me laugh every time, AND I learn things! : ) The Onbeing podcast recently launched a series called The Future of Hope which is lovely and poetic and has given me strategies for living in the world today. — Kristen Poppleton
Hot Take with Mary Annaise Heglar and Amy Westervelt is great. I haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet, but I’m excited to check out Climate Change and Happiness, hosted by Panu Pihkala and Thomas Doherty. — Marie Fargo
Any other general climate change media like tv shows/movies/music, etc.?
The movies Don’t Look Up and Ice Age: The Meltdown. — Ethan Quezada
The Condor and the Eagle, Bring Her Home, Helena from Sarayaku, and the entire D.C. Environmental Film Festival — Sarah Goodspeed
I was inspired to start looking for connections between art and climate change when I first came across Gregory Johnson’s Climate Change Haikus and watercolors. As an IPCC author he was frustrated by how hard it was to communicate the report and created them. Billie Eilish has a number of songs and music videos that are super cool and sad: My Future is lovely. I love the 1975’s musical background to Greta Thunberg speaking to urgency. Amanda Gorman has her beautiful poem Earth Rise, but another lesser-known short one called In the Eye Of is one that I love. Kathy Jetnil Kijiner’s spoken word is all amazing (Climate Generation was so lucky to have her join us for our ten year anniversary and write a poem for us) Finally, the playlist of musical artists telling their climate story at Climate Generation’s Band Together event a few years ago is so beautiful and inspiring! Worth a watch. — Kristen Poppleton
Movies: Don’t Look Up!; Day After Tomorrow; mother!; Beasts of the Southern Wild; Avatar; Elysium — Denise Fosse
What about favorite social media accounts to follow for climate content / inspiration?
The YouTube channel Our Changing Climate makes really informative and radical climate change content about climate justice. Super helpful and informational breakdowns of a variety of climate related topics. I follow lots of environmental art accounts on Instagram: @ourplanetweek and its founder @asiaorlando_ are two great ones to get started and find more. — Trevor Cobb
Culture Strike, The Slow Factory, Rising Tide, Earthrise, Indigena, and Think 100&. — Sarah Goodspeed
@projectdrawdown, @mattscottGW, @DrShepherd2013 on Twitter. — Seth Spencer
Go follow Atmos Mag and read all of their articles! Earthrise Media has incredible videos and projects going, always. Elizabeth Wahuti is an incredible young activist. Dr. Elizabeth Sawin provides me with hope and imagination daily. — Lauren Boritzke Smith
How are you celebrating Earth Month outside of work?
Planting veggie seeds and talking with friends about #LandBack dreams. — Jason Rodney
Spending time outdoors with nature, enjoying spring and sunshine. Creating art and writing love letters and love poems to our planet. Riding the bus and making ethical choices with my spending habits. Staying engaged with local calls to action from climate leaders and other climate nonprofits. — Trevor Cobb
Planting trees! — Ethan Quezada
I am celebrating by working with the climate justice committee to continue our organizing efforts of calling on the army corps of engineers to pull the Line 3 permits! — Daniela Kunkel-Linares
I am ridiculously excited to be taking a personal trip to attend the 72nd Annual Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I will be spending four full days attending hikes and photography workshops featuring flowers, lichen, funghi, owls, and stars with all the other spring flora and fauna enthusiasts of the world. — Kristen Poppleton
I like to take walks and pause to notice the little things in nature I may sometimes take for granted. I try to use Earth Month as a reminder to notice and express gratitude for all the amazing gifts that Earth gives us! — Marie Fargo
Just making sure I am outside with my family as much as possible, and reaching out to local and state representatives about the importance of climate change, economic support, and climate resiliency plans. — Seth Spencer
Tending seeds! I’m looking forward to getting things planted in my own vegetable garden as well as getting my hands in the dirt at a local community garden I volunteer at now that things are warming up. — Lauren Boritzke Smith
If you could have dinner with one person in the climate movement / climate change community, who would it be and why?
Vandana Shiva. Reading her books always fills me with every emotion, re-energizes and motivates me into action, and recenters how I view our collective work and vision for a just future. She is driven by a deep love for this world and I would love to feel her energy in person! — Sarah Goodspeed
Winona LaDuke. She is a strong, smart, indigenous leader with a wealth of experience in the environmental justice movement. — Claire Cooke
Vic Barrett (Democracy Organizer for Action for Climate Emergency). Vic just seems like someone who is fully dedicated to climate justice and has the courage and energy to take measures I wouldn’t have even thought of at his age (such as taking the U.S. Federal Government to court for their lack of climate change action). I would love to hear his thoughts on what educators and students could/should be doing for climate justice. — Seth Spencer
Al Gore — he was courageous at a time when it was hard to be brave. — Denise Fosse