Climate Change & Waste

 

Since Al Gore’s 2006 movie documenting global warming, An Inconvenient Truth, hit public audiences, more and more people around the world have joined in the discussion about what we can do as a global society to protect our environment and ourselves from the effects of global warming. These engaging selections look at climate change and the various pollution and waste-related issues that have caused it.

Titles

The World Without Us
– Alan Weisman
In this imaginative work, Weisman explores how long our cities would stand, which animals would thrive and what our eventual impact on the planet would be if humans were to disappear forever.

Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming
– Chris Mooney
New Orleans native Mooney investigates whether global warming has had an effect on the strength of hurricanes, and offers an account of the ongoing debate over what to expect from storms in the future.

An Air That Kills: How the Asbestos Poisoning of Libby, Montana, Uncovered a National Scandal
–Andrew Schneider & David McCumber When its families began to die of asbestos-related diseases, the mining community of Libby, Montana came together to demand justice.

Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash
– Elizabeth Royte
Stopping along the way to talk to scientists, CEOs, composters and others involved in waste removal, Royte follows our garbage and explores its environmental impact.

Gain
– Richard Powers
The story of three brothers in postcolonial America who start a soap making company is intertwined with that of current-day Laura Brody, a divorced, Midwestern mother of two who discovers that her ovarian cancer may be linked to the household products manufactured in her town.

Exodus**
– Julie Bertagna
The year is 2099 and the ice caps are melting, changing forever the face of Earth. Fifteen-year-old Mara must lead her island people to a new city where they will be safe from the rising seas.

Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet
– Mark Lynas
Scientists report that the Earth’s temperature is likely to rise between one and six degrees by century’s end. In this enthralling book, journalist Lynas uses scientific data to envision life on Earth at each increased degree.

Silent Snow: The Slow Poisoning of the Arctic
– Marla Cone
On her journey to what appears to be the pristine upper reaches of the world, Cone discovers that tons of pesticides and chemicals have entered the delicate food-web of the arctic.

 

**Breezy Reads: light, entertaining books for both adult and teen readers.