17 of my favourite climate-adjacent books

The best books I've read related to climate change over the last two years.

One of my overflowing bookshelves.

I got really into climate-adjacent books over the last two years. I say climate-adjacent because they’re not all explicitly about climate change, but they have all formed the way I think, act, and speak about the climate crisis. 

I owe these authors my life. I would not be the person I am today without their ability to put their incredible thoughts down onto paper and explain them in such an exciting and engaging way. I thought I was well educated on climate change until I began to read these books, and I realised there is always so much more to know and understand. 

All of these books have helped me build my understanding of going on in the world and inspired my motivation to put it down into words. I would not be able to write half as much as I do without these books, and I am eternally grateful that books and writings is such an accessible way to learn incredible new things. 

Here are some of my favourite climate-adjacent books, in no particular order.

This post might truncate in email because it’s looong, but just tap"View entire message" and you’ll be able to view the entire post in your email app.

Active Hope; How To Face The Mess We’re In With Unexpected Resilience & Creative Power – Joanna Macy & Chris Johnstone.

Active Hope was my most recent climate read, I actually only finished it last week, but it quickly made its way onto my recommendation list. 

This book is full of readily applicable thought experiments and actions to change the way you go about your life pretty much immediately. Almost every chapter had some sort of journal prompt to go deeper into the reading and discover new ways to see the world. 

It’s still settling into my brain, but I can already see how much of this book is going to be used in my writings and explorations over the next few months. It’s also a great read if you’re feeling a lil bit of climate anxiety as I was when I first picked it up. 

“Active Hope is not wishful thinking.

Active Hope is not wanting to be rescued

by the Lone Ranger or some savior.

Active Hope is waking up to the beauty of life

on whose behalf we can act.

We belong to this world.

The web of life is calling us forth at this time.

We’ve come a long way and are here to play our part.

with Active Hope we realize that there are adventures in store,

Strengths to discover, and comrades to link arms with.

Active Hope is a readiness to engage.

Active Hope is a readiness to discover the strengths

in ourselves and in others,

a readiness to discover the reason for hope

and the occasions for love.

A readiness to discover the size and strength of our hearts,

our quickness of our mind, our steadiness of purpose,

our own authority, our love for life,

the liveliness of our curiosity,

the unsuspected deep well of patience and diligence,

the keenness of our senses and our capacity to lead.

None of these can be discovered in an armchair or without risk.”

Eye Of The Storm: Facing Climate And Social Chaos With Calm And Courage – Terry Lepage

This was bought for me as a birthday present by a reader! (Thank you again, Betti!) and it fell into my lap at a perfect time when it was highly needed. Plus it introduced me to the Deep Adaption forum which I’ve enjoyed dipping in and out of. 

“Do you feel obligated to attend to all the tragedies of the world? You are not. Truly. Nor are you required to be up on predictions of future catastrophes. Know how much exposure to suffering that is not your own is too much for you to process. Then do not subject yourself to that much.” 

This book is about facing climate and social chaos with calm and courage—an essential piece of reading for the world we find ourselves in at the moment. It’s full of tools for keeping yourself together when things fall apart. Helping you to find purpose, and even joy, in hard times.

I’ve only owned this book for a month, yet I’ve referred back to it several times already. It’s full of sage advice. It’s on the doomer end of things, Terry is a collapse-er, but I think it’s such a comforting read it’s well worth it for a wide range of people. I think this is one of my top save-in-a-fire books, too. 

“[T]he more we as a culture fear dying and collapse, the more we will intentionally create the cruelty that people perpetrate when they are afraid. People commit all kinds of aggression when they attempt to defend against what they fear. So please, become an amateur collapse hospice carer. Help show people that they can face our decline by loving and savouring life more, not less, as options get fewer.”

From What Is to What If: Unleashing the Power of Imagination to Create the Future We Want – Rob Hopkins

I love, love, LOVE Rob Hopkins’ way of thinking. This book is about reclaiming and unleashing the power of our imagination to ‘solve the problems of our time’. Rob’s theory is that we can’t create a better future until we imagine it, so he’s dedicated this book to asking the most important question: what if things turned out okay?

“If we can imagine it, desire it, dream about it, it is so much more likely that we will put our energy and determination into making it a reality.”

Imagination is an essential yet often ignored part of coming out of a crisis like the one we find ourselves in today. Because we know what we're currently doing isn't working, but we don't know what to do next.

Within our society, we have become so used to campaigning against things, that we have lost sight of where we want to go. And as that famous saying goes: we can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. 

Instead, we must first imagine the kind of world we want to create and then go about creating it. Rob is all about firing up people’s imaginations with possibilities and ideas and then getting alongside them and helping their ideas become our reality.

“It seems as though most of us have less and less space to think creatively or imaginatively, if at all. Even among people who work within the ‘creative industries’, their imagination seems increasingly harnessed to create demand for things nobody really needs, whose production is increasingly pushing our human and ecological systems to the brink of collapse – almost as if imagination has been co opted in the service of our own extinction.”

Honorary mention: The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience – Rob Hopkins

If I had to pick one between From What Is To What If and The Transition Handbook, I’d pick the former as it covers a wider range of topics, but if you’re interested in individual action and how community can–and will–create a better future, The Transition Handbook is a great read. Plus you can get it for like £3 on eBay. 

Savage Gods –

Paul Kingsnorth

.

This one is more about belonging and writing than anything else, but as someone who writes and who constantly thinks about society, climate change, and the wider world culture as a whole, it spoke so deeply to me.

“[W]hy should this poor little plot of land have to bear the weight of meaning that some wandering primate has wanted to layer upon it? Why should anyone or anything have to bear the weight of our stories?” 

I hadn’t actually read any of Paul’s writing before this one, which is funny as he constantly pops up in conversations I have, but I think this was a really lovely introduction to his non-Christian works and I would recommend it to fellow wanderers of the Earth trying to find their place. If you don’t like people talking about themselves, don’t read this book, but if you love a bit of angst, check it out. 

I didn’t pick up this one myself, my mom lent it to me and I refused to give it back to her. I’m not even sure if you can buy it brand new anymore, but if you can grab yourself a copy I urge you to do so.  

“The position I had painfully staked out in the world began to fragment. I began to fragment. I am still fragmenting, I think. Sometimes it scares me, sometimes it excites me. You have to come apart to be put back together in a different shape. You have to be reformed, or you rust up, and all your parts stop moving.”

Here Be Monsters; How To Fight Capitalism Instead Of Each Other –

Rhyd Wildermuth

.

I guess calling this one a climate-adjacent book is a bit of a stretch, but in the category of books about things essential to human prosperity, it’s an incredibly important read. In this book, Rhyd so clearly lays out the issues we have entangled ourselves in due to our obsession with identifying and defining human beings. 

We currently live in a culture where if an organisation isn’t completely aligned with your values or a person doesn’t share the exact same political opinion as you, then they are wrong and you should avoid associating yourselves with them. But this just creates such unnecessary division and takes our attention away from where we should be focusing our attention. 

I went into this with a lot of curiosity but also gritted teeth as I was slightly concerned that due to the sensitive topics it covers I would find content that may ‘put me off’ an author I’ve grown to like. I needn’t have worried, as Rhyd clearly navigates the complex and muddy waters with grace. Not one page of this book feels like punching down, it’s an authentic author sharing lived experiences dealing with people who have lost their way when dealing with important issues. 

This is the book for those who are feeling uncomfy with the way the world of social justice has shifted, and are looking for ways to bring it back to focus on the bigger picture. Which, in Rhyd’s case, is fighting capitalism, but is applicable to a wide range of issues we’re facing today. 

“If we are ever to become something more than hypocrites, actors in political dramas we have little control over, internally divided between our beliefs and our actions, we must embrace this type of friendship again. We are many selves and many beings, and we are also human. That human part is where we start from, where friendships form and relationships are made. Past the borders of the political is the realm of monsters, monsters who look remarkably like us.”

Honorary mention: Being Pagan; A Guide To Re-Enchant Your Life.

I also borrowed this one from my mom, and I still have it–sorry! Although I’m not religious myself, it covers insights into a deeper way to live and relate to the world–hence re-enchanting your life. The chapters were my favourite, where Rhyd discusses connecting with nature were my favourite. 

I Want A Better Catastrophe; Navigating The Climate Crisis With Grief, Hope And Gallows Humor – Andrew Boyd

This book kicked off my doomer era, but, like, in a really nice and comforting way? The book describes itself as ‘an existential manual for tragic optimism, can-do pessimists, and compassionate doomers’. 

“Anything I do to slim down my footprint is just pissing into the wind. But piss I must. Why? It makes me feel better. It gives me a sense of agency. It models good behavior. But more than al; of this, I think it’s actually a kind of prayer.”

This book also has interviews with some incredible climate thinkers–Guy McPherson, Tim DeChristoper, Meg Wheatley, Gopal Dayaneni, Jamey Hecht, adrienne maree brown, Joanna Macy, and Robin Wall Kimmerer–who all share their findings on how to stay sane during the potential end of the world. 

Andrew also–attempts to–answer some of the most important questions of our time like ‘should I have a baby during a climate catastrophe?’ and ‘why the fuck am I recycling?’. This is another book that has changed the way I think–and act– and informed my writing so, so much. I love it. 

“This is where we make our last stand. It’s always now, of course–and with climate change, it needed to be now decades ago–but part of us never wants it to be now. I don’t want it to be now yet. I like my life, and the relative normalcy I’ve been able to carve out of this crazy world, and for a little while longer I want to keep pretending I don’t have to live that life in the glare of a huge, blinking-red global emergency button that changes everything. I know now is already here–but can’t it just be already here a little later?”

Climate; A New Story –

Charles Eisenstein

. 

I genuinely highlighted about half of this book, I love it. It changed the way I view the climate crisis, it changed the way I speak about the climate crisis, and it changed the way I act within the climate crisis. If you have read this book, and read any of my writing, I bet you can clearly see the influence it has had.

“[F]ighting the enemy is futile when you inhabit a system that has the endless generation of enemies built into it. That is a recipe for endless war.”

Charles discussed how we can move away from the war mentality within climate change to enable us to see the bigger picture of the interbeing of the world, understanding how many of our actions can have a true impact on the planet’s ecological health. 

Moving away from solutionism–and blame!–and helping us to understand how to connect with others on the most important issues of our time. It’s quite a challenging book that I know it’s not to some people’s taste, but if you’re looking for a read that explores the climate crisis–and humanities issue as a whole–in a deeper way, this book is it. 

“The point here is not that emissions don't matter. It is a call for a shift in priorities. On the policy level, we need to shift toward protecting and healing ecosystems on every level, especially the local. On a cultural level, we need to reintegrate human life with the rest of life, and bring ecological principles to bear on social healing. On the level of strategy and thought, we need to shift the narrative toward life, love, place, and participation. Even if we abandoned the emissions narrative, if we do these things emissions will surely fall as well.”

Honorary mention: Sacred Economics; Money, Gift & Society In The Age Of Transition – Charles Eisenstein.

To tell you the complete truth, I didn’t understand half of what was in this book. But what I did understand truly challenged some of my preconceptions around money and wealth, and made me imagine so many new possibilities for the way we organise ourselves as a society. 

The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible –

Charles Eisenstein

.

THREE books by the same author? I know, but it’s worth it. I understand that Charles Eisenstein’s opinions give people mixed feelings, but I really enjoyed the books of his that I’ve read. 

“Is it too much to ask, to live in a world where our human gifts go toward the benefit of all? Where our daily activities contribute to the healing of the biosphere and the well-being of other people?”

This is one of my oldest reads on the list, I believe I read it in 2021, and it is definitely in need of a re-read in 2024, but it kicked off a personal love for more philosophical/woo-woo books. For those looking to imagine new futures and create a better world, this book is for you. 

I am upset I didn’t highlight this book the first time around, so I can’t go back and see which parts I particularly enjoyed, but I genuinely feel as if this entire book sunk into my psyche and changed the way I think and move. 

“Addiction, self-sabotage, procrastination, laziness, rage, chronic fatigue, and depression are all ways that we withhold our full participation in the program of life we are offered. When the conscious mind cannot find a reason to say no, the unconscious says no in its own way.”

At Work In The Ruins; Finding Out Place In The Time Of Science, Climate Change, Pandemics & All The Other Emergencies –

Dougald Hine

.

I read this book in two days. It is one of my favourite climate books and has kicked off so many ideas, conversations, and connections in my life. It is the book I recommend to almost everyone. 

“Optimism comes in the form of a billionaire’s wish list of technologies that don’t exist yet.”

I am struggling to describe this read because it’s just a book that has changed the way I see the entire world. I am not joking, or exaggerating, I felt different after reading this one. In this book, Dougald describes how–after most of his life talking about climate change–he found he had nothing more to say. So what do you do next? Write a book, obviously.

You know I hate solutionism, and this book throws it out the window and discusses how it so often makes things worse. This book will help you find what your work in the ruins could look like. 

“[T]he way we talk about this trouble is making everything worse. The mobilisation of fear and the language of emergency, the elevation of science into an article of faith and an overriding source of political authority–even when the intentions are good, even when the sense of urgency is sincere and well-founded, these moves push forward the project of making this living planet and its inhabitants into an object of technological management and control.”

Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World – Jason Hickel.

This is one of the most… practical(?), factual(?), non-theoretical(?) books on my list. Basically, it’s much less philosophical than I usually go for, but it’s well worth it. This book came at the perfect time for me, I was already exploring the issues around capitalism and our current economic structures, and then Jason’s writing came to solidify everything I have learnt with concrete knowledge and examples.

“Clean energy might help deal with emissions, but it does nothing to reverse deforestation, overfishing, soil depletion and mass extinction. A growth-obsessed economy powered by clean energy will still tip us into ecological disaster.”

Jason’s preference for a better world is degrowth and provides one of the best explanations of their concept I’ve seen. He is a very well-educated guy and you can see this in how thoroughly all of his writing is backed up. 

If you want a 101 on how awful our current system is, how it's contributing to climate change, and how ‘green growth’ will never be possible, then read this book. He explains how capitalism is not natural–I’ve heard that one too many times–and how colonisers forced our economic way of doing things onto native societies and ruined their perfectly good ways of living. 

“The problem isn’t just the type of energy we’re using; it’s what we are doing with it. Even if we had a 100%-clean-energy system, what would we do with it? Exactly what we are doing with fossil fuels: raze more forests, trawl more fish, mine more mountains, build more roads, expand industrial farming, and send more waste to landfill – all of which have ecological consequences our planet can no longer sustain. We will do these things because our economic system demands that we grow production and consumption at an exponential rate.”

Honorary mention: Post Growth: Life After Capitalism – Tim Jackson.

I read Post Growth before Less Is More, it introduced me to a ton of great concepts, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. But I wanted to avoid sharing two similar books, and the truth is Jason’s book had a bigger effect on me and my learning. Still a great read if you like the sound of it, though. 

The Flowering Wand; Rewilding the Sacre Masculine –

Sophie Strand

.

This was my first exploration into myth and mysticism and I have been converted ever since. The Flowering Wand explores new visions of the male identity and how we can develop ecology empathy and a blossoming of sacred masculine powers. This isn’t a book just for men though, I found so much wisdom within Sohpie’s writing that I regularly refer back to in everyday life. 

“Patriarchal capitalism is the tower that keeps falling down. The earth itself is the foundation, destablized by man-made climate change. If we stay in the tower and inside our brittle narratives, we risk our lives. But there are trapdoors everywhere. They are our relationships: to our ecosystems, to animals and fungi and plants, and to our children.”

The blurb begins to describe the book by saying “Long before the sword-wielding heroes of legend readily cut down forests, slaughtered the old deities and vanquished their enemies, three were playful gods, animal-headed kings, mischievous lovers, trickster harpists and vegetal magicians with flowering wands. As eco-feminist scholar Sophie Strand discovered, these wilder, more magical modes of the masculine have always been hidden in plain sight.” 

Written in short chapters, The Flowering Wand easily guides you through how the very masculine way we’re all taught to live within society, in the simplest of terms, isn’t ideal for the planet. She touches on our domination of nature and how we only see value in the natural world if it provides us with profit, and how we’ve embodied that in our culture by running our own bodies ragged to further economic growth. 

“The opposite of patriarchy is not matriarchy. The opposite of civilization is not an idealized return to Palaeolithic hunting and gathering. The opposite of a human is not an animal or a rock or a blade of grass. The opposite of our current predicament–climate collapse, social unrest, extinction, mass migrations, solastalgia, genocide–is, in face, the disintegergration of opposites altogether.” 

Sand Talk; How Indigenous Thinking Can Save The World – Tyson Yunkaporta

Sand Talk was another book I flew through, reading it in only three days. It was not a book I read and immediately had ideas to share with people, but it sank its way into my mind and I find myself surprised by how often teachings from it come up in conversation or help to build connections in my mind. 

“You can't maintain a culture that is based on retarding the development of half the population, particularly the half that is responsible for creating life.”

I loved the way Tyson writes, it flows really easily and gave me lots of little laughs. It was a challenging read in the way that some of the concepts were so foreign to me that I struggled to wrap my head around them, such as the time concept, but I can clearly see why we need to embody them ourselves. I also finished it feeling a little envious of indigenous cultures. 

“After three of four years of schooling, the nucleus basalis, which forms sharp memories in the brain, falls into disuse and decays. This is the part of the brain that makes learning so effortless for small children, and it is always activated in undomesticated humans. But neuroplasticity research has shown that damage to the nucleus basalis can be reversed by reintroducing activities involving highly focused attention, which results in massive increases in production of acetylcholine and dopamine. Using new skills under conditions of intense focus rewires billions of neural connections and reactivates the nucleus basalis. Loss of function in this part of the brain is not a natural stage of development--we are supposed to retain and even increase it throughout our lives. Until very recently in human history, we did.”

Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World –

Katharine Hayhoe

.

I can’t tell you how often I refer back to this book when I’m discussing climate communications. If you’re trying to talk to anyone about climate change, read this book. If you’re trying to write about climate change, read this book. If you’re trying to wrap your head around climate change, read this book. 

“We often believe that “if we just tell people the facts, since people are basically rational beings, they’ll all reach the right conclusions,” cognitive linguist George Lakoff explains. But that’s not the way we humans think. Instead, we think in what he calls “frames.” Frames are cognitive structures that determine how we see the world. When we encounter facts that don’t fit our frame, it’s the frame that stays while “the facts are either ignored, dismissed, [or] ridiculed.”

From talking with activists to deniers, Katharine discusses how lessening our focus on the facts and instead discovering shared values connected to our unique identities to promote collective action. She has walked the walk, discussing climate change with stringent deniers and fundamentalist believers, and now she's teaching us how to do it too. 

Also, Katharine seems like such a nice and interesting person, like, I would love to be her friend?! 

“[I]ronically, the very thing we fear most. Talk about it. Why are people not talking about something that matters to them so much? Even if we agree it’s real and it’s serious, talking about it can be discouraging and depressing. There’s too great a risk the conversation might devolve into a screaming match or end up leaving everyone overwhelmed by the enormity of the problem. We want to talk about it; we just don’t know how.”

What are you planning to read in 2024? Do you have any book recommendations for me? Please, please, please tell me your favourite books and I promise I’ll read them. <3

P.S. If you enjoy my writing, you can buy me a coffee to fuel my work.