Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet by Bill McKibben  McKibben imagines humans in a world (Eaarth) that has been altered by our excessive carbon emissions and how we’ll survive on it. Since melting our glaciers and increasing what were once freak weather occurrences, we’ll now be forced to embrace small-scale agriculture and local economies.   

Water: the Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization by Steven Solomon Solomon examines the way water has shaped human history and how the current water crisis is threatening life as we know it.  From the Roman Empire, to the Industrial Revolution, to farmers desperate for new irrigation to keep their California crops growing, Solomon asks us to consider how we’ll meet our water challenges.   

Losing Our Cool: Uncomfortable Truths about Our Air-Conditioned World by Stan Cox  Our need to get inside and cool off is actually making the planet hotter.  Cox explains how this is possible and how our dependence on air conditioning has led to ozone depletion and the success of the Republican Party (just read the book). 

The Fate of Nature: Rediscovering Our Ability to Rescue the Earth by Charles Wohlforth  Wohlforth studies our relationship with nature in his native Alaska and examines how greed has negatively impacted the environment.  An uplifting study in how humans can turn things around by examining our place in the world. 

Hot, Flat and Crowded; Why We Need a Green Revolution- and How it Can Renew America by Thomas L. Friedman   Friedman’s bestseller asks Americans to climate change and the rising cost of energy will change the world.  A fresh take on the impacts of globalization. 

The Omnivores Dilemma; a Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollen   Putting weight behind the simple question of what we should have for dinner, Pollen discusses how our American way of eating is putting our health and our environment in peril. 

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson  Widely considered to be the book that launched the environmental movement, Carson discusses the effects of pesticides on the environment.   

Parks, Plants, and People: Beautifying the Urban Landscape by Lynden B. Miller  For anyone who has every looked at their neighborhood and wondered what a lush, green space might do to improve it.  Miller shares her trials and tribulations while creating public parks.