Environmental Books

Intensive agriculture, pesticides, and overuse of artificial fertilisers have badly impacted fertility in farming regions. But—says the award-winning environmental writer Louise Gray—new, soil-friendly methods are increasingly embraced by farmers on both sides of the Atlantic. Here, she recommends five of the best books on 'regenerative agriculture.'

'Eco-thrillers' are books that combine suspenseful plotting with environmental themes. Here, the bestselling novelist and chart-topping podcaster Manda Scott selects five thrilling novels that explore the climate emergency and other ecological crises through fiction, with an emphasis on books that envisage a route forward.

If you want to take an economy that's wholly dependent on fossil fuels and turn it into a low-carbon one it's going to be expensive, says economist Dieter Helm—and the sooner we face up to that reality the better. He recommends books to help us think through the relationship between economics and the environment, including one that really shines a spotlight on our own, individual behaviour.

The fall of empires and sudden societal collapse are often the subject matter of darkly fascinating reads, in both fiction and nonfiction. Here Paul Cooper—the author of Fall of Civilizations, a new history book based on the hit podcast—recommends five books that offer perspectives on what it might feel like to live through the 'end of the world.'

The long-term interests of business often coincide with the long-term interests of nature and society but the short-term interests are a different story, says Vincent Stanley of Patagonia, a multi-billion dollar apparel company owned by a non-profit trust. He recommends five books on sustainable, ethical business, showing that a stock price needn't be a company's primary product.

Environmental history is the study of the relationship between society and the natural world—both in terms of human impacts on the environment, and the constraints placed upon cultures by the landscapes they live in. Here, John R. McNeill, a pioneer of the field, recommends five of the best environmental history books with ambition, engaging prose, and heft.

We are surrounded by nature but it's easy to miss it and spend time either in our heads or on screens. Here Mitchell Thomashow, a longtime teacher of environmental learning, picks books to broaden our vistas and help us see the natural world with fresh eyes.

Many of us are increasingly alarmed at the damage human beings have done—and continue to do—to the natural world and would love to be better informed about what we need to do to protect our precious environment. Fortunately, every year, the Wainwright Prize picks out the best writing on global conservation—books that are not only informative but highly readable. Here, British journalist Charlotte Smith, chair of the judging panel, talks us through the books that made the 2021 shortlist and why it's worth reading all of them.

The periodic table of the elements has been described as "one of the great intellectual achievements of humankind". Here, Noelle Eckley Selin of MIT and Henrik Selin of Boston University talk us through some of their favourite books about various chemical elements and explain why they're vital to understanding the world around us.

Conservation and the battle against climate change are two of the most pressing issues of our age. But books on the subject have to be readable and enjoyable too, says Charlotte Smith – BBC presenter and judge for the 2020 Wainwright Prize for books on global conservation. Here she highlights the six shortlisted titles that will enchant and inspire you.