To celebrate Earth Day during the month of April, the Sustainability Hub Librarians have compiled a list of recommended books available to browse in the newly curated Sustainability Book Collection in the Science Library.
The book collection, which includes both fiction and non-fiction titles, provides engaging reads on a variety of diverse topics, such as practice-based skill-building (i.e. how to mend your own clothes, how to forage for food, how to save seeds and garden, etc.), environmental justice and education, and climate/science fiction. All books in the collection can be checked out for a total of six weeks. Stop by and check out some new sustainability books today! –Jen Embree, Subject Librarian & Sustainability Hub Coordinator
The Zero-Waste Chef: Plant-Forward Recipes and Tips for a Sustainable Kitchen and Planet by Anne Marie Bonneau (print book)
In her decade of living with as little plastic, food waste, and stuff as possible, Anne-Marie Bonneau, who blogs under the moniker Zero-Waste Chef, has learned that “zero-waste” is above all an intention, not a hard-and-fast rule. With 75 vegan and vegetarian recipes for cooking with scraps, creating fermented staples, and using up all your groceries before they become waste–including end-of-recipe tips on what to do with your ingredients next–Bonneau lays out an attainable vision of a zero-waste kitchen.
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (print book, fiction)
When global climate change and economic crises lead to social chaos in the early 2020s, California becomes full of dangers, from pervasive water shortage to masses of vagabonds who will do anything to live to see another day. Precocious and clear-eyed, Lauren Olamina must make her voice heard in order to protect her loved ones from the imminent disasters her small community stubbornly ignores. But what begins as a fight for survival soon leads to something much more: the birth of a new faith . . . and a startling vision of human destiny.
The Resilient Gardener: Food Production and Self-Reliance in Uncertain Times by Carol Deppe (print book)
Scientist/gardener Carol Deppe combines her passion for gardening with newly emerging scientific information from many fields–resilience science, climatology, climate change, ecology, anthropology, paleontology, sustainable agriculture, nutrition, health, and medicine. Here, Deppe extends these principles with detailed information about growing and using five keystone crops that are especially important for anyone seeking greater self-reliance: potatoes, corn, beans, squash, and eggs.
Mend It, Wear It, Love It!: Stitch Your Way to a Sustainable Wardrobe by Zoe Edwards (print book)
Have you ever thrown good clothes away simply because you didn’t know how to mend them? Have you got clothes that you can’t bear to part with, but need a fresher look? Then this book is for you. With fast fixes and complete makeovers, Mend It, Wear It, Love It! has everything you need to mend and care for your clothes, and stitch your way to a more sustainable wardrobe.
Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance by Nick Estes (print book)
In 2016, a small protest encampment at the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota, initially established to block construction of the Dakota Access oil pipeline, grew to be the largest Indigenous protest movement in the twenty-first century, attracting tens of thousands of Indigenous and non-Native allies from around the world. Nick Estes traces traditions of Indigenous resistance leading to the #NoDAPL movement from the days of the Missouri River trading forts through the Indian Wars, the Pick-Sloan dams, the American Indian Movement, and the campaign for Indigenous rights at the United Nations.
All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson & Katharine K. Wilkinson (eBook)
Today, across the world, from boardrooms and policy positions to local communities, from science to activism, women everywhere are using their voices to take leadership and call for action on climate change. This anthology is a collection and celebration of these diverse voices, asking critical questions and providing invaluable insight and solutions. Curated by two climate leaders, this book leads us away from the brink and toward the possibility of a life-giving future.
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer (eBook)
As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, a mother, and a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings–asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass–offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices.
Making Livable Worlds: Afro-Puerto Rican Women Building Environmental Justice by Hilda Lloréns (print book)
When hurricanes Irma and María made landfall in Puerto Rico on September 2017, their destructive force further devastated an archipelago already pommeled by economic austerity and the decline of liberal democratic governance and its safety net programs. Within the context of economic, political and environmental turmoil of contemporary Puerto Rico, Lloréns centers the work, activism, and lives of those often erased within Puerto Rican society: Black Puerto Rican women.
Gardening for Wildlife: A Complete Guide to Nature-Friendly Gardening by Adrian Thomas (print book)
Adrian Thomas provides a detailed guide to the many and varied species of flora and fauna that can contribute to a natural and healthy garden. There are practical sections to help you create entire habitats, such as woodland and meadow gardens, and a catalogue of the top 400 best garden flowers, shrubs and trees for wildlife, each illustrated in a colour photograph. If you love wildlife and want to encourage more to visit your garden, this inspirational book will help you sow the seeds and reap the rewards.
Summaries of books are based on publisher information.