Book Clubs and Recommendations
- UBC Reads SustainabilityUBC Reads Sustainability brings well-known sustainability authors to our campus to engage in campus-wide discussion.
- Great Climate Reads & WatchesCurated book and film lists ranging from works by Indigenous land protectors to climate scientists like Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson to imagined futures and climate justice in art, from Library branches across the University.
- UBC Librarians Recommend: Science Literacy Week climate editionFind climate change and climate action reads recommended by librarians in several of our branches.
- Book Recomendations on BiodiversityTo celebrate Science Literacy Week, the Woodward/BMB Library team is sharing brief reviews of some of our favourite books on this year’s theme, biodiversity.
- Biodiversity Book, Video, and Origami ListsFind biodiversity book and video lists as well as origami and language guides for common plants and animals that we see in BC and Asia.
Select Local Authors
Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest by Call Number: Woodward & Okanagan Libraries: SD411.52.S56 A3 2021Publication Date: 2021Simard brilliantly describes her life and career, and the fact that trees are not simply the source of timber or pulp, but are a complicated, interdependent circle of life; that forests are social, cooperative creatures connected through underground networks by which trees communicate and share communal lives not that different from our own.
A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the climate emergency by Call Number: ebookPublication Date: 2020A bold blueprint to retool our economy and transform our politics for a zero-carbon future. In A Good War, author and activist Seth Klein looks at the Second World War strategies and shows how they can be repurposed today for a rapid transition. He demonstrates that this change can create jobs and reduce inequality while tackling our climate obligations.
SOS: What you can do to reduce climate change by Call Number: Woodward, Great Reads: TD171.75.W96 2019Publication Date: 2019Climate change researcher, Seth Wynes, sets out in the simplest terms how you can make a real and positive impact. Make changes at home, at work, to how you shop, eat, live What you do matters - and the science proves it.
On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal by Call Number: Okanagan Library: GE220 .K54 2020Publication Date: 2020An expansive, far-ranging exploration that sees the battle for a greener world as indistinguishable from the fight for our lives, On Fire captures the burning urgency of the climate crisis, as well as the fiery energy of a rising political movement demanding a catalytic Green New Deal.
Select Books
All We Can Save by Call Number: Woodward: QC903.2.U6 A45 2020; Okanagan: GE195.9 .A45 2020Publication Date: 2021Provocative and illuminating essays from women at the forefront of the climate movement who are harnessing truth, courage, and solutions to lead humanity forward. "A powerful read that fills one with, dare I say . . . hope?"--The New York Times
The Future We Choose: The Stubborn Optimist's Guide to the Climate Crisis by Call Number: Woodward Library: QC903 .F54 2020; Okanagan Library: QC903 .F54 2021Publication Date: 2021Figueres and Rivett-Carnac, who led the 2015 UN Paris Agreement negotiations, describe two scenarios: life in 2050 if we fail to meet the Paris Agreement's climate targets, and life in a regenerative world with net-zero emissions.
The Right to Be Cold: One Woman's Fight to Protect the Arctic and Save the Planet from Climate Change by Call Number: eBookPublication Date: 2018The Right to Be Cold is the story of a remarkable woman and an account of an activist's powerful efforts to safeguard Inuit culture, the Arctic, and the planet.
A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety: How to Keep Your Cool on a Warming Planet by Call Number: eBookPublication Date: 2020Combining insights from psychology, sociology, social movements, mindfulness, and the humanities, Ray explains why and how we need to let go of eco-guilt, resist burnout, and cultivate resilience while advocating for climate justice.
Climate Justice: Hope, Resilience, and the Fight for a Sustainable Future by Call Number: eBook; Okanagan Library: GE220 .R63 2018Publication Date: 2018As the UN secretary-general's special envoy on climate change, Robinson has traveled the world seeking evidence of how communities are reacting to extreme weather conditions. In this work, she shows how economic, political, and civil rights are directly connected to access to food, water, and healthy living conditions.
