Leaf Through These Books on Earth Day

Giving Compass Apr 18, 2018
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Leaf Through These Books on Earth Day Giving Compass

The Giving Compass family put together this book list as a starting point for readers looking to learn more about environmental problems and solutions. From informative nonfiction to inspiring fiction, this list has something for everyone. Get a hard copy or an ebook from your local library to enjoy these books without consuming natural resources.

Nonfiction:

The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan
Pollan explores the relationship between humans and nature through four crops that have suffered and benefited from cultivation by humans.

Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water by Marc Reisner
Originally published in 1986, this book examines the history of western water management – a topic fraught with controversy that persists to this day.

The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild by Lawrence Anthony with Graham Spence
The true story of Anthony’s work to save a herd of elephants from poachers in South Africa. An animal conservation must-read.

Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv
Louv explains the connection between children raised indoors on screens and the rise of concerning health trends.

The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative by Florence Williams
Williams investigates current research on the health benefits of spending time in nature.

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
Carson’s 1962 book on the harmful effects of DDT brought environmental concerns to the fore of American political discussion. No history of environmentalism is complete without mention of this pivotal book.

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
Kolbert introduces species that have already been driven extinct by human activity, and many more that are currently endangered.

World Without Us by Alan Weisman
What would the world look like if all humans disappeared? Weisman paints a compelling picture of what would crumble to dust and what would be preserved for long time periods.

Fiction:

Annihilation: A Novel (The Southern Reach Trilogy) by Jeff VanderMeer
An exploration of Area X – a twisted, natural landscape inhospitable to humans – by researchers attempting to uncover the truths buried there.

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
A classic children’s book with an environmental message about extractive capitalism that is relevant to all age groups.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind by Hayao Miyazaki
This graphic novel follows the story of a princess in a post-apocalyptic world attempting to protect her people both from an invading kingdom and the creep of the toxic forest that is taking over the earth.

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
In a future where society is in partial collapse due to climate change, Lauren Oya Olamina is forced from her relatively comfortable gated community to journey on foot to look for a safe and habitable refuge.

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Original contribution by Clarissa Coburn with input from the Giving Compass family. 

Since you are interested in Arts and Culture, have you read these selections from Giving Compass related to impact giving and Arts and Culture?

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    Philanthropic Innovation Within the Art World

    Giving Compass' Take: • Agnes Gund is innovating philanthropy through her Art for Justice Fund which uses capital from her art collection to fund criminal justice reform.  • How can philanthropists use other assets to fund causes they care about? • Here are five lessons in disrupting arts philanthropy. In philanthropy, there’s often a tension between the glamorous causes which rich people support on the urging of their rich friends, on the one hand, and the really important if unglamorous causes which desperately need funding, on the other. For example: the social stratosphere that is the MoMA board, versus the grim nuts and bolts of the people working to reform criminal justice. Which is why the Art For Justice Fund is so fascinating: it’s a bold attempt to imbue the issue of criminal justice with some of the prestige of the top end of the art world. The impetus for the fund is Agnes Gund, the force-of-nature MoMA board member and long-time president who for a few years now has been regularly faced with the kind of philanthropic dilemma which could easily crop up in a philosophy grad seminar. Specifically: Gund, the daughter of a successful Ohio banker, has more than enough money to live on, but she doesn’t have millions (let alone hundreds of millions) of dollars to give away. What she does have is a spectacular art collection, and lots of art-world friendships. How, then, to best fulfill her self-imposed philanthropic obligations? The fund is very well designed, as such things go: the plan is that it will spend all of its money within five years, because the need for money now is so urgent. What’s more, it will only fund projects which can result in large-scale change to the structures and policies surrounding incarceration in America. (There will also be some “selected artistic initiatives,” but I suspect they’re going to be a rounding error in terms of total disbursements.) But the major innovation here is just in the imagination behind the fund’s structure. Charities make bold asks on a regular basis, but I can’t think of one which would go up to an art collector like Agnes Gund and suggest that she sell her beloved Lichtenstein so that she could take the financial proceeds and put them towards criminal justice reform. Read the full article about the Art for Justice Fund at Cause and Effect. 

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If you are looking for opportunities to take action and give money to Arts and Culture, here are some Giving Funds, Charitable Organizations and Projects aggregated by Giving Compass where you can take immediate action.

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