EcoKids: Raising Children Who Care for the Earth

by Dan D. Chiras

“To forge a sustainable future, we need citizens who care for the earth. We need citizens who understand that planet care is the ultimate form of self-care. But we also need generations who live according to their values and convictions and who can effect positive change in their lives and the lives of others. Because public schools and the popular media cannot be counted on to produce an Earth-friendly citizenry, the task falls to parents. Yet even aware parents often lack the understanding and resources to take on such a task. EcoKids addresses this gap by presenting a coherent plan that will help parents foster love for nature, teach children the importance of environmental protection and promote environmental values and inspire action—actions that will last a lifetime. A hopeful and inspiring guide for parents, topics covered include ways Avoid gloom and doom in favor of positive solutions

Foster love and empathy for nature
Develop environmental values
Put values into action
Help children discover the roots of problems and be part of lasting solutions
Walk the talk
Counter the consumer culture, starting in your own home and community
Generate hope and combat apathy

Each chapter includes an inspiring case study of a child who’s making a difference, short pieces that highlight serious problems such as global warming, along with positive solutions that can be read aloud to children, and activities for children. A resource guide lists helpful books, articles, videos and organizations. Dan Chiras is the father of two boys and the author of over 20 books on environmental issues and sustainability. He teaches courses on renewable energy, green building and sustainability at Colorado College. His free time is spent mountain biking, camping, canoeing, kayaking, playing music and gardening with his boys.” – Goodreads

On Natural Capital: The Value of the World Around Us

by Partha Dasgupta

“For just about everything of value in life, there is an economic model. If it matters to us, we have found a way to put a dollar amount on it–to quantify its importance in our lives and society. These models and metrics tell us that our economies are healthy because they are growing. And yet for as long as they have existed, our economic models have served us an incomplete picture; they fail to account for the fact that our growth is driven by a resource that we take for free and treat as infinite: nature. Indeed, for centuries we have been using nature as if it were limitless, but more than ever, we are recognizing that our demands on the natural world are unsustainable. In On Natural Capital, award-winning Cambridge University economist Sir Partha Dasgupta lays out a seminal new approach to economics that asks, what if we were to put a value on nature just as we value everything else? Rooted in mankind’s struggle against climate change, Dasgupta’s approach examines the existential need to rethink our relationship to nature and see its preservation as an economic imperative. Challenging much of economic thought that has come before, Dasgupta presents an urgent call to transform the focus and structures of global economics with a profound new model.” — Provided by publisher.

Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature

by Nicola Davis

“Introduces the sights and sounds of the changing seasons, along city streets and in country meadow.”

A Moment on the Earth: The Coming of Age of Environmental Optimism

by Gregg Easterbrook

“Presents an exploration of ecorealism, claiming that the Pollution Age is nearing its end and that environmentalism offers a chance to transform society.” — Goodreads

Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter

by Ben Goldfarb

“Our modern idea of what a healthy landscape looks like and how it functions is distorted by the fur trade that once trapped out millions of beavers from North America’s lakes and rivers. Goldfarb shares the powerful story about one of the world’s most influential species. He explains how North America was colonized, how our landscapes have changed over the centuries, and how beavers can help us fight drought, flooding, wildfire, extinction, and the ravages of climate change.” — adapted from jacket

Lost Mountain: A Year in the Vanishing Wilderness: Radical Strip Mining and the Devastation of Appalachia

by Erik Reece

“A new form of strip mining has caused a state of emergency for the Appalachian wilderness and the communities that depend on it-a crisis compounded by issues of government neglect, corporate hubris, and class conflict. In this powerful call to arms, Erik Reece chronicles the year he spent witnessing the systematic decimation of a single mountain and offers a landmark defense of a national treasure threatened with extinction.” — Goodreads

Every Purchase Matters: How Fair Trade Farmers, Companies, and Consumers Are Changing the World

by Paul Rice

“Fair Trade CEO Paul Rice has spent his life and career exploring the issue of how to benefit from our planet’s resources without destroying them or each other and pushing businesses to take responsibility for the way their products are sourced and encouraging consumers to buy them. In a world of labor strife, climate disasters, and unpredictable markets, this book is a reminder of how far we’ve come already, and makes the case that we don’t have to despair. This is a story not merely about sourcing and business, but about the power of ideas and what it takes to make them real.” — Provided by publisher.

Climate Champions: 15 Women Fighting for Your Future

by Rachel Sarah

“These 15 contemporary climate champions are on the frontlines of science to create a sustainable future on Earth. They are climate scientists, journalists, professors, academics, researchers, and policy makers from around the world who draft policies with real-world impact, run science labs to find new answers to old problems, and lead organizations at the forefront of change. These women reveal how racial and social injustices lie at the root of the climate crisis. As young readers learn how these champions are rising up around the world, they will learn how to be part of the solution.” — Page 4 of cover.

No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference

by Greta Thunberg

“‘Everything needs to change. And it has to start today’ In August 2018 a fifteen-year-old Swedish girl, Greta Thunberg, decided not to go to school one day. Her actions ended up sparking a global movement for action against the climate crisis, inspiring millions of pupils to go on strike for our planet, forcing governments to listen, and earning her a Nobel Peace Prize nomination. This book brings you Greta in her own words. Collecting her speeches that have made history across Europe, from the UN to mass street protests, No One Is Too Small to Make A Difference is a rallying cry for why we must all wake up and fight to protect the living planet, no matter how powerless we feel. Our future depends upon it.”

The Day the River Caught Fire: How the Cuyahoga River Exploded and the Ignited the Earth Day Movement

by Barry Wittenstein

“The true story of how a 1969 fire in one of the most polluted rivers in America helped foster awareness of water pollution and how the river’s fate contributed to the environmental movement.” — Provided by publisher.