We were all inspired by something growing up, weren’t we? Whether it was a formative experience, a book or the work of a historical figure, something about it caught our attention and inspired us.
As someone with a clear interest in preventing climate change, I can’t help but think that I wouldn’t be where I am today without a number of engaging, informative and…well, interesting books about the environment.
50 Simple Things Kids Can Do To Save the Earth by The EarthWorks Group
When I was seven and wandering around Borders Books in Fairfax, Virginia, I asked my parents to buy this book for me. My life was never the same afterwards. Upon learning that the Earth did, in fact, need to be saved (which was news to my tiny self), I was convinced that I must save it. Cue the epic TV show music here.
Joking aside, this was really quite a good book for its time. While it had all the typical issues of shifting corporate social responsibility onto the consumer, there was nothing quite like it when it came out in 1990, or at least very little. This doesn’t place it beyond criticism, but I have to admit that nearly all my environmental education can be tied back to this book somehow. For instance, this was one of the first books that let me know that average people could write letters to politicians asking them to help the environment. This was one of the first books that informed me about what air pollution, water pollution, climate change, the ozone layer, waste and recycling, water and energy use, endangered species and other environmental issues actually were. And despite playing into the ‘protect the cute animals’ narrative somewhat, the book was nevertheless written from the perspective that Earth is a place where we all live, so saving the environment is key to our own health and safety.
This book is truly to the youth environmental movement what Lord of the Rings is to fantasy or Dune is to science fiction. It doesn’t talk down to its audience and is readable for a young person but uses advanced vocabulary instead of watering everything down. An updated version came out in 2009, which I promptly obtained, and the new version contains a lot of the earlier content, with a few more relevant points and web addresses instead of addresses to write to for information. While I don’t think that adults would really learn much they don’t already know from this book, I’d actually recommend it for the young people in my life, despite its shortcomings.
Sharing Nature with Children by Joseph Cornell
I found this book in the elementary school library. It reads as more of an educational guide than a beginning-to-end read, but has some interesting ideas of ways to teach kids about animals and the environment. That said, some of the suggestions, like letting young children build a shelter out of sticks and sleep in it unsupervised, were inadvisable at best. I wanted to do that but my parents didn’t let me. I wonder why.
The Remarkable Rainforest by Toni Albert
I got a copy of this workbook from a used bookstore when I was about seven. The book follows the author’s trip to the rainforest and talks about how amazing rainforests are and how they are threatened by logging and farming operations. There were also little ideas for science experiments and craft projects, plus links to resources. This led to me asking my teacher if I could decorate the entire hallway of the elementary school like a rainforest. (The answer was no.) I think this one also had some resources such as organizations to write to and the suggestion that readers advocate politically for rainforest protection and advocate for companies to stop destroying the rainforests. This book had a lot of good natural information, but could have talked more about the sociopolitical side of the issue, given the large communities of people living in the rainforest and their role in its protection. Governments have infringed on Indigenous sovereignty and land protection, which is a key part of this issue because the people living in the rainforest have been the main advocates on its behalf. For a pre-2007 kids’ book, though, it was still pretty well-written, although I’d look to see if anything more nuanced has come out since before recommending it.
While the environmental books of my youth receive very mixed reviews in hindsight, I think it’s undoubtedly important that youth have access to good environmental education resources. In our current climate crisis, it’s more important than ever that youth and adults alike understand environmental issues and how they can be solved.