by Ammar Monawar

If you haven’t seen it already, check out NYU’s Summer 16 reading list. We would like to offer some additional books to check out this summer that focus on both the personal and societal aspects of green advocacy. Learn more about the ways sustainability impacts our lives!

1. The Post Carbon Reader: Managing the 21st Century’s Sustainability Crises

Edited by Richard Heinberg and Daniel Lerch
With all the literature out on sustainability issues, it’s gotten difficult to know where exactly to begin. Thankfully, Richard Heinberg and Daniel Lerch gathered a group of experts to help break down these issues and provide their recommendations on how to deal with them. This collection of essays covers a range of topics dealing with everything from climate, energy, and food to culture and education. The Post Carbon Reader is a fantastic primer for acquainting yourself with the scope and range of issues sustainability advocates face today.

2. This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate

By Naomi Klein
Naomi Klein’s wildly popular “This Changes Everything” is much more than a book on the environment, but the core of her argument rests on the need to address these issues immediately and with concerted global efforts. In an exposé that details all the forces at play, Klein pushes forward examples of counter-revolutions to the status quo and the need for a full-scale climate mobilization. Klein posits one of the most cogent arguments yet for a reevaluation of our economic norms before our current economy collapses.

 

 

3. The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

By Michael Pollan
Michael Pollan tackles the subject of how humans decide what we eat by tracking from source to table four different types of food; industrial, organic, self-foraged, and fast food. As Pollan walks us through the process behind these meals, he sheds light on the difference between what we see on our table and how it gets there in the first place. A book that pushes forth questions but forces no answers, The Omnivore’s Dilemma is an accessible foray into the world of modern food production.

 

 

4. The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

By Elizabeth Kolbert
The effect of man-made climate change has been widely discussed and documented, but Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction traces our current trajectory to its logical end: a mass extinction of up to 50% of all flora and fauna. Armed with examples of anthropogenic harm caused to both animal and plant life, Kolbert paints a dire picture of how our adaptability to our environment may lead to the extinction of other species, inadvertently putting our own survival at risk.

 

 

5. Unbowed: A Memoir

By Wangari Maathai
In her memoir, Wangari Maathai details her formative years and what led her to pursue action in environmental conservation. Maathai shows how the confluence of her youth in Kenya and her subsequent studies in America helped her create the skillset and mindset she needed to start Green Belt Movement in Kenya and become a champion for environmental conservation, women’s rights, and human rights. This autobiography is an incredible first-hand account of how dedication to a cause and a grassroots movement can cause major changes in the status quo.

 

 

Ammar Monawar is a Programs Coordinator at the NYU Office of Sustainability. He is currently studying Economics and Politics at the College of Arts and Science. Ammar’s interests include non-traditional ice cream flavors and Kanye West.