Looking for something to read this summer? Here are some suggestions of acclaimed books that speak to a diversity of sustainability- and environmentally-related issues and ideas. Pick up one of these books this summer and gain a radically new outlook on the world we live in and how we can help to make it a better place.
1. Lab Girls
By Hope Jahren
Lab Girl is the debut memoir of Hope Jahren, who has devoted her life to the study of trees, flower, seeds, and soil. The story, as told by Jahren, takes the reader back to her childhood in rural Minnesota where her father allowed her access to his classroom’s lab, in which she found a love for science and learned to perform lab work. However, the book’s core plot hinders on Jahren’s relationship with her lab partner and best friend, with whom she travels across the United States from the Midwest to tropical Hawaii, where she currently lives and works. Lab Girl is highly acclaimed, a New York Times 2016 Notable Book, and a national bestseller.
Since coming to NYU, I have lugged my huge duffel bags of clothing back and forth between my home state of California and New York. With every trip, I can’t help but think about the impact my four-closets worth of clothes have on both my sanity and the environment. Since my initial schlep, I have bought very few new clothing items. I recently went into a mall for the first time in years and I was immediately caught up in the uber-consumerism and “have-to-have-it” mentality that so many of us struggle with. However, I resisted the urge to buy anything other than the black jeans I had come for; something I hadn’t splurged on since sixth grade.
Last Thursday, October 20th, actress and activist, Shailene Woodley and other pipeline protesters came to NYU for an impromptu panel. The event was announced with short notice, but recognizing Woodley’s name, I automatically RSVP’d. My expectations of this talk could be summed up into a semantic, if not generic, conversation about what I could do to be more like other environmental activists, like Shailene. This, however, was not how the panel went. 