Reading and Climate Activism: What Young People Are Reading Now

A month or so ago, I came across a great article written by Kelly Jenson about what young climate activists are reading (and writing!) today. In light of the fact that Greta Thunberg has a book out this week, I wanted to share these additional climate books with you. I find it really interesting to see how the current young generation’s climate activism is subtly different than even the activism I was raised with, and I am curious to pick up some of the books below, especially the fiction books, to see what they are like.

As an aside, Kelly Jenson, is also a writer and the editor of three YA anthologies, (Don’t) Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start the Conversation about Mental Health, Body Talk: 37 Voices Explore Our Radical Anatomy, and Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World. She also writes a lot about the shocking and horrifying book ban movement that has been gaining ground in the United States over the past few years, and I encourage you to follow her and read her work if you care about what young people have access to!

The books highlighted in the article above are:

Taking On The Plastics Crisis by Hannah Testa

Written by Hannah Testa, the 19 year old founder of the environmental justice nonprofit Hannah 4 Change, this book, aimed at young people, examines the ways we “farm out” our plastic disposal and makes a case for why we need to eliminate the use of single use disposable plastics.

---

Youth to Power: Your Voice and How to Use It by Jamie Margolin

A guide to effective change-making for young people, written by the co-founder of the of youth climate action organization Zero Hour. This book contains practical advice on everything from writing op-eds and organizing events to managing negative responses and mental health.

---

Running by Natalia Sylvester

This YA novel is about a 15 year old Cuban American girl balancing her father’s run for President with her own desire to help her community fight against water pollution. A fictional look at the ways young people can have an impact on environmental justice issues in their communities.

---

Don’t Call Me a Hurricane by Ellen Hagan

A YA romance told in verse, which focuses on a passionate young climate activist whose life has been directly affected by the changes in our oceans and her mission to protect her home and island.

---

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer and Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults, adapted by Monique Gray Smith

This is a modern classic in environmental writing, and I love it’s focus on building positive and regenerative relationships with the land around us while understanding our own histories. A YA version came out this fall that is likely more accessible (and not just to Young Adults! Plenty of adults I know struggled with the original but might enjoy a streamlined version)

---

Principles of Environmental Justice by delegates to the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in 1991

This is actually available online in the link above, but is a source that is being taught in Environmental Justice courses, and teaches that knowledge about this movement is not new and does not come from or belong to any one person, but has been passed down through the generations, and is sometihing we all need to be stewards of.

---

Congratulations to Greta for her book, and if you have any young (or young at heart) people in your life, I hope these books are of interest. For more books, films and resources, you can check out this list as well.