The best books on climate change and action

From a survival guide written with South Africans in mind to inspiring children to become environmental heroes - here's a list of books that will help you take action and make small but important changes.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference – COP27 – is taking place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt from 6th to 18th November 2022. Countries will negotiate more ambitious plans to limit global warming in line with the Paris Agreement. COP27 is bringing together heads of state, climate officials, non-governmental organizations, youth groups, activists and other non-state actors to respond to the climate emergency.

Environmental issues and calls for policy change are in the spotlight, as thousands of people continue to raise awareness across the world. From a survival guide written with South Africans in mind to inspiring children to become environmental heroes - here's an edit of books that will help you take action and make small but important changes.

South Africa's Survival Guide to Climate Change by Sipho Kings and Sarah Wild
The book rests on the idea that we could possibly survive a changing climate. Temperatures are already climbing, sea levels are rising and parts of South Africa are on their way to being uninhabitable. This is a practical handbook that explores what climate change is likely to mean for us as South Africans, how we can prepare for it, and how we can – in our everyday lives – help to mitigate the impacts it will have. What should we be doing in our homes to reduce our carbon footprint? Read the extract for ideas on how you make changes at home.

Plastic Sucks! You Can Make A Difference by Dougie Poynter

This awesome and inspiring guide, written by McFly bassist and environmental activist Dougie Poynter, will show you how to get involved in the mission to cut out single-use plastic. Plastic is everywhere and it sucks. It fills up our oceans, endangers our wildlife and never goes away. So it's time to take action, find ways to cut down our plastic use and help protect our environment. Together we can make a difference! The clear and easy steps in Plastic Sucks! You Can Make a Difference show us how we can all make small changes and become champions for our planet. Watch the video below for ideas on how to use less plastic and help the environment.

Losing Earth by Nathaniel Rich

By 1979, we knew all that we know now about the science of climate change – what was happening, why it was happening, and how to stop it. Over the next ten years, we had the very real opportunity to stop it. Obviously, we failed. Nathaniel Rich’s groundbreaking account of that failure – and how tantalizingly close we came to signing binding treaties that would have saved us all before the fossil fuels industry and politicians committed to anti-scientific denialism – is already a journalistic blockbuster, a full issue of the New York Times Magazine that has earned favorable comparisons to Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and John Hersey’s Hiroshima. Read a two-part article on the decade we almost stopped climate change.