By Christine Kramer
With Christmas just around a day away, I’ve compiled a list of books as possible last minute gift ideas. Many of these book suggestions come from our Congressman, Representative Mike Levin, an environmental lawyer, his collaborator Colton Roughen, as well as my husband Larry Kramer, who avidly reads about climate change, and a few -some of me.
John Grant’s book in 2009 Demystify it! Fake News Edition: How to stay sane in a world of disinformation, is intended for adults, but useful for teens, and explains how to use critical thinking skills to identify bad evidence and bad arguments.
Grant summarizes the rhetorical tricks people use to mislead and offers tips on how to deal with people who intentionally misinform.
Rough suggests 21 lessons for the 21st century by Yuyval Noah Harari.
“Excellent comprehensive book on life during this time that also includes perspectives on climate and environment,” Roughen describes of the 2018 book.
Katharine Hayhoe, a Christian conservative climatologist, explains how our choices will determine our future in her 2021 book Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World. The author has also run TED Talks and has a YouTube youth series called Global strangeness.
Andrew J. Hoffman examines what makes people reject or accept the scientific consensus on climate change in How culture shapes the debate on climate change.
Shi-Ling Hsu examines the four main approaches to reducing CO2 emissions and demonstrates why a carbon tax is currently the most effective policy in The Case for a Climate Tax: Overcoming Our Obstacles to Effective Climate Policy.
Michael T. Klare’s 2019 book, All hell breaks loose: the Pentagon’s take on climate change, shows how the US military views the climate threat as putting the country at risk on several fronts at once.
UC Irvine author Shahir Masri addresses many common misconceptions about climate change in Beyond the Debate: Answers to 50 Misconceptions About Climate Change. The book is suitable for a younger audience as it is a great first dive into the subject.
that of David Remnick The fragile Earth: New Yorker’s writing on climate change covers three decades of New Yorker dissertations on climate change. It includes Bill McKibben’s seminal essay “The End of Nature,” which popularizes both the science and politics of climate change to a general public.
One of Larry’s suggestions is Half-Earth: our planet’s struggle for life, a book by Edward O. Wilson. The book, he says, “argues that about half of the Earth should remain natural. It may seem unrealistic until you realize that around 40% of San Juan Capistrano is open space. “
Chris Kramer is a longtime resident of San Juan Capistrano and a member of the Southern Orange County section of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby / Education. She and her husband, Larry, have moved 26 times during their married life, including to India (Andhra Pradesh) and Africa (Ghana). She holds an MLIS from the University of Hawaii and a BA from the University of Michigan (Go Blue).
