13 books to read this Earth Day » Yale Climate Connections

The 13 titles gathered for this 2026 Earth Month bookshelf fall into four groups that reflect four dimensions of America’s historic environmental turn: pollution, protest, protection, and preservation.

The smelly ugliness of pollution — trash-strewn highways and burning rivers — was one impetus for the first Earth Day in 1970, a call to clean up our planet. Three titles in this list dig into other forms of pollution we now face: the forever chemicals in our soil, water, and bodies; ubiquitous plastics, and the destructive impacts of mining for critical minerals.

Protest was one response to pollution. Earth Day’s signature teach-ins about our planet’s needs, inspired by the anti-Vietnam-war teach-ins, were combined with more traditional forms of protest: marches and rallies. To capture this dimension of Earth action, we reach back to a 2013 history of Earth Day, highlight two new books on the radical environmental movements that followed, and celebrate, with “Protest” co-authors Annie Leonard and Andre Carother, 250 years of protest, including the first Earth Day.

One indirect outcome of Earth Day was the collective decision to protect the wildlife we live with and to cope with the resulting tensions of that decision. Three new books recount the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park, celebrate owls, and marvel at the resilience of the animals that share our cities and towns.

Preserving “wild” spaces was another goal that emerged from Earth Day, especially in distinctive landscapes. In the last three new books in this collection, the Mono Lake Basin in the Sierra Nevadas, eight grassland rivers in the Midwest, and the rocky coast of Maine are given their moments on the planetary stage.

From coast to coast and town to country, these books help us observe Earth Day in all its complexity.

As always, the descriptions of the titles are adapted from copy provided by their publishers. When two dates of publication are listed, the second is for the paperback edition.

Pollution

Inescapable: Facing Up to Forever Chemicals by F. Marina Schauffler (Johns Hopkins University Press 2026, 272 pages, $32.95)

Invisible and nearly indestructible, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have seeped into the blood of almost every American and permeated the natural world. These insidious chemicals now drift on global air currents, fall in rain, accumulate in soils and food webs, and can persist in ecosystems for generations. Inescapable reveals how ordinary people are tackling the toxic impacts from this sprawling class of industrial compounds―long used in consumer products, building supplies, and fire-fighting foam and still widely produced. The poignant accounts in this book illuminate the challenge of reckoning with the far-reaching effects of PFAS and addressing the ongoing burden borne by highly affected individuals. Countless communities face these struggles. Inescapable offers a roadmap for tackling this chemical Hydra.

The Problem with Plastic: How We Can Save Ourselves and Our Planet Before It’s Too Late by Judith Enck (The New Press 2025, 240 pages, $27.99)

Plastic is everywhere—wrapped around our food, stitched into our clothes, even coursing through our veins. Once a marvel of modern science, plastic has become so inextricably woven into our lives that imagining a world without seems impossible. Over the last 75 years, plastic has cradled our planet in a synthetic embrace. The Problem with Plastic critically examines the paradox of this material, first celebrated for its innovations and now recognized for its devastating environmental and public health impacts. With clarity and urgency, the book reveals how plastic pollution contributes to poisoned oceans, polluted air, a warming planet, and overwhelming waste, disproportionately impacting marginalized communities who bear the brunt of petrochemical pollution. Plastic is a problem—but together, we can be the solution.

The Elements of Power: A Story of War, Technology and the Dirtiest Supply Chain on Earth by Nicholas Niarchos (Penguin Press 2026, 480 pages, $32.00)

In its rush for green energy, the world has become utterly reliant on resources unearthed far away and willfully blind to the terrible political, environmental, and social consequences of their extraction. If the Democratic Republic of the Congo possesses such riches, why are its children routinely descending deep into treacherous mines to dig with the most rudimentary of tools, or in some cases their bare hands? With unparalleled, original reporting, Nicolas Niarchos reveals how the scramble to control these metals and their production is overturning the world order, just as the global race to drill for oil shaped the twentieth century. He reveals the devastating consequences of our best intentions and helps us prepare for an uncertain future. If you have ever used a smartphone or driven an electric vehicle, you are implicated.

Protest

The Genius of Earth Day: How a 1970 Teach-In Unexpectedly Made the First Green Generation by Adam Rome (Hill & Wang 2013/2014, 368 pages, $25.99 paperback)

The first Earth Day is the most famous little-known event in modern American history. Because we still pay ritual homage to the planet every April 22, everyone knows something about Earth Day. Some people may also know that Earth Day 1970 made the environmental movement a major force in American political life. But no one has told the whole story before.  In The Genius of Earth Day, the prizewinning historian Adam Rome offers a compelling account of the rise of the environmental movement. Drawing on his experience as a journalist as well as his expertise as a scholar, he explains why the first Earth Day was so powerful, bringing one of the greatest political events of the twentieth century to life. The story of Earth Day is inspiring: it had a power, a freshness, and a seriousness of purpose difficult to imagine today.

No Option But Sabotage: The Radical Environment Movement and the Climate Crisis by Thomas Zeitzoff (Oxford University Press 2026, 288 pages, $29.99)

After 9/11, the radical environmental movement was considered the No. 1 domestic terror threat by the U.S. government. But by the end of the decade, the movement had largely gone silent. What happened? And given the threat from climate, why haven’t more radical tactics re-emerged? In No Option But Sabotage, Thomas Zeitzoff traces the origins, rise, fall, and potential rise again of the movement. Using in-depth interviews with past and current activists, as well as experts, Zeitzoff covers the main factions and actors: Earth First!, the “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski, animal liberation, punk, and Earth Liberation Front, and the more recent, disruptive climate activists. Looking to the future, Zeitzoff asks, Will the threats of a worsening climate and increasing state repression scare activists, or radicalize them?

Fires in the Night: The Earth Liberation Front, the FBI, and a Secret History of Eco-Sabotage by Matthew Wolfe (Viking 2026, 368 pages, $31.00)

Fires in the Night is the definitive story of the ELF’s rise and unraveling, stretching from the old-growth forests of the Pacific Northwest to the Seattle streets of 1999’s legendary WTO protests to the paranoid aftermath of September 11. For years, members of ELF led double lives, meticulously planning and staging their attacks while trying to manage interpersonal friction and stay one step ahead of a relentless task force of police and federal agents. Drawing on years of original reporting and interviews, journalist Matthew Wolfe offers a thrilling account of a moment in American life when the actions of radical environmentalists challenged mainstream complacency. As the climate crisis accelerates, Wolfe asks the pressing question of our time: facing the end of the world as we know it, what kind of resistance is justified?

Protest: Respect It, Defend It, Use It by Annie Leonard and Andre Carothers (Patagonia Books 2026, pages, $40.00)

Protest (April 28, 2026, hardcover), by leading activists Annie Leonard and André Carothers, is an invitation to explore the impact of peaceful protest, to celebrate what people can accomplish together. Coinciding with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence—one of history’s most consequential acts of protest—the book highlights 42 protests from around the world, spanning 1738 to 2025,  including the first Earth Day and the recent youth climate strikes. Alongside powerful photographs, the book features perspectives of 12 committed protestors, including Jane Fonda and Indigenous rights leader Nemonte Nenquimo. The authors also sound an urgent warning: The right to protest is under unprecedented attack worldwide. An afterword by Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor, serves as a call to action.

Protection

My Life with Wolves: How I Became the Storyteller for the Yellowstone Packs by Rick McIntrye (Greystone Books 2026, 296 pages, $30.00)

In this entertaining memoir, Rick McIntyre recounts his life spent amongst wild nature while working in the National Parks Service as a park ranger and shares the wisdom he has gained from spending nearly every day of his adult life in the presence of wolves. McIntyre has calculated whether to outpace a grizzly or stand and face it. He has narrowly missed a charge by a moose. He has watched alpha wolves come up against each other in battles for territory—only to be surprised by their benevolent actions.
This book chronicles Rick’s journey, explains his values, and brings readers up to date on the latest dramas of the Junction Butte pack in Yellowstone. Along the way, this tale is threaded through with Rick’s calm assertiveness in the face of conflict, his wise dealings with humans and animals alike, and his gentle sense of humor.

The Company of Owls: A Memoir by Polly Atkins (Milkweed Editions 2026, 216 pages, $25.00)

“Let me tell you about my neighbors, the owls,” writes Polly Atkin in this love letter to the clutch of owlets residing near her home in the heart of England’s Lake District. Circumscribed by a chronic illness to her cottage and the surrounding area, she turns to the trees and the animals among them for companionship—especially the owl siblings who surprise and delight her. As Atkin watches them grow from curious fledglings into sleek raptors, she contemplates the act of survival and our place within it. The owls encourage her to think differently about solitude and community, individuality and belonging, rest and retreat. And with them as her companions, she weighs the many types of company we keep. A call to find joy in unexpected places, The Company of Owls teaches us to listen amid clamor and noise and to love the world.

Outside Animals: How the Creatures at the Margin of Our Lives Have the Most to Teach Us by Marline Zuk (Princeton University Press 2026, 312 pages, $29.95)

In Outside Animals, Marlene Zuk gives us a new appreciation for the animals we often shun, explaining why these common creatures have something special to teach us not only about the ways we deal with other species but about our own place in nature.  You will discover how coyotes and snakes shed light on our coevolution with predators, what cockroaches tell us about the evolution of pregnancy, how butterflies make us reconsider the effects of roadside pollution, how cowbirds and mynas are forcing ecologists to think differently about invasive species, and much more. Writing with an infectious blend of humor and curiosity, Zuk invites us to reflect on our relationships with these close-to-home creatures and the ways our lives encroach on theirs, and to draw lessons from their behavior in all its fascinating complexity.

Preservation

Deep Time in the Mono Lake Basin: Nature and History Over the Last 10,000 Years by Robert B. Marks (University of California Press 2026, 384 pages, $28.95)

Nestled at the base of the Sierra Nevada in eastern California is a stunning landscape overlooking a saline lake with picturesque tufa towers and flocks of phalarope birds. This is the Mono Lake Basin. In this sweeping history, Robert B. Marks examines the forces that have shaped this rich ecosystem, starting with the region’s Indigenous peoples, tracing the 19^th-century arrival of Euro-American settlers, and then covering the struggle for control over water that led to hydroelectric development and the sale of land and water rights to Los Angeles. But even after the ecological crisis precipitated by diverting nearly all fresh water out of the basin, an ecological restoration movement successfully preserved the basin. Deep Time in the Mono Lake Basin poses questions of water, power, and nature that echo far beyond the American West.

Riverine Dreams: Away to the Glorious and Forgotten Grassland Rivers of America by George Frazier (University of Chicago Press 2025, 296 pages, $26)   

The North American grasslands that once covered vast areas of the central United States are now our most endangered ecosystems. But not far from any spot in the grasslands is a river. Grassland rivers, defined as rivers that drain prairie watersheds, are as central to the story of prairies as bison and bluestem and no less endangered than the grasslands surrounding them. Riverine Dreams follows eight grassland rivers—including the Missouri, the Niobrara, and Purgatoire—traversing their environmental and cultural histories and introducing us to the people who study, paddle, and conserve them. This journey takes Frazier from Montana and Colorado to Nebraska and Missouri—where he uncovers a remarkable movement to celebrate and preserve these natural treasures: nothing less than a grassland river revival.

Maine Coast: A Geological History from Formation to the Future by Joseph Kelley and Alice Kelley (Down East Books 2026, 208 pages, $29.95)

From its legendary rocky cliffs to its sweeping beaches, Maine’s coast tells a dramatic story of colliding continents, massive glaciers, and rising seas. In this groundbreaking work, marine geologists Joseph and Alice Kelley unravel the complex forces that created one of North America’s most spectacular shorelines, while revealing urgent insights about its future in the face of accelerating climate change. Why, for example, Maine’s coast responds differently to rising sea levels than other Atlantic shores. And how coastal communities can prepare for coming transformations in the shoreline

Drawing from decades of research, the Kelleys present the first comprehensive guide to understanding both the vulnerability and resilience of this beloved coast, essential reading for anyone who cares about the future of Maine’s maritime heritage.