Posted on 23 January 2021 by John Hartz

Editor's Choice

12 new books explore fresh approaches to act on climate change

Authors explore scientific, economic, and political avenues for climate action given 'new possibilities' in 2021.

Despite a journey to this moment even more treacherous than expected, Americans now have a fresh opportunity to act, decisively, on climate change.

The authors of the many new books released in just the past few months (or scheduled to be published soon) seem to have anticipated this pivotal moment.

Their number includes a scientist, an entrepreneur, and a journalist, each of whom has published among the first calls to action on climate change: Michael Mann, Bill Gates, and Elizabeth Kolbert.

But all the authors recognize that our repeated failures to seize previous opportunities says something about our market economy, our mindsets, and our political institutions. Thus the solutions offered in these new titles are as often political as they are scientific and technical, and psychological as often as they are environmental.

Americans succeeded in making a critical change: a climate denier no longer presides over the United States. With the 12 titles listed below, Americans can now consider new possibilities – at all levels – made possible by that first change.

As always, the descriptions of the 12 titles listed below are adapted from copy provided by the publishers.

Click here to access the entire review article as originally posted on the Yale Climate Connections website.

12 new books explore fresh approaches to act on climate change by Michael Svoboda, Ph.D., Articles, Yale Climate Connections, Jan 22, 2021

Articles Linked to on Facebook

Sun, Jan 17, 2021

• 'The numbers don't lie': The green movement remains overwhelmingly white, report finds by Erik Ortiz, NBC News, Jan 13, 2021
• Alberta monolith on eastern slopes of Rocky Mountains carries environmental message by Colette Derworiz, Race Against Climate Change, Canada's National Observer, Jan 15, 2021
• I spoke to 99 big thinkers about what our ‘world after coronavirus’ might look like – this is what I learned by Adil Najam, The Conversation US, Jan 12, 2021
• Step up climate change adaptation or face serious human and economic damage – UN report, Press Release, UN Environment Programme, Jan 14, 2021
• Rates of global sea level rise have accelerated since 1900, contrary to bloggers’ claims, Edited by Nikki Forrester, Claims Analysis, Climate Feedback, Jan 15, 2021
• Analysis: The climate papers most featured in the media in 2020 by Robert McSweeney, Carbon Brief, Jan 13, 2021

Mon, Jan 18, 2021

• Donald Trump Confronts the Scourge of Efficient Hot Water Heaters and Furnaces by Brian Kahn, Earther/Gizmodo, Jan 14, 2021
• Carbon capture is vital to meeting climate goals, scientists tell green critics by Robin McKie, Environment, The Observer/The Guardian, Jan 16, 2021
• Canceling election deniers isn’t enough by Emily Atkin, Heated, Jan 18, 2021
• The South’s Communication Infrastructure Can’t Withstand Climate Change by Bailey Basham, Inside Climate News, Jan 18, 2021
• President-elect Biden to end Keystone XL pipeline in fight on climate change by Steven Mufson & Juliet Eilperin, Climate & Envionment, Washigton Post, Jan 18, 2021
• Businesses Aim to Pull Greenhouse Gases From the Air. It’s a Gamble. by Brad Plumer & Christopher Flavelle, Climate & Environment, New York Times, Jan 18, 2021

Tue, Jan 19, 2021

• In Trump’s last days, a spree of environmental rollbacks by Juliet Eilperin & Dino Grandoni, Climate & Environment, Washington Post, Jan 15, 2021
• ‘There is no vaccine for climate change,’ U.N. environment chief says, Mongabay, Jan 14, 2021
• ‘Human fingerprint’ covers global heating seen from before industrial era to today, research says by Daisy Dunne, Environment, The Independent (UK), Jan 18, 2021
• Ins and outs of Congressional Review Act and climate change rules by Jan Ellen Spiegel, Article, Yale Climate Connections, Jan 19, 2021
• Lawmakers who denied Biden’s victory also embrace a deadlier conspiracy: climate denial by Emily Atkin, Heated, Jan 19, 2021
• How to Think About President Biden’s Big Climate Plans by Robinson Meyer. The Weekly Planet, Atlantic Magazine, Jan 19, 2021

Wed, Jan 20, 2021

• 'Major Win for the Planet': Federal Court Strikes Down Trump Coal Power Plant Rule by Andrea Germanos, Common Dreams, Jan 19, 2021
• More Renewable Energy Used in 2020 Than Fossil Fuels For the First Time in World’s 4th Largest Economy by Andy Corbley, Good News Network, Jan 18, 2021
• Supreme Court Case Could Limit Future Lawsuits Against Fossil Fuel Industry by John Schwartz, Climate & Environment, New York Times, Jan 19, 2021
• Refining the remaining 1.5C ‘carbon budget’, Guest Post by Dr Kasia Tokarska & Dr Damon Matthews, Carbon Brief, Jan 19, 2021
• Biden puts Trump's climate and environmental rollbacks in his crosshairs by By Gregory Wallace & Kristen Holmes, CNN, Jan 20, 2021
• Biden’s First Climate Actions Include Rejoining Paris Agreement by Scott Waldman, E&E News/Scientific American, Jan 20, 2021

Thu, Jan 21, 2021

• The US is back in the international climate game by Lill Pike, Vox, Jan 20, 2021
• Lake heatwaves will be ‘hotter and longer’ by the end of the century by Aaesha, Tandon, Carbon Brief, Jan 20, 2021
• What Biden and Democatic Senate can do on climate in their first 100 days, Commentary by Dana Nuccitelli, Yale Climate Connections, Jan 20, 2021
• A ‘Nerve Center’ for Climate in the Biden White House by Lisa Friedman, Climate & Environment, New York Times, Jan 19, 2021
• On U.S. Public Lands, Can Biden Undo What Trump Has Wrought? by Jim Robbins, Yale Environment 360, Jan 20, 2021
• After Alarmism: The war on climate denial has been won. And that’s not the only good news. by David Wallace-Wells, Life After Warming, New York Magazine, Jan 19, 2021

Fri, Jan 22, 2021

• Here Are All the Climate Actions Biden Took on Day One by Jean Chemnick, E&E News/Scientific American, Jan 21, 2021
• Rich nations accused of inflating climate adaptation finance figures by Isabelle Gerretsen, Climate Home News, Jan 21, 2021
• Tracking Biden’s environmental actions by Juliet Eilperin, Brady Dennis & John Muyskens, Climate & Environment, Washington Post, Jan 21, 2021
• Fox News wasted no time rolling out its climate strategy for the Biden administration: denial and bad-faith arguments by Ted MacDonald, Media Matters for America, Jan 21, 2021
• Biden’s Climate Cabinet Meets Diversity of the Climate Moment: Will they meet its ambition? by Ava Gallo, Federal Politics, ClimateXChange, Jan 21, 2021
• 12 new books explore fresh approaches to act on climate change by Michael Svoboda, Ph.D., Articles, Yale Climate Connections, Jan 22, 2021

Sat, Jan 23, 2021

• Restoring Environmental Rules Rolled Back by Trump Could Take Years by Coral Davenport, New York Times, Jan 22, 2021
• Legal bid to stop UK building Europe's biggest gas power plant fails by Damian Carrington, Environment, The Guardian, Jan 21, 2021
• Meet the team shaking up climate models by Doug Struck, Environment, The Christian Science Monitor, Jan 22, 2021
• What Happens to Big Oil This Year Will Define the Next Decade by Brian Kahn, Earther, Gizmodo, Jan 22, 2021
• Warming Trends: A Catastrophe for Monarchs, ‘Science Moms’ and Greta’s Cheeky Farewell to Trump by Katelyn Weisbrod, Inside Climate News, Jan 23. 2021