Whether you want to help shape the world or simply learn a bit more about your environmental footprint, this list of books on sustainability will help get you started!
When it comes to thinking about the climate, it’s easy to ping pong between hope and despair. One thing that can help is to focus on sustainability and learn practical solutions you can take in your everyday life to help make a difference.
Stories of sustainability are those of pioneering thinking, radical shifts, and action. They introduce role models and challenge us to imagine the future we want. They also empower us, providing concrete steps we can take to get started.
This list presents some of the best books on sustainability. There are true classics like Small is Beautiful, modern classics like Cradle to Cradle and Diet for a Hot Planet, and new voices, armed with their own experiences and the latest research.
Have kids? Be sure to check out our top children’s books on sustainability too!
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Top 20 Books on Sustainability
From politics and economics to indigenous wisdom and gardening, there are a variety of approaches to sustainability. These sustainable living books will show you the way forward.
1) Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
Author: William McDonough & Michael Braungart
Did you know that up to 90% of the materials used in traditional manufacturing models ends up as waste? This book challenges the way the traditional “cradle to grave” cycle works and envisions a world where we don’t have to harm the natural environment in order to create new products.
Rather than settling for recycling or downcycling, the authors argue for designing products in such a way that, after their useful life, they provide genuine nourishment or life to something new.
2) Climate Justice: Hope, Resilience, and the Fight for a Sustainable Future
Author: Mary Robinson
Too often sustainability and human rights are thought of as separate issues instead of intersecting ones. Climate Justice, written by former President of Ireland and UN Special Envoy, tells stories from all over the world of people who have faced environmental and human rights injustices and then done something about it.
A great read for people who like stories of resilience, this book offers hope for community-based change
3) The Upcycle: Beyond Sustainability – Designing for Abundance
Author: William McDonough & Michael Braungart
The Upcycle is William McDonough and Michael Braungart’s follow-up to Cradle to Cradle, one of the most well-respected sustainability books of our time!
Their second book shifts the focus from theory to practice and demonstrates how the cradle-to-cradle approach has fared in real business.
4) Rebuilding Earth: Designing Ecoconscious Habitats for Humans
Author: Teresa Coady
Written by an award-winning Canadian architect, this book is both a call to action and a plan. It starts by tracing how we ended up with our unsustainable concrete jungles, and then it lays out principles and techniques for how to build a better future.
Its highly readable prose is for anyone who wants be part of, or simply imagine, a more natural and sustainably built environment.
5) The Human Age: The World Shaped By Us
Author: Diane Ackerman
This book by Diane Ackerman is celebrated for its unique insight into the natural world and humans’ place in it. The Human Age argues that there is no force more meddlesome or more influential than we are.
Praised as a “beguiling, optimistic engagement with the changes affecting every part of our lives,” this one is should definitely be on your reading list this year.
6) Sustainability for the Rest of Us: Your No-Bullshi*t, Five-Point Plan for Saving the Planet
Author: John Pabon
If you’ve ever asked yourself “but what can I actually do?” – this book is for you. If you’ve said “yes, but I’m only one person” – this book is for you.
This book is for everyone.
Self-described pragmatic altruist John Pabon draws on his years of experience and expertise to tell us what we’ve been doing wrong, what has prevented significant change, and what we should be doing instead.
7) The Responsibility Revolution: How the Next Generation of Businesses Will Win
Author: Jeffrey Hollender & Bill Breen
Championed as a book for “leaders, entrepreneurs, and change agents” – this thought provoking read encourages companies to change their mindset from trying to be “less bad”, to embracing an “all good” philosophy instead.
Drawing on personal experience as the chairman of Seventh Generation, Hollender & Breen also interview some of the biggest and forward-thinking companies in the world to come up with their recipe for creating “good companies”.
8) How Bad Are Bananas?: The carbon footprint of everything (2020 Update)
Author: Mike Berners-Lee
“Carbon footprint” was a newer concept when this book first came out in 2009. This updated 2020 edition uses the latest data to quantify carbon footprints, and it’s been expanded to include technology like a Zoom call and the Cloud.
This book will empower hard data-lovers to reduce their own footprint and enable them to pressure companies and governments to do the same.
9) Wear No Evil: How to Change the World with Your Wardrobe
Author: Greta Eagan
If you haven’t yet looked into the atrocities of the garment industry, you are in for a bit of a shock.
Wear No Evil takes a close look at the fashion industry and how we can support sustainability while shopping for our wardrobe.
10) #futuregen: Lessons from a Small Country
Author: Jane Davidson
Did you know that Wales has the most sustainable legislation in the world? In #futuregen, Jane Davidson explains her proposal of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, which was the first legislation ever to make sustainability the cornerstone of government.
Wales isn’t one of the first countries that comes to mind when we think of environmental and social leadership, but this book shows that it probably should be.
11) Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered
Author: E. F. Schumacher
Small is Beautiful is an oldie but a goodie. Originally published in 1973, this book has been a statement on sustainability in its field for decades. And it only gets more relevant every year.
Schumacher argues that the “bigger is better” mentality of industrialism is a damaging one, and that if we really care about people we will actively seek a better balance between economic growth and its human cost.
12) Grow Food For Free: The sustainable, zero-cost, low-effort way to a bountiful harvest
Author: Huw Richards
Saddened by hearing that people think it’s too expensive to grow their own food, Huw Richards challenged himself to grow food for free for a year and then wrote a book about it.
Full of pictures and practical tips, it’s the perfect guide for new, cost-conscious gardeners. Learn about living sustainably at the most grass-roots level!
13) Quenching the Thirst: Sustainable Water Supply & Climate Change
Author: George Annandale
Global water shortages just can’t be ignored anymore. Increased demand, a rapidly growing global population, and decreased water availability are all serving to create a catastrophe that we’re all accountable for.
This book serves to open our eyes to the issue, and offer solutions. Reviewed as insightful, compelling, and written for the general public and professionals alike, this is a hard-hitting read.
14) Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard
Author: Douglas W. Tallamy
Conservation isn’t always in the hands of governments and politicians; it can start with us, and it can start in our own backyards.
Described as a “quiet revolutionary,” Entomology and Wildlife Ecology professor Doug Tallamy challenges us to see our property as a natural habitat and lays out simple, specific steps we can follow to transform it into just that. With this book in our hands, we can all be wildlife conservationists.
15) Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Braiding Sweetgrass ushers us into a more sustainable future by reminding us of past knowledge.
As a scientifically-trained botanist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Robin Wall Kimmerer is the perfect guide through the world of indigenous wisdom.
Her storytelling and poetic prose illuminate reciprocal relationships, revealing deeper, more spiritual reasons for safeguarding the natural world.
16) Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist
Author: Kate Raworth
Despite the title, this book has more to do with sustainability than sweet treats. Employing a doughnut shape to illustrate her new vision for economic theory, Kate Raworth argues that it’s possible to meet all of humanity’s needs with what our planet can provide.
She replaces old economic myths with seven new insights that are sure to get business- and economically-minded people rethinking everything they’ve been taught.
17) Strategy for Sustainability: A Business Manifesto
Author: Adam Werbach
An insightful introduction into CSR, or Corporate Social Sustainability, in his book Adam Werbach demonstrates how large multinational companies might use sustainable principles to reach new heights through integrated business strategies.
He argues that sustainability is the only way forward for companies who want to grow in today’s world.
18) The Future Earth: A Radical Vision for What’s Possible in the Age of Warming
Author: Eric Holthaus
It’s hard to create a sustainable future if we can’t even picture it. The Future Earth walks us through an imagined future – from the 2020s, to the 2030s, to the 2040s – showing what the world could look like if we commit to taking drastic action now.
The vision within this book isn’t all rosy; there are flooded cities, climate refugees, injustices, and other growing pains. However, its tone is ultimately hopeful and its vision necessary.
19) Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork
Author: Anna Lappe
There’s something fundamentally wrong with our food system, and this book delves into the reasons why.
Lappe picks up the conversation her mother started in the book “Diet for a Small Planet” and expands on how our diet choices are contributing to the current climate crises.
A must-read for everyone, this book not only spells out the problem, it gives practical solutions for solving it.
20) The Hunt for the Golden Mole: All Creatures Great & Small and Why They Matter
Author: Richard Girling
Learn about the importance of biodiversity in this engaging tale by Richard Girling.
With his delightful writing, the author takes us on an enchanting journey that delves into humankind’s obsession with hunting and collecting.
Time to pick one of these great books on sustainability and get started!
Dive into the history of Wales, plan your backyard nature reserve, or figure out exactly what an economic doughnut looks like. Travel back to America’s indigenous past or forward into a beautiful vision of the future.
Imagine how much better the world would be if everyone read even one of these books and took its lessons to heart. Start with yourself and spread the word!
Normal Girl
Monday 1st of November 2021
Thanks for this, I am actually writing about Sustainable Development for a school project, I don't know which one to choose as yet but I'll see..
Susan Krumdieck
Wednesday 29th of April 2020
I notice a theme in the books - gaining awareness of the issues our economic system causes. Add to this reading list a book that goes the next step. Don't let the title put you off. It is very accessible reading. Transition Engineering, Building a Sustainable Future
Haley
Wednesday 27th of March 2019
Thanks for making such a concise list. I look forward to reading the ones That sparked my interest.
Bruna santos
Monday 28th of January 2019
“Eat for the planEt” is alsO a great introductory book! Check it out!
Krystal
Sunday 30th of September 2018
Your first paragraph is me to the t. Excited to read these! Thank you!
Lauren
Tuesday 16th of October 2018
Aww - twins! I'm really glad you found the list! Happy reading :)