Climate change, or global warming, is a hot topic today. On October 3 at the Plaza Branch, the Library will host a conversation about climate change and global justice. The following week on October 8, the president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation will discuss how the preservation of older buildings should be an important component of sustainable development efforts, including efforts to combat climate change. This list of resources features some books about climate change for adults and kids, a few novels with climate change themes, and several documentary films about the topic.

Climate change | Climate change books for kids | Climate change in fiction | Documentary films

Climate change

An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It
By Al Gore
Published to tie in to a documentary film of the same name, An Inconvenient Truth is Gore's battle cry about what needs to be done about global warming.

The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations
By Brian Fagan
As he did in his bestselling The Little Ice Age, anthropologist and historian Fagan reveals how subtle changes in the environment have had far-reaching effects on human life, in a narrative that sweeps from the Arctic ice cap to the Sahara to the Indian Ocean.

Climate Solutions: A Citizen's Guide
By Peter Barnes
Author and entrepreneur Barnes shares what he's learned from discussions of global warming because the climate crisis must be solved now, and popular understanding is a pre-requisite to getting a solution that actually solves the problem.

Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change
By Elizabeth Kolbert
Known for her insightful and thought-provoking journalism, New Yorker writer Kolbert now tackles the controversial subject of global warming.

Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet
By Mark Lynas
In astonishing and unflinching detail, a noted science journalist explains how Earths climate will be impacted with every degree of increase in global warming--and what can be done about it now.

With Speed and Violence: Why Scientists Fear Tipping Points in Climate Change
By Fred Pearce
As Pearce began work on this book, normally cautious scientists beat a path to his door to tell him about their fears and their latest findings. Now he presents this up-to-date and readable book about the growing evidence for global warming and the large climatic effects it may unleash.

Climate change books for kids

How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate: Scientists and Kids Explore Global Warming
By Lynne Cherry and Gary Braasch
When the weather changes daily, how do we really know that Earth's climate is changing? Here is the science behind the headlines - evidence from flowers, butterflies, birds, frogs, trees, glaciers and much more, gathered by scientists from all over the world, sometimes with assistance from young "citizen-scientists." And here is what young people, and their families and teachers, can do to learn about climate change and take action.

An Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming
By Al Gore
Gore's bestselling book is now adapted for perhaps the most important audience of all: today's youth, who have no choice but to confront the planetary emergency head-on. Bursting with color photos, this book clearly explains global warming.

Climate Change
By Helen Orme
From an increase in Earths extreme weather to a decline in the Arctics polar bear population, global warming is already affecting our world. Climate Change pairs clear, easy-to-read text with vibrant photos to engage kids as they explore the causes and effects of climate change as well as possible solutions. A section in the back of the book will inspire young environmentalists by suggesting ways they can help protect their planet.

Climate change in fiction

Mara and Dann: An Adventure
By Doris Lessing
Thousands of years in the future, the northern hemisphere is buried under the ice and snow of a new Ice Age. At the southern end of a large landmass called Ifrik, two children of the Mahondi people, seven-year-old Mara and her younger brother, Dann, are abducted from their home in the middle of the night. Raised as outsiders in a poor rural village, Mara and Dann learn to survive the hardships and dangers of a life threatened as much by an unforgiving climate and menacing animals as by a hostile community of Rock People.

State of Fear
By Michael Crichton
An intelligence agent races around the world to put the pieces of a frightening eco-terrorist conspiracy together before humankind is devastated by a series of global catastrophes.

A Friend of the Earth
By T.C. Boyle
Blending idealism and satire, this story set in the year 2025 addresses universal questions of human love and the survival of the species. Global warming has collapsed the biosphere, and 75-year-old environmentalist Ty Tierwater is eking out a living as care-taker of a pop star's private zoo when his second ex-wife reenters his life.

Documentary films

An Inconvenient Truth: A Global Warning (2006)
Al Gore has traveled the world delivering a presentation on the global climate change, proving that humankind must confront global warming now or face devastating consequences -- this film captures his journey as a worldwide environmental champion.

Six Degrees Could Change the World (2007)
This National Geographic production examines the potential impact of the Earth’s average temperature rising six degrees Celsius by 2100.

Emperors of the Ice (2007)
Another National Geographic production, this film discusses how the emperor penguin in Antarctica is adapting to a warming climate.

Global Warming: What’s Up with the Weather? (2007)
This PBS NOVA and Frontline production examines the hot topic of global warming and includes discussion from scientists, climatologists, and futurists.

Book and some film descriptions provided by BookLetters.