Best books of 2021: Climate and environment
How to Blow Up a Pipeline: Learning to Fight in a World on Fire
by Andreas Malm, Verso £10.99
This book does not include a step-by-step guide to blowing up a pipeline. Nor is it a call for all-out eco-terrorism. Rather, its Swedish author explores the bracing idea that property destruction may become far more attractive if progress tackling the existential threat of climate change continues to be glacial.
The Hydrogen Revolution: A Blueprint for the Future of Clean Energy
by Marco Alverà, Hodder & Stoughton £20/Basic Books $30
As pressure to tackle climate change grows, so has the idea that hydrogen will play a central role in a cleaner global energy system. The author is not disinterested: he runs an Italian gas pipeline company. But his lively book is an engaging guide to a fuel that could go mainstream faster than expected.
Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World
by Katharine Hayhoe, Atria/One Signal £20/$27
This astute guide to talking persuasively about the importance of tackling climate change comes from a uniquely qualified author — a churchgoing Christian climate scientist from a conservative city in oil-rich Texas. One top tip: don’t even bother with the small percentage of climate “dismissives” whose minds will never change.
Books of the Year 2021
All this week, FT writers and critics share their favourites. Some highlights are:
Monday: Business by Andrew Hill
Tuesday: Politics by Gideon Rachman
Wednesday: Economics by Martin Wolf
Thursday: Fiction by Laura Battle
Friday: History by Tony Barber
Saturday: Critics’ choice
The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet
by Michael E Mann, Scribe £16.99
If you have heard anyone arguing that climate “inactivists” are the new climate deniers, it is very likely that they have read this book. Few volumes have had as big an impact in climate policy circles this year as this thought-provoking work by one of the world’s best-known climate scientists.
Climate, Catastrophe, and Faith: How Changes in Climate Drive Religious Upheaval
by Philip Jenkins, Oxford University Press £22.99
So many books on climate change focus on science and policy. This one offers a refreshing, if sobering, break as it charts the effect that past periods of climate stress have had on the evolution of the world’s great faiths. Alas, it suggests history has worrying lessons for today’s climate crisis.
Tell us what you think
What are your favourites from this list — and what books have we missed? Tell us in the comments below
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