Albert Einstein once said, “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”
Earth Day is an annual, international recognition of support for environmental protection.
I know many people think environmentalism is a recent development, but really, Earth Day isn't that new. The first one was held in 1970. But, with current political situations as they are in a certain country, any recognition of environmental importance seems more prevalent than usual.
But it is not just politics; it is personal.
It used to be that when I was visiting family in these gorgeous mountains I now call home, I would open the door of my car and the fresh air would just hit me. I could feel my breaths deepening, my heart slowing a little, my nerves unclenching.
When I was maybe ten years old, I told my parents I wanted to live in the mountains. A few years ago, I was fortunate enough to get to do just that. I find myself complaining sometimes about the crazy number of deer that we have wandering through my yard most of the year (they eat my garden!). Notices go out about bears in town, or cougar sightings. Creeks run clear here; there are waterfalls and trees and yes, mountains.
I am so lucky.
So the environment is important to me, and even if you live in an apartment in a bustling city, we are still all parts of this rock, hurtling through space.
In honour of this planet we call home, I came up with a list of ten highly-readable books to recommend for Earth Day - and any day, really, when you either are unable or unwilling to actually hug a tree.
As per usual, clicking on the title or image will take you to the associated page on goodreads. You may also wish to check out my spring reads recommendations, here. (I particularly think Wild would be a good choice for Earth Day.)
Without further ado, and in no particular order, my picks for books that make me want to get outside or maybe change the world for the better:
So many classics evoke images of rural landscapes, but this one, dealing with both animals and destruction of home, is a perfect fit for Earth Day.
“Animals don't behave like men,' he said. 'If they have to fight, they fight; and if they have to kill they kill. But they don't sit down and set their wits to work to devise ways of spoiling other creatures' lives and hurting them. They have dignity and animality.”
Two of my absolute favourite children's books make this list, and this is the first. Shel Silverstein's touching story of a tree who (yes, who, as the tree is personified) loved a boy, and gave, and gave, and gave to that boy, is a parable from which we can all learn something. Unfortunately, too many of us identify with the boy more than the tree.
“And after a long time the boy came back again. "I am sorry, Boy," said the tree, "but I have nothing left to give you[...]"
I have read this one with several groups of students, and the two elementary schools in my community even did it as a "two schools, one book" study in the past. Children love it, but you know what? So do adults. This book, entirely from a gorilla's perspective and based on a true story, ponders art, friendship, and animals in captivity.
"Humans think gorillas don't have imaginations. They think we don't remember our pasts or ponder our futures."
Two Krakauer books make this list. This is the story of a young man who craved the spirituality and adventure of the wilderness. Some read this book as a cautionary tale of a man reckless and arrogant, who was defeated by the very world that he wanted to experience. Others read it as inspiration to be bold, to live life fully and idealistically. Regardless, the power of the environment cannot be denied throughout this book.
“I now walk into the wild.”
The second book by Krakauer on this list, I teach this one to one of my classes of grade twelve students. This nonfiction piece reads more like an adventure novel, which is probably part of the reason it is so popular. This is Krakauer's tale of climbing Everest, both as a journalist and mountaineer, when a terrible storm struck that left several dead and the rest with guilt, questioning the tenuous relationship that humanity shares with nature.
"Once Everest was determined to be the highest summit on earth, it was only a matter of time before people decided that Everest needed to be climbed. "
This classic adventure follows a dog through the Yukon wilderness. It is a coming-of-age story focused on a dog - how can you not love that? As Buck, our canine protagonist, discovers himself, he also discovers his place in nature.
"With the aurora borealis flaming coldly overhead, or the stars leaping in the frost dance, and the land numb and frozen under its pall of snow, this song of the huskies might have been the defiance of life, only it was pitched in minor key, with long-drawn wailings and half-sobs, and was more the pleading of life, the articulate travail of existence."
Let's keep the cold and the canines going, shall we? This is another pick I have taught before, and I have to say, I did have to choose between a couple Farley Mowat books. This one, though, is nature-writing at its best. It is the account, that straddles the line between fiction and memoir, of the summer that Mowat was sent to the frozen tundra to investigate the wolf populations there and the killing of caribou.
“We have doomed the wolf not for what it is, but for what we deliberately and mistakenly perceive it to be –the mythologized epitome of a savage ruthless killer – which is, in reality, no more than a reflected image of ourself.”
I happen to live in a great area for fly-fishing, and though I love rivers, I never understood the draw of casting a line to and fro, again and again. This book could change that.
Another classic, A River Runs Through It lives in the connection between nature and emotion. Anyone who has a hobby or activity that brings them out to nature can understand the vivid beauty of the descriptions of the landscape.
“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.
I am haunted by waters.”
Okay, okay, I might be cheating a bit to include a whole trilogy. Really, any one of these books could be on this list, but to appreciate them fully you really ought to look at all three. Oryx and Crake, the first book, introduces us to an existence both near and far our current time, in which corporations and the plague have forever altered humanity and the world. The second book, The Year of the Flood, runs parallel to the first book, in the same future, but focusing on different characters. Everything comes together in the final book, MaddAdam. This trilogy is chilling, sometimes funny, and compelling, offering a glimpse of a future just too possible to be comfortable.
I love pretty much everything Atwood does, but her specialty is dystopian fiction. You can expect to see these books, and others by her of course, on other "recommended reads" lists from me.
“The moon. Even though we know it’s coming. Every time we see it, it makes us pause, and hush.”
There is no way that I could leave this definitive book off a list of Earth Day reads. No way. The second of my favourite children's books on this list, this beautiful, Seussical story is a cautionary tale about what "progress" really means.
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It's not.”
So there you have it! What are your picks? Do you agree with my list? I know there are so many books perfect for this theme that I missed, and I would love to hear your thoughts!
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“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.”
John Muir