Books on the environment and climate for COP26 Glasgow

Posted on November 9, 2021

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As COP26 continues in Glasgow, pressure is mounting. Inger Andersen, executive director of the UN Environment Programme said: “Climate change is no longer a future problem. It is a now problem.” Statements like this are not new and have been shouted by many for years. At Saraband, showcasing these dismissed voices has always been a priority for us and we are privileged to be able to publish writing by some of the UK’s most notable environmentalists and conservationists. Our hope is that the demands of these determined voices will finally be heard.

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The Nature of Summer

Jim Crumley is the author of more than forty books, mostly on the wildlife and wild landscape of his native Scotland, many of them making the case for species reintroductions, or ‘rewilding’. His Seasons series, a quartet of books exploring the wildlife and landscapes and how climate change is affecting our environment across the four seasons, is highly acclaimed.

Jim says: “Good nature writing should act like a bridge, a bridge over which understanding may cross. So that we can re-learn the skill of listening to the land, so that the land knows we are there, and that our presence and our purpose is benevolent.”

‘Jim Crumley’s last in the series on the nature of Scotland’s season, The Nature of Summer: shortlisted for this year’s Highland Book Prize, is the very essence of nature writing in Scotland today. His message is the leave nature alone. To “let it be.”‘ (Dundee Courier)

Extraction to Extinction

David Howe’s latest book traces our environmental impact through time to unearth how our obsession with endlessly producing and throwing away more and more stuff has pushed the planet to its limit.Today, we mine, quarry, pump, cut, blast and crush the Earth’s resources at an unprecedented rate.

We shift many times more rock, soil and sediment each year than the world’s rivers and glaciers, wind and rain combined. Plastics alone now weigh twice as much as all the marine and terrestrial animals around the globe. We have become a dominant, even dangerous, force on the planet. Extraction to Extinction considers the question: what does the future look like for our depleted world?

             

The Blackbird Diaries

Karen Lloyd is a writer of non-fiction and poetry based in Kendal, Cumbria. She is currently the Writer in Residence at Lancaster University’s Future Places Centre, where my writing as research investigates how cultural landscapes can be reimagined for the Anthropocene, where literature is a force for communication and a way of challenging more restricted ways of understanding landscape.

In The Blackbird Diaries, Karen Lloyd shares her deep-rooted knowledge and affection for the flora and fauna of these isles. And she issues a clarion call for the conservation of endangered habitats and species – most notably the curlew, Europe’s largest wading bird.

Mistletoe Winter

Roy Dennis MBE is one of the UK’s most prominent field naturalists. His approach to wildlife and conservation stems from years of experience working in the field. In Mistletoe Winter, Roy Dennis offers his reflections on the natural world from the past year – from the welcome signs of change to the ongoing problems we are posing for nature, and what humankind can and must do about them.

As in his companion volume, Cottongrass Summer, Roy Dennis balances his alarm at the crisis confronting the natural world with his own sense of optimism that new generations can make crucial changes for the future. One of our most prominent advocates for our planet and its species, he writes with insight and originality. This volume will provide inspiration and ideas for everyone who cares about our planet and its species.

From acclaimed Dutch author Saskia Goldschmidt, Shocked Earth is a compelling family drama that explores the damage caused by industrial gas extraction in the Netherlands. From the physical damage to properties to the environmental impact on wildlife and the emotional turmoil suffered by the people who live on the land nearby.

“Exquisitely captures the way our lives and identities are interwoven with the land we live on, and how its destruction will ultimately be our own. A powerful portrait of a family, an exploration of love and grief, it is perhaps most of all an essential call to action.” Helen Sedgwick

“Well-written and worth reading, offering political insight and a glimpse of a little-known part of the Netherlands.” Environmental Book Club