By Abby Kelso, Sidwell Friends School
In Alexis Madrigal’s book Powering the Dream: The History and Promise of Green Technology, he illustrates the history of green technology in the United States, from electric cabs in New York in the 1890s to Idaho’s geothermal heating system of 1910. Though many view the focus on green technology as relatively recent, Madrigal reveals that the United States has utilized green technology sporadically for decades. By examining the past, Madrigal envisions a more hopeful future—a future in which environmentally friendly technology is the norm, rather than an exception.
An environmental reading list would not be complete without Rachel Carson’s historic book, The Silent Spring. Published in 1962, Carson’s book is largely credited with sparking the movement that banned the harmful pesticide DDT and enacted other laws to protect air, land and water. “Every once in a while in the history of mankind, a book has appeared which has substantially altered the course of history,” Alaskan Senator Ernest Gruening told Carson after she testified before a Senate subcommittee on pesticides in 1963. By taking scientific information and making it accessible to the public, Carson ignited the public outcry that pushed for environmentally beneficial legislation. Though decades old and somewhat outdated, The Silent Spring remains a must-read for those interested in learning about the history of environmentalism in the United States.
Though it is well known that the climate crisis is negatively impacting animals and the environment, occasionally we forget that it is having real, current impacts on many people around the world. In Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore, Elizabeth Rush uses testimonials from those affected by rising sea levels and profiles of biologists and activists to highlight the effects of the climate crisis that those in coastal areas are experiencing right now. Rush interviews members of a Native American community on the sinking Isle de Jean Charles and a Staten Islander whose father died during Hurricane Sandy to give a powerful and personal look at the present effects of the climate crisis.
In the 2015 documentary The True Cost, director Andrew Morgan illustrates the human and environmental cost of the garment industry. It exposes the harsh conditions in the garment factories of countries like Bangladesh, India, Cambodia and China. The film also examines the environmental impact of fast fashion by exploring the toxic effects of pesticides used to make genetically modified cotton and the waste generated by consumerism. Available to watch on Prime Video, The True Cost is an impactful look at the devastating effects of the fashion industry.
Directed by Robert Kenner, the 2008 documentary Food, Inc. is an intimate look at corporate farming in the United States. It explains how industrial production of meat, grains and vegetables is both environmentally detrimental and inhumane, while also offering alternatives for consumers. Additionally, the documentary examines the influence major food companies exert over food regulations. Food, Inc. is a must-watch for those interested in learning how the world’s eating habits impact the environment.
Presented by the Southern Environmental Law Center, the podcast Broken Ground focuses on the lived experiences of those impacted by environmental crises in the South. Its first season discusses events like the Tennessee coal ash spill in 2008 and the rising waters in Norfolk, Virginia. The second season of Broken Ground shifts its focus to interviewing women in the South fighting for environmental justice, such as Heather McTeer Toney, the Mayor of Greenville, Mississippi and Chandra Taylor, the leader of SELC’s Environmental Justice Initiative who is fighting to end water pollution in Black communities in North Carolina.
Inherited, a podcast hosted by Georgia Wright and Julianna Bradley, highlights the voices of young people around the world who have inherited the climate crisis from older generations that failed to act. Telling the story of the sit-in at Nancy Pelosi’s office in November 2018, which criticized Congress’ climate policies, and talking to environmental activists whose mental health has been negatively impacted by climate change, this podcast chronicles Generation Z’s impassioned fight against the climate crisis.The final recommendation of this list is the poem “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Glacier (after Wallace Stevens).” You can read Craig Santos Perez’s poem here: https://poets.org/poem/thirteen-ways-looking-glacier-after-wallace-stevens
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