Books offer a lot of learning in one spot. They're quiet and they let you peruse their pages without trying to direct you to what they think is the most important stuff. The following books come in essentially two sizes: Grown up and Kids'. The kids' books, below, teach with fun. The Grown up books, even more below, inform without as much of the fun, but they get serious enough to help you choose what you want to do, if anything. There's also a special section of books by former Vice President Al Gore, who has made it his personal mission to inform people of the dangers of ignoring the causes of climate change.

Environmental children's books

Earth Day, by Linda Lowery
This book tells children the story of how Earth Day got its start in 1970.

Earth Day Birthday, by Pattie Schnetzler.
This is a cute book that tells children about the different animals the world has to offer, set to the tune of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”

Earth-Friendly Crafts for Kids: 50 Awesome Things to Make with Recycled Stuff by by Heather Smith, with Joe Rhatigan
This isn’t a story book at all, but a great resource for children looking to have fun and help the planet.

The Earth-Friendly series, by George Pfiffner.
This author has written four books in his Earth-Friendly series. Two of these are reviewed here.

Earth Day Holiday Celebrations, by Jason Cooper.
This book teaches about Earth Day and how it is celebrated.

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General sustainable living books:

Climate, by Jennie Hoffman
This book explains climate and how people's lifestyles are the reasons behind natural disasters. It also describes what may happen to the world climate in the future. Climate includes illustrations, maps, graphs, diagrams, satellite photos and digitally generated images.

Green Living, by the editors of E/ The Environmental Magazine
This is a how-to guide to being more environmental friendly in buying cosmetics, buying organic foods, finding an eco-friendly car and in making responsible investments.

The Lazy Environmentalist: Your Guide to Easy, Stylish, Green Living, by Josh Dorfman
The fashion-forward person who wants to live a little greener but be fashionable at the same time will love this book. Dorfman offers tips on styling a home, gardening, electronics and more.

The Green Book: The Everyday Guide to Saving the Planet One Simple Step at a Time, by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas M. Kostigen
This is the big answer book to questions like, Why turn off the lights? Does taking shorter showers really work? and Why recycle?

Cool It : The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming, by Bjorn Lomborg
Lomborg questions whether people should spend millions of dollars on global warming or if the money should be focused on other issues including diseases like HIV/AIDS and malaria or our fresh water supply.

Greenpeace, by Rex Weyler
This is the story about how ecologists, journalist and visionaries joined together to create a global "eco-navy:" Greenpeace.

Worldchanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century, by Alex Steffen, editor, with an introduction by Al Gore.
Here is a guide to show people that they can make a difference in the world by building green, investing responsibly, building non-toxic homes and much more. The book contains several categories of information, including politics, cities and communities.

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Books by Al Gore:
An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It
Gore implores people and governments to wake up and look around at the global climate crisis. Though businesses and others may not want to deal with these crises, the book says that the problems won't just go away.

Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit
Gore shows how people are endangering the Earth that we all live on.

An Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming
Gore shows kids how global warming is an issue that people must begin taking interest in before it's too late. Included are photographs, charts and other illustrations to show the effects of global warming. This book is appropriate for children 11 years and up.

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