Penguin’s new range of climate books is needed now more than ever

Scientific consensus is that we have to act now on the climate crisis, writes Chris Stevenson, so the more information readily available the better

Penguin Classics has launched what it is labelling a ‘new canon’ of environmental literature (Getty)

I was interested by the news that Penguin Classics has launched what it is labelling a “new canon” of environmental literature, which it believes has “changed the way we think and talk about the living Earth”.

Whatever your stance on the issues surrounding the climate crisis – and our letters mailbag is always full of suggestions of how to tackle it – there is no doubting it is a topic that deserves it. It is one of the defining issues of our time. Penguin has been at pains to point out that the list is not exhaustive but is aimed at providing a path to learning about big ideas.

Generation Z, those in the mid-twenties or below, may be the most engaged about climate issues – but there is a wealth of information in the new series, from Greta Thunberg to Wangari Maathai and James Lovelock, and there is also the hope that parents will be able to use some of this material to help explain elements of the crisis.

“It’s a growing, evolving ecosystem of great ideas,” said Penguin’s Chloe Currens. “I hope that the series will be used by readers as a way of engaging with some of the key ideas in modern environmental thought – that it will offer an accessible path through the vibrant, urgent and perhaps occasionally overwhelming wider world of ecological writing.”

Scientific consensus is that we have to act now, so the more information readily available, presented in a way that allows for further exploration, the better. Pressure on governments to keep to their climate commitments needs to come from all angles. The more people know, the better that pressure can be.

I’d be interested in hearing the thoughts of readers as to the content of the series and the books they recommend reading around the climate crisis.

Yours,

Chris Stevenson

Voices editor