Over the last few weeks, 17 Harvard faculty have joined the Mittal Institute Climate Platform as new affiliates, greatly increasing the platform’s reach and expertise. Now, these affiliates are sharing some of their top climate reads. Stay informed on the climate crisis, its global impacts, and some meaningful actions you can take. Enjoy the list!
Gary Adamkiewicz
Associate Professor of Environmental Health and Exposure Disparities, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
“A book I’ve been fond of for years is The Carbon Footprint of Everything by Mike Berners-Lee (originally published as ‘How Bad are Bananas?: The Carbon Footprint of Everything’). I’ve recommended it to my students in my “Food and the Global Environment” class at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health for years as a way of developing intuition about how the products we use, the foods we eat, the events we engage in etc. all translate into carbon footprints. Have you ever wondered about the carbon footprint of an e-mail, an apple, a laptop, a phone call or even the Olympic games? This book breaks down the key drivers and issues behind the calculus of climate change. It’s part reference and part life-guide. Of course, there are devils in the details that aren’t unpacked, but it’s a great entry point into practical carbon consciousness. It will keep you thinking!”
Vikram Patel
Paul Farmer Professor and Chair of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School
“I would recommend The Floating Coast: An Environmental History of the Bering Strait by Bathsheba Demuth. The book is a lyrical tribute to the beauty and vulnerability of the lands and seas around the Bering Strait, crossing over ecology, anthropology, history, and environmental sciences.”
Amala Mahadevan
Senior Scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute; Faculty Dean, Mather House, Harvard University
“The Case for Nature by Siddarth Shrikanth is a book that I have enjoyed reading. I met the author at the home of a friend and former HKS graduate and then picked up the book at a bookstore in India. I like it because it makes the case for biodiversity in the context of a society that is focused on development and improving the quality of life. However, the natural world cannot be separated from human society, and we must deal with the juxtaposition of these factors as we plan for a sustainable future.”
Peter Tufano
Baker Foundation Professor, Harvard Business School
“I would recommend The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson. This classic cli-fi (climate fiction novel) opens with a situation close to the research of the Mittal Institute: a lethal heat wave in South Asia and a unilateral use of geo-engineering without any global governance. I don’t want to give away too much, but it’s a great, if dark, introduction to the human costs of climate change.”
