This section lists a selection of recommended books bringing various opinions, interpretations and experience on the climate emergency. Members and friends of the Ipswich Methodist Circuit have shared some insight into why they recommend these for your reading. Others in this list owe their inclusion in the list to the public acclaim or expert review. We would love to hear from you if you would like to recommend another book to add to these pages. We would be even more grateful for your help if you felt able to share your thoughts in a review which might help commend that book to others with a more personal note attached.
Where possible, links have been provided to a source for both the printed and e-book versions. Invariably, in keeping with the spirit of our climate action campaign, the links point to the HIVE bookseller, though of course other booksellers are available. HIVE provide an online shop, but when you complete your purchase via HIVE, they share a contribution of the profits with a local bookseller whom you nominate. This is just one way of balancing the advantages of e-commerce with the importance of local communities.
List of suggested books – scroll down, or select from this list to link directly with your chosen title..
A Christian Guide to Environmental Issues
Authors: Martin and Margot Hodson
Publisher: Bible Reading fellowship
This book is the subject of the weekly bible/book study being led by Rev Joan Pell at Museum Street Methodist Church – see details here.
A few copies of the book are still available for £7.25 from the Climate Action team, otherwise you can find it here:
There is also an ebook available from other sellers.
How to a Avoid a Climate Disaster
Author: Bill Gates
Publisher: Allen Lane
Read a review by David Welbourn (Museum St Methodist Church):
I can count on one hand (and name) those authors whose work cuts through confusion, complexity and conflicting interpretation, bringing clarity and a new profound way of cutting through the unknown. Bill Gates’ book on the climate emergency joins that elite group.
Sustainable energy without the hot air
Author: David Mackay
Publisher: UIT Cambridge Ltd
Read a review by Geoff Drake:
David MacKay, professor of Physics at Cambridge, published this wide-ranging book on Sustainable Energy In 2008. It is a remarkable book for its clarity and objectivity.
Changing the Climate
Author: Debbie, David and Jamie Hawker
Publisher: Bible Reading Fellowship
Read a review by Helen Lewis (Woodbridge Methodist Church)
This book is written by a Methodist family, Debbie and David, who are both psychologists and their young son Jamie, 14, who has some bright ideas which will appeal to the young. It is very easy to read.
Hope in God’s Future
Authors: Joint Public Issues working group of Baptist Union, Methodist Church and United Reformed Church
Publisher: Methodist Publishing House
This Report and Study Guide was updated in 2020 and is designed to help groups study and reflect on what Christian Discipleship means in the Context of Climate Change. A small number of printed copies are available for £2.50 if you contact the Climate Action Team
Seven Ways to Change the World
Author: Gordon Brown
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, was the guest lecturer for the launch of the Methodist Church campaign on social justice, entitled Walking with Micah. You can view his guest lecture here.
In his lecture, he introduced many of the threads which he draws together in the freshly published book with the subtitle how to fix the most pressing problems we face. The climate emergency is part of his concern, and he places this in the wider context of pandemic, global economic growth, the UN sustainable development goals, education, tax inequality and nuclear diarmament.
On Fire – the burning case for a green new deal
Author: Naomi Klein
Publisher: Penguin
Naomi Klein is a widely respected activist pressing for justice reform, perhaps best known for No Logo, her exposure of the abuse of corporate power and greed. In On Fire, she continues her battle for a new type of politics, whilst inspiring hope for the climate through social transformation.
Post Growth
Author: Tim Jackson
Publisher: Polity Books
For those who struggle to reconcile the views offered by both Bill Gates and Gordon Brown, that the solutions to the climate emergency must retain economic growth as a primary driver, Tim Jackson’s book offers a perspective of life after capitalism. He dares us to imagine a place where relationship and meaning take precedence over profits and power. The climate emergency does not form a central part of this book, but he does present alternative approaches to the problems others have left unanswered, and this makes a good companion read to others listed here.
There is no Planet B
Author: Mike Berners-Lee
Publisher: Cambridge Univerity Press
Jon Sharp from Capel St Mary Church recommends this book. Mike Berners-Lee is professor and fellow of the Institute for Social Futures at Lancaster University, and brother of Tim Berners-Lee – inventor of the world-wide-web.
Read a review by Jon Sharp from Capel St Mary Methodist Church who recommends this book.
There is an eBook available from other suppliers.
A Life Stripped Bare
Author: Leo Hickman
Publisher: Transworld Publishers Ltd.
This is the story of a life experiment by a journalist. The sub title “my year trying to live ethically” captures the nature of the experiment.
Jill Sharp from Capel st Mary Methodist Church provided this recommendation and you can read her review here.
God Unbound
Author: Brian McLaren
Publisher: Canterbury Press
Brain McLaren thinks theology is at its best when seen as a conversation with the wild world and he sets out here to share his discovery and reflection from time in the Galapagos islands.
Read another recommendation from Jon Sharp here
There is an eBook available from alternative suppliers