It’s World Environmental Health Day on Sunday and the theme this year is ‘Prioritising environmental health for healthier communities in global recovery’. Read through these books to understand how humans lost their plot when it comes to co-existing on the planet.
Air-Pollution, Climate Change and India’s Choice Between Policy and Pretense
The book by Dean Spears is a socio-anthropological analysis of air pollution. It offers a deep understanding of the causes of air pollution, how it impacts lives, and how we can bring it under control. It also exposes the Indian government’s apathy and neglect to solving an issue as pressing as this. They have taken very few measures to tackle the problem, the book highlights.
Half earth: Our planets fight for life
This book by Edward O Wilson emphasises that the survival of biodiversity is important for our survival. The book proposes a plan to fight the specter of extinction by populating half the planet with wildlife. It explains that our biosphere is in a critical state and that if we don’t take neccessary action now, animal and human life won’t survive for long.
The Future Earth: A Radical Vision for What’s Possible in the Age of Warming
A lot of people still deny the existence of climate change. This book by Eric Holthaus would serve as a perfect reality-check for such naysayers. The book illustrates what the Earth looked like many decades ago and how we can reverse some of the ills of climate change by accepting the reality and adopting radical measures.
When smoke ran like water
Written by a renowned epidemiologist, Devra Davis, the book documents her fight against environmental pollution. It is based on a massive public health disaster that was caused by polluting companies in the US, an incident that left 3,00,000 people dead in a year. She uses this case study to highlight the consequences of pollution, which can lead to breast cancer, respiratory infections, and brain damage. With this book, she underlines the cruelty of private companies and the global lack of interest in public health.
Green Wars: Dispatches From A Vanishing World
This book is written by Bahar Dutt, an environmental journalist. Her writing exposes the misplaced priority of our government when it comes to developing India. The book is partly a scathing commentary on the state of affairs, partly a tribute to green warriors, and partly a documentation of Bahar’s journey in covering conservation stories.
Silent Spring
This book by Rachel Carson was way ahead of its time and was not welcome when it was written in 1962. It documents the complications that arise with the excessive use of pesticides and chemicals in farming.