The start of the year can feel a bit bleak, but at EFN it is a special time to learn and be inspired via our reading week. For the second time, our team took one week to immerse ourselves in books, articles, podcasts, films and documentaries to learn more about climate, environmental and philanthropy ideas and issues. We regularly share incredible resources and reads with our networks and it’s wonderful to have a chance to follow our own advice and read, listen, watch and learn. After the reading week, we had a “book club” chat about what inspired us and what we learnt. Below are our top recommendations from the team – enjoy!
P.S. These nine recommendations below are only part of what folks read over the week. Other titles we couldn’t fit below included Moving towards reparative justice: how funders can act by Ten Years Time, Wealth with a Why by Stuart & Stephanie Mills and Sink or Swim: How the World Needs to Adapt to a Changing Climate by Dr Susannah Fisher.
#1 Walking with gorillas: the journey of an African wildlife vet by Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka
Walking with gorillas: the journey of an African wildlife vet is the brilliant memoir of a Ugandan wildlife veterinarian, Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka. Readers are taken on a journey from Dr. Gladys’s early life loving animals to her veterinary career in protecting endangered mountain gorillas and other wild animals. Environmental Groups Lead, Natasha Ratter, chose this as her favourite of reading week as it’s a story close to her heart and home. Dr Gladys was good friends with her father and the area where the mountain gorillas are from – Bwindi – is where Natasha and her family are from in Uganda. Part of the power of this book, Natasha shares, is Dr Gladys’s approach to conservation which is deeply informed by human public health and working with local communities. It’s an uplifting read – showing how it’s possible to build a brighter future for the local wildlife and human community.
Available at major bookshops and via second hand retailers.
#2 Access Denied: Does the environment sector have a problem with class? By Eco Chamber podcast
The Eco Chamber podcast is created by the Environmental Data Services (ENDS) and features insights and conversations on the biggest green news stories and environmental issues facing us today. Our Scotland Lead, Julie, recommends a special episode they produced: Access Denied: Does the environment sector have a problem with class? In this episode, they explore the representation of working class people in the UK’s environment sector with guests, Nadia Shaikh, Chair of the RAVEN network, Dr Ciara Dwyer, co-chair of the Socioeconomic Equality and Diversity (SEED) network, Sarah Mukherjee, CEO of Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals and Emma River-Roberts, Founder of the Working Class Climate Alliance.
According to the UK Government’s Social Mobility Barometer, around half of the public (48%) consider themselves to be working class, yet according to the new research and analysis by ENDS, more than two thirds of respondents out of 260 environmental professionals surveyed felt that working class individuals are either significantly or slightly under-represented in their organisations. The guests explored this lack of working class representation and the barriers to entering the environment sector.
#3 Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton
Raising Hare is the hugely popular and award-winning book by Chloe Dalton that chronicles her experience finding a newly born hare – a leveret – and raising it to return to the wild. Hares are wild animals and suffer from myopathy – a fatal form of stress – if held or restrained against their wishes. Chloe never named the hare and observed her from a distance during the covid lockdown, allowing her to roam in and out of her home. The story is also about Chloe’s own reconnection with nature after being in the city for years and returning to the countryside during the covid lockdown and raising the hare.
Emma, our Operations Manager, said she’s been looking for hares ever since she read this book (and has successfully spotted one)! She also enjoyed the mix of storytelling and non-fiction within the book, making it a compelling read. Visit Chloe’s website to check out pictures of the hare she raised (they are very cute!).
Available at major bookshops and via second hand retailers.
#4 Don’t Talk About Politics by Sarah Stein Lubrano
Sarah Stein Lubrano joined us at last year’s EFN members’ annual retreat and her insights on how we actually change people’s minds about environmental issues really resonated with us. Unsurprisingly, we were very keen to read her debut book, Don’t Talk About Politics.
Sarah brings insights from ancient philosophy, modern neuroscience and social and political science to reveal how we can change people’s minds and political behaviours and why talking about politics is a poor form of persuasion. Whilst many of us believe we need to present the “best” idea or most “compelling” debate to change people’s minds, there are actually much more effective ways to change people’s minds, explains Sarah. These include relationships and friendships, building social infrastructure and community organising. Sarah also reverses the common idea that beliefs inspire action and shows that it’s actually taking action that can change someone’s mind.
Oscar, our Events and Programme Manager, found this book really helpful to think about how we persuade people about climate and environmental action. Sarah’s takeaways around how actions change beliefs and the importance of building meaningful relationships felt very relevant to EFN’s work. We recommend this book if you’re thinking about campaigning, influencing and narratives around climate and environment action.
Available at major bookshops and via second hand retailers.
#5 Private Rites by Julia Armfield
A haunting novel, longlisted for the Climate Fiction Prize, Private Rites by Julia Armfield follows the lives of three sisters as they live through the end of the world. As the blurb describes,‘it’s been raining for a long time now, for so long that the lands have reshaped themselves’, and sisters Isla, Irene and Agnes are brought back together when their estranged father dies. Whilst they plan his funeral and negotiate the ebbs and flows of grief and family conflict, we also see their flooded world ending steadily around them and something sinister unfolding in the background.
Without giving any spoilers, this is a beautifully written novel that imagines how everyday people live in a world where the end is here. We move from ordinary life – work, love, family – to the extraordinary – surviving flooding, the breakdown of society. This mix between the dramatic and the inane makes for a unique take on the end of the world – one that is clearly linked by Julia to climate change and nature loss. Jane, our Growing Philanthropy Lead, found the book brilliant but pretty depressing. As Jane put it, this kind of fiction has such an important role in painting a vivid picture of what it would be like to live in a world where we have let climate change continue unabated and what choices we need to make now.
Available at major bookshops and via second hand retailers.
#6 Britain Talks Climate & Nature 2025 by Climate Outreach
What’s the best way to talk about our work and share it with funders, fundraisers and the wider sector? How do we encourage the wider public to engage with climate and nature issues – what’s the best way to communicate with them? At EFN, we’ve been thinking about the importance of language, narrative and framing for our work and that of the wider sector for a long time now. Although Sarah Stein Lubrano’s book (see above) shows us that words are not the only (or necessarily best) way to change hearts and minds, we currently face a growing and increasingly vocal anti-climate movement. Getting our communication right and better resourced across the sector therefore seems all the more urgent to counter this threat.
Our Research Manager, Patricia, found the fifth Britain Talks Climate & Nature report by Climate Outreach to be very helpful in considering these big questions. The report is an in-depth analysis on how Brits think and feel about climate and nature and what that means for our strategies in communication and for policy. The research is based on 7,000 people and focus groups around Britain and contains practical recommendations and advice for people working across different sectors and issue areas, including tool kits like this.
#7 The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd
A classic in nature writing, The Living Mountain describes the journeys that Nan Shepherd made into the Cairngorm Mountains of Scotland. Considered a masterpiece in nature writing, Shepherd is known for her poetic prose that explores and records the rocks, rivers and hidden aspects of this landscape. She spent a lifetime exploring the Cairngorms and the book is a powerful meditation on wilderness, strength and nature connection. The book was written during the Second World War and was not published until thirty years after she wrote it.
Helen, our Finance and Governance Manager, decided to delve into this classic and noted how much she also loved the introduction by Robert Macfarlane as well. He is quoted saying how: ‘most works of mountain literature are written by men, and most of them focus on the goal of the summit’. Shepherd’s piece, in comparison, is a much more imaginative exploration of these mountains and landscape.
Available at major bookshops and via second hand retailers.
#8 Carbon Bros by Drilled and Non-Toxic
Drilled is a true crime podcast about climate change – which the EFN team is a big fan of! However, we wanted to specifically recommend Season 13 of Drilled – ‘Carbon Bros’, a mini series that explores what happens when the climate crisis meets the crisis of masculinity.
Across four episodes, Amy Westervelt (Drilled) and Daniel Waite Penny (Non-Toxic) start by investigating how manosphere figures like Joe Rogan and Andrew Tate are also telling their listeners anti-climate talking points and why these mainly male listeners seem so susceptible to climate disinformation. They go on to explore the idea of energy dominance, how gendered notions of the climate crisis have led to “masculine” approaches to solving it and possible ways to integrate new ideas of masculinity into the climate movement. Tara, our Communications Manager, found this an absolutely fascinating listen and loved how the hosts tracked how these different visions of masculinity and gender are impacting the climate movement.
We are excited that Amy Westervelt will be joining us for a Stepping Up Conversation in May, where we’ll be sure to talk about this series and more.
#9 The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer
‘Can we imagine a human economy with a currency which emulates the flow from Mother Earth? A currency of gifts?’
With our Stepping Up conversation with Robin Wall Kimmerer coming up later this year, our Communications and Network Coordinator, Aliyah, decided to pick up Robin’s latest book, The Serviceberry. The book explores the gift economy, reciprocity and abundance, using the example of the serviceberry and Indigenous wisdom to reimagine our current economic system based on scarcity and competition.
As the blurb explains, the serviceberry is a tree ‘that distributes its wealth – its abundance of sweet, juicy berries –to meet the needs of its natural community. And this distribution ensures its own survival.’ Kimmerer is inspired by the tree’s reciprocity and interconnectedness with nature and other beings and asks what would happen if we started reimagining our economy this way. Aliyah highly recommended the book – which is why we picked it for our upcoming EFN Book club – and she particularly found it powerful how Kimmerer linked alternative economic models to practices or very similar ones that already existed in many places and were then erased after European-led colonialism.
Available at major bookshops and via second hand retailers.