Sustainable Reads Worth Getting Stuck Into this Summer
Travel options may be fairly limited right now, but that doesn’t mean a spot of escapism isn’t on the cards. Whether holidaying at home this summer, or making a break for abroad, we’ve done a roundup of the best sustainable reads to get stuck into on a sunny day, from the thought-provoking to the funny.
1. Resourceful Living, Lisa Dawson
In this sustainable interiors book, award-winning blogger, Lisa Dawson, demonstrates how with a little creativity you can revamp your home with existing pieces, vintage finds and key purchases, without having to scrimp on style.
2. The Zero-Waste Chef, Anne- Marie Bonneau
Anne-Marie Bonneau is the blogger behind Zero-Waste Chef who has lived plastic-free since 2011. During a decade of living with as little waste as possible, she’s learnt an awful lot about what it means to live sustainably, which she shares in this book full of plant-forward recipes and general kitchen tips.
3. How Cycling Can Save the World, Peter Walker
Known for his work as a political correspondent for the Guardian, as well as being a keen biker, Walker uses this book to take his readers on a tour of cities like Copenhagen and Utrecht, where every-day cycling has taken root over car culture. Combining his political expertise with his love for bikes, he explores how the two can go hand-in-hand to save the world from the dramatic effects of pollution.
4. The Joyful Environmentalist, Isabel Losada
Far from being preachy, The Joyful Environmentalist is a light-hearted and funny manifesto about what it means to be an ‘environmentalist’. Losada takes a heavy subject and injects it with humour, making sustainable solutions more accessible for the masses.
5. How To Break Up With Fast Fashion, Lauren Bravo
It’s 2021, we all know the damage that mass clothing production is doing to our planet, but that doesn’t mean that buying into it is an easy habit to break. In this book, journalist Lauren Bravo explores how she called time on her love affair with fast fashion, in the hopes of helping you do the same.
6. No. More. Rubbish. Excuses., Martin Dorey
Released just before the pandemic hit in 2020, Martin Dorey’s No More Rubbish Excuses is perhaps more important now than ever before. The expert environmental campaigner looks at ways in which we can take responsibility for the waste we make on an individual level. Broken down into #2minutesolutions, he explains how small changes can make a big impact.
7. F**k Plastic, Rodale Sustainability
Offering 101 ways to free yourself from plastic and save the world while you’re at it, this book by Rodale Sustainability offers up simple ways for its readers to do their bit.
8. Sustainable Travel: The essential guide to positive-impact adventures, Holly Tuppen
Released earlier this summer, Tuppen’s Essential Guide to Positive-Impact Adventures addresses a question that perhaps even the most environmentally conscious of us don’t quite want to face up to just yet: “is it morally acceptable to travel the world for fun while it burns around us?”
But far from being all doom and gloom, this book highlights what it means to be a responsible traveller with an air of positivity. Tuppen seeks to prove that we can justify travel if we are willing to change our ways.