Recommended Reading on the Environment and Climate

This is a brief bibliography on some notable books on the broad area of the environment, with subsections on climate change and population matters. What makes this list of recommended titles somewhat unique is that it is admittedly selective.

That is, there are thousands of titles out there on such matters. Walk into any mainstream bookstore and you will find plenty of books on these topics. But like many controversial and contentions social issues, what you will find in most bookstores will tend to be mostly of one variety.

That is, most of the books to choose from will be somewhat left of centre; alarmist in nature; critical of the free market, economic growth and the like; suspicious of business and wealth creation; radical in description and prescription; and sometimes verging on earth worship, Gaia ideology, and so on.

Books which try to argue from a differing point of view tend to be much less in number and harder to come by. Many of these titles are just not stocked at the average bookstore. So they are not only a bit harder to procure, but many people would not even know about their existence.

Thus the following books tend to be sceptical of some of the more alarmist, extremist, radical and coercive utopian green groups, agendas, philosophies and policies. They explore a number of issues: pollution, the environmental crisis, population issues, climate change, resource depletion, green lobbying, and so on. Some are written by Christians, some by non-Christians.

Therefore this list is in fact highlighting a particular perspective. By featuring them, I do not mean to imply that the other books should not be read. I am simply saying that to get a fuller picture, and a bit of balance, on these important issues, these somewhat more ‘contrarian’ volumes should be consulted as well.

General works

Barkey, Michael, ed., Environmental Stewardship in the Judeo-Christian Tradition: Jewish, Catholic and Protestant Wisdom on the Environment. Acton Institute, 2000.
Bast, Joseph, Peter Hill and Richard Rue, Eco-Sanity: A Commonsense Guide To Environmentalism. Madison Books, 1994.
Beisner, E. Calvin, Prospects for Growth: A Biblical View of Population, Resources, and the Environment. Crossway Books, 1990.
Beisner, E. Calvin, Prosperity an Poverty: The Compassionate Use of Resources in a World of Scarcity. Crossway Books, 1988.
Beisner, E. Calvin, Where Garden Meets Wilderness: Evangelical Entry into the Environmental Debate. Eerdmans, 1997.
Berlau, John, Eco-Freaks : Environmentalism Is Hazardous to Your Health! Thomas Nelson, 2006.
Booker, Christopher, Scared to Death: From BSE to Global Warming – Why Scares Are Costing Us the Earth. Continuum, 2009.
Coffman, Michael, Saviors of the Earth? Northfield, 1994.
Cromartie, Michael, ed., Creation at Risk?: Religion, Science and Environmentalism. Eerdmans, 1995.
Horner, Christopher, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and Environmentalism. Regnery, 2007.
Huber, Peter, Hard Green: Saving the Environment from the Environmentalists: A Conservative Manifesto. Basic Books, 2000.
Klaus, Vaclav, Blue Planet in Green Shackles. Competitive Enterprise Institute, 2007.
Lomborg, Bjorn, The Skeptical Environmentalist. Cambridge University Press, 2001.
London, Herbert I., Why Are They Lying To Our Children? Stein and Day, 1984.
Macdonald, Alex, Creation in Crisis? Green Concerns and Christianity. Christian Focus Publications, 1992.
Maurice, Charles and Charles W. Smithson, The Doomsday Myth: 10,000 Years of Economic Crises. Hoover Institution Press, 1984.
Milloy, Steven, Green Hell. Regnery, 2009.
Murray, Iain, The Really Inconvenient Truths. Regnery, 2008.
Ray, Dixie Lee with Lou Guzzo, Environmental Overkill: Whatever Happened To Common Sense. Regnery, 1993.
Ray, Dixie Lee with Lou Guzzo, Trashing the Planet: How Science Can Help Us Deal With Acid Rain, Depletion of the Ozone, and Nuclear Waste (Among Other Things). Harper Collins, 1992.
Sanera, Michael and Jane Shaw, Facts, Not Fear: A Parent’s Guide to Teaching Children About the Environment. Regnery Publishing, 1996.
Schaeffer, Francis, Pollution and the Death of Man: The Christian View of Ecology. Tyndale House, 1970.
Simon, Julian L., The Ultimate Resource. Princeton University Press, 1981.
Simon, Julian, ed., The State of Humanity. Basil Blackwell, 1995.
Simon, Julian L. and Herman Kahn, eds., The Resourceful Earth: A Response To Global 2000. Basil Blackwell, 1984.
Singer, Max, Passage to a Human World. Hudson Institute, 1987.
Smith, Samantha, Goddess Earth: Exposing the Pagan Agenda of the Environmental Movement. Huntington House, 1994.
Whelan, Robert, Joseph Kirwan and Paul Haffner, The Cross and the Rainforest: A Critique of Radical Green Spirituality. Acton Institute, 1996.
Wildavsky, Aaron, But Is It True : A Citizen’s Guide to Environmental Health and Safety Issues. Harvard University Press, 1997.

Climate Change, Global Warming

Alexander, Ralph, Global Warming, False Alarm: The Bad Science Behind the United Nations’ Assertion that Man-made CO2 Causes Global Warming. Canterbury Publishing, 2009.
Booker, Christopher, The Real Global Warming Disaster. Continuum, 2009.
Hoffman, Doug and Allen Simmons, The Resilient Earth: Science, Global Warming and the Fate of Humanity. BookSurge Publishing, 2008.
Horner, Christopher, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and Environmentalism. Regnery, 2007.
Horner, Christopher, Red Hot Lies. Regnery, 2008.
Lawson, Nigel, An Appeal to Reason: A Cool Look at Global Warming. Gerald Duckworth, 2009.
Lomborg, Bjorn, Cool It. Vintage, 2008.
Michaels, Patrick, Climate of Extremes: Global Warming Science They Don’t Want You to Know. Cato Institute, 2009.
Paltridge, Garth, The Climate Caper. Connor Court, 2009.
Plimer, Ian, Heaven and Earth. Connor Court, 2009.
Singer, S. Fred and Dennis Avery, Unstoppable Global Warming. Rowman & Littlefield, 2007, 2008.
Solomon, Lawrence, The Deniers. Richard Vigilante Books, 2008.
Spencer, Roy, Climate Confusion: How Global Warming Hysteria Leads to Bad Science, Pandering Politicians and Misguided Policies that Hurt the Poor. Encounter Books, 2008.
Wishart, Ian, Air Con: The Seriously Inconvenient Truth About Global Warming. Howling At The Moon Publishing, 2009.

Population and Demographics

Clark, Colin, Population Growth: The Advantages. A Life Quality Paperback, 1972.
Cromartie, Michael, ed., The Nine Lives of Population Control. Eerdmans, 1995.
Kasun, Jacqueline, The War Against Population: The Economics and Ideology of Population Control. Ignatius Press, 1988.
Keane, Eamonn, Population and Development. Human Life International, n.d.
Longman, Phillip, The Empty Cradle. New America Books, 2004.
Mosher, Steven, Population Control. Transaction Publishers, 2008.
Sassone, Robert, Handbook on Population. American Life League, 1994.
Simon, Julian L., Population Matters: People, Resources, Environment and Immigration. Transaction Publishers, 1990.
Trombley, Stephen, The Right to Reproduce: A History of Coercive Sterilization. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1988.
Wattenberg, Ben J., The Birth Dearth. Pharos Books, 1987. 182pp.
Wattenberg,Ben J., Fewer: How the New Demography of Depopulation Will Shape Our Future. Ivan R. Dee, 2004.
Whelan, Robert, Whose Choice: Population Controllers’ Or Yours? Committee on Population and the Economy, 1992.

[1078 words]