Beat the Heat by Reading Climate Change Books

Beat the Heat by Reading Climate Change Books

Are you feeling hot this summer? If so, you’re not alone. The world just experienced the hottest day ever recorded — and then broke that record the very next day.

The climate crisis is making almost every summer hotter than the last. What can we do about it?

We can start by reading climate change books!

Curling up with a good book somewhere in the shade or air conditioning is a great way to beat the summer heat. And if you read climate fiction, nonfiction, or poetry, you’re also beating the heat of the climate crisis by reading a book that will inform and inspire your response to the climate crisis.

But what should you read?

There are so many good climate change books out there nowadays. If you’re looking for a good book to read about the climate crisis, you’ve come to the right place.

I’m working on several projects related to climate fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. This includes my published writing, my works in progress, and my book reviews and reading lists which can help you find and choose among the best books written by other climate authors.

I’m sure that one or more of these projects will help you find an enjoyable read or two for a hot summer day (or slightly cooler summer night).

My Published Writing

My focus as an author is writing climate fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. So far, I’ve published five books: Change, Order, Goodbye Miami, Cli-Fi Plus, and All The Climate Feels.

  • Change. Sarah Athraigh, an environmental activist from Southern Illinois, stumbles into the midst of a hidden war between occult factions that are grappling with the root causes and dire consequences of climate change. As she goes on the run, she soon finds herself on a journey of discovery, searching for the unusual allies and innovative ideas that will help her to make a difference for the better in a dangerous world.
  • Order. Truman Stuart is a man on a mission. As the new Preceptor of Order, it’s his job to oversee the survival and progress of human civilization. When he discovers that climate change poses an existential threat to humanity, the Preceptor knows that he has to find a way to stop it. But how can he solve a global crisis that his own organization and its powerful fossil fuel allies helped create?
  • Goodbye Miami. Kass, an American climate refugee, flees Miami in the wake of a hurricane that leaves most of the city underwater. After moving in with her cousin in Southern Illinois, Kass struggles to deal with her displacement. She hopes to find a way to return to the city that she loves. But thanks to the climate crisis, that city is now underwater. What starts as a search for survival quickly evolves into a struggle for the future of Miami — and the world.
  • Cli-Fi Plus. Cli-Fi Plus is a climate fiction anthology with an emphasis on genre and theme crossovers. Each story combines elements of cli-fi with elements of more established genres and themes in sci-fi and literary fiction. What does a cli-fi alien story look like? What does a cli-fi robot story look like? What does a cli-fi zombie story look like? What does a cli-fi time travel story look like? What does a cli-fi political thriller look like? What does literary cli-fi look like? Find the answers to these questions and more in Cli-Fi Plus! 
  • All The Climate Feels. Climate change brings up a wide range of emotions. All The Climate Feels is a poetic exploration of the climate crisis, climate justice, and how it feels to be alive in times of profound change.

My Works In Progress (WIP)

Treesong's Ko-Fi

I’m currently working on two new novels! You can read the first few chapters of each novel right now as they’re written by subscribing to my Ko-fi for as little as $1 per month. Or you can subscribe to my free email newsletter to find out when the full novels are available for pre-order in print, ebook, and audiobook formats.

  • Welcome to Solardale. In the year 2050, the city of Carbondale, Illinois has renamed itself Solardale in honor of its embrace of solar power and transformation into a post-scarcity municipalist community. When climate migrants arrive from the coasts, Solardale’s commitment to hospitality is called into question. Can a small town handle a growing number of climate migrants?
  • Burning. When a wildfire results in tragedy, Rionach recovers by taking up a new hobby: hunting the people responsible for the climate crisis. Burning is a novel about climate grief — and murder. What would you do if the climate crisis took the lives of the people you love? Would you seek help recovering from your grief — or seek revenge against the people responsible for the climate crisis?

The short stories that inspired both of these novel are available exclusively through my Ko-fi page.

I’m also working on an audiobook edition of my climate poetry book, All The Climate Feels. I decided to make this my first audiobook release for two reasons. First of all, I knew I wanted to narrate it myself to capture the intended tone and cadence of the poetry. Second, I want to take the tracks of the audiobook and back them with climate music to create an album.

Finally, I’m working on an interactive climate fiction project called Climate Compendium. This is on the back burner at the moment while I focus as much of my creative time and energy as possible on the novels. But I’m excited to see this project become a reality too. The concept is to create a site where multiple authors post a growing collection of interactive fiction with climate themes. The site itself immerses the reader in an interactive fictional environment, offering them choices that lead to specific stories or more information about the project. If you’d like to participate in Climate Compendium as an author and/or reader, please contact me or subscribe to my newsletter for future updates.

My Book Reviews and Reading Lists

Climate Change Books

All of my climate change book reviews and reading lists are now available in a single place online!

Climate Change Books features book reviews, reading lists, and other resources to help you find the climate change books that are right for you. Choose from fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or any combination of the above. Once you’ve found a good book, you can choose which online store to buy it from by selecting the link for that store. For print books, my preference is Bookshop because they support local bookstores. If you’re a Bookshop fan too, you can also find all of the reading lists on my Bookshop storefront.

I donate ten percent of my proceeds from Climate Change Books to climate justice groups. It’s a great way to find great books and support great causes!

Supporting My Projects

Reading, writing, and reviewing climate change books is a labor of love on my part. So far, I haven’t been able to turn it into a full-time career — but I intend to do so.

If you like any of the above projects, please considering subscribing to my Ko-fi, buying books about climate change through my Climate Change Books site, and telling your friends about these projects online and in person.

When I start making more income from these projects, I’ll start working on them full time. In the meantime, thank you for reading, and thank you for your support!

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