UBC Library is pleased to present a special edition of our UBC Librarians Recommend series, in celebration of Science Literacy Week!
This year, Science Literacy Week (September 20-26, 2021) has partnered with Environment and Climate Change Canada to explore climate: how climates have evolved over time, how those changes have impacted our lives, and how our climates might change in the future. UBC Library’s booklist focuses on climate change and climate action reads recommended by librarians in several of our branches. Enjoy these selections from the comfort of your home, or come borrow a few in branch. Explore, learn, and engage with the UBC community!
Woodward Library
Woodward Library’s collections cover a wide range of subject areas that converge on climate change, including agriculture, biology, zoology, earth and ocean sciences, and much more. Their full set of recommended climate reads includes local authors like Suzanne Simard, PhD, Professor in the UBC Faculty of Forestry and author of Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest, and Seth Klein, a Vancouver-based public policy researcher and author of A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the climate emergency.
Other highlights include:
- The Right to Be Cold: One Woman’s Fight to Protect the Arctic and Save the Planet from Climate Change by Sheila Watt-Cloutier; Bill McKibben (Foreword by)
- All We Can Save by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson (Editor); Katharine K. Wilkinson (Editor)
- A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety: How to Keep Your Cool on a Warming Planet by Sarah Jaquette Ray
Education Library
Education Library strives to provide outstanding access to the universe of recorded knowledge and information in the field of education. This library branch also carries Children’s and Young Adult Literature. Their full recommended booklist for Science Literacy Week has many educational reads about climate change that are suitable for a broad audience. The list includes professional resources such as Climate Change in Practice by and Generation us: the challenge of global warming by Dr. Andrew J. Weaver. The list also features beautifully illustrated books created by Britta Teckentrup, author of Look at the Weather and Andrea Curtis, author of A forest in the city.
Here are few more recommendations to consider:
- Climate Change by Heather C. Hudak
- Understanding Climate Change by Laura Tucker and Lois Sherwood
Rare Books and Special Collections
Rare Books and Special Collections (RBSC) holds many fonds and collections related to British Columbia’s environment, which include records documenting historical climate data, struggles for climate action, and the development of creative works to educate others on the importance of climate issues. Here are a few selected fonds and collections to deep dive into:
- The Greenpeace International, Stitching Greenpeace Council fonds
- The Angus Elias fonds
- The Jim Hamm Documentary Film Collection
Xwi7xwa Library
Xwi7xwa Library is often looked to as a leader in Indigenous Academic Librarianship in British Columbia, Canada and internationally. Their librarians and staff are knowledgeable about Indigenous content and they have one-of-a-kind collections that privilege Indigenous perspectives. Take a look their full resource list for Science Literacy Week, which includes a TED talk by Ta’kaiya who is from the Tla’Amin First Nation and grew up along the shores of the Salish Sea in BC, a youth led vodcast series called “Ohneganos: Let’s Talk Water”, books by fearless activists such as Winona LaDuke, author of “To Be a Water Protector: The Rise of the Wiindigo Slayers,” as well as illustrations, poetry, essays to children’s literature.
Here are a few selected items from their lists:
- “Unikkaatiqatigiit: Ukiuqtaqtumi Silanga Ammalu Silaup Qanuinninga Inuit Surusit Qanuq Tukisinirijanginnik Unikkaat = Unikkaaqatigiit: Arctic Weather and Climate Through the Eyes of Nunavut’s Children is compiled from writing, poetry, and illustrations”created by young Nunavummiut
- Paradigm Wars: Indigenous Peoples’ Resistance to Globalization by Jerry Mander and Victoria
Asian Library
The Asian Library supports Asian-language research, learning and teaching and for Science Literacy week the library has created a list of climate reads, which have been separated to Chinese, Japanese, Korean and South Asian collections.
Here are a few selected ones from the list:
“Wa! Gu gong de er shi si jie qi / Gu gong bo wu yuan Xuan chuan jiao yu bu bian. 哇! 故宮的二十四节气 / 故宮博物院宣传教育部编.” Is a beautifully designed set of easy reading books based on the 24 solar terms. It is set in the Forbidden City and it talks about how a year is specified into 24 terms of weather changes, which originally worked out mainly for farming 2500 years ago. This 24-volume set of books also showed the palaces, antiquities and folk tradition.
“Hachidori no hitoshizuku : ima watakushi ni dekiru koto / kanshū Tsuji Shin’ichi. ハチドリのひとしずく : いま, 私にできること / 監修辻信一.” Is based on a folklore and it is an illustrated storybook about a hummingbird helping to put out a forest fire. This encouraged many readers in Japan to persevere and continue to make small acts to fight against climate crisis when it was published in 2005. The book continues to inspire today as we face the ever-increasing global threat. On this side of the Pacific in Vancouver, the story has become an original opera, The Flight of the Hummingbird.
Koerner Library
Koerner Library is the principal library for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Government Publications, Microforms, and Course Reserves. This library branch has a robust booklist of humanities and social science recommendations based on nature, environment and climate change for Science Literacy Week. The list features selections “The frigid golden age : climate change, the Little Ice Age, and the Dutch Republic, 1560-1720” by Dagomar Degroot, Assistant Professor of Environmental History at Georgetown University, and “Anthropology and climate change: from actions to transformations” by Susan A. Crate, Associate Professor of Anthropology at George Mason University.
Here are some other highlights from the list to consider:
- Mastery of Non-Mastery in the Age of Meltdown by Michel Taussig
- Environmental Transformations: African Literature Today by Cajetan Itheka
UBC Okanagan Library
UBCO Library has put together a resource list full of recommendations that examine how climate and climate change affects those living in the Okanagan. Check out the resources in this Okanagan-specific guide!
For more details about all Science Literacy Week resources and activities happening at UBC Library this week, please visit: UBC Library Guide to Science Literacy Week.
About Science Literacy Week
Led by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Science Literacy Week showcases the many ways people can explore and enjoy the diversity of Canadian science. From September 20 to 26, 2021, libraries, museums, science centres, schools and not-for-profits are coming together to celebrate this year’s theme, Climate. They are highlighting the books, movies, podcasts and virtual and in-person events that share exciting stories of the science, discoveries and ingenuity shaping our lives. Feed your curiosity and explore science from across the country and within your region.