Suggested Readings
Begin exploring the MENV faculty suggested readings below that may be helpful in preparation for your upcoming program. By no means are you required to read all of the books suggested; please pick and choose those that are relevant to your interests. If you do not have a background in environmental studies, you may wish to begin with the classics and then read others as you have time.
MENV Program Suggestions
- Silent Spring (Rachel Carson)
- Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists and the Ecology of New England (William Cronon)
- Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters (Annie Dillard)
- The Death and Life of Great American Cities (Jane Jacobs)
- All our Relations: Native Struggles for Land & Life (Winona LaDuke)
- A Sand County Almanac (Aldo Leopold)
- The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West (Patricia Nelson Limerick)
- The Control of Nature (John McPhee)
- The Rights of Nature: A History of Environmental Ethics (Roderick Frazier Nash)
- Cadillac Desert (Mark Reisner)
- The Lorax (Dr. Seuss)
- Sustainable Communities and the Challenge of Environmental Justice (Julian Agyeman)
- Resilience: The Life-Saving Skill of Story (Michelle Auerbach)
- The Ends of the World (Peter Brannen)
- Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature (William Cronon Ed.)
- Ecology of Fear: Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster (Mike Davis)
- Climate: A New Story (Charles Eisenstein)
- Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants (Robin Wall Kimmerer)
- The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History (Elizabeth Kolbert)
- The Upcycle: Beyond Sustainability-Designing for Abundance (William McDonough, Michael Braungart)
- Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer and Driving Less Are the Keys To Sustainability (David Owen)
- Geology Underfoot along Colorado’s Front Range (Lon Abbott and Terri Cook)
- The Beast in the Garden: The True Story of a Predator’s Deadly Return to Suburban America (David Baron)
- The Ecology of Place: Planning for Environment, Economy and Community (Tim Beatley)
- Community and the Politics of Place (Daniel Kemmis)
- Where the Water Goes (David Owen)
- Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats (Kristen Iverson)
- Old Fences, New Neighbors (Peter Decker)
- Chief Left Hand (Margaret Coel)
Specialization Specific Suggestions
Contact Professor MacGregor about participating in the ENRP Summer Program
- American Wolf (Nate Blakeslee)
- Drinking Water: A History (James Salzman)
- Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore (Elizabeth Rush)
- Is Science Enough (Aviva Chomsky)
- Braiding Sweetgrass (Robin Wall Kimmerer)
- Gathering Moss (Robin Wall Kimmerer)
- The Emerald Mile (Kevin Fedarko)
- Wastelands (Corban Addison and John Grisham)
- Grad School Essentials (Zachary Shore)
- Superpower (Russell Gold)
- Revolutionary Power: An Activist's Guide to the Energy Transition (Shalanda Baker)
- The Boom (Russell Gold)
- The Quest (Daniel Yergin)
- Drawdown (Paul Hawken)
- The Grid (Gretchen Bakke)
- Energy & Civilization: A History (Vaclav Smil)
Students are encouraged to choose a selection from the below list based on interests and areas they are looking to explore:
- Net Positive (Paul Polman & Andrew Winston)
- Let My People Go Surfing (Yvon Chouinard)
- Cradle to Cradle (William McDonough & Michael Braungart)
- Devil's Bargains: Tourism in the Twentieth-Century American West (Hal Rothman)
- Dividing Paradise: Rural Inequality and the Diminishing American Dream (Jennifer Sherman)
- Black Faces, White Spaces (Carolyn Finney)
- Billionaire Wilderness: The Ultra-Wealthy and the Remaking of the American West (Justin Farrell)
- The Home Place (J. Drew Lanham)
- Fat Girls Hiking: An Inclusive Guide to Getting Outdoors at Any Size or Ability (Summer Michaud-Skog)
- Diary of a Young Naturalist (Dara McAnulty)
- The Color of Food: Stories of Race, Resilience and Farming (Natasha Bowens)
- Big Hunger: The Unholy Alliance Between Corporate America & Anti-Hunger Groups (Andrew Fisher)
- Behind the Kitchen Door (Saru Jayaraman)
- The Earth Knows My Name: Food, Culture & Sustainability in the Gardens of Ethnic Americans
(Patricia Klindienst) - The Meat Racket: The Secret Take Over of America’s Food Businesses (Christopher Leonard)
- Stuffed & Starved (Raj Patel)
- Mexican-Origin Foods, Foodways, and Social Movements: Decolonial Perspectives (Devon Peña, et al.)
- Grain by Grain: A Quest to Revive Ancient Wheat, Rural Jobs, and Healthy Food (Bob Quinn & Liz Carlisle)
- Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land (Leah Penniman)
- Cities in the Wilderness: A New Vision of Land Use in America (Bruce Babbitt)
- Resilient Cities: Overcoming Fossil Fuel Dependence (Heather Boyer, Tim Beatley, Peter Newman)
- Sustainable Nation: Urban Design Patterns for the Future (Doug Farr)
- Bronx Ecology: Blueprint for a New Environmentalism (Allen Hershkowitz)
- Life After Carbon: The Next Global Transformation of Cities (Peter Plastrik, John Cleveland)
- Street Fight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution (Janet Sadik-Khan)
- The Land That Could Be: Environmentalism and Democracy in the 21st Century (William Shutkin)
- Toxic Communities: Environmental Racism, Industrial Pollution and Residential Mobility (Dorceta Taylor)