Earth Day reading list pick

Yale Climate Connections marked Earth Day 2026 with a 13-book reading list that moves from environmental history to public protest. (yaleclimateconnections.org) The list ran April 21 under the headline “13 books to read this Earth Day,” with selections chosen by Michael Svoboda for Yale Climate Connections’ Arts & Culture section. (yaleclimateconnections.org) One of the newest titles in the roundup is *Protest: Respect It, Defend It, Use It*, a hardcover by Annie Leonard and André Carothers scheduled for release on April 28, 2026. (yaleclimateconnections.org; patagoniaworks.com) Patagonia said the book is not a how-to manual but a history of peaceful dissent, with 42 protests spanning 1738 to 2025 and examples that include the first Earth Day, Standing Rock, and Youth Climate Strikes. (patagoniaworks.com) Earth Day itself began on April 22, 1970, and Earthday.org says the first event helped launch the modern environmental movement. The Library of Congress says an estimated 20 million people took part in that first observance across the United States. (earthday.org; loc.gov) That history helps explain why a reading list about nature now includes books about organizing and civic action. Yale Climate Connections framed this year’s selection as a way to explore “the meaning of Earth Day in our current era.” (yaleclimateconnections.org) Leonard brings long ties to environmental campaigning: Greenpeace USA said she returned as co-executive director in 2014, and Patagonia identifies her as a former Greenpeace USA executive director. (greenpeace.org; patagoniaworks.com) Penguin Random House’s listing for the audiobook edition says the project includes guest essays from Jane Fonda, Tennessee Representative Justin Pearson, Dolores Huerta, and Nemonte Nenquimo, with Robert Reich credited for the afterword. (penguinrandomhouse.com) For Earth Day readers, the result is a list built less around escapist nature writing than around the politics, history, and public action that have shaped environmental debates since 1970. (yaleclimateconnections.org; earthday.org)