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The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

He's shortish.
And oldish...
And brownish. And mossy...
And he spoke with a voice...
that was sharpish and bossy.

"The big, colorful pictures and the fun images, word plays and rhymes make this an amusing exposition of the ecology crisis."— School Library Journal.

Publisher's Summary as shown on Dougfine.com
In Farewell, My Subaru , Doug Fine vows to grow as much of his own food as he can, use only the sun to power his ‘Net surfing and sub-woofer, and consume little to no fossil fuel for an entire year — never mind that he'd never raised so much as a chicken or a bean. Or that he had no mechanical or electrician skills. Or that coyotes and mountain lions would like to treat his Funky Butte Ranch like a buffet line.
Beginning with a near-Biblical flood that makes Doug's ranch in New Mexico resemble Noah's Arc, and ending with a hilarious farewell to his beloved Subaru, Fine struggles at every turn with the contradictions and challenges of going green as his shopping list changes overnight from things like, “wasabi” and “pineapple juice” to “shotgun shells” and “goat syringes” (for the mischievous Pans he found on Craigslist).
Including practical resources for regular Americans who want to live greener and funny sidebars with facts you never imagined about the clean, local life, Farewell, My Surbaru is both a hilarious romp and an inspiring call to action; it's a book for the reluctant environmentalist, the armchair traveler, and anyone who has ever wondered: do I really need that four dollar frappuccino from Kenya?

From The Sunday Times (UK)
This story is one of the first in Mark Lynas's saga of how, in the world as imagined by thousands of computer-modelling studies, global warming kicks in, degree by degree. Six Degrees, I tell you now, is terrifying.
One degree need not detain us long. Besides saying hello to more hurricanes, we say toodle-oo to Tuvalu and other lowlying Pacific island nations. Two degrees is bad for nature, but Lynas reckons that most of us will get by, although we will face regular repeats of the heat wave that struck Europe in 2003. It was rather nice here in Britain, then, as I remember, but on the Continent it was hell. As crops died and forest fires ripped through Portugal, some 25,000 people died of heatstroke.
Many people think of climate change as a kind of on-off switch. What Lynas shows rather well is that it is a continual process. Put more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and you get more warming. One day, we will have to turn the thermostat down; the only question is when.

From Publishers Weekly
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things: Environmentalists are normally the last people to be called shortsighted, yet that's essentially what architect McDonough and chemist Braungart contend in this clarion call for a new kind of ecological consciousness. The authors are partners in an industrial design firm that devises environmentally sound buildings, equipment and products. They argue that conventional, expensive eco-efficiency measures things like recycling or emissions reduction are inadequate for protecting the long-term health of the planet. Our industrial products are simply not designed with environmental safety in mind; there's no way to reclaim the natural resources they use or fully prevent ecosystem damage, and mitigating the damage is at best a stop-gap measure. What the authors propose in this clear, accessible manifesto is a new approach they've dubbed "eco-effectiveness": designing from the ground up for both eco-safety and cost efficiency. They cite examples from their own work, like rooftops covered with soil and plants that serve as natural insulation; nontoxic dyes and fabrics; their current overhaul of Ford's legendary River Rouge factory; and the book itself, which will be printed on a synthetic "paper" that doesn't use trees. Because profitability is a requirement of the designs, the thinking goes, they appeal to business owners and obviate the need for regulatory apparatus. These shimmery visions can sound too good to be true, and the book is sometimes frustratingly short on specifics, particularly when it comes to questions of public policy and the political interests that might oppose widespread implementation of these designs. Still, the authors' original concepts are an inspiring reminder that humans are capable of much more elegant environmental solutions than the ones we've settled for in the last half-century.

From Amazon.com:
This fully updated classic of sustainable living technology tells how and gives you access to the world's most extensive selection of hardware to make it all happen. The Real Goods Solar Living Sourcebook-12th Edition is the ultimate resource on renewable energy, sustainable living, alternative construction, green building, homesteading, off-the-grid living and alternative transportation, written by experts with decades of personal experience and a passion for sharing their knowledge. In print and regularly updated since 1982, the Sourcebook has sold over 600,000 copies in 44 countries. This 12th edition includes brand-new sections on solar utility intertie, alternative sources of fuel (including biodiesel and hydrogen fuel cells) and hybrid vehicles, and completely rewritten sections on land and shelter, emergency preparedness and energy conservation, as well as in-depth sections on: sunshine to electricity, from panel to plug, water systems, water heating, water and air purification, composting toilets and graywater systems, off-the-grid living and homesteading tools, mobility. Plus over 150 pages of maps, wiring diagrams, formulae, charts, electrical code, solar sizing worksheets and much more.

"Mr. Horton -- a Baltimore journalist who has developed a devoted but hitherto local following -- ventures into a small, distinguished circle of nature writers. Fans of Aldo Leopold, John McPhee, and Sigurd Olson won't be disappointed." -- New York Times Book Review

"Sailing down the Chesapeake in this book is bracing, for Horton is knowledgeable, thoughtful, full of wonder about the natural world and outspoken... As Smith Islanders might say, it's a 'right smart' book." -- Washington Post

"This is not merely a book for those who already know the Chesapeake, although they will be enchanted by Tom Horton's vast knowledge, narrative skills and eye for detail. Like the true bay native he is, Mr. Horton uses the Chesapeake as a limitless resource from which to harvest a great bounty of observations about politics, nature, and human beings." -- New York Times

From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com
Most of us are at a great distance from our food. I don't mean that we live "twelve miles from a lemon," as English wit Sydney Smith said about a home in Yorkshire. I mean that our food bears little resemblance to its natural substance. Hamburger never mooed; spaghetti grows on the pasta tree; baby carrots come from a pink and blue nursery. Still, we worry about our meals -- from calories to carbs, from heart-healthy to brain food. And we prefer our food to be "natural," as long as natural doesn't involve real.
In The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan writes about how our food is grown -- what it is, in fact, that we are eating. The book is really three in one: The first section discusses industrial farming; the second, organic food, both as big business and on a relatively small farm; and the third, what it is like to hunt and gather food for oneself. And each section culminates in a meal -- a cheeseburger and fries from McDonald's; roast chicken, vegetables and a salad from Whole Foods; and grilled chicken, corn and a chocolate soufflé (made with fresh eggs) from a sustainable farm; and, finally, mushrooms and pork, foraged from the wild.

Environmental Problems and Human Behavior, 2nd Edition
By Gerald Gardner and Paul Stern
Boston: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2002

Read a review from the Macalester Environmental Review.

From Amazon.com
The Klamath River, snaking through southern Oregon and northern California through some of the most pristine wilderness remaining in the west, is the focus of an intense battle over fish, water and conflicting ways of life, between upstream farmers and the Bush Administration on one side, and downstream Indian tribes, commercial fishermen and environmentalists on the other.
Battle for the Klamath is an hour long documentary that examines why a regional fight over water and fish caused the Bush Administration and its political Svengali, Karl Rove, to intervene in determining how much water flows down an obscure western river, and how that exertion of political influence caused a veteran government fisheries biologist to file a whistleblower complaint against his own agency because he feared the endangered salmon faced extinction. The film also listens to tribal fishermen, fisheries biologists and small farmers as they explain how their way of life is threatened by too much demand for too little water, a problem that more and more communities will face in the future.