Learn more about climate change, conservation and sustainability, or simply garner a greater appreciation for nature with our list of recommendations for World Environment Day.

Nature

• Australia's Remarkable Trees by Richard Allen and Kimbal Baker
  Australia's Remarkable Trees explores the extraordinary lives of fifty of Australia's oldest, largest and most unusual trees. Richly illustrated with more than 500 photographs, writer Richard Allen and photographer Kimbal Baker went to the far reaches of Australia; travelling more than 60,000 kilometres to photograph them and tell their stories. Australia's Remarkable Trees is not just a celebration of Australia's great trees. It also prompts us to look to the future to see what lies in store for them. It is a call to arms to preserve and protect our oldest and most magnificent living things, and the forests and wilderness in which they live.
  
  
• Backyard Insects by Paul Horne and Denis Crawford
  Love them or loathe them, we can't avoid insects. From aphids to flies, ladybirds to wasps, insects of all shapes and sizes share our homes and gardens. Now in an updated edition, the bestselling Backyard Insects explores the secrets and habits of more than one hundred little critters that are common to backyard Australia. Crawling with full-colour, larger-than-life photographs for easy identification, Backyard Insects is an indispensable guide for nature lovers, gardeners and kids of all ages.
  
  
• Name That Flower by Ian Clarke and Helen Lee
  Name That Flower is a valued source of clear and concise information on identifying flowering plants from around the world, both cultivated and in the wild. This edition is updated to align with current systems of plant classification that incorporate advances in molecular DNA analysis. It includes more than 130 detailed line drawings, 64 colour pages and information on 46 plant families.
  
  
• Kindred by Kate Legge
  He was an Austrian immigrant; she came from Tasmania. He grew up beside the Carinthian Alps; she climbed mountains when few women dared. Their honeymoon glimpse of Cradle Mountain lit an urge that filled their waking hours. Others might have kept this splendour to themselves, but Gustav Weindorfer and Kate Cowle sensed the significance of a place they sought to share with the world. When they stood on the peak in the heat of January 1910, they imagined a national park for all. Kindred: A Cradle Mountain Love Story traces the achievements of these unconventional adventurers and their fight to preserve the wilderness where they pioneered eco-tourism.

Climate Change

• Sunburnt Country by Joëlle Gergis
  What was Australia's climate like before official weather records began? How do scientists use tree-rings, ice cores and tropical corals to retrace the past? What do Indigenous seasonal calendars reveal? And what do settler diary entries about rainfall, droughts, bushfires and snowfalls tell us about natural climate cycles? Sunburnt Country pieces together Australia's climate history for the first time. Read an extract.
  
  Author and climate scientist Joëlle Gergis has also written extensively on this year's Australian bushfires. Read her piece in The Conversation on why these bushfires were worse than those of the past, and her piece in The Guardian on the urgency of climate action.
  
  
• The Weather Obsession by Lawrie Zion
  What has made weather so much more than a mere talking point? What happens when this data becomes big business? And what is at stake when it comes to how the media frames our understanding of the relationship between extreme weather and climate change?
  
  The Weather Obsession lifts the lid on our insatiable appetite for meteorological media and shows that while we might not have stopped worrying about the forecast, almost all of us have learnt to love the BOM. Read an extract.
  
  
• Madlands by Anna Rose
  Anna Rose, environmental crusader since the age of fourteen and co-founder of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, is on a mission. This is the story of her biggest challenge yet: a whirlwind journey around the world with conservative powerbroker and arch climate sceptic Nick Minchin. From a remote Hawaiian volcano to a cosmic ray laboratory in Geneva, Anna rolls out the biggest names in science to try and change Nick's mind.
  
  
  It's a journey to tell the story of what's happening to our climate—not just to one man, but to a nation divided on the biggest issue of our times. Nick and Anna challenge each other's views, provoking each other to confront closely held assumptions and question our responsibilities as citizens living in uncertain times.
  
  
• Feeling the Heat by Jo Chandler
  In Feeling the Heat, journalist Jo Chandler sets out on a quest that takes her across the Antarctic ice, under the seas and through the tropical rainforests of far north Queensland. Her mission is to explore one of the defining mysteries of our age-climate change. The story Chandler tells is an epic adventure complete with heroes and villains. It's a love story for those with an affection for nature. A reality show like no other. It's also a story of science in its most glorious, pure form.
  
  
• The Knowledge Wars by Peter Doherty
  Climate scientists have warned that we need to change our behaviour in ways that may be inconvenient and threaten the commercial status quo. The result has been a polarising division in society and a sustained attack on their research. In The Knowledge Wars, Nobel prizewinner Peter Doherty makes a passionate case for citizens to become informed so they are able to evaluate the facts of any scientific debate. It provides practical advice on how to analyse research and take meaningful action. Read an extract.
  
  
• Climate Wars by Mark Butler
  As the consequences of climate change become perilously close to the point of no-return, time-wasting wars over what to do distract us from taking real action.
  
  

Sustainability

• Rise & Resist by Clare Press
  Rise & Resist takes a wild trip through the new activism sweeping the world. The political march is back in a big way, as communities rally to build movements for environmental and social justice. But today's context calls for increasingly creative strategies to make our voices heard. Crossing the globe, Clare Press meets passionate change-makers who believe in the power of the positive. From eco warriors and zero wasters to knitting nannas, introvert craftivists to intersectional feminists, they're all up for a revolution of sorts.
  
  Clare Press is a writer, speaker, expert on sustainable and ethical fashion, and Vogue Australia’s first Sustainability Editor-at-Large. Read more about Clare in her interview with The Cut earlier this year.
  
  
• Greeniology 2020 by Tanya Ha
  Do you want to live well, be green and make a difference? There's never been a better time to reduce your personal impact on the environment and prepare for change as our society moves towards sustainability. With topics covering everything from green cleaning and eco-fashion to growing food and saving energy and water, Greeniology 2020 is a practical, fun guide to changing your lifestyle for a healthier home and healthier planet.
  
  
• Green Stuff for Kids by Tanya Ha
  Green Stuff for Kids is a young readers' guide to what's up with the planet and what they can do to make a difference. Jam-packed with fun facts, eco-activities, information and green tips, this book covers a huge range of environmental issues and hot topics, including air pollution, biodegradability, climate change, e-waste, litter, natural disasters, recycling and water conservation.