10 great books to read while sailing "green"

If you are an eco-friendly traveller who has decided to sail "green" this summer and who would like to enjoy a good book while enjoying the best possible view during sailing, then this is the article for you. Keep reading and find out the 10 best book titles that can make your sailing both fun and educational adventure.

10. “Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion”, by Elizabeth Cline.

Elizabeth Cline has decided to discover the truth behind the cheap fashion answering the worrying question what the cheap clothes is doing to our environment and our society.

Cline, who admits to being a “reformed fast-­fashion junkie,” notes that “because of low prices, chasing trends is now a mass activity, accessible to anyone with a few bucks to spare.” Quality is no longer an issue, because you need clothes to last just “until the next trend comes along.” While buying cheap and chasing the trends, wastefulness happens. Moreover, “disposable clothing” is damaging the environment, the economy and individuals. Cline also travelled to Guangdong Province in China, a region with many textile factories, and observes, “The air pollution was so thick I couldn’t photograph anything a quarter-mile off the highway — it was lost in the smog.” Taking into consideration all these issue, Cline's books is well worth reading.

9. "The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History", by Elizabeth Kolbert

Over the last half a billion years, there have been five mass extinctions. Scientists are currently monitoring the possible sixth extinction, which might be the biggest extinction since the disappearance of dinosaurs.

Relying on the work of many researchers, Elizabeth Kolbert educates us about a dozen species, such as Panamian golden frog, staghorn coral, the great auk, and the Sumatran rhino (some of them already extinct), others facing extinction. By doing this, Kolbert raises her readers' awareness of these disappearances occurring everywhere around us, explaining at the same time extinction as concept and its evolution up to the present day. The author makes us think about the question of sixth extinction and the humanity in general. Whoever decides to read this book will in no way be disappointed.

8. "Six Degrees", by Mark Lynas

In his book, Mark Lynas tackles the topic of climate change and global warming through a large selection of of scientific research papers. Moreover, he emphasises what to expect from a global warming world, degree by degree.

At one degree, most coral reefs and many mountain glaciers will be lost. At three-degree, there would be the collapse of the Amazon rainforest, disappearance of Greenland's ice sheet, and the creation of deserts across the Midwestern United States and southern Africa. Finally, a six-degree increase would eliminate most life on Earth, including much of humanity.

The book is a vivid graphic depiction of global warming and human pollution within the next 100 years, using easy-to-understand journalistic approach to these environmental issues. An eye-opening book that no eco-friendly human should ignore.

7. "The Imperfect Environmentalist: A Practical Guide to Clearing Your Body, Detoxing Your Home, and Saving the Earth (Without Losing Your Mind)", by Sara Gilbert

Sara Gilbert is more than an actress - she is a producer, mother and an environmentalist. However, at the same time, she understands being an activist and raising environmental issues takes time and money. On the other hand, she is also aware that even small changes in our everyday lives can make a big impact on the environment.

If you are wondering where to begin, than this book is the right guide for you. Containing many helpful infomation, available to everyone, on health and beauty, work and money, home and gardening, family and fitness, this book can change your lifestyle in the smallest, sometimes disregarded aspects. It is definitely worth a try.

6. "Kiss the Ground: How the Food You Eat Can Reverse Climate Change, Heal Your Body & Ultimately Save Our World", by Josh Tickell

Josh Tickell is one of America’s most celebrated documentary filmmakers dedicating most of his life to saving the environment. In "Kiss the Ground", he gives us an amazing and quite simple advice: if we change our diet to a soil-nourishing, regenerative agriculture diet, we can deal with global warming, harvest healthy, abundant food and even the poisonous substances that are harming our children, pets, bodies, and ultimately our planet.

While interviewing celebrity chefs, ranchers, farmers, and top scientists, the author reminds us to reconsider our choices on how and what we eat since it can have an indirect impact on climate change and our life. His explanation of the new agriculture in this vivid book is well-deserving of our reading time.

5. "This Changes Everything", by Naomi Klein

In her new bestseller, Naomi Klein makes a strong connection of global warming with - capitalism. Her hopeful approach teaches us that we are able to transform our bad economy into a better future. We have been told the market will save us, when in fact the addiction to profit and growth is digging us in deeper every day. We have also been told that humanity is too greedy and selfish to rise to this challenge. However, all around the world, the fight back is already successful in surprising ways.

Climate change is a wake-up call for the civilization, a powerful message delivered in the form of fires, floods, storms, and droughts. By confronting it, we are changing the world. In other words, the book is about changing the world before the world changes so there is no way back.

4. "Junk Raft: An Ocean Voyage and a Rising Tide of Activism to Fight Plastic Pollution", by Marcus Eriksen

When Marcus Eriksen (scientist, activist and adventurer) started to study the world's oceans with hundreds of volunteers, they discovered a "plastic smog" of microscopics present in our oceans all around the world. What's more, these microplastics and their toxic chemistry have made their way into the food chain, threatening both marine life and humans.

The book is an exciting story of Eriksen and his team's fighting to solve the problem of plastic pollution. He and his co-navigator, Joel Paschal, constructed a "junk raft" made of plastic trash and started sailing from Los Angeles to Hawaii, with no motor or support vessel, confronting perilous cyclones and food shortages. Through his struggles, he is sending his readers a powerful message: it is up to us to change our bad habits in order to safe our planet.

3. "Lab Girl", by Hope Jahren

"Lab Girl" is a beautifully written book in form of a memoir and science writing in which famous scientist Hope Jahren talks about moments from her personal life that formed her scientific efforts.

Growing up in rural Minnesota, the author talks about many happy moments spent with her father who made her fall in love with science in the first place. Later on, that love helped her become a well-recognized scientist for many contributions in her field. She combines personal and professional stories, sharing her special bond with her lab partner and best friend Bill who was by her side while she had to overcome many scientific challenges, taking her to the renowned scientific position she enjoys now and helping her become the author of this amazing book.

2. “Sustainable fashion”, by Colleen Hill and Jennifer Farley Gordon

"Sustainable Fashion" provides an amazing overview of fashion ethics and sustainability issues of the past, present and future. This book is the first of its kind to examine today's eco-fashion movement in its historical context, addressing the relationship between fashion and the environment as far back as the early nineteenth century.

The authors explore each stage of the fashion production cycle, from the cultivation of raw fibers to the shipment of the finished garment. Structured thematically, each of the six chapters is dedicated to the discussion of one major issue, from recycling and repurposing to labor practices and the treatment of animals.

Including interviews with eco-fashion designers, the book will appeal especially to students and scholars of fashion, as well as students of design, history and cultural studies.

1. "The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World", by Jeff Goodell

In his new book, Jeff Goodell’s gives us a clear indication at what our world would look like like if we ignored clear and threatening climate change warnings.

He focuses mainly on how climate change and sea level rise will affect New York City and Miami, but includes plenty more information about other parts of the world too. Moreover, he gives us clear data how climate change and sea level rise represent a threat to national security, food production, environment and public health.

On a global scale, hundreds of millions of people will be affected by rising sea levels by the end of this century, entire island nations will be swallowed by the sea and many of the world’s greatest cities will be transformed into modern day Atlantises. Nevertheless, America’s political leaders remain in complete denial about this grave threat. The author has interviewed scientists and attended conferences to create this brilliant book that is a must-read for all those who care about the environment in any way.