12 books to prepare you for Trump 2.0 » Yale Climate Connections

Trump 2.0, the second presidential administration headed by Donald Trump, could pose unprecedented challenges not just for climate action but also for social justice and democratic governance. Successfully meeting these challenges will require the cultivation of distinctly different skills and practices – and critically reviewing what we think we know. Not unlike meeting the challenges of a changing climate. 

To assist with this work, Yale Climate Connections has selected two shelves of new titles, one aimed at the general reader (see below) and the other aimed at academics and climate practitioners.

The 12 books selected for the general reader are focused on three different goals: contextualizing, connecting (with self/tradition and with nature), and communicating. 

The first three titles, on contextualizing our current crises, are recent additions to three series of small books – “Object Lessons,” “Very Short Introductions,” and “Global Reports” – curated for the purpose of providing introductions or overviews for topical problems. The fossil fuel industry, climate hazards, and the dysfunctional state of our politics are the topics addressed by these three books. 

Understanding ourselves as we attempt, with varying degrees of success, to mitigate and adapt to the changing climate is the challenge addressed by the next three titles. Each recognizes that there is no going back to the ways we were.

The three titles that follow collectively argue that connecting with nature is an important step in connecting with ourselves. But this, too, requires clear-eyed perceptions of the irrevocable changes already wrought. 

Connecting with others is as vital to meeting the challenges of a changing climate as connecting with ourselves and with nature. But connecting with others requires the cultivation of another skill: communication. 

The last three titles address this task from different disciplinary angles. In “Outrage,” psychologist Kurt Gray argues that we must recognize the role fear plays in our moral judgments and, as a consequence, in escalating our disagreements. In “The Power of Bridging,” veteran civil rights activist john a. powell offers practices and techniques for reaching across political and social divides. And in “Multisolving,” consultant Elizabeth Sawin starts from the premise that with climate change we are always dealing with, and talking about, more than one thing at a time. Solving multiple problems, simultaneously and together, may be easier than solving them separately. 

Multisolving might provide the optimal way to approach Trump 2.0. The new problems his administration adds to the climate mix may catalyze unexpected solutions. 

As always, the descriptions of the titles are adapted from copy provided by their publishers. When two dates of publication are listed, the first is for the original hardback, the second for the paperback edition. 

Oil by Michael Tondre (Bloomsbury Publishing 2024, 208 pages, $14.95 paperback)

Black gold. Liquid sunlight. Texas tea. Oil remains the ur-commodity of our global era, having been distilled from ancient algae and marine life to turn modernity’s wheels. Wars are fought over it. Some communities are displaced by its extraction, so that others may reap its benefits. But despite its heated history, few will ever see oil on the ground. It tends to be known only through its magical effects. In Oil, Michael Tondre shows how hydrocarbon became today’s pre-eminent power. And amid the warming world unleashed by fossil fuels, Tondre sees in oil a rich resource for thinking about histories of globalization and technology and as providing the energetic underpinnings and metamorphic allure of everything from celluloid film to synthetic clothing & vinyl.

Geophysical & Climate Hazards: A Very Short Introduction by Bill McGuire (Oxford University Press 2024, 160 pages, $12.99 paperback) 

In this Very Short Introduction Bill McGuire takes a fresh look at our sometimes perilous planet, and evaluates the causes and consequences of what used to be thought of as ‘natural’ hazards through the prism of planetary heating and the continuing destabilizing of our climate. Our damaged climate has driven an explosion of extreme weather, which has become ever more apparent via the super-charging of storms, floods, heatwaves and wildfires. The fingerprints of global heating can also be detected in individual events that would have been extremely unlikely to have happened in its absence. The changing climate even has the potential to magnify the occurrence and impacts of geophysical hazards like earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions.

In Defense of Partisanship by Julian Zelizer (Columbia Global Reports 2024, 208 pages, $18.00 paperback)

If there is one issue on which almost everyone in our divided country seems to agree, it’s the belief that the intense loyalty in the electorate toward Democrats and Republicans is the source of our democratic ills—division, dysfunction, distrust, and disinformation. But the possibilities that responsible partisanship can offer were behind a sweeping set of congressional reforms in the 1970s and 1980s. In Defense of Partisanship reimagines what partisanship might look like going forward. A new era of party-oriented reforms has the potential to pay respect to the deep differences that divide us—simultaneously creating a more functional path on which two responsible political parties compete to shape policy while still being able to govern.

Holy Ground: On Activism, Environmental Justice, and Finding Hope by Catherine Coleman Flowers (Spiegel & Grau 2025, 240 pages, $28.00) 

Catherine Coleman Flowers has dedicated her life to fighting for vulnerable communities deprived of the right to a clean, safe, and sustainable environment. From climate change to human rights, from rural poverty to reproductive justice, Flowers maps the distance and direction toward justice, examining her own diverse ancestry as evidence of our interconnectedness. Flowers’s faith shines throughout the collection, guiding her work and inspiring her vision of our responsibility to one another and to our shared home. Drawn from a lifetime of organizing, activism, and change-making, Holy Ground equips us with clarity, lights a way forward, and rouses us to action—for ourselves and for each other, for our communities, and, ultimately, for our planet.

Terrible Beauty: Reckoning with Climate Complicity and Rediscovering Our Soul by Auden Schendler (Harvard Business Review Press 2024, 272 pages, $32.00) 

Something’s gone badly awry with environmentalism. We faithfully separate our waste into different streams, but wonder whether it really makes a difference. Global companies announce their commitment to carbon negativity while simultaneously sponsoring oil conferences. The hard truth is that much of the modern environmental road map could have been written by the fossil fuel industry specifically to avoid disrupting the status quo. We somehow became complicit. Sustainability veteran Auden Schendler meets this profound contradiction with a bracing critique that moves from personal stories of parenthood to corporate emission accounts. Terrible Beauty shows us that the key to saving the planet is to tap into our own humanity.

This Sweet Earth: Walking with Our Children in the Age of Climate Collapse by Lydia Wylie-Kellermann (Broadleaf Books 2024, 173 pages, $18.99 paperback) 

What do we tell our kids when the air quality is too bad to go ride bikes? What skills will they need if systems collapse? And what do we do with the fear, grief, and anger we feel as parents? Parent and activist Lydia Wylie-Kellermann wrestles with these questions; while the future remains unknown, she argues, there is still awe and wonder, love and overwhelming joy to be found. As we raise our children toward this uncertain future, Wylie-Kellermann helps us see that they shift our posture, slow us down, and invite us to fall in love with the ground on which we stand. We see that we must choose to fight like hell for climate justice. And we can do it by nurturing a deeper relationship with this sweet earth and its wonders, and by walking with our children.

The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Scribner 2024, 128 pages, $20.00) 

As Indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? The serviceberry distributes its wealth—its abundance of sweet, juicy berries—to meet the needs of its natural community. Serviceberries show us another model, one based upon reciprocity, where wealth comes from the quality of your relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency. The Serviceberry is an antidote to the broken relationships and misguided goals of our times; it’s a reminder that “all flourishing is mutual.”

How to Love a Forest: The Bittersweet Work of Tending a Changing World by Ethan Tapper (Broadleaf Books 2024, 229 pages, $28.99) 

Only those who love trees should cut them, writes forester Ethan Tapper. In How to Love a Forest, he asks what it means to live in a time when ecosystems are in retreat. How do we respond to the harmful legacies of the past? How do we use our species’ incredible power to heal rather than to harm? We straddle two worlds: a status quo that treats nature as a commodity and an opposition that claims a true love of nature leaves it entirely alone. Tapper proffers a more complex vision. With striking prose, he shows how bittersweet acts–like loving deer and hunting them, loving trees and felling them–can be expressions of compassion. Weaving a land ethic for the modern world, he reminds us that what is simple is rarely true, and what is necessary is rarely easy.

Leaf, Cloud, Crow: A Weekly Backyard Journal by Margaret Renkl, with illustrations by Billy Renkl (Spiegel & Grau 2024, 248 pages, $24.00

In The Comfort of Crows, Renkl’s account of a year in her Nashville backyard, readers encountered birds and wildflowers, foxes and stately oaks, and all the surprises and joys to be found if only we pay attention to the world around us. This journal will help you engage with your nearby nature. Renkl illuminates the days, weeks, and seasons, and offers prompts to help you chronicle and care for the rich life surrounding you: What do the bare branches of winter allow you to see? How does summer’s abundance provide for different wild animals—and can you find the abundance in your own life? What changes have you noticed in the natural habitats near you from year to year? Leaf, Cloud, Crow is the perfect companion for any gardener, birder, or naturalist.

Outraged! Why We Fight About Morality and Politics and How to Find Common Ground by Kurt Gray (Pantheon Books 2025, 368 pages, $28.00)  

It’s easy to assume that liberals and conservatives have radically different moral foundations. In Outraged, Kurt Gray uses the latest science to demonstrate that we all have the same moral mind—that everyone’s moral judgments stem from feeling threatened or vulnerable to harm. Conflict arises when we have different perceptions of harm. We get outraged when we disagree about who the “real” victim is. And these moral judgments are based on gut feelings rather than rational thought. Drawing on groundbreaking research, Gray provides a captivating new explanation for our moral outrage, and unpacks how to best bridge divides. If you want to understand the morals of the “other side,” ask yourself a simple question—what harms do they see?

The Power of Bridging: How to Build a World Where We All Belong by john a. powell (Sounds True 2024, 240 pages, $19.99 paperback) 

We don’t want to live in a society in turmoil. In fact, 93 percent of people in the US want to reduce divisiveness, and 86 percent believe it’s possible to disagree in a healthy way. Yet with increasing political and social fragmentation, many of us don’t know how to move past our differences. With inimitable warmth and vision, veteran civil rights activist john a. powell [sic] offers a framework for building cohesion and solidarity between disparate beliefs and backgrounds. But bridging is more than a discrete list of actions to follow—it’s a mindset we can develop to help us foster connection. Through this book, powell shares reflections and practices to help you begin bridging wherever you are—even with those whom you never thought you could find common ground.

See also Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Super Language of Connection by Charles Duhigg (Random House 2024, 320 pages, $30.00) 

Multisolving: Creating Systems Change in a Fractured World by Elizabeth Sawin (Island Press 2024, 256 pages, $32.00 paperback)

For most of Elizabeth Sawin’s career, she was not a multisolver. Instead, she worked on a single, immensely important problem: climate change. But despite tremendous effort—long hours of teaching, attending conferences, publicizing analyses—she felt she was chasing her tail. Until people recognized the benefits from reducing emissions, climate change would remain a losing political issue. That experience convinced Sawin that the world’s thorniest problems may be easier to tackle together than one by one. That’s multisolving. Multisolving can’t promise a list of “50 simple things to make everything OK.” What it does offer are strategies to build solidarity between diverse groups, overcome powerful interests, and create lasting change that benefits us all.