What more appropriate reading for Earth Day than The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells? And what a picture the author paints of the present and likely future impact of global warming and climate change.

He details the devastating consequences of heat, wildfires, freshwater shortages, ocean acidification, air pollution, and others on human life, economic growth, migration and societal conflicts. Take rising sea levels as one example. Can you imagine a world where The Maldives, Marshall Islands, Jakarta, and most of Bangladesh and South Florida are underwater in the next few decades (not forgetting parts of many other cities and Saint Mark’s Basilica in Venice)?

These and other forensically researched details will scare, depress, and hopefully inspire to action. As the author says to close the book, “You can’t choose the planet, which is the only one any of us will ever call home.”