HOW CAN I HELP?

This concise volume offers a brief overview of the causes of climate change, the reasons to be worried, and the positive choices that make a difference.

Pointing out that Americans are uncertain about which actions might actually help the effort to slow climate change, Kallen has selected six areas of focus: diet, travel, low-waste lifestyles, energy use, greening the world, and activism. He provides background information, explains the issues, uses examples (often involving teens), and cites experts and statistics from varied sources. This volume is attractively presented, with plentiful, informatively captioned stock photographs that support the content. Text boxes focus on particular problems, such as air travel, plastics, smartphones, and urban heat islands. The author’s suggestions will be reasonable and realistic for many to implement. For example, he encourages readers who may not be ready or able to follow fully plant-based eating to instead embrace reduced-meat diets, and he explains the health and environmental benefits of this shift. His advice for aspiring activists stresses researching their chosen issue, crafting a cogent message, lobbying politicians in effective ways, and building a team. This smoothly written, thoughtfully focused presentation should be welcomed by teens who might feel overwhelmed by bad news about climate change and unable to imagine that their own individual choices could make a difference.

A positive approach to an immense problem.