Sustainability lockdown

This lockdown is tougher with the darker nights and lack of routine. We have put together some of our top books, podcasts, films and learning platforms to help you have a break from the current situation or give you the chance to learn something new. 

Work, socialising and general life is now all done online with zoom and skype meetings becoming the norm. Why not take a break from the screen and pick up one of our top sustainability book recommendations? 

Book lists

Check out these Talis reading lists from The Albert Sloman Library. 

Festival of Sustainability: This list features a mixture of literature ranging from poetry, fiction and non-fiction and covers a range of topics from sustainable travel to sustainable living.

Climate Emergency: This reading list features a range of books exploring the current climate emergency from No one is too small to make a difference by Greta Thunberg to local books exploring Essex’s effort to become more sustainable such as The University of Essex guide to a green planet by Jules N Pretty.

Podcasts

With the shorter days, it is important to try and get in a daily walk and get outside into a green space. Whilst walking why not check out our top recommendations for sustainable podcasts?

Brown Girl Green: Created by activist, host, and speaker Kristy Drutman, Brown Girl Green addresses the intersections of media, diversity, and environmentalism.

The Wardrobe Crisis: Hosted by Clare Press, a Sydney-based fashion journalist. Each week, Press interviews designers, climate scientists, activists, and academics about fashion, ethics, social justice, environmental sustainability, and how they all intersect.

Starting Sustainability: This podcast offers listeners simple, practical and effective ideas that we can engage in to build up a more sustainable lifestyle.

Online Learning Platforms

University of Essex sustainability moodle: Learn about different areas of sustainability at the University of Essex. The topics range from grounds and biodiversity to carbon literacy.

Free open access books: Due to libraries shutting and teaching going online, many academic presses have put the titles of their books online for free. 

Future Learn: Future Learn offers a huge range of free courses. There are courses surrounding sustainability and food, sustainable transport and much more. 

Films

If you want to enjoy learning about sustainability with friends, why not try a Netflix or Disney Plus party. These are some of our top film recommendations:

David Attenborough A Life on our Planet - Netflix
In his 93 years, Attenborough has visited every continent on the globe, exploring the wild places of the planet and documenting the living world in all its variety and wonder. But during his lifetime, Attenborough has also seen first-hand the monumental scale of humanity's impact on nature.

Chasing Coral - Netflix
A team of divers, photographers and scientists set out on a thrilling adventure to document the disappearance of the world's coral reefs.

Kingdom of the Blue Whale – Disney Plus
Supported by the National Geographic Society, the world’s eminent blue whale scientists embark on a mission: to follow migrating blue whales all the way to the long-sought, unknown location where they give birth. 

Sea of Hope: America's Underwater Treasures
Oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle, National Geographic photographer Brian Skerry, Author & Historian Maxwell Kennedy take a team of young environmentalists around America's Ocean hotspots to showcase the hidden ecosystems hidden beneath the waves.