By: Sasha Zborovsky, Marketing Intern.

For avid readers, changing seasons mean only one thing: in winter, one reads inside and in summer, one reads outside. As much as I love to pair my eBook with a warm fireplace and a mug of hot chocolate, there is something rather magical about reading outside. After all, it is always an adventure to wander out of the house, find a tree to sit under or climb into and read. In fact, such an adventure in nature is comparable to the adventures of your favorite literary characters.

Nature in our literature

Throughout history, countless authors found and still find inspiration in the beauty of forests, gardens, and wildlife. Not every writer imitates Henry David Thoreau and lock themselves in a cabin in the woods hoping to connect with nature. Most, though, for a few phrases anyway, ponder the beauty of nature. William Butler Yeats explores love and politics through Ireland’s natural landscapes. Mary Lennox uses her uncle’s secret garden to not only teach her cousin how to walk, but also to close a rift between her family members. Rachel Carson saved our planet from DDT with her novel The Silent Spring and Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax teaches children about the environment from the moment they learn to read. Nature encompasses every literary genre and it is our job to protect this priceless piece of inspiration.

The environment in our schools

In the last 20 years, schools have steadily begun to introduce the environment as an integral piece of their curricula. Society closely watched the development of environmental studies, environmental history, and environmental engineering as concrete areas of study. Even here at OverDrive, we constantly work to make the company more sustainable and environmentally friendly. Together, we strive to save our planet. However, sometimes, literary folk feel excluded from a seemingly purely scientific effort to protect our environment. Well, it is time to give readers and writers a role in this campaign. Saving the environment is not exclusively about intricate and simultaneously terrifying graphs that probably depict carbon dioxide levels or oil concentrations. Readers, too, can help by Reading Green.

The Reading Green campaign

Humans learn best through stories. Stories builds relationships and connections and thereby, help audiences understand why something or someone is important. Countless fiction and nonfiction novels explore the paramount significance of nature. They reminder readers of our planet’s beauty and health. In an effort save our planet, we must not only read about nature, but also share stories from and about nature with the people around us. Read books that investigate the consequences of a waterless planet or delve into the jungles to study never-before-seen creatures. And, if you feel up to it, share your own story. Let flowers, gardens, and clouds inspire your literary choices. Because both the world and our environment needs readers.

P.S: Never forget that reading on your eReader saves paper

Here are ten books to get you started on your Reading Green campaign:

1. The Call of the Wild
2. The Windup Girl
3. The Monkey Wrench Gang
4. Ishmael
5. Oryx and Crake
6. Odds Against Tomorrow
7. The Lorax
8. Moby Dick
9. Arctic Rising
10. The Silent Spring

To purchase these titles and more for your collection, visit Marketplace.