I have always been passionate about sustainability, climate change, and protecting our natural world. For a long time, I felt really overwhelmed with a feeling of hopelessness at the state of our world. My generation and our children will inherit the Earth in the way that our ancestors have left it. If we, the children of the future, are faced with the prospect of global dimming, an astronomical amount of pollution, a public health crisis, water shortage, and an increased number of natural disasters, we cannot simply do nothing. Like so many other young people, I am truly terrified about the future of the planet. I feel overwhelmed by the size of the problem, and although we have all the facts and the solutions to solve climate change, I feel that only real change can happen once everyone unites behind the science. It is infinitely possible to change the world and deliver young people a sense of hope to those who currently feel extreme anxiety about their future and feel powerless to enact real change!

So, I turned to reading books about climate change and living more closely with the natural world. I began with No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference by Greta Thunberg because she really inspires me not just because she is a young woman telling her story but also because she is neurodiverse, and she has changed the narrative of what is possible when you have a hidden disability. Reading her story inspired me and opened the opportunity to explore the world in a new way by reading around the subject.

I have recently realized my fears of living in a social media-obsessed world, sharing, commenting, swiping, liking, and retweeting are part of all our daily lives. Never have our lives been under such scrutiny, where our lives online are just as important as our lives offline. Human instinct is to critique and find failure. In this picture-perfect Instagram world, it is too easy to edit our shortcomings and imperfections, but the reality is that we all have them. Perfection is the greatest illusion. It is just that we often do not choose to share them for all to see because we all project this image of perfection. Every social media page is simply a curation of snapshots from a moment in time when everything is ‘perfect.’ Humans are conditioned to seek acceptance from others and so alike on a social media post is a sign of approval and social credibility. However, the social media world is the complete antithesis of human connection. In the process of scrolling through the reams of algorithmic, curated, and doctored imagery, we are losing valuable connections. By living in the virtual world, we become isolated from others and ourselves. Although social media can be a force for change, build communities and empower people, it can be incredibly dangerous. We cannot just wait for social media companies to act and responsibility; we must take collective action to recapture our connection.

Over the last few months, through reading many books and watching documentaries about the workings of the social media universe, I felt compelled to share with you some of my discoveries.

Let’s face it the world is in a pretty dark place at the moment, but I have always found that in times like these books can offer some escapism from all the madness that is happening around us. I think that hope, love and kindness can be found in words, and it is often the simple things that make us happiest, from spending time in nature to reading a book you can escape to another world. Are you in need of some book recommendations? If so, check out my latest book recommendations for some inspiration. To see my previous recommendations click on the link below:

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