With the wild weather New Zealand has faced over the last two years, I have grown interested in learning more about why, and it is a great thing I found this book on a fellow kiwi bookstagrammers page. Under the Weather by James Renwick is educational, interesting, and shocking, creating the most impactful book I have read in a long time.

A warmer world will change more than just our weather patterns. It will change the look of the land around us, what grows and lives on it – including us. In this must-read book, Professor James Renwick untangles how we know what the future holds and why it matters to our everyday lives. He looks at New Zealand’s increasingly frequent natural disasters, warming and acidifying waters, the creep of rising sea levels, and the ways that the changing weather will affect our agriculture, lifestyle, food security and economy. Under the Weather is a picture of a planet in danger, a reality-check on what that means for this country, and a reminder that the shape of our future is up to us.

While this gets into the specifics for New Zealand’s climate and geography, there is at least a third of the book that pertains to everyone. Using global disasters and events as examples, Professor James Renwick puts into perspective the impact of various elements that make up the global warming soup. His voice is so calm and clear throughout the chapters, providing clarity and simplicity to a topic that can scare a lot of people into inaction and indifference. For an individual wanting to create positive change and make environmentally-conscious decisions, I highly recommend finding books like Under the Weather that put your region or community into the discussion.

Understanding just how these weather events can impact the areas we live in is instrumental to understanding how vulnerable we actually are. On a more positive note, it is also a fantastic way to get ahead of the changing systems and adapt to what is coming. Establishing a fruit and vegetable garden, getting solar panels, reusing glass jars and bottles from groceries instead of buying new ones for food storage, carpooling or using public transport to reduce car emissions or switching to cycling, roller-staking, scootering, or walking when possible. A few more ways to be more environmentally conscious, though they are not mentioned in the book, are things like reducing spending on material items like clothing, tech, appliances, and so on, or even doing a straight up no-buy year where you use what you have and you only spend money on your essentials. Shopping second-hand for things like furniture, clothing, and decor is not only a lovely way to reuse and recycle pre-loved items, but it can be better value for money – especially with the furniture dilemma we’ve been seeing over the last ten years or so where the quality of items has seemingly decreased to keep up with the demand for more.

This review isn’t to tell you what to do to be more environmentally conscious or to scare you with the current global warming and climate crisis information. It is a book review for a book I genuinely loved reading, and how learning more about the subject of the climate crisis and its impact on my country and my community has made me more conscious of my everyday and future decisions. Little things can grow to become big changes, so please don’t feel discouraged if you only do a little at the moment. The intentional action is what is important, and Under the Weather brings that and many other points to the surface. I highly recommend this to all kiwis and to everyone who wants to learn more. This might be a New Zealand perspective, but it can be a great gateway into learning more.