Now that we’re in full-on Pumpkin Spice season, we realize nothing goes better with a hot cuppa than a good book. Unlike the dizzying array of pumpkin spice products available, we’ve compiled a short list of the hot reads, from blogs to novels, that we’re devouring.

• Grassroots to Global: Broader Impacts of Civil Ecology. This book explores the broad impacts of civic engagement with the environment.  Chapters focus on questions that include: How might faith-based institutions in Chicago expand the work of church-community gardens? How does an international community in Baltimore engage local people in nature restoration while fostering social equity? How does a child in an impoverished coal mining region become a local and national leader in abandoned mine restoration? And can a loose coalition that transforms blighted areas in Indian cities into pocket parks become a social movement? From the findings of the authors’ diverse case studies, editor Marianne Krasny provides a way to help readers understand the greater implications of civic ecology practices through the lens of multiple disciplines.
• Yellow Sky, Emerald Sea. By Sally Ann Sims, Green Fin Studio collaborator, weaves a powerful story of love, ambition, loss, and the rich legacy of memory set against the deadly 1938 New England hurricane.
• The Great Barrier Thief by Sue Pillans. Dr. Pillans, an Austalian science communicator, just released her first children’s book based on her expertise in marine science. The story  includes solutions to the issues facing the Reef and the hope that each one of us can do our part to help protect and save it.
• And lastly, something that we’re listening to, the Outside/In podcast, a show about the natural world and how we use it.