I don’t usually need a lot of motivation to get outdoors but sometimes I read or learn something that inspires me to try a new outdoor experience or develop an appreciation for a new aspect of nature.

This Earth Day I certainly plan to #optoutside, but I’d be fooling myself to think I’ll go through the day without also picking up a book.

Need some inspiration for your own Earth Day reflections? Here are some books on outdoor experiences published by Patagonia that have piqued my interest, as well as a few books I’ve recently read that have inspired me to look into new outdoor experiences and ways I can continue to mitigate my impact on the climate and environment.

Books on the Environment

• How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates
• The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Healthier, and More Creative by Florence Williams
• The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
• Civilized to Death: What Was Lost on the Way to Modernity by Christopher Ryan
• The Good Rain: Across Time and Terrain in the Pacific Northwest by Timothy Egan

Books on Outdoor Adventure

• Life Lived Wild: Adventures at the Edge of the Map by Rick Ridgeway
• Wild Girls: How the Outdoors Shaped the Women Who Challenged a Nation by Tiya Miles
• Travels in a Thin Country: A Journey Through Chile by Sara Wheeler
• Wanderlust: A History of Walking by Rebecca Solnit
• The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon by Kevin Fedarko
• Into the Wild by Jonathan Krakauer
• Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Coast Trail by Cheryl Strayed

Please leave me a comment if there’s a resource (or experience!) that you recommend I add to my list. Happy Earth Day!