Each month, the MSU Water Alliance highlights a carefully selected book that explores critical issues related to water, the environment, and sustainability. Our Book of the Month series is designed to deepen understanding, spark conversation, generate community, and showcase the latest scholarship in water science, policy, and environmental stewardship.
Discover thought-provoking perspectives, learn from leading experts, and join us in celebrating the knowledge and ideas that can help guide responsible water management and environmental action.
December 2025: Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes Through Indigenous Science by Jessica Hernandez was published in January 2022. It details why western conservationism isn't working, and offers Indigenous models informed by case studies.
Jessica Hernandez is a Maya Ch’orti and Binniza-Zapotec Indigenous environmental scientist, activist, author, and researcher at the University of Washington. Her work primarily focuses on climate, energy, and environmental justice.
November 2025: The Big Thirst by Charles Fishman was published in April 2011. It examines the passing of the golden age of water and discusses how water scarcity will soon be a major factor in our lives.
Charles Fishman is a journalist, author, and three-time winner of the Gerald Loeb Award, the most prestigious prize in business journalism.
October 2025: Applied Hydrology by Biswajit Mukhopadhyay and Vijay P. Singh was published in October 2024. This comprehensive textbook is a must-read for understanding how water moves through landscapes and how that knowledge helps us manage water resources.
Biswajit Mukhopadhyay is a licensed professional engineer and certified floodplain manager with expertise in hydrology, hydraulics, and water resources engineering and management.
Vijay P. Singh is a Distinguished Professor and Regents Professor, and holds the Caroline and William N. Lehrer Distinguished Chair in Water Engineering at Texas A&M University.
September 2025: Purified: How Recycled Sewage Is Transforming Our Water by Peter Annin was published in November 2023. It discusses misinformation around recycled water, highlighting the water reuse movement in California, Texas, Virginia, Nevada, and Florida.
Peter Annin is a veteran conflict and environmental journalist who spent more than a decade reporting on a wide variety of issues for Newsweek.
August 2025: Water For All by David Sedlak was published in November 2023. It provides a roadmap for improving the world's relationship with water so that human civilization and ecosystems can thrive together.
David Sedlak is an environmental engineer and the Plato Malozemoff Professor at University of California, Berkeley.
July 2025: The Climate Book by Greta Thunberg is a New York Times bestseller published in October 2022. It incorporates perspectives from over 100 experts including geophysicists, oceanographers, meteorologists, engineers, economists, mathematicians, historians, philosophers, Indigenous leaders.
Greta Thunberg is a Swedish environmental activist who advocates for urgent action on climate change.