April is Earth Month, and we couldn’t think of a better book to mark the occasion than Planting an Idea: Critical and Creative Thinking About Environmental Problems by Jerry Apps and Natasha Kassulke.

Apps is a Wisconsin historian, rural storyteller, and author of more than forty books, shaped by a lifetime of living close to the land. Kassulke is a former environmental journalist and former editor of Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine. Together, they bring a rare combination of heart and rigor to one of the most important conversations of our time.

Planting an Idea is part environmental guidebook, part thinking skills handbook. Apps and Kassulke walk readers through the history of the environmental movement, then dive into the pressing issues of today: climate change, land use, water quality, air quality, agriculture, endangered species, and biodiversity, exploring each one through the lens of both critical and creative thinking. The goal isn’t to tell you what to think. It’s to help you think better, and then act.

What makes this book stand out is its tone. It is hopeful without being naive, urgent without being preachy. The authors believe that the path forward begins with honest, open conversation and that learning to think clearly and creatively about the environment is something readers of any age or background can do.

Fittingly, Apps and Kassulke launched the book at a public talk on Earth Day, and the book was a finalist for the International Book Awards in the science category. It has been praised by educators, conservationists, and community leaders as a must-read for book clubs, classrooms, and anyone who cares about the future of our planet.

This Earth Month, Planting an Idea is an invitation to do exactly what its title suggests: plant something. A thought, a question, a conversation, and see what grows.