<p>In a time of climate breakdown and mass extinction there is a new urgency to environmental writing, both as literature and as science. So In their series, Meehan Crist and Peter Godfrey-Smith consider some of the most significant books published in the last few years, along with classic texts by Rachel Carson, James Lovelock and Robin Wall Kimmerer – tracing a loose arc from biology to society via questions of plant intelligence, biodiversity loss, the rights of nature, ecofascism and green capitalism.</p><p>Meehan Crist is writer in residence in biological sciences at Columbia University.</p><p>Peter Godfrey-Smith is a professor in the School of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney</p><p>Non-subscribers will only hear an extracts from the episodes. To listen in full, and to all our other Close Readings series, sign up:</p><p>Directly in Apple Podcasts: <a href="https://cms.megaphone.fm/organizations/68e1eab6-ccec-11ef-abb0-8b66b7d284ed/podcasts/8048b732
