As written in the New York TImes last week, our kids need to know about the global environmental crisis — climate change, deforestation, species extinction.

And as long as we’re teaching them about all that, we may as well teach them some science at the same time. Learning about evaporation can be as boring as watching a pot boil, but if it’s part of a habitat-destroying, polar-bear-killing, actually-somewhat-interesting environmental disaster, maybe that’s something kids could enjoy reading.

And so we see two books coming to fill that void - The Down-To-Earth Guide To Global Warming (Orchard/Scholastic) and Tracking Trash (Houghton Mifflin).

Written for ages 8 and up, The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming by Laurie David and Cambria Gordon, is a comprehensive resource young readers can look to for understanding the science behind why global warming happens and how we can work together to stop it. Irreverent and entertaining, and packed with essential facts and suggestions on how kids can help combat global warming in their homes, schools, and communities, Down-to-Earth offers a message of hope. Plus, text pages for the book are printed on paper that contains 100% post-consumer waste fiber that is FSC-certified, using soy inks.

Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion follows three extraordinary scientists as they comb the seas and shores for clues that lend insight into the depths of the ocean. These men work together to gather data — sometimes in the form of plastic bathtub toys or computer monitors — to better understand ocean currents and how they affect life on land as well as at sea. And with careful analysis, this community of scientists, along with their friends and beachcombers, can use the data to help protect the world’s oceans.