Most Borrowed Environmental Book, Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring'

20,697 Loans in the Past 3 Years... 2nd Place Park Kyunghwa's 'Gorilla Hates Cell Phones'
Most Borrowed Environmental Children's Books, Kim Sohee & Jung Eunhee's 'If I'm a Little Uncomfortable, the World...'

Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" has been identified as the most borrowed environmental book from public libraries nationwide over the past three years. On the 19th, the National Library of Korea announced this after analyzing loan data from "Library Information Naru," which provides data from 1,324 public libraries.

"Silent Spring" reveals the state of wildlife destruction caused by indiscriminate pesticide use. It was borrowed 20,697 times over the past three years. Following it were Kyunghwa Park's "Gorillas Hate Cell Phones," Tyler Lush's "There Is No Second Earth," Hope Jahren's "Lab Girl," Cheonho Jo's "Blue Sky, Red Earth," Sandra Krautvassel's "We Decided to Live Without Plastic," and Jongmu Park's "Our Lives Help Each Other," in that order.

Among environmental children's books, "If I'm a Little Uncomfortable, the World Turns Green," written by Sohee Kim and illustrated by Eunhee Jung, was the most borrowed with 13,269 loans. The second place was "Ecological Passage" by Hwang Kim and Eunjin Ahn, and third was "The Green Superman Who Makes Rainbows in the City" by Youngsook Kim and Myungjin Jang.

The National Library of Korea also analyzed keywords from the top ten most borrowed environmental books. In general books, "Earth" appeared most frequently with seventy-six mentions. It was followed by "environment," "people," "life," and "future." In children's books, "environment" was the most frequent with forty-two mentions. "Earth," "plastic," "people," and "sea" followed in that order. An official explained, "Both general and children's books featured 'Earth' and 'environment' as top keywords," adding, "In general books, keywords mainly reflected future changes due to environmental issues, while in children's books, the majority of keywords focused on overcoming current situations caused by environmental problems."

Among the top thirty environmental books borrowed in the past year (from last June to this May), fifteen focused on climate change. Loans of books related to ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance), which have gained increased corporate interest, also rose. More than ten books, including Rebecca Henderson's "Reimagining Capitalism," were published in the first half of the year, and loans in May increased by 162% compared to April. An official stated, "Responsibility for the environment has expanded beyond individuals to corporations," interpreting that "attention is being paid to companies that pursue not only economic performance but also eco-friendly and ethical management."