I recommend this book by Jared Diamond, "Collapse" ...
the author describes a number of human societies throughout recorded history that flourished and then died out due to decisions and choices made by those societies when faced with threats due to environmental damage, climate change, hostile neighbors and friendly trade partners. These five factors can be used to understand why some societies survive, but how many others vanished. He discusses Easter Island, Pitcairn, the Anasazi, Mayans, Norse Greenland, Japan, compares and contrasts two societies on one island, struggling Haiti and the successful Dominican Republic, China, Australia, among others
Are we at a tipping point? If so, are we making good decisions?
edit: the author does not weigh in on the current debate about climate change, so he does not fall into the liberal environmentalist classification. He's a geography professor who specializes in evolutionary biology and biogeography.