Best of
Sustainability

2010

The Resilient Gardener: Food Production and Self-Reliance in Uncertain Times


Carol Deppe - 2010
    In the last half of The Resilient Gardener, Deppe extends and illustrates these principles with detailed information about growing and using five key crops: potatoes, corn, beans, squash, and eggs.In this book you'll learn how to:-Garden in an era of unpredictable weather and climate change-Grow, store, and use more of your own staple crops-Garden efficiently and comfortably (even if you have a bad back)-Grow, store, and cook different varieties of potatoes and save your own potato seed-Grow the right varieties of corn to make your own gourmet-quality fast-cooking polenta, cornbread, parched corn, corn cakes, pancakes and even savory corn gravy-Make whole-grain, corn-based breads and cakes using the author's original gluten-free recipes involving no other grains, artificial binders, or dairy products-Grow and use popbeans and other grain legumes-Grow, store, and use summer, winter, and drying squash-Keep a home laying flock of ducks or chickens; integrate them with your gardening, and grow most of their feed.The Resilient Gardener is both a conceptual and a hands-on organic gardening book, and is suitable for vegetable gardeners at all levels of experience. Resilience here is broadly conceived and encompasses a full range of problems, from personal hard times such as injuries, family crises, financial problems, health problems, and special dietary needs (gluten intolerance, food allergies, carbohydrate sensitivity, and a need for weight control) to serious regional and global disasters and climate change. It is a supremely optimistic as well as realistic book about how resilient gardeners and their vegetable gardens can flourish even in challenging times and help their communities to survive and thrive through everything that comes their way -- from tomorrow through the next thousand years. Organic gardening, vegetable gardening, self-sufficiency, subsistence gardening, gluten-free living.

Holy Shit: Managing Manure To Save Mankind


Gene Logsdon - 2010
    He begins by lamenting a modern society that not only throws away both animal and human manure—worth billions of dollars in fertilizer value—but that spends a staggering amount of money to do so. This wastefulness makes even less sense as the supply of mined or chemically synthesized fertilizers dwindles and their cost skyrockets. In fact, he argues, if we do not learn how to turn our manures into fertilizer to keep food production in line with increasing population, our civilization, like so many that went before it, will inevitably decline.With his trademark humor, his years of experience writing about both farming and waste management, and his uncanny eye for the small but important details, Logsdon artfully describes how to manage farm manure, pet manure and human manure to make fertilizer and humus. He covers the field, so to speak, discussing topics like:• How to select the right pitchfork for the job and use it correctly• How to operate a small manure spreader• How to build a barn manure pack with farm animal manure• How to compost cat and dog waste• How to recycle toilet water for irrigation purposes, and• How to get rid ourselves of our irrational paranoia about feces and urine.Gene Logsdon does not mince words. This fresh, fascinating and entertaining look at an earthy, but absolutely crucial subject, is a small gem and is destined to become a classic of our agricultural literature.

Self Sufficiency for the 21st Century


Dick Strawbridge - 2010
    This haven of ecologically friendly practices has been the focus of BBC Two's popular series It's Not Easy Being Green, a title at least somewhat belied by the simplicity of the practical changes suggested in Self Sufficiency for The 21st Century. (Hand-selling tip: It's important to realize that low impact living isn't generally a one-jump leap. The incremental changes recommended in this book can help people take their first major steps in that direction.)

What Matters?: Economics for a Renewed Commonwealth


Wendell Berry - 2010
    There is perhaps no more demanding or important critique available to contemporary citizens than Berry’s writings — just as there is no vocabulary more given to obfuscation than that of economics as practiced by professionals and academics. Berry has called upon us to return to the basics. He has traced how the clarity of our economic approach has eroded over time, as the financial asylum was overtaken by the inmates, and citizens were turned from consumers — entertained and distracted — to victims, threatened by a future of despair and disillusion.For this collection, Berry offers essays from over the last 25 years, alongside new essays about the recent economic collapse, including “Money Versus Goods” and “Faustian Economics,” treatises of great alarm and courage. He offers advice and perspective that should be heeded by all concerned as our society attempts to steer from its present chaos and recession to a future of hope and opportunity. With urgency and clarity, Berry asks us to look toward a true sustainable commonwealth, grounded in realistic Jeffersonian principles applied to our present day.

The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer


Joel Salatin - 2010
    With visceral stories and humor from Salatin's half-century as a "lunatic" farmer, Salatin contrasts the differences on many levels: practical, spiritual, social, economic, ecological, political, and nutritional.In today's conventional food-production paradigm, any farm that is open-sourced, compost-fertilized, pasture-based, portably-infrastructured, solar-driven, multi-speciated, heavily peopled, and soil-building must be operated by a lunatic. Modern, normal, reasonable farmers erect "No Trespassing" signs, deplete soil, worship annuals, apply petroleum-based chemicals, produce only one commodity, erect Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, and discourage young people from farming.Anyone looking for ammunition to defend a more localized, solar-driven, diversified food system will find an entire arsenal in these pages. With wit and humor honed during countless hours working on the farm he loves, and then interacting with conventional naysayers, Salatin brings the land to life, farming to sacredness, and food to ministry.Divided into four main sections, the first deals with principles to nurture the earth, an idea mainline farming has never really endorsed. The second section describes food and fiber production, including the notion that most farmers don't care about nutrient density or taste because all they want is shipability and volume. The third section, titled "Respect for Life," presents an apologetic for food sacredness and farming as a healing ministry. Only lunatics would want less machinery and pathogenicity. Oh, the ecstasy of not using drugs or paying bankers. How sad. The final section deals with promoting community, including the notion that more farmers would be a good thing.

The Legacy: An Elder's Vision for Our Sustainable Future


David Suzuki - 2010
    In his own lifetime, Suzuki has witnessed an explosion of scientific knowledge as well as a huge change in our relationship with the planet-a tripling of the world's population, a greatly increased ecological footprint through the global economy, and a huge growth in technological capacity. These changes have had a dire effect on Earth's ecosystems and consequently on our own well-being. To deal with this crisis, we must realize that the laws of nature have priority over the forces of economics and that the planet simply cannot sustain unfettered growth. We must also recognize the limits of scientific reductionism and the need to adopt a more holistic point of view. Perhaps most important, we must join together as a single species to respond to the problems we face. Suzuki ends by saying that change begins with each of us; all it takes is imagination and a faith in the inherent generosity of Mother Earth.Published in partnership with the David Suzuki Foundation. Also available in hardcover.

The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and our Health—and a Vision for Change


Annie Leonard - 2010
    Leonard examines the “stuff” we use everyday, offering a galvanizing critique and steps for a changed planet.The Story of Stuff was received with widespread enthusiasm in hardcover, by everyone from Stephen Colbert to Tavis Smiley to George Stephanopolous on Good Morning America, as well as far-reaching print and blog coverage. Uncovering and communicating a critically important idea—that there is an intentional system behind our patterns of consumption and disposal—Annie Leonard transforms how we think about our lives and our relationship to the planet.From sneaking into factories and dumps around the world to visiting textile workers in Haiti and children mining coltan for cell phones in the Congo, Leonard, named one of Time magazine’s 100 environmental heroes of 2009, highlights each step of the materials economy and its actual effect on the earth and the people who live near sites like these.With curiosity, compassion, and humor, Leonard shares concrete steps for taking action at the individual and political level that will bring about sustainability, community health, and economic justice. Embraced by teachers, parents, churches, community centers, activists, and everyday readers, The Story of Stuff will be a long-lived classic.

Practical Self Sufficiency: The Complete Guide to Sustainable Living


Dick Strawbridge - 2010
    In Practical Self Sufficiency, they show you how to make practical, sustainable changes that will have a big impact on your life - without having to transform your lifestyle. Sharing their experiences, tips and techniques, the Strawbridges provide all the step-by-step advice you need for successful eco projects, large and small. Learn to grow your own vegetables and fruit, make your own homebrew, raise chickens, try foraging for wild food, and more. Each undertaking is realistic, achievable and sustainable. You won't need to go the whole hog - just pick and mix to suit your needs, for long-lasting dividends.

Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food


Paul Greenberg - 2010
    He visits Norwegian megafarms that use genetic techniques once pioneered on sheep to grow millions of pounds of salmon a year. He travels to the ancestral river of the Yupik Eskimos to see the only Fair Trade–certified fishing company in the world. He makes clear how PCBs and mercury find their way into seafood; discovers how Mediterranean sea bass went global; challenges the author of Cod to taste the difference between a farmed and a wild cod; and almost sinks to the bottom of the South Pacific while searching for an alternative to endangered bluefin tuna.Fish, Greenberg reveals, are the last truly wild food — for now. By examining the forces that get fish to our dinner tables, he shows how we can start to heal the oceans and fight for a world where healthy and sustainable seafood is the rule rather than the exception.

Just Enough: Lessons in Living Green from Traditional Japan


Azby Brown - 2010
    The stories tell how people lived in Japan some two hundred years ago, during the late Edo Period, when traditional technology and culture were at the peak of development and realization, just before the country opened itself to the West and joined the ranks of the industrialized nations. They tell of people overcoming many of the identical problems that confront us today--issues of energy, water, materials, food and population--and forging a society that was conservation-minded, waste-free, well-housed, well-fed and economically robust.From these stories, readers will gain insight into what it is like to live in a sustainable society, not so much in terms of specific technical approaches, but rather, in terms of how larger concerns can guide daily decisions and how social and environmental contexts shape our courses of action. These stories are intended to illustrate the environmentally-related problems that the people in both rural and urban areas faced, the conceptual frameworks in which they viewed these problems, and how they went about finding solutions. Included at the end of each section are a number of lessons in which the author elaborates on what Edo Period life has to offer us in the global battle to reverse environmental degradation. Topics covered include everything from transportation, interconnected systems, and waste reduction to the need for spiritual centers in the home.Just Enough, more than anything else, is about a mentality that pervaded traditional Japanese society and which can serve as a beacon for our own efforts to achieve sustainability now.

Energy Transitions: History, Requirements, Prospects


Vaclav Smil - 2010
    In a bold and provocative argument, Energy Transitions: History, Requirements, Prospects describes the history of modern society's dependence on fossil fuels and the prospects for the transition to a nonfossil world. Vaclav Smil, who has published more on various aspects of energy than any working scientist, makes it clear that this transition will not be accomplished easily, and that it cannot be accomplished within the timetables established by the Obama administration.The book begins with a survey of the basic properties of modern energy systems. It then offers detailed explanations of universal patterns of energy transitions, the peculiarities of changing energy use in the world's leading economies, and the coming shifts from fossil fuels to renewable conversions. Specific cases of these transitions are analyzed for eight of the world's leading energy consumers. The author closes with perspectives on the nature and pace of the coming energy transition to renewable conversions.

How Quantum Activism Can Save Civilization: A Few People Can Change Human Evolution


Amit Goswami - 2010
    These books have been long on theory and short on application. This work represents something completely different for this genre.In his previous book, God is Not Dead, Goswami proved that not only are science and religion compatible, but that quantum physics proves the existence of God. In this new book, Goswami moves beyond theory into the realm of action. He asserts that quantum thinking is striking the death blow to scientific materialism; that quantum thinking allows us to break from past bad habits and bring us into of free will and possibilities.Beginning with the question: "God is here, so what are you going to do about it?" Goswami calls for a plan of action that involves applying "quantum thinking" to a variety of societal issues. He issues a call for a spiritual economics that is concerned with our well-being rather than only our material needs; democracy that uses power to serve, instead of dominating others; education that liberates rather than shackles; and new healthy practices that restore wholeness.

The Post Carbon Reader: Managing the 21st Century's Sustainability Crises


Richard Heinberg - 2010
    It includes chapters by best-selling authors like climate activist Bill McKibben, renowned scholars like "ecological footprint" co-founder William Rees, and up-and-coming experts like urban food systems pioneer Erika Allen. Lead editor Richard Heinberg is the world's leading author of mass-market books on fossil fuel dependence and depletion. Heinberg says, "We've run out of time, natural resources and capital, so this is our only chance to get things right."

The Ecological Rift


John Bellamy Foster - 2010
    All ecosystems on the planet are now in decline. Enormous rifts have been driven through the delicate fabric of the biosphere. The economy and the earth are headed for a fateful collision--if we don't alter course.In The Ecological Rift: Capitalism's War on the Earth environmental sociologists John Bellamy Foster, Brett Clark, and Richard York offer a radical assessment of both the problem and the solution. They argue that the source of our ecological crisis lies in the paradox of wealth in capitalist society, which expands individual riches at the expense of public wealth, including the wealth of nature. In the process, a huge ecological rift is driven between human beings and nature, undermining the conditions of sustainable existence: a rift in the metabolic relation between humanity and nature that is irreparable within capitalist society, since integral to its very laws of motion.Critically examining the sanguine arguments of mainstream economists and technologists, Foster, Clark, and York insist instead that fundamental changes in social relations must occur if the ecological (and social) problems presently facing us are to be transcended. Their analysis relies on the development of a deep dialectical naturalism concerned with issues of ecology and evolution and their interaction with the economy. Importantly, they offer reasons for revolutionary hope in moving beyond the regime of capital and toward a society of sustainable human development.

The Blue Economy: 10 Years, 100 Innovations, 100 Million Jobs


Gunter Pauli - 2010
    Will take 25-35 days

Container Atlas: A Practical Guide to Container Architecture


Han Slawik - 2010
    It features container structures used as pop-up stores and temporary exhibits as well as sophisticated housing and office spaces that provoke and inspire while setting new standards in functionality and aesthetics. But the book is not only visually inspiring. Because it documents plans, describes associated costs, and suggests concrete solutions for common problems, it is a practical reference for architects, planners, and cultural activists as well as event and marketing managers, to guide them in deciding what types of containers are best suited to their upcoming projects.

The Lorax Go Green Activity Book


Dr. Seuss - 2010
    Help the eco-friendly Lorax to save the Truffula Trees from the naughty Once-ler, in this fun-packed activity book! Solve the puzzles, play games and colour in lots of great pictures as you go on a great, green adventure!

Cultivating an Ecological Conscience: Essays from a Farmer Philosopher


Frederick L. Kirschenmann - 2010
    Kirschenmann is a celebrated agricultural thinker. In the last thirty years he has tirelessly promoted the principles of sustainability and has become a legend in his own right. Kirschenmann was a keynote speaker at the 2010 Biodynamic National Conference. Cultivating an Ecological Conscience: Essays from a Farmer Philosopher documents Kirschenmann's evolution and his lifelong contributions to the new agrarianism in a collection of his greatest writings on farming, philosophy, and sustainability. Working closely with agricultural economist and editor Constance L. Falk, Kirschenmann recounts his intellectual and spiritual journey. In a unique blend of personal history, philosophical discourse, spiritual ruminations, and practical advice, Kirschenmann interweaves his insights with discussion of contemporary agrarian topics. This collection serves as an invaluable resource to agrarian scholars and introduces readers to an agricultural pioneer whose work has profoundly influenced modern thinking about food.

Find Your Power: A Toolkit for Resilience and Positive Change


Chris Johnstone - 2010
    Drawing on insights from addictions recovery, positive psychology, storytelling and holistic science, it includes proven strategies for improving mood, building strengths and increasing effectiveness.The first part of the book introduces motivational enhancement tools that help you become clearer about your direction and more inspired to move that way.The second part offers tools for getting through blocks by looking at creative problem solving strategies, ways of dealing with fear and methods for transforming crisis or failure into turning points.The third part explores how to keep yourself going in the marathon of longer term change by strengthening support around you, tapping into purposes bigger than yourself and making what you do more enjoyable.The tools described can be used for any kind of change, from tackling depression and improving your life through to addressing world issues like peak oil and climate change.

Geothermal HVAC


Jay Egg - 2010
    Geothermal HVAC: Green Heating and Cooling reviews the array of choices currently available, offers market values for systems based on varying options and conditions, and describes how to pair the best systems for each application and budget. Whether you're a contractor or a consumer, you'll find out what you need to know to implement a geothermal HVAC system in a retrofit or new construction project, and start benefiting from this sustainable, affordable technology.Find out how to:Learn the basic types of heat transfer--convection, conduction, and radiationUnderstand how geothermal earth-coupled heat pumps workDetermine which ground loops to use for earth coupling to best meet the demands of the siteUse load sharing to channel the heat differential of one device into useful energy for anotherCalculate system efficiencies and heat gain and lossUnderstand geothermal project proposals and system pricingBenefit from incentives, tax credits, and rebates for geothermal HVAC systemsCalculate your long-term return on investmentVerify that your installed system is working as intendedTroubleshoot your system and avoid common problems

Endangered: Biodiversity on the Brink


Mitch Tobin - 2010
    He crisscrossed the Southwest in search of wildlife driven to the brink. This region, with its unique and complex issues provides a snapshot of issues facing endangered species.

The Australian Fruit and Vegetable Garden


Clive Blazey - 2010
    It is written by Australians for Australian conditions. Based on 30 years of experience at our Digger’s Club gardens, it is the perfect gift for you, your family, and your friends.“The most nutritious and best tasting fruit and vegetables never reach the market because super markets only buy rock hard fruits of deception that improve their bottom line” says author Clive Blazey.Exerpt from Digger's Club website

People, Planet, Profit: How to Embrace Sustainability for Innovation and Business Growth


Peter Fisk - 2010
     People, Planet, Profit focuses on three ways that companies can grow their business while transforming their values: by defining a purpose to their business beyond profit -- what it does for people's lives and society in general; by translating that into a compelling proposition for customers; and by aligning the whole business to deliver this proposition practically and more profitably.  Author Peter Fisk writes in the engaging voice that made his book Marketing Genius so popular.

Saving the Seasons: How to Can, Freeze, or Dry Almost Anything


Mary Clemens Meyer - 2010
    Loaded with helpful tips, charts and user-friendly recipes for beginners and experts alike, you will enjoy the season's bounty all year long!Top Five Reasons To Preserve Your Own FoodEat from known, local food sources—year round!Fill your cupboards with foods free from chemical additives and preservatives.Lock in peak flavors and nutrition by reserving the bounty of the season.Taste the full flavors of homemade—store-bought brands just can’t compare!Preserve foods while they’re plentiful, and the benefits last all year—with tastes you won’t soon forget."What a treat to be reminded that it's not just technically possible to keep summer in your pantry all year long, but incredibly delicious. There's nothing at the supermarket that comes close to the tastes in these pages—and nothing that will help much more in the fight to build a local food system to replace the vulnerable, unhealthy, and sprawling mess that is our current lot."—Bill McKibben, author Earth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet"What a great idea to combine lessons for canning, freezing, pickling, and drying all in one book—with recipes for everything from making spicy kimchi to black raspberry jam! What a delicious way to extend our gardens."—Catherine Walthers, author of Raising the Salad Bar and Soups + Sides"It is heartening to see the renewed interest in gardening and in eating locally—actually, the interest in eating real food! It is long overdue. With this encouraging trend comes the need for a comprehensive guide to canning and preserving the garden bounty to enjoy the rest of the year. Saving the Seasons fills this niche perfectly. Its colorful pages, clear instructions, and many recipes will stimulate the novice as well as the seasoned canner."—Elsie Kline, Farming Magazine"A must-have follow-up to Simply in Season, Saving the Seasons takes eating locally and seasonally to the next step—beyond fresh. Now one can eat locally and seasonally year round with the knowledge of how to preserve or save the seasons. With the aid of the simple steps and photos, the novice will feel quite comfortable saving the seasons, and the experienced will learn new tricks. All will have wonderful recipes to try."—Mary Beth Lind, co-author of Simply in Season"With the voice of a trusted friend, Saving the Seasons offers comprehensive guidance and easy-to-follow instructions to the lost art of food preservation. It's the next best thing to having Mom or Grandma in the kitchen with you—possibly even better (sorry, Mom)."—Cathleen Hockman-Wert, co-author of Simply in Season"As a mother-daughter team with many years of farming between them, including both rural and urban agriculture, the Meyers are well-placed to present this updated guide on preserving food. They provide simple instructions and a great selection of recipes, from basic jam, pickles, and relish to international favorites like kimchi and chutney. Their tips offer terrific extra tidbits geared toward beginners while useful notes are included on foods for babies and kids."—Kristi Bahrenburg Janzen, organic, sustainable, and local food/agriculture writerA great addition for those who are cooking seasonally with Simply in Season!

The Joy of Keeping Farm Animals: The Ultimate Guide to Raising Your Own Food


Laura Childs - 2010
    . . start raising their own food. In the first full-color guide of its kind, author and small farm owner Laura Childs reveals exactly what it takes to start raising your own animals, including chickens, geese, goats, sheep, pigs, and cows. Childs discusses what you can expect to harvest from your animals—from eggs to milk to meat to wool—based on her own real-life experiences. Whether you want to raise a few chickens for eggs alone, try your hand at a few goats with the aim to make your own cheese, or are looking to sustain your family and make some extra money from raising and selling beef, this is the book for you. Childs offers general information for each breed and animal, from how to get started to what to feed and where to house the animals. This invaluable guide is the perfect first book for anyone interested in starting a backyard barnyard or a small farm—or simply dreaming about the idea.

In Tune with the Moon 2011: The Complete Day-by-Day Moon Planner for Growing and Living in 2011


Michel Gros - 2010
    The effects of the moon on plants, flowers, fruits, and vegetables are explained in simple but ample detail, and recommendations for the ideal times to sow, transplant, rotate crops, and harvest are provided. This guide explains how animal husbandry, beekeeping, and even brewing beer and wine making yield better results when done in concert with the lunar cycle. In addition to gardening and farming advice, suggestions for living life in tune with the moon are offered, such as the optimum time for a haircut, a fast, and even when and what to eat. An extensive color-coded daily diary section makes it easy to record reminders and daily gardening tasks. This biodynamic approach to gardening in harmony with the moon is a simple, inexpensive, and green way to boost garden yields and live a better life.

Confessions of a Radical Industrialist: How Interface proved that you can build a successful business without destroying the planet


Ray C. Anderson - 2010
    His story is now legend. In 1994, after reading The Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawken, Ray Anderson felt a "spear in the chest" the founder of Interface, Inc., a billion-dollar carpeting manufacturer, realized that his company was plundering the environment and he needed to steer it on a new course. Since then, Interface has cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 82%, and the goal is to reach zero environmental footprint by 2020. Thoughtful and winning, Confessions of a Radical Industrialist shows how Anderson revolutionized his company, in the process bringing costs down, improving quality, making it one of "Fortune"'s "100 Best Companies to Work For" -- and driving up profits. "*The publisher has aimed for sustainability in all aspects of this book's production, from the inks and glues to the trim size. The interior paper is 100% post-consumer recycled, certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, and ancient-forest friendly. Instead of a jacket, the cover boards are wrapped in 100% recycled paper stock coated in a biodegradable varnish - and these are just two examples among many.""From the Hardcover edition."

Harmony: A New Way of Looking at Our World


Charles, Prince of Wales - 2010
    Prince Charles shows how the solutions to problems like climate change lie not only in technology but in our ability to change the way we view the modern world.For decades, the Prince of Wales has been studying a wide array of disciplines to understand every aspect of man's impact on the natural world, and in that time he has examined everything from architecture to organic farming to sustainable economics. Now, for the first time, he speaks out about his years of research, presenting a fascinating look at how modern industrialization has led us to a state of disharmony with nature, created climate change, and pushed us to the brink of disaster.From the rice farms of India to the prairies of America's corn belt, from the temples of Ancient Egypt to the laboratories of industrial designers, Harmony spans the globe to identify the different ways that contemporary life has abandoned the hard-earned practices of our history, a shift that has spurred a host of social problems and accelerated climate change.Drawing on cases from farming, healthcare, transportation, and design, the Prince of Wales also offers solutions for change, creating a new vision for our world, one that incorporates the traditional wisdom of our past with the modern science of our present to avert catastrophe. In the end, Harmony paints a holistic portrait of what we as a species have lost in the modern age, while outlining the steps we can take to regain the harmony of our ancestors.Illustrated with lush, four-color photographs and charts, this intelligent, practical, and well-reasoned guide is an indispensable weapon in the battle to save our planet.

Treading Softly: Paths to Ecological Order


Thomas Princen - 2010
    But it's hard to imagine a different way. Princen helps us imagine an alternative. We need, he says, a new normal, an ecological order that is actually economical with resources.

Hope Is an Imperative: The Essential David Orr


David W. Orr - 2010
     Hope Is an Imperative brings together in a single volume Professor Orr’s most important works. These include classics such as “What Is Education For?,” one of the most widely reprinted essays in the environmental literature, “The Campus and the Biosphere,” which helped launch the green campus movement,and “Loving Children: A Design Problem,” which renowned theologian and philosopher Thomas Berry called “the most remarkable essay I’ve read in my whole life.”   The book features thirty-three essays, along with an introductory section that considers the evolution of environmentalism, section introductions that place the essays into a larger context, and a foreword by physicist and author Fritjof Capra.  Hope Is an Imperative is a comprehensive collection of works by one of the most important thinkers and writers of our time. It offers a complete introduction to the writings of David Orr for readers new to the field, and represents a welcome compendium of key essays for longtime fans. The book is a must-have volume for every environmentalist’s bookshelf.

Smartcities and Eco-Warriors


C.J. Lim - 2010
    The previous mutually sustaining relationships of animals, humans and the land have been lost with the progress of industry.The Smartcity - an ecological symbiosis between nature, society and the built form - is the innovative response to contemporary problems from one of the world's leading urban design and architectural thinkers. Addressing the problems of unchecked city growth, the idea of the Smartcity questions whether we could begin to live once again from first principles, focusing in on the inhabitants of the city.The holistic construct of the Smartcity is developed through a series of international case studies, some commissioned by government organisations, others speculative and polemic. Reframing the way people think about urban green space and the evolution of cities, CJ Lim and Ed Liu explore how the reintegration of agriculture in urban environments can cultivate new spatial practices and social cohesion in addition to food for our tables.Representing an emerging architectural voice in matters of environmental and social sustainability, Smartcities and Eco-warriors is a long overdue treatment of the subject from a designer's perspective, and is essential reading for practitioners and students in the fields of architecture, urban planning, environmental engineering, landscape design, agriculture and sociology. An inspiration to government agencies and NGOs dealing with climate change, it also resonates with anyone concerned about cities, energy conservation and the future of food

Zen And The Art Of Blue


Gunter Pauli - 2010
    Gunter Pauli reflects on the obvious questions we do not ask, and guides the reader to the obvious answers that are presented as the best we can imagine today. Hopefully tomorrow we can even do better.The thought provoking flow of thoughts in this book questions the very production and consumption system that characterizes modern day society. Gunter Pauli refuses to put anyone on a negative path, he wants each one of us to look for the better. This is the "Zen" of the book, and you can embark on your personal Zen: stop and think for a moment about being healthy and happy.Simple dialogues on simple things like your daily breakfast and your kids bedroom reveal a world around your microcosm that is so similar to the macrocosm that envelops us. And while we are increasingly aware of the threats to the environment that is our life support system, this book introduces a learning system that permits you to navigate from the universe to your home, enabling each one of us to pursue happiness. If we can take charge of our own being, then we can master the Art of Blue; just like our wonderful blue earth, with a blue ocean and a blue sky.

Sustainable World Sourcebook: Critical Issues, Inspiring Solutions, Resources for Action


Sustainable World Coalition - 2010
    The Sustainable World Sourcebook, Fourth Edition, is designed to support readers in finding pathways for effective individual and group action. It cuts through the glut of information, providing a clear, concise overview of the most important issues and aspects of sustainability that everyone needs to know. And it's packed with successful models, inspiring examples and actionable solutions. This richly illustrated, beautifully designed, full-color manual addresses: • Environmental issues and their impacts, along with a prescription for rapid, large-scale change • Energy resources, peak oil, conservation, and emerging technologies • The global financial crisis, economic transition, green jobs, and sustainable business • Poverty, health, education, food security, and social justice • Local, sustainable communities and engaged citizens and• Green lifestyle choices Featuring a foreword written by renowned environmentalist and best-selling author Paul Hawken, the Sustainable World Sourcebook will appeal to anyone seeking an understanding of a broad range of sustainability issues. Focused on solutions and actions, it is the essential guidebook for every concerned citizen. The Sustainable World Coalition, the producers of this book, provide educational materials and courses that foster strong engagement in personal and planetary sustainability. The Coalition is a project of Earth Island Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to environmental sustainability and social justice.

Twelve Lectures on Architecture: Algorithmic Sustainable Design


Nikos A. Salingaros - 2010
    It reads very easily, explaining why certain buildings and places speak to our hearts, thus illuminating many of our old assumptions about taste. Salingaros establishes, using biology, why traditional architecture is perceived intuitively by most people as more natural and life-affirming than modernist architecture. A deep malaise of contemporary society is tied to the shocking state of architecture and urbanism in our times, characterized by distorted buildings and unusable urban spaces. Salingaros is the archetypal deep thinker and punctures the pretenses of our most respected architecture critics. He is a charismatic teacher, and manages to explain seemingly inaccessible concepts such as fractals, scaling, the golden mean, cellular automata, genetic algorithms, and complexity in simple hand-drawn sketches. He has found a way to translate the complexities inherent in the design of our environment into imagery that even a general reader can understand. Twelve Lectures on Architecture includes an excellent introduction to Christopher Alexander’s recent and remarkable work on how biology and architecture intersect in humankind’s unconscious perceptions. This book has the importance to change the world because it goes into things that people should have thought about but haven’t. What They're Saying... "With Nikos as our guide, we see through the invisibility of the emperor’s new clothes, and we laugh (or cry) all the harder at the joke played on mankind by modern architecture.”— The Providence Journal “Salingaros is a charismatic teacher. The author presents mathematical concepts and computer technologies: fractals, cellular automata, genetic algorithms. He shows us the beauty of mathematics through its usage….Formulating his message through a broad spectrum of topics, Salingaros appears to be a true Renaissance figure.”— Jadwiga Zarnowiecka, professor and architect, Bialystok, Poland."This book is intended for students, yet I think it should be read by everyone who is interested in or works with the built environment. Those who teach urban planning do it for their own ego, not for people who are supposed to live there. The result is an architectural object for imaginary people."— Cristina Caramelo Gomes, professor and architect, Lisbon, Portugal

The Powers That Be: Global Energy for the Twenty-first Century and Beyond


Scott L. Montgomery - 2010
    Three or four decades from now, it certainly will: dwindling oil reserves will clash with skyrocketing demand, as developing nations around the world lead their citizens into the modern energy economy, and all the while, the grave threat of catastrophic climate change looms ever larger. Energy worries are at an all-time high—just how will we power our future?   With The Powers That Be, Scott L. Montgomery cuts through the hype, alarmism, and confusion to give us a straightforward, informed account of where we are now, and a map of where we’re going. Starting with the inescapable fact of our current dependence on fossil fuels—which supply 80% of all our energy needs today—Montgomery clearly and carefully lays out the many alternative energy options available, ranging from the familiar, like water and solar, to such nascent but promising sources as hydrogen and geothermal power. What is crucial, Montgomery explains, is understanding that our future will depend not on some single, wondrous breakthrough; instead, we should focus on developing a more diverse, adaptable energy future, one that draws on a variety of sources—and is thus less vulnerable to disruption or failure.   An admirably evenhanded and always realistic guide, Montgomery enables readers to understand the implications of energy funding, research, and politics at a global scale. At the same time, he doesn’t neglect the ultimate connection between those decisions and the average citizen flipping a light switch or sliding behind the wheel of a car, making The Powers That Be indispensible for our ever-more energy conscious age.

The Original Green: Unlocking The Mystery Of True Sustainability


Stephen A. Mouzon - 2010
    Originally (before the Thermostat Age) they had no choice but to build green, otherwise people would not survive very long. The Original Green aggregates and distributes the wisdom of sustainability through the operating system of living traditions, producing sustainable places in which it is meaningful to build sustainable buildings. Original Green sustainability is common-sense and plain-spoken, meaning "keeping things going in a healthy way long into an uncertain future." Sustainable places should be nourishable because if you cannot eat there, you cannot live there. They should be accessible because we need many ways to get around, especially walking and biking because those methods do not require fuel. They should be serviceable because we need to be able to get the basic services of life within walking distance. We also should be able to make a living where we are living if we choose to. They should be securable against rough spots in the uncertain future because if there is too much fear, the people will leave. Sustainable buildings should be lovable because if they cannot be loved, they will not last. They should be durable because if they cannot endure, they are not sustainable. The should be flexible because if they endure, they will need to be used for many uses over the centuries. They should be frugal because energy and resource hogs cannot be sustained in a healthy way long into an uncertain future.

Earth Capitalism: Creating a New Civilization Through a Responsible Market Economy


Patrick Uwe Petit - 2010
    Earth Capitalism attributes the crisis to inappropriate macroeconomic policies and excessive expansion of financial institutions in blind pursuit of profit, lack of self-discipline among financial institutions, and the failure of supervision and regulation to keep up with financial innovations. Collectively, these are some of the main causes of the current global economic malaise.Petit argues that human greed and insatiability are the true source of disparities around the world. Greed is the reason why we are depleting the Earth's natural resources and destroying its ecosystems. He argues that instead, a good life should be based on balanced give-and-take. When we take something from society or the Earth, we have to maintain a balance by giving something equivalent back. Happiness is founded on gratitude for what one has, and one should engage in an overall appraisal of life, not what one lacks. He believes the same principle should be applied to management of the Earth's natural resources and goods.The current global crisis impels us to create a responsible capitalism, one that benefits all living beings on this planet. It reminds us to live a simpler life based on true well-being and life-satisfaction, but simple living is not about living in poverty. As its subtitle suggests, Earth Capitalism's contributors present leading edge economic concepts, business models, and best practices that show the path toward creation of responsible capitalism--a viable scenario emerging from the current global economic and financial crisis.

Threshold Concepts and Transformational Learning


Jan H.F. Meyer - 2010
    Threshold concepts provoke in the learner a state of 'liminality' in which transformation takes place, requiring the integration of new understanding and the letting go of previous learning stances. Insights gained by learners as they cross thresholds can be exhilarating but might also be unsettling, requiring an uncomfortable shift in identity, or, paradoxically, a sense of loss. The liminal space can be a suspended state of partial understanding, or'stuck place', in which understanding approximates to a kind of 'mimicry'.Threshold Concepts and Transformational Learning substantially increases the empirical evidence for threshold concepts across a large number of disciplinary contexts and from the higher education sectors of many countries. This new volume develops further theoretical perspectives and provides fresh pedagogical directions. It will be of interest to teachers, practitioners and managers in all disciplines as well as to educational researchers.

Dynamic Sustainabilities: Technology, Environment, Social Justice


Melissa Leach - 2010
    These must be met in a world of rapid, interconnected change in environments, societies and economies, and globalised, fragmented governance arrangements. Yet despite growing international attention and investment, policy attempts often fail. Why is this, and what can be done about it? How might we understand and address emergent threats from epidemic disease, or the challenges of water scarcity in dryland India? In the context of climate change, how might seed systems help African farmers meet their needs, and how might appropriate energy strategies be developed?This book lays out a new 'pathways approach' to address sustainability challenges such as these in today's dynamic world. Through an appreciation of dynamics, complexity, uncertainty, differing narratives and the values-based aims of sustainability, the pathways approach allows us to see how some approaches are dominant, even though they do not produce the desired results, and how to create successful alternative 'pathways' of responding to the challenges we face. As well as offering new ways of thinking about sustainability, the book also suggests a series of practical ways forward - in tools and methods, forms of political engagement, and styles of knowledge-making and communication. Throughout the book, the practicalities of the pathways approach are illustrated using four case studies: water in dryland India, agricultural seeds in Africa, responses to epidemic disease and energy systems/climate change. Published in association with the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

Transitions to Sustainable Development: New Directions in the Study of Long Term Transformative Change


John Grin - 2010
    In recent years these concerns are transformed into a widely-shared sense of urgency, partly due to events such as the various pandemics threatening livestock, and increasing awareness of the risks and realities of climate change, and the energy and food crises. This sense of urgency includes an awareness that our entire social system is in need of fundamental transformation. But like the earlier transition between the 1750's and 1890's from a pre-modern to a modern industrial society, this second transition is also a contested one. Sustainable development is only one of many options. This book addresses the issue on how to understand the dynamics and governance of the second transition dynamics in order to ensure sustainable development. It will be necessary reading for students and scholars with an interest in sustainable development and long-term transformative change.

The Sustainability Transformation: How to Accelerate Positive Change in Challenging Times


Alan Atkisson - 2010
    Renowned consultant and communicator Alan AtKisson, author of the sustainability classic Believing Cassandra, cuts through the jargon and illuminates the essentials in this highly readable and motivational work. The Sustainability Transformation covers theory and practice, tools and strategies, the opportunities and the obstacles, illustrated with in-depth case studies and poignant personal anecdotes. AtKisson's aim is to empower the reader and to help grow a global 'army of change agents, ' working effectively to overcome the great challenges of our times. At the heart of the book is AtKisson's potent ISIS Method, used by business, governments, and organizations around the world. ISIS - Indicators, Systems, Innovation, Strategy - helps professionals, students, and amateurs alike to put sustainability to work and accelerate change, even when facing difficult circumstances. AtKisson also introduces the reader to many inspiring people, unsung heroes whose success stories provide a solid foundation for hope. Previously published in hardcover as The ISIS Agreement.

The Little Book Of Shocking Global Facts


Barnbrook Design - 2010
    How is it that the developed world spends billions of dollars annually on weaponry, while the poor of the developing world have no access to education, medicines or even clean drinking water? What exactly is the relationship between cheap goods on the high street and the wage-slavery of sweatshops? How have large corporations branded the world in which we live? The Little Book of Shocking Global Facts addresses these questions and many more besides, through its thought-provoking imagery and the persuasiveness of its first-rate research. This landmark publication demonstrates compellingly through words and pictures that unfettered globalisation is a highly destructive force when used for profit or political power, and that a new compassionate world order needs to be instigated. This important manifesto for global change will undoubtedly change its readers hearts and minds.

Natural Living: The 21st-Century Guide to a Sustainable Lifestyle


Liz Wright - 2010
    Many of us still aren't aware, however, that with only a few alternations to our lifestyles we could really make a difference. Natural Living" proves this with an in-depth look at the way we live and comprehensive guidance on the crucial changes we can all make. Whether you simply want to grow your own vegetables or intend to go the whole hog and relocate to the country, this invaluable handbook will expertly guide you through every aspect of sustainable living in the 21st century. With ideas for both house and garden, advice on planning which food to grow and which animals to raise, photographs throughout and step-by-step practical instructions for everything from beekeeping, to composting, to spinning raw wool into yarn, Natural Living "has everything you need to start living a more self-sufficient and environmentally responsible life.

Design for Flooding: Architecture, Landscape, and Urban Design for Resilience to Flooding and Climate Change


Donald Watson - 2010
    Watson and Adams fill the void for new thinking...and they advance our ability to create more sustainable, regenerative, and resilient places." --Landscape Architecture Magazine

Seven Rules for Sustainable Communities: Design Strategies for the Post Carbon World


Patrick M. Condon - 2010
    and Canada. With admirable clarity, Patrick Condon responds to these questions. He addresses transportation, housing equity, job distribution, economic development, and ecological systems issues and synthesizes his knowledge and research into a simple-to-understand set of urban design recommendations.No other book so clearly connects the form of our cities to their ecological, economic, and social consequences. No other book takes on this breadth of complex and contentious issues and distills them down to such convincing and practical solutions.

The Texas Legacy Project: Stories of Courage and Conservation


David A. Todd - 2010
    . . A rancher's back forty . . . A hiker's favorite park . . . When the places that we love are threatened, we can be stirred to action. In Texas, people of all stripes and backgrounds have fought hard to safeguard the places they hold dear. To find and preserve these stories of courage and perseverance, the Conservation History Association of Texas launched the Texas Legacy Project in 1998, traveling thousands of miles to conduct hundreds of interviews with people from all over the state. These remarkable oral histories now reside in an incomparable online and physical archive of video, audio, text, and other materials that record these extraordinary efforts by veteran conservationists and ordinary citizens to preserve the natural legacy of Texas. This book holds stories from more than sixty people who represent a variety of causes, communities, and walks of life—from a West Texas grocer fighting nuclear waste to an Austin lobbyist pressing for green energy. Each speaks from the heart in personal reminiscences and first-hand accounts of battles fought for land and wildlife, for public health, and for a voice in media and politics. These impassioned accounts remind us of the importance of protecting and conserving the natural resources in our own backyards . . . wherever they may be. Records of the archive are available at the Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin. Five dollars of the cost of this book goes to environmentally friendly materials and processes.

Urban Foraging for Edible Wild Plants


Nova Patch - 2010
    From fruits like mulberries and elderberries, greens including nettles and spicy mustards, root vegetables like burdock and jerusalem artichoke, nuts such as hickory and black walnut, to a variety of teas including pineapple weed and various mints. Explore what to eat, where to find it, and how to prepare it, with recipes and a focus on urban environments.

Scarcity and Frontiers: How Economies Have Developed Through Natural Resource Exploitation


Edward B. Barbier - 2010
    Increasing scarcity raises the cost of exploiting existing natural resources and creates incentives in all economies to innovate and conserve more of these resources. However, economies have also responded to increasing scarcity by obtaining and developing more of these resources. Since the agricultural transition over 12,000 years ago, this exploitation of new 'frontiers' has often proved to be a pivotal human response to natural resource scarcity. This book provides a fascinating account of the contribution that natural resource exploitation has made to economic development in key eras of world history. This not only fills an important gap in the literature on economic history but also shows how we can draw lessons from these past epochs for attaining sustainable economic development in the world today.

Transition in Action: Totnes and District 2030: An Energy Descent Action Plan


Jacqi Hodgson - 2010
    A community-based guide to reducing local dependence on fossil fuels and reducing the local carbon footprint over the next 20 years, a period during which they anticipate changes associated with declining oil supplies and the impacts of climate change to become more apparent.

Innovations in Hospital Architecture


Stephen F. Verderber - 2010
    Today's architects must provide hospitals which enable high quality care for diverse patient populations in carbon neutral care settings, and this book succinctly considers what needs to be done in order to meet that challenge. The contemporary hospital is viewed in the context of global climate change, the planet's diminishing natural resources and the spiralling cost of operating healthcare facilities.Stephen Verderber considers the future of the hospital, and supplies a compendium of 100 planning and design considerations for the building type. The book includes twenty-eight case studies of built and unbuilt hospitals from around the world. These are grouped into five types - autonomous community based hospitals, children's hospitals, rehabilitation and elderly care centres and hospitals, regional medical centre campuses, and visionary (unbuilt) projects.Beautifully and extensively illustrated with many photographs, diagrams and floor plans, this is essential reading for all architects, planners, engineers, product manufacturers, clients, healthcare providers and government agencies involved in the present and future of sustainable healthcare environments.

The Advanced Smart Grid: Edge Power Driving Sustainability


Andres Carvallo - 2010
    Readers gain a thorough understanding of the building blocks that comprise basic smart grids, including power plant, transmission substation, distribution, and meter automation.

Green Patriot Posters: Images for a New Activism


Dmitri Siegel - 2010
    Collectively, essays by Michael Bierut, Steven Heller, Edward Morris and Dmitri Siegel look back in time to posters and ideas that set the stage for the current movement (World War Two posters, images of international cooperation, posters from the environmental movement in the 1960s and 1970s) and address the state of the poster: what is the efficacy and mode of distribution for purposeful, message-oriented graphic images today? Thomas L. Friedman advocates for "a redefined, broader and more muscular green ideology that can be the basis of a new unifying political movement for the twenty-first century." The bulk of the book is given over to a compilation of the best posters on the theme of sustainability by a variety of contemporary artists (both emerging and established), among them Shepard Fairey, Michael Bierut, DJ Spooky, James Victore and Geoff McFetridge. These posters, which have a strong graphic presence and which never rest on the tired slogans of the past ("Save the Earth," etc.), show that graphic design does not passively respond to the zeitgeist--it helps shape it. The book, which is sustainably printed in the U.S., reproduces 50 of these posters as tear-outs. Also included is a section on action, with documentation of designs at work in the world: on buses, billboards, protesters' placards, graffiti, t-shirts and so on. This movement is about a new form of patriotism, one that exhibits pride of place, but not fear of others.

Believing Cassandra: How to Be an Optimist in a Pessimist's World


Alan Atkisson - 2010
    Global companies, grassroots groups, university courses, government agencies, and even the US Army ordered it by the box. Now fully revised and updated, Believing Cassandra: How to be an Optimist in a Pessimist's World is even more relevant, fresh, and motivating than when it first appeared in 1999. In a style that's refreshingly candid and vivid, with unforgettable personal anecdotes, AtKisson provides us with a bridge over the sea of despair, and shows us how to catch the wave to an enticing, sustainable future. He empowers the reader to join the pioneers who created the ideas, techniques and practices of sustainable living - the people who prove Cassandra's warnings wrong, by believing in them, and taking strategic action.

Energy-Wise Landscape Design: A New Approach for Your Home and Garden


Sue Reed - 2010
    To help alleviate this problem, Energy-Wise Landscape Design presents hundreds of practical ways everyone can save money, time, and effort while making their landscapes more environmentally healthy, ecologically rich, and energy efficient.Combining general guidelines with tips, techniques, and actions, this fully illustrated guide explains the many opportunities our landscapes provide for conserving energy. Readers will learn how to:Lower a home's heating and cooling costs Minimize fuel used in landscape construction, maintenance, and everyday use Choose landscape products and materials with lower embedded energy costs Make a positive difference without a major investment or change in lifestyle Intended for homeowners, gardeners, landscape professionals, and students, the design ideas in this book will work in every type of setting—large or small, hilly or flat, urban or rural. Written in non-scientific language with clear explanations and an easy conversational style, Energy-Wise Landscape Design is an essential resource for everyone who wants to shrink their energy footprint while enhancing their property and adding value to their home.Sue Reed is a registered landscape architect and a specialist in ecological landscape design who has helped hundreds of homeowners create comfortable, livable, and beautiful landscapes that save energy. She is also an experienced writer and teacher whose work specifically focuses on environmentally sound, energy-efficient, and sustainable landscape design.

Roundwood Timber Framing: Building Naturally Using Local Resources


Ben Law - 2010
    Over 400 color photographs and step-by-step instructions guide you through the building of anything from a garden shed to your own woodland house. This practical how to book will unquestionably be a benchmark for sustainable building using renewable local resources and evolving traditional skills to create durable, ecological, and beautiful buildings.

The Salmon Bears: Giants of the Great Bear Rainforest


Ian McAllister - 2010
    Key to this relationship are the salmon that are born in the rivers each spring, who then go out to sea as juveniles and return as adults to spawn and die, completing a cycle of life that ensures the survival of not only their own species but also virtually every other plant and animal in the rainforest.In clear language suitable for young readers, the authors describe the day-to-day activities that define the lives of these bears through the four seasons. But this is also very much the story of the Great Bear Rainforest--a vast tract of land that stretches from the northern tip of Vancouver Island to the Alaska border and contains some of the largest stands of old-growth forest left on the West Coast. The Salmon Bears focuses on the interconnectedness of all life in the rainforest and makes a strong case for the importance of protecting this vital ecological resource.This book has a dedicated website! Visit www.greatbearbooks.com for more information.

Zero-Mile Diet


Carolyn Herriot - 2010
    Full of illustrative colour photos and step-by-step instructions, "The Zero-Mile Diet " shares wisdom gleaned from 30 years of food growing and seed saving with comprehensive advice on: * Growing organic food year-round* The small fruit orchard and backyard berries* Superb yet simple seasonal recipes* Preserving your harvest* Seed saving and plant propagation* Dirt-cheap ways to nourish your soil* Backyard poultry--it's less time-consuming than youthink* Growing vegetables in the easiest way possible* A-z guide to growing the best vegetables and herbs Put organic home-grown fruits and vegetables on your table throughout the year, using the time-saving, economical and sustainable methods of gardening outlined in "The Zero-Mile Diet." This book is about REAL food and how eating it will change our lives for the better.

Eco Design in the Built Environment


Ken Yeang - 2010
    Written by an internationally renowned expert in the field, this illustrated dictionary provides over 1500 definitions and explanations of ecodesign terms.Providing a unique resource for the practitioner and student, this book leaves the reader free to 'dip' in and out of the book allowing for 'bite-sized' learning at their own convenience. It is an essential reference for all architects, engineers, planners and environmentalists involved in designing and planning projects and schemes in the built environment.

Sustainability Education: Perspectives and Practice Across Higher Education


Paula Jones - 2010
    This response does not only include greening the campus but also transforming curricula and teaching and learning.This book explains why this is necessary and - crucially - how to do it. Bringing together the experience of the HEFCE funded Centre for Sustainable Futures (CSF) at the University of Plymouth and the Higher Education Academy's Education for Sustainable Development Project, the book distills out the curriculum contributions of a wide range of disciplinary areas to sustainability. The first part of the book provides background on the current status of sustainability within higher education, including chapters discussing interdisciplinarity, international perspectives and pedagogy. The second part features 13 chapter case studies from teachers and lecturers in diverse disciplines, describing what has worked, how and why - and what hasn't. Whilst the book is organised by traditional disciplines, the authors and editors emphasise transferable lessons and interdisciplinarity so that readers can learn from examples outside their own area to embed sustainability within their own curricula and teaching. Subject areas covered include: geography, environmental and Earth Sciences, nursing/health, law, dance, drama, music, engineering, media and cultural studies, art and design, theology, social work, economics, languages, education, business and built environment.

One Planet Communities: A Real-Life Guide to Sustainable Living


Pooran Desai - 2010
    It combines leading edge thinking with simple practical advice in this fast emerging field. In the often confused realm of sustainable development, the book starts with the question of how to turn sustainability from an abstract concept into a clear framework on which to base practical design, development, long-term management and governance decisions. It describes One Planet Living, the approach which links the science of ecological footprinting to a simple framework of principles, and how the framework is being applied to create a coherent approach to projects in the UK, Europe, USA, South Africa, the Middle East, China and Australia, It also draws on other examples of best practice from around the world.Essential reading for the industry--Khaled Awad, Director of Property Development, Masdar...gave us the framework to create a world-renowned sustainable community.--Brad Baker, President and CEO, Codding Enterprises, California...gives a clear analytical direction to follow ... reads like a historical detective story.--David Nelson, Head of Design, Foster ] Partners

This Perennial Land: Third Crops, Blue Earth, and the Road to a Restorative Agriculture


Lansing Shepard - 2010
    Through essays and photographs, the authors trace the natural and cultural history of the land, share stories of a new breed of pioneer farming with nature in mind, and a future vision of a restorative agriculture. They make a compelling case for changing what we grow in this working landscape and how and where we grow it in order to restore historic function at a landscape scale. Accompanied by a remarkable "opportunity map" it offers a roughblueprint--a conceptual starting point--for landowners, policymakers, and citizens who want a part in forging a new vision for returning health, beauty, and economic stability to corn and soybean country.

The Organic Farming Manual: A Comprehensive Guide to Starting and Running a Certified Organic Farm


Anne Larkin Hansen - 2010
    Discover the rewarding satisfaction of running a successful and sustainable organic farm.