Best of
Sustainability

2014

The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food


Dan Barber - 2014
    Instead, Barber proposes Americans should move to the 'third plate,' a cuisine rooted in seasonal productivity, natural livestock rhythms, whole-grains, and small portions of free-range meat.

This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate


Naomi Klein - 2014
    It's not about carbon—it's about capitalism. The good news is that we can seize this crisis to transform our failed economic system and build something radically better. In her most provocative book yet, Naomi Klein, author of the global bestsellers Shock Doctrine and No Logo, exposes the myths that are clouding climate debate. You have been told the market will save us, when in fact the addiction to profit and growth is digging us in deeper every day. You have been told it's impossible to get off fossil fuels when in fact we know exactly how to do it—it just requires breaking every rule in the 'free-market' playbook. You have also been told that humanity is too greedy and selfish to rise to this challenge. In fact, all around the world, the fight back is already succeeding in ways both surprising and inspiring. It's about changing the world, before the world changes so drastically that no one is safe. Either we leap—or we sink. This Changes Everything is a book that will redefine our era.

Don't Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change


George Marshall - 2014
    What is the psychological mechanism that allows us to know something is true but act as if it is not? George Marshall’s search for the answers brings him face to face with Nobel Prize–winning psychologists and Texas Tea Party activists; the world’s leading climate scientists and those who denounce them; liberal environmentalists and conservative evangelicals. What he discovers is that our values, assumptions, and prejudices can take on lives of their own, gaining authority as they are shared, dividing people in their wake.With engaging stories and drawing on years of his own research, Marshall argues that the answers do not lie in the things that make us different, but rather in what we share: how our human brains are wired—our evolutionary origins, our perceptions of threats, our cognitive blind spots, our love of storytelling, our fear of death, and our deepest instincts to defend our family and tribe. Once we understand what excites, threatens, and motivates us, we can rethink climate change, for it is not an impossible problem. Rather, we can halt it if we make it our common purpose and common ground. In the end, Don’t Even Think About It is both about climate change and about the qualities that make us human and how we can deal with the greatest challenge we have ever faced.

The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision


Fritjof Capra - 2014
    New emphasis has been given to complexity, networks, and patterns of organisation, leading to a novel kind of 'systemic' thinking. This volume integrates the ideas, models, and theories underlying the systems view of life into a single coherent framework. Taking a broad sweep through history and across scientific disciplines, the authors examine the appearance of key concepts such as autopoiesis, dissipative structures, social networks, and a systemic understanding of evolution. The implications of the systems view of life for health care, management, and our global ecological and economic crises are also discussed. Written primarily for undergraduates, it is also essential reading for graduate students and researchers interested in understanding the new systemic conception of life and its implications for a broad range of professions - from economics and politics to medicine, psychology and law.

The Soil Will Save Us: How Scientists, Farmers, and Foodies Are Healing the Soil to Save the Planet


Kristin Ohlson - 2014
    That carbon is now floating in the atmosphere, and even if we stopped using fossil fuels today, it would continue warming the planet. In The Soil Will Save Us, journalist and bestselling author Kristin Ohlson makes an elegantly argued, passionate case for "our great green hope"—a way in which we can not only heal the land but also turn atmospheric carbon into beneficial soil carbon—and potentially reverse global warming.As the granddaughter of farmers and the daughter of avid gardeners, Ohlson has long had an appreciation for the soil. A chance conversation with a local chef led her to the crossroads of science, farming, food, and environmentalism and the discovery of the only significant way to remove carbon dioxide from the air—an ecological approach that tends not only to plants and animals but also to the vast population of underground microorganisms that fix carbon in the soil. Ohlson introduces the visionaries—scientists, farmers, ranchers, and landscapers—who are figuring out in the lab and on the ground how to build healthy soil, which solves myriad problems: drought, erosion, air and water pollution, and food quality, as well as climate change. Her discoveries and vivid storytelling will revolutionize the way we think about our food, our landscapes, our plants, and our relationship to Earth.

Farming the Woods: An Integrated Permaculture Approach to Growing Food and Medicinals in Temperate Forests


Ken Mudge - 2014
    Farming the Woods invites a remarkably different perspective: that a healthy forest can be maintained while growing a wide range of food, medicinal, and other non-timber products. While this concept of "forest farming" may seem like an obscure practice, history indicates that much of humanity lived and sustained itself from tree-based systems in the past; only recently have people traded the forest for the field. The good news is that this is not an either-or scenario; forest farms can be most productive in places where the plow is not: on steep slopes, and in shallow soils. It is an invaluable practice to integrate into any farm or homestead, especially as the need for unique value-added products and supplemental income becomes more and more important for farmers. Many already know that daily indulgences we take for granted such as coffee, chocolate, and many tropical fruits, all originate in forest ecosystems. But few know that such abundance is also available in the cool temperate forests of North America. Farming the Woods is the first in-depth guide for farmers and gardeners who have access to an established woodland and are looking for productive ways to manage it. Authors Ken Mudge and Steve Gabriel describe this process as "productive conservation," guided by the processes and relationships found in natural forest ecosystems. Farming the Woods covers in detail how to cultivate, harvest, and market high-value non-timber forest crops such as American ginseng, shiitake mushrooms, ramps (wild leeks), maple syrup, fruit and nut trees, ornamental ferns, and more. Comprehensive information is also offered on historical perspectives of forest farming; mimicking the forest in a changing climate; cultivation of medicinal crops; creating a forest nursery; harvesting and utilizing wood products; the role of animals in the forest farm; and how to design and manage your forest farm once it's set up. This book is a must-read for farmers and gardeners interested in incorporating aspects of agroforestry, permaculture, forest gardening, and sustainable woodlot management into the concept of a whole-farm organism.

Defending Beef: The Case for Sustainable Meat Production


Nicolette Hahn Niman - 2014
    They erode soils, pollute air and water, damage riparian areas, and decimate wildlife populations. The UN s Food and Agriculture Organization bolstered the credibility of this notion with its 2007 report that declared livestock to be the single largest contributor to human-generated climate-change emissions.But is the matter really so clear cut? Hardly. In her new book, Defending Beef, environmental lawyer turned rancher Nicolette Hahn Niman argues that cattle are not inherently bad for the Earth. The impact of grazing can be either negative or positive, depending on how livestock are managed. In fact, with proper oversight livestock can actually play an essential role in maintaining grassland ecosystems by performing the same functions as the natural herbivores that once roamed and grazed there. Grounded in empirical scientific data, Defending Beef builds the most comprehensive and convincing argument to date that cattle could actually serve as the Earth s greatest environmental benefactors by helping to build carbon-sequestering soils and prevent desertification.Defending Beef is simultaneously a book about big issues and ideas and the personal tale of the author, who starts out as a skeptical vegetarian and eventually becomes involved with sustainable ranching. She shows how dispersed, grass-based, smaller-scale farms can and should become the basis for American food production. And while no single book could definitively answer the thorny question of how to feed the Earth s growing population, Defending Beef makes the case that, whatever the world s future food system looks like, livestock can and must be part of the solution."

Adventures in the Anthropocene: A Journey to the Heart of the Planet We Made


Gaia Vince - 2014
    But all too often the full picture of change is obstructed by dense data sets and particular catastrophes. Struggling with this obscurity in her role as an editor at Nature, Gaia Vince decided to travel the world and see for herself what life is really like for people on the frontline of this new reality. What she found was a number people doing the most extraordinary things.During her journey she finds a man who is making artificial glaciers in Nepal along with an individual who is painting mountains white to attract snowfall; take the electrified reefs of the Maldives; or the man who's making islands out of rubbish in the Caribbean. These are ordinary people who are solving severe crises in crazy, ingenious, effective ways. While Vince does not mince words regarding the challenging position our species is in, these wonderful stories, combined with the new science that underpins Gaia's expertise and research, make for a persuasive, illuminating — and strangely hopeful — read on what the Anthropocene means for our future.

Decline and Fall: The End of Empire and the Future of Democracy in 21st Century America


John Michael Greer - 2014
    The decline and fall of America's global empire is the central feature of today's geopolitical landscape, and the nature of our response to it will determine much of our future trajectory, with implications that reach far beyond the limits of one nation's borders.Decline and Fall: The End of Empire and the Future of Democracy in 21st Century America challenges the conventional wisdom of empire. Using a wealth of historical examples combined with groundbreaking original analysis, author John Michael Greer:Shows how the United States has backed itself into a blind corner in the pursuit of political and economic power Explores the inevitable consequences of imperial collapse Proposes a renewal of democratic institutions as the only constructive way forwardBy shifting the conversation from whether today's American empire should survive to whether it can survive, and arguing persuasively that the answer to the latter question is "no," Decline and Fall makes an invaluable contribution to the body of speculative post-industrial literature. This book is a must-read for anyone concerned about the state of the Union, or who believes that the time has come to reinvent the American Dream.John Michael Greer is a scholar of ecological history, an internationally renowned Peak Oil theorist, and the author of more than thirty books including The Long Descent.

Big World, Small Planet: Abundance within Planetary Boundaries


Johan Rockström - 2014
    Friedman, New York Times Big World, Small Planet probes the urgent predicament of our times: how is it possible to create a positive future for both humanity and Earth? We have entered the Anthropocene—the era of massive human impacts on the planet—and the actions of over seven billion residents threaten to destabilize Earth’s natural systems, with cascading consequences for human societies. In this extraordinary book, the authors combine the latest science with compelling storytelling and amazing photography to create a new narrative for humanity’s future. Johan Rockström and Mattias Klum reject the notion that economic growth and human prosperity can only be achieved at the expense of the environment. They contend that we have unprecedented opportunities to navigate a “good Anthropocene.” By embracing a deep mind-shift, humanity can reconnect to Earth, discover universal values, and take on the essential role of planetary steward. With eloquence and profound optimism, Rockström and Klum envision a future of abundance within planetary boundaries—a revolutionary future that is at once necessary, possible, and sustainable for coming generations.

Native Plants of the Southeast: A Comprehensive Guide to the Best 460 Species for the Garden


Larry Mellichamp - 2014
    They attract beneficial wildlife and insects, they allow a gardener to create a garden that reflects the native beauty of the region, and they make a garden more sustainable. Because of all this, they are an increasingly popular plant choice for home and public gardens. Native Plants of the Southeast shows you how to choose the best native plants and how to use them in the garden. This complete guide is an invaluable resource, with plant profiles for over 460 species of trees, shrubs, vines, ferns, grasses, and wildflowers. Each plant description includes information about cultivation and propagation, ranges, and hardiness. Comprehensive lists recommend particular plants for difficult situations, as well as plants for attracting butterflies, hummingbirds, and other wildlife. Native Plants of the Southeast will be the definitive reference on the region's native flora for years to come.

The Teachings That Came Before and After Ishmael


Daniel Quinn - 2014
    In its early years it had only a few thousand readers. But those thousands told tens of thousands, the tens of thousands told hundreds of thousands, and the hundreds of thousands told millions.Ishmael was just the first course, however. The rest of the meal was still to come -- in Providence, The Story of B, My Ishmael, and Beyond Civilization. But, though I didn't stop with Ishmael, most of my readers did. Very few of them went on to sample any of the later courses. That's why I decided to put this book together. It's a collection of appetizers, generous samples of all the books that followed Ishmael -- and of the books that came BEFORE Ishmael. Reading here, you'll see that in earlier writings -- Tales of Adam and The Book of the Damned -- I accomplished some things that I never managed to surpass in any of the later books (including Ishmael).

Jungle Trees of Central India


Pradip Krishen - 2014
    Jungle Trees of Central India is a lavishly illustrated and user-friendly field guide to every wild tree you are will see in this entire region.A culmination of four years of research, the book has over 2000 photographs with thumbnail keys to all the bark, flowers, fruit and leaves. An ideal companion for your travels in the region, this book will turn you into an expert tree spotter and take your enjoyment of wild places to another level.

Principles of Systems Science (Understanding Complex Systems)


George E. Mobus - 2014
    Systems understanding is increasingly recognized as a key to a more holistic education and greater problem solving skills, and is also reflected in the trend toward interdisciplinary approaches to research on complex phenomena. While the concepts and components of systems science will continue to be distributed throughout the various disciplines, undergraduate degree programs in systems science are also being developed, including at the authors’ own institutions. However, the subject is approached, systems science as a basis for understanding the components and drivers of phenomena at all scales should be viewed with the same importance as a traditional liberal arts education.Principles of Systems Science contains many graphs, illustrations, side bars, examples, and problems to enhance understanding. From basic principles of organization, complexity, abstract representations, and behavior (dynamics) to deeper aspects such as the relations between information, knowledge, computation, and system control, to higher order aspects such as auto-organization, emergence and evolution, the book provides an integrated perspective on the comprehensive nature of systems. It ends with practical aspects such as systems analysis, computer modeling, and systems engineering that demonstrate how the knowledge of systems can be used to solve problems in the real world. Each chapter is broken into parts beginning with qualitative descriptions that stand alone for students who have taken intermediate algebra. The second part presents quantitative descriptions that are based on pre-calculus and advanced algebra, providing a more formal treatment for students who have the necessary mathematical background. Numerous examples of systems from every realm of life, including the physical and biological sciences, humanities, social sciences, engineering, pre-med and pre-law, are based on the fundamental systems concepts of boundaries, components as subsystems, processes as flows of materials, energy, and messages, work accomplished, functions performed, hierarchical structures, and more. Understanding these basics enables further understanding both of how systems endure and how they may become increasingly complex and exhibit new properties or characteristics.Serves as a textbook for teaching systems fundamentals in any discipline or for use in an introductory course in systems science degree programs Addresses a wide range of audiences with different levels of mathematical sophistication Includes open-ended questions in special boxes intended to stimulate integrated thinking and class discussion Describes numerous examples of systems in science and society Captures the trend towards interdisciplinary research and problem solving

Windfall: The Booming Business of Global Warming


McKenzie Funk - 2014
    Funk shows us that the best way to understand the catastrophe of global warming is to see it through the eyes of those who see it most clearly—as a market opportunity.Global warming’s physical impacts can be separated into three broad categories: melt, drought, and deluge. Funk travels to two dozen countries to profile entrepreneurial people who see in each of these forces a potential windfall. The melt is a boon for newly arable, mineral-rich regions of the Arctic, such as Greenland—and for the surprising kings of the manmade snow trade, the Israelis. The process of desalination, vital to Israel’s survival, can produce a snowlike by-product that alpine countries use to prolong their ski season.Drought creates opportunities for private firefighters working for insurance companies in California as well as for fund managers backing south Sudanese warlords who control local farmland. As droughts raise food prices globally, there is no more precious asset.The deluge—the rising seas, surging rivers, and superstorms that will threaten island nations and coastal cities—has been our most distant concern, but after Hurricane Sandy and failure after failure to cut global carbon emissions, it is not so distant. For Dutch architects designing floating cities and American scientists patenting hurricane defenses, the race is on. For low-lying countries like Bangladesh, the coming deluge presents an existential threat.Funk visits the front lines of the melt, the drought, and the deluge to make a human accounting of the booming business of global warming. By letting climate change continue unchecked, we are choosing to adapt to a warming world. Containing the resulting surge will be big business; some will benefit, but much of the planet will suffer. McKenzie Funk has investigated both sides, and what he has found will shock us all. To understand how the world is preparing to warm, Windfall follows the money.

Earthen Floors: A Modern Approach to an Ancient Practice


Sukita Reay Crimmel - 2014
    All over the globe, these ancient traditions persist; a quarter to a third of the world's population today lives in houses built partially or entirely of earth. Conventional Western building techniques using industrial materials may save time and create efficiencies, but these perceived savings come at considerable financial and environmental cost.As well as boasting a unique and beautiful aesthetic, natural building techniques are accessible, affordable, and non-toxic. Earthen Floors: A Modern Approach to an Ancient Practice is the first comprehensive, fully illustrated manual covering the history, use, and maintenance of this attractive, practical flooring option. This detailed, fully illustrated guide explains every part of the process, including:Sourcing and harvesting materials Preparing the subfloor Pouring, finishing, and sealing the floor Living with and maintaining your earthen floorBecause information on creating quality earthen floors was not previously widely available, there have been some negative experiences. Drawing on the combined knowledge of the most qualified earthen floor practitioners, as well their own substantial experience, the authors deliver the definitive resource for this exciting technique, perfect for everyone from the novice to veteran builder.Sukita Reay Crimmel has installed over twenty thousand square feet of earthen flooring, and is one of the preeminent experts in the emerging field of earthen floors.James Thomson is part of House Alive, one of the leading natural building training organizations in the country.

Our Heroes: How Kids Are Making a Difference


Janet Wilson - 2014
    In addition to the ten main profiles, sidebars feature many more children. Included is eleven-year-old Andrew Adansi-Bonnah from Ghana, who raised thousands of dollars for refugee children in Somalia after seeing their desperate situation covered in the news. Another child profiled is twelve-year-old Mimi Ausland from the United States, nicknamed "Dr. Doolittle" by her family. After learning about the shortage of food for shelter animals, she started a website to collect donations of dog and cat food; her site is now one of the most visited animal-rescue websites in the world. These children never set out to be heroes or to become famous, but they are role-models for us all.

We the Eaters: If We Change Dinner, We Can Change the World


Ellen Gustafson - 2014
    Far from complete opposites, hunger and obesity are in fact different manifestations of the same problem: It's increasingly difficult to find and eat nutritious food. By examining the global industrial food system using the deceptively simple template of a classic American dinner, We the Eaters not only outlines the root causes of this bizarre and troubling dichotomy but also provides a blueprint of actionable solutions—solutions that could start with changing out just a single item on your plate.From your burger to your soda, Gustafson unpacks how even the hyperlocal can cause worldwide ripples. For instance: American agricultural policy promoting corn and soybeans in beef farming means we feed more to cows than to hungry people. This is compounded by the environmental cost of factory livestock farming, rising obesity rates, and the false economics of unhealthfully high meat consumption.The answer? Eat a hamburger—just make it a smaller, sustainably raised, grass-fed one.Gustafson—a young entrepreneur, foreign policy expert, and food policy advocate—delivers a wake-up call that will inspire even the most passive reader to take action. We can love our food and our country while being better stewards of our system and our health. We the Eaters is othing short of a manifesto: If we change dinner, we really can change the world.

Overfished Ocean Strategy: Powering up Innovation for a Resource-Deprived World


Nadya Zhexembayeva - 2014
    The linear, throwaway economy of today—in which we extract resources, create products, use them, and throw them away like a cheap plastic fork—is rapidly coming to a close. We are, simply put, running out of things to mine and places to trash. A new economy is being born, one that takes this line and turns it into a circle. Resource scarcity—the overfished ocean—is the reality virtually every company is swimming in. Those managers who deeply understand and master this shift will be able to turn the new reality into disruptive innovation and remarkable competitive advantage. Overfished Ocean Strategy offers five essential principles for developing products and services for this new reality. A business owner herself, Nadya Zhexembayeva fills the book with examples of companies that are already successfully navigating the overfished ocean. Unlike less-farsighted companies, they are not making “green” products as a sideline for a niche market but rather have made dealing with resource scarcity the central, driving force of their entire strategy. As these innovators ride ahead of the wave, new products, new business models, new markets, and new profits follow. You can join them, or you can be left standing on the shore.

Outdoor Life: Prepare for Anything Survival Manual: 338 Essential Survival Skills


Tim MacWelch - 2014
    Be a Survivor.Are you preparing for the collapse of society? If so, you are definitely not alone. In this timely follow-up to The Ultimate Survival Manual, Prepare for Anything is packed with hundreds of gear, skills, and survival tips and strategies to help you be ready for anything, from economic collapse and terrorism to natural disasters and government surveillance.All over America, families are transforming spare rooms into long-term storage pantries, planting survival gardens, unplugging from the grid, converting their homes to alternative sources of energy, taking self-defense courses, and stocking up on just about everything and anything imaginable. So what are all of these people preparing for? The motivations may vary, but the general consensus is that our world is becoming increasingly unstable, and there are a whole host of civilization-endangering events to be concerned about. Outdoor Life: Prepare for Anything will take you through these potential threats and teach you how to become prepared for them, from how to strategize and the right gear to your actions in the wake of a disaster—or simply how to get back to the land and become less dependent on the system. This is the book for the growing prepper movement, with hands-on hints, easy-to-use checklists, and engaging first-person stories to break down the crucial do’s and don’ts, educate yourself on various threats, and help to ensure that you ride out whatever Mother Nature, the government, foreign powers, or modern society can throw at you.Includes vital information on:• How to Prepare Skills to know in order to prep for a natural disaster, economic collapse, or societal restructuring.• Stock Up What should be in your house, pantry, basement, bunker, and go-bag.• What to Do How to handle yourself and your family in the wake of disaster, from creating a plan to leading your neighborhood watch.

Marine Pollution: What Everyone Needs to Know(r)


Judith S. Weis - 2014
    In recent history, we've seen oil spills, untreated sewage, eutrophication, invasive species, heavy metals, acidification, radioactive substances, marine litter, and overfishing, among other significant problems. Though marine pollution has long been a topic of concern, it has very recently exploded in environmental, economic, and political debate circles; scientists and non-scientists alike continue to be shocked and dismayed at the sheer diversity of water pollutants and the many ways they can come to harm our environment and our bodies.In Marine Pollution: What Everyone Needs to Know, Judith Weis covers marine pollution from numerous angles, each fascinating in its own right. Beginning with its sources and history, she discusses common pollutants, why they are harmful, why they cause controversy, and how we can prevent them from destroying our aquatic ecosystems. Questions ask what actually happened with the Exxon Valdez, and why harmful algal blooms are a serious concern. Covering pollutants that are only now surfacing as major threats, such as pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and metal nanoparticles, she explains how these can begin in the water and progress up the food chain to emerge in human bodies. Looking at the effects of climate change and acidification on marine pollution levels, we learn how we can begin to reduce pollution at the local and global levels.

Food Matters: A Bedford Spotlight Reader


Holly Bauer - 2014
    Questions after each reading provide a range of activities for students. The Web site for the Spotlight Series offers comprehensive instructor support with sample syllabi and additional teaching resources. The Bedford Spotlight Reader Series is an exciting new line of single-theme readers, each featuring Bedford’s trademark care and quality. The readers in the series collect carefully chosen readings sufficient for an entire writing course—about 30 selections—to allow instructors to provide carefully developed, high-quality instruction at an affordable price. Bedford Spotlight Readers are designed to help students make inquiries from multiple perspectives, opening up topics such as money, food, sustainability, and gender to critical analysis. The readers are flexibly arranged in thematic chapters, each focusing in depth on a different facet of the central topic. An Editorial Board of more than dozen compositionists at schools focusing on specific themes have assisted in the development of the series.

Circles of Compassion: Essays Connecting Issues of Justice


Will Tuttle - 2014
    These insightful and inspiring essays focus on how seemingly disparate issues of human, animal, and environmental rights are indeed connected. Illuminating the connections between injustice to animals and the various forms of social and ecological injustice, these thirty authors provide essential keys to effectively addressing the hidden roots of our dilemmas. The essays also provide practical guidance about how to make the individual, systemic, and social changes necessary to effectively create a peaceful and just world for all. This landmark book provides a crucial impetus for us to break through our confining delusions, build bridges of understanding, and awaken from the cultural trance of indifference and inequity.

Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time


David J. Kent - 2014
    He also invented radio-controlled robotics, a form of X-rays, neon and fluorescent lighting, the basic principles of radar, the rotary engine, bladeless turbines, and much, much more.Above all, Tesla's greatest desire was to harness the forces of nature for the benefit of mankind. He sought to derive energy from natural, sustainable sources. In essence, Tesla was into renewable energy long before it became cool to be into renewable energy, and he was doing this a hundred years ago.Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time explores the motivations of Nikola Tesla and some of his contributions that predate our current efforts to harness the power of nature. The book is intended as an overview rather than a comprehensive treatise on renewable energy then or now. The primary goal is to show that Nikola Tesla, and others, were already seeing the need for renewable resources long before the current resurgence in interest. This e-book expands on a concept briefly addressed in my earlier book, Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity, published by Fall River Press (2013).

The Permaculture Kitchen: Cooking with Seasonal, Foraged, Homegrown, Local, and Free-Range Produce


Carl Legge - 2014
    The Permaculture Kitchen is written by a passionate smallholder and cook who explains how to make tasty meals using seasonal, foraged, homegrown, local, fresh, and free-range produce, including meat, and sustainably caught fish. This is a cookbook for gardeners who love to eat their own produce, and for people who enjoy a weekly veggie box, or supporting their local farmers' market.There are ideas here for developing recipes "on the fly" and recipes for meals that can be easily cooked in thirty minutes or less, with additional tips on how to make further dishes from leftovers. Learn how to make stocks, soups, sauces, pizzas, curries, grills, pilafs and paellas, gourmet salads, preserves, and more!Most recipes include plenty of ideas for using a variety of different ingredients, which can be included or substituted as desired, or when available. There are also vegetarian recipes, and vegetarian and vegan alternatives to meat dishes.The author, Carl Legge, is a passionate advocate of good food with a low carbon footprint and this book is his first in a series about low impact, local and seasonal gourmet food.

Ngunnawal Plant Use: a traditional Aboriginal plant use guide for the ACT region


ACT Government - 2014
    

Common Threads: Weaving Community through Collaborative Eco-Art


Sharon Kallis - 2014
    Invasive-species control, green-waste management, urban gardening, and traditional crafts can all be brought together to strengthen community relationships and foster responsible land stewardship. Simple, easily taught, creative techniques applied with shared purpose become the modern-day equivalent of a barn raising or a quilting bee.Common Threads is a unique guide to engaging community members in communal handwork for the greater good. Sharon Kallis provides a wealth of ideas for:Working with unwanted natural materials, with an emphasis on green waste and invasive speciesVisualizing projects that celebrate the human element while crafting works of art or environmental remediationCreating opportunities for individuals to connect with nature in a unique, meditative, yet community-oriented wayCombining detailed, step-by-step instructions with tips for successful process and an overview of completed projects, Common Threads is a different kind of weaving book. This inspirational guide is designed to help artists and activists foster community, build empowerment, and develop a do-it-together attitude while planning and implementing works of collaborative eco-art.Sharon Kallis is a Vancouver artist who specializes in working with unwanted natural materials. Involving community in connecting traditional hand techniques with invasive species and garden waste, she creates site-specific installations that become ecological interventions. Her recent projects include The Urban Weaver Project, Aberthau: flax=food+fibre, and working closely with fiber artists, park ecologists, First Nations basket weavers, and others.

Understanding Earth


John Grotzintger - 2014
    Understanding Earth offers both majors and non-majors rock solid content that originated with the ground-breaking text, Earth. In subsequent editions, the text has consistently met the needs of today’s students with exceptional content, currency, interactive learning features, and an overall focus of the role of geological science in our lives. Understanding Earth doesn’t merely present the concepts and processes of physical geology— the authors focus on how we know what we know. Students actively take part in the scientific process of discovery and learn through experience as they explore the impact of geology on their lives as citizens and future stewards of the planet. The new edition incorporates coverage of recent natural disasters (the 2011 tsunami), fracking and other natural resources issues, the latest developments in climate change, and key events such as the Mars mission and the arrest of geologists in Italy.

Grass, Soil, Hope: A Journey Through Carbon Country


Courtney White - 2014
    Fix creeks. Eat meat from pasture-raised animals.Scientists maintain that a mere 2 percent increase in the carbon content of the planet's soils could offset 100 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions going into the atmosphere. But how could this be accomplished? What would it cost? Is it even possible?Yes, says author Courtney White, it is not only possible, but essential for the long-term health and sustainability of our environment and our economy.Right now, the only possibility of large-scale removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere is through plant photosynthesis and related land-based carbon sequestration activities. These include a range of already existing, low-tech, and proven practices: composting, no-till farming, climate-friendly livestock practices, conserving natural habitat, restoring degraded watersheds and rangelands, increasing biodiversity, and producing local food.In Grass, Soil, Hope, the author shows how all these practical strategies can be bundled together into an economic and ecological whole, with the aim of reducing atmospheric CO2 while producing substantial co-benefits for all living things. Soil is a huge natural sink for carbon dioxide. If we can draw increasing amounts carbon out of the atmosphere and store it safely in the soil then we can significantly address all the multiple challenges that now appear so intractable.

Designing for Hope: Pathways to Regenerative Sustainability


Dominique Hes - 2014
    Its aim is to move the discussion away from doing less, but still detracting from our ecological capital, to positively contributing and adding to this capital. This book offers a hopeful response to the often frightening changes and challenges we face; arguing that we can actively create a positive and abundant future through mindful, contributive engagement that is rooted in a living systems based worldview. Concepts and practices such as Regenerative Development, Biophilic Design, Biomimicry, Permaculture and Positive Development are explored through interviews and case studies from the built environment to try and answer questions such as: 'How can projects focus on creating a positive ecological footprint and contribute to community?'; How can we as practitioners restore and enrich the relationships in our projects?; and 'How does design focus hope and create a positive legacy?'

Collaborative Capitalism and the Rise of Impact Investing


Cathy Clark - 2014
    Wall Street's biggest players are rushing to provide clients with access to new impact investing options, amid growing consumer demand and evidence that the approach can be successfully executed. Recent research on outstanding impact investing funds has revealed a mature practice, vibrant with commercial investors, providing stable, predictable returns to their investors as well as supporting the creation of millions of jobs and other tangible outcomes in markets overlooked by traditional asset managers.And yet, the individuals and organizations committed to impact investing are just the tip of the iceberg in a larger movement. This includes the growing field of social enterprise, where market-based solutions can go beyond what government and philanthropy can do to directly address society's problems. And it includes institutional investors who have utilized impact screens and shareholder activism as a risk reduction strategy over the past 30 years.Collaborative Capitalism and the Rise of Impact Investing sees these movements as signs of a much more fundamental shift, as finance as a whole responds to an increased consumer demand for market transparency—the need to know exactly what we are buying, where and how it was made, and who it affects. By putting a lens on the underlying practices that bridge impact investing and risk mitigation finance, the book outlines the transformation in finance itself, driven by more cross-sector, transparent relationships in the service of creating long-term value for multiple stakeholders, not just shareholders.

Holonomics: Business Where People and Planet Matter


Simon Robinson - 2014
    Business leaders and managers must be ready to respond and adapt in new, innovative ways. The authors of this groundbreaking book argue that business people must adopt what they call a "holonomic" way of thinking, as well as a dynamic and authentic understanding of the relationships within a business system and an appreciation of the whole. Complexity and chaos should not be feared; they are the foundation of successful business structures and economics.Holonomics presents a new worldview in which economics and ecology harmonize. Using real-world case studies and practical exercises, the authors guide the reader to a new, holistic approach to business and toward a more sustainable future in which both people and planet matter."A manifesto for mindful living." --Satish Kumar"A must-read for any forward thinking business." --Alan Moore, author of No Straight Lines: Making Sense of Our Non-Linear World and Designing for Transformation"While great poets, artists, and modern scientists intuitively see reality as relationships, economists, politicians, and business leaders fail to understand how parts and the whole relate to each other. Holonomics presents a powerful mode of thinking, for a new, life-enhancing approach to human economic activity." --H. Thomas Johnson, author of Profit Beyond Measure, and Relevance Lost: The Rise and Fall of Management Accounting"A timely, radical, and deeply insightful book." --Giles Hutchins, author of The Nature of Business"This remarkable book distills the essence of the ideas and values taught at Schumacher College and shows how these teachings can be applied, with many case studies of enlightened business. A powerful antidote to today's dominant culture." --Fritjof Capra, author of The Hidden Connections"What a gift to have these monumental, mind-changing ideas woven together skilfully in one book." --Margaret J Wheatley, author of Leadership and the New Science"I have no doubt that this lucid integration of holistic science and business practices that do not ruin the Earth will rapidly become a landmark text." --Stephan Harding, editor of Grow Small, Think Beautiful"'For those who think that we must choose between environmental well-being and economic stability, here is a book that challenges that division. The authors show how business leaders can move beyond narrowly materialistic, reductionist frameworks toward more creative, imaginative, and holistic visions of our sustainable, economic future." --Prof. Ingrid Leman Stefanovic, author of Safeguarding Our Common Future: Rethinking Sustainable Development

Recycled Thoughts: Just how Green is Green?


Jo Rodrigues - 2014
    Let me know your thoughts about 'Recycled Thoughts'!The eBook loses much of its intended formatting through upload. To download the full book, with the proper formatting for your book reader, please visit http://jorodrigues.com/recycled-thoug...__________________________Just how Green is Green? Recycled Thoughts will change your views on current environmental challenges. We can no longer afford to ignore the obvious because it is inconvenient.Logos, slogans, and Carbon Footprints are not Magic Filters that clean up our environment. These concepts are often abused for self-promotion and greed!Together we can address these urgent issues! We have the power to transform our lives, but how, is entirely in our hands!

Virginia Climate Fever: How Global Warming Will Transform Our Cities, Shorelines, and Forests


Stephen Nash - 2014
    Yet the consequences of global warming are of an increasingly acute and serious nature.In Virginia Climate Fever, environmental journalist Stephen Nash brings home the threat of climate change to the state of Virginia. Weaving together a compelling mix of data and conversations with both respected scientists and Virginians most immediately at risk from global warming's effects, the author details how Virginia's climate has already begun to change. In engaging prose and layman's terms, Nash argues that alteration in the environment will affect not only the state's cities but also hundreds of square miles of urban and natural coastal areas, the 60 percent of the state that is forested, the Chesapeake Bay, and the near Atlantic, with accompanying threats such as the potential spread of infectious disease. The narrative offers striking descriptions of the vulnerabilities of the state's many beautiful natural areas, around which much of its tourism industry is built.While remaining respectful of the controversy around global warming, Nash allows the research to speak for itself. In doing so, he offers a practical approach to and urgent warning about the impending impact of climate change in Virginia.

Urban Ecology: Science of Cities


Richard T.T. Forman - 2014
    The book presents models, patterns, and examples from hundreds of cities worldwide. Numerous illustrations enrich the presentation. Cities are analyzed, not as ecologically bad or good, but as places with concentrated rather than dispersed people. Urban ecology principles, traditionally adapted from natural-area ecology, now increasingly emerge from the distinctive features of cities. Spatial patterns and flows, linking organisms, built structures, and the physical environment highlight a treasure chest of useful principles. This pioneering interdisciplinary book opens up frontiers of insight, as a valuable source and text for undergraduates, graduates, researchers, professionals, and others with a thirst for solutions to growing urban problems.

Communities That Abide


Dmitry Orlov - 2014
    An exploration of the skills that let communities survive and thrive through troubled times.

The the Passivhaus Designer's Manual: A Technical Guide to Low and Zero Energy Buildings


Christina J. Hopfe - 2014
    Applicable to both domestic and non-domestic building types, the strength of Passivhaus lies in the simplicity of the concept. As European and global energy directives move ever closer towards Zero (fossil) Energy standards, Passivhaus provides a robust 'fabric first' approach from which to make the next step.The Passivhaus Designers Manual is the most comprehensive technical guide available to those wishing to design and build Passivhaus and Zero Energy Buildings. As a technical reference for architects, engineers and construction professionals The Passivhaus Designers Manual provides:State of the art guidance for anyone designing or working on a Passivhaus project;In depth information on building services, including high performance ventilation systems and ultra-low energy heating and cooling systems;Holistic design guidance encompassing: daylight design, ecological materials, thermal comfort, indoor air quality and economics;Practical advice on procurement methods, project management and quality assurance;Renewable energy systems suitable for Passivhaus and Zero Energy Buildings;Practical case studies from the UK, USA, and Germany amongst others;Detailed worked examples to show you how it's done and what to look out for;Expert advice from 20 world renowned Passivhaus designers, architects, building physicists and engineers. Lavishly illustrated with nearly 200 full colour illustrations, and presented by two highly experienced specialists, this is your one-stop shop for comprehensive practical information on Passivhaus and Zero Energy buildings.

The Responsible Entrepreneur: Four Game-Changing Archetypes for Founders, Leaders, and Impact Investors


Carol Sanford - 2014
    Whether you're a business entrepreneur, a social entrepreneur, an investment entrepreneur, or an academic, artistic, or civil servant entrepreneur, devour this important and wise book."--From the Foreword by John FullertonResponsible entrepreneurs are a special breed, seeking to transform industries and even society itself. They challenge and refine cultural assumptions, laws, regulations, and even the processes of governance. This requires them to do and think far beyond what is usually required of business leaders.The Responsible Entrepreneur offers a blueprint for this new kind of business leadership, describing the means by which any entrepreneur can pursue a higher order of work. In it, Carol Sanford, one of the most trusted names in responsible business development, brings her vast expertise in helping executives and corporations to the entrepreneur looking to launch and scale a venture. She maps this journey through four archetypes:The Realizing Entrepreneur: Industry Game-Changer The Reconnection Entrepreneur: Society Game-Changer The Reciprocity Entrepreneur: Culture Game-Changer The Regenerative Entrepreneur: Governance Game-Changer By understanding the archetype most aligned with their goals, entrepreneurs will learn how to grow their business into a powerful platform that can leverage change, and even change the foundations that create our most pressing problems and issues. To illustrate these principles in action, The Responsible Entrepreneur features case studies based on long-term work and in-depth interviews with Google Innovation Labs, Indigenous Designs (the primary supplier for Eileen Fisher), FishPeople (who supply Costco and Google with gourmet seafood entrees), and many more.For entrepreneurs seeking to pursue world-changing results, or impact investors looking to align their capital with their values, The Responsible Entrepreneur provides the frameworks to build a business and to evaluate and direct investments to create the greatest benefit for all stakeholders.For anyone who wants to make a difference in the way businesses affect the world, The Responsible Entrepreneur lays out ways to make that aspiration focused and doable.

Losing Our Minds: Effects of Chemical Pollution on the Intellectual Capacity and Mental Health of Future Generations


Barbara Demeneix - 2014
    Numbers of children affected by an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the United States have reached 1 in 88 -- 1 in 56 among boys -- and even more children have developed attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders (ADHD). The burden of these disorders to individuals and society overall is enormous; ASD alone costs the United States a staggering $130 billion, with ADHD costs reaching similar heights. Genetic causes of these neurodevelopmental disorders cannot account for such radically increased rates of incidence. The causes must also implicate environmental chemicals, many of which have been shown to disrupt normal thyroid function. In this book, Barbara Demeneix makes the case that thyroid hormone signaling bridges the environment and gene programs needed for brain development--and that environmental chemicals that disrupt normal thyroid function pose significant risks to the inherited intelligence and mental health of future generations. The first chapter provides an historical overview of documented cases in which environmental pollution has caused IQ loss across populations. The following chapters explain the physiology of thyroid hormone action, the importance of iodine and selenium for thyroid hormone signaling and brain development, and why thyroid hormone is such a sensitive target for environmental pollution. The final chapters discuss the role of gene-environment interactions in neurodevelopmental disorders and address what can and must be done by individuals, associations, and decision-makers to staunch these epidemics.

A Homesteader's Year on Deer Isle


Anneli Carter-Sundqvist - 2014
    She and her husband Dennis live in a small cabin, heat and cook with wood, grow a whole year's supply of food, raise pigs and chickens, provide their own building materials, garden amendments and energy. In the summers they run the only hostel on the Maine coast: the Deer Isle Hostel, providing budget accommodation and positive-impact living education for hundreds of travelers each year. Anneli tells the day-to-day stories: about digging out new garden space, swimming in the pond, chasing the pigs and preserving 150 heads of cabbage. She also shares her political and philosophical reasons for why in the 21st Century, with an unsettled global economy and changing weather patterns, homesteading and living off the land is not just something from the past but rather a sensible, dignifying and viable option for the future.

Products That Last - Product design for circular business models


C.A. Bakker - 2014
    From the perspective of designers and entrepreneurs once a product has been designed, produced and sold, it disappears beyond the newness horizon. Little are they aware of the opportunities that exist in the next product universe, where money is made from products in use, as well as from a product's afterlife. These opportunities clearly exist, otherwise they would not be providing an income for so many people. However, to be recognised as segments of a circle of continuous value creation, they need reframing. Products That Last offers readers an innovative and practical methodology to unravel a product's 'afterlife' and systematically scrutinise it for new opportunities. It introduces us to business models that benefit from the opportunities offered by a much longer product life.Products That Last will change the way entrepreneurs and designers develop and exploit goods, helping to reduce material and energy consumption over time. Nothing more, nothing less.DESIGN PROFESSIONALS can use it to develop products that enable circular businesses to extend their value propositions well beyond the newness horizon.BUSINESS PROFESSIONALS can use it to manage product life beyond the point of sales, and to develop new business models that generate value over longer product lifetimes.DESIGN STUDENTS AND RESEARCHERS can use it as a source of inspiration and guidance, and as a springboard for the study of all the product-life questions that still need to be answered.

Bush Tukka Guide


Samantha Martin - 2014
    Her Bush Tukka Guide offers rich and wonderful insights into how Aboriginal people survived for centuries unearthing the bounty of this sometimes lush and often desolate land. The book is divided into three chapters covering plants, animals and some recipes to get you started using bush tukka at home. Learn how to find billygoat plums and mountain bush pepper in the wild; discover the reasons Aboriginal people ate magpie geese and honey ants; and test out the delicious flavours of bush tukka recipes like bunya nut pesto, lemon myrtle slow-cooked kangaroo or caramelised cluster figs with ice-cream.

Sustainable Homebrewing: An All-Organic Approach to Crafting Great Beer


Amelia Slayton Loftus - 2014
    In this comprehensive guide, Amelia Slayton Loftus covers everything you need to know to brew at home with organic ingredients, stressing practices that minimize waste and use sustainable resources. Along with 30 irresistible recipes, Loftus provides expert tips on buying equipment, harnessing solar energy, recycling water, using spent grain, and growing your own organic barley, hops, and herbs. You’ll enjoy brewing homemade beer that not only tastes great, but is good for the environment.

The Nature Process: How to easily and effortlessly step into your natural power and be the change you want to make in the world


Tabitha Jayne - 2014
     The Nature Process reveals the truth that will fundamentally change your life. We are one with nature. When we consciously connect to nature we plug ourselves into the most powerful source of energy known to humanity. It's time to see just how powerful you truly are. Easily and effortlessly, you can create the life you want, let go of the pain of the past, and wake up every morning feeling truly alive. Through practicing The Nature Process, you’ll be able to dissolve limiting beliefs and energetic blockages and feel a new connection to life itself that will support you to be the difference you want to create in the world. “The Nature Process is a personal invitation from Gaia herself to support you at the deepest level possible in order to experience the maximum possible growth. It is an invitation to trust Life in ways you’ve never imagined. Rather than “anthropomorphizing Earth” Tabitha guides us through an important journey in how we can become more Earth-like. This distinction is critical if we are to fully reconnect, heal, and evolve as a species. The Nature Process is pure genius because it outlines a ‘natural process’ not dependent on our intellects, experts, or facilitators. Tabitha illuminates how we can all tap into Nature’s wisdom and follow where it leads. If you long to go beyond ecological theory and into loving partnership with Nature – as you transform your life – this is the field guide for you.” - TreeSisters

Stolen Future, Broken Present: The Human Significance of Climate Change


David A. Collings - 2014
    Once several positive feedback loops in Earth’s dynamic systems, such as the melting of the Arctic icecap or the drying of the Amazon, cross the point of no return, the biosphere is likely to undergo severe and irreversible warming.Nearly everything we do is premised on the assumption that the world we know will endure into the future and provide a sustaining context for our activities. But today the future of a viable biosphere, and thus the purpose of our present activities, is put into question. A disappearing future leads to a broken present, a strange incoherence in the feel of everyday life.We thus face the unprecedented challenge of salvaging a basis for our lives today. That basis, this book argues, may be found in our capacity to assume an infinite responsibility for ecological disaster and, like the biblical Job, to respond with awe to the alien voice that speaks from the whirlwind. By owning disaster and accepting our small place within the inhuman forces of the biosphere, we may discover how to live with responsibility and serenity whatever may come.Author BioDavid Collings is Professor of English at Bowdoin College, where he teaches courses in British Romanticism, critical theory, sexuality and gender, and environmental studies. He is the author of Wordsworthian Errancies: The Poetics of Cultural Dismemberment (1994) and Monstrous Society: Reciprocity, Discipline, and the Political Uncanny, c. 1780-1848 (2009). He co-edited Queer Romanticisms with Michael O’Rourke (2004-2005) and Romanticism and Disaster with Jacques Khalip (2012). He has written articles on affect without content, anti-biography, the ethics of the impossible, economies of disaster, the impasses of utilitarianism, and the post-covenantal sublime.

The Social License: How to Keep Your Organization Legitimate


John Morrison - 2014
    Drawing on examples of what is and isn't working in the field of corporate responsibility, including BP in the Gulf of Mexico, Shell in Nigeria, the leadership of The Body Shop, and the economic opening of Burma, readers will be offered an insight to how the social license to operate is transforming power relationships.

Beyond Bibliometrics: Harnessing Multidimensional Indicators of Scholarly Impact


Blaise Cronin - 2014
    Bibliometrics has moved well beyond the mere tracking of bibliographic citations. The web enables new ways to measure scholarly productivity and impact, making available tools and data that can reveal patterns of intellectual activity and impact that were previously invisible: mentions, acknowledgments, endorsements, downloads, recommendations, blog posts, tweets. This book describes recent theoretical and practical advances in metrics-based research, examining a variety of alternative metrics--or "altmetrics"--while also considering the ethical and cultural consequences of relying on metrics to assess the quality of scholarship.Once the domain of information scientists and mathematicians, bibliometrics is now a fast-growing, multidisciplinary field that ranges from webometrics to scientometrics to influmetrics. The contributors to Beyond Bibliometrics discuss the changing environment of scholarly publishing, the effects of open access and Web 2.0 on genres of discourse, novel analytic methods, and the emergence of next-generation metrics in a performance-conscious age.ContributorsMayur Amin, Judit Bar-Ilan, Johann Bauer, Lutz Bornmann, Benjamin F. Bowman, Kevin W. Boyack, Blaise Cronin, Ronald Day, Nicola De Bellis, Jonathan Furner, Yves Gingras, Stefanie Haustein, Edwin Henneken, Peter A. Hook, Judith Kamalski, Richard Klavans, Kayvan Kousha, Michael Kurtz, Mark Largent, Julia Lane, Vincent Larivi�re, Loet Leydesdorff, Werner Marx, Katherine W. McCain, Margit Palzenberger, Andrew Plume, Jason Priem, Rebecca Rosen, Hermann Schier, Hadas Shema, Cassidy R. Sugimoto, Mike Thelwall, Daril Vilhena, Jevin West, Paul Wouters

Take the Red Pill ...and Cure Global Warming


A.G. Cusick - 2014
    For the reformer has enemies in all who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order. This lukewarmness arises partly from fear of their adversaries who have the law in their favor; and partly from the incredulity of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had actual experience of it."- Nicolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)What does it mean to live on a world in which the worst case scenarios of Global Warming predict the temperature will be rising by six celsius degrees in only 100 years?What does it mean to move forward through our lives day-by-day into such a projected future?This is the question I asked myself when I arrived in Australia after a year of travelling across Asia.But after such a journey, such an encounter with foreign cultures, my mind had been changed and things were not as they were before.Join me, as I arrive in Sydney, on this journey of looking at life in a new way...Take the Red Pill now to discover:- the secret history of corporate globalisation- why money doesn't exist- who was wishing for a new Pearl Harbor back in 1997, and their actions after it came to pass on September 11th 2001- what Krishna, Lao Tzu, Bodhidharma, Rumi and the Gnostic Jesus have in common- the link between our mind and our reality- what it will take to halt Global Warming- why you can never Go Green

The No-Nonsense Guide to Degrowth and Sustainability


Wayne Ellwood - 2014
    This book unpicks the idea of degrowth and explores alternative visions.

Toward a Better Land: A Messagecb: A Message of Hope for a Planet in Peril


Frances Beinecke - 2014
    As she prepares to retire as president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, The World We Create captures the story of her remarkable tenure as head of America's leading environmental advocacy organization and lays out her vision for the future of the movement and the environmental challenges in the years ahead. This is the personal story of one of the few women ever to lead a national environmental organization in this country. It is a forward-leaning story that puts Beinecke at the table and on the ground with the emerging voices shaping the next generation of environmental stewardship and with the challenges they will inherit to confront issues such as climate change, fracking, nuclear power, the Keystone pipeline, and many others. Most important, The World We Create is a story of solutions, lighting the path forward to the kind of country, and the kind of world, we must leave to our children.

The Price of Thirst: Global Water Inequality and the Coming Chaos


Karen Piper - 2014
    The CEO of Nestlé, purveyor of bottled water, heartily agrees. It is important to give water a market value, he says in a promotional video, so “we're all aware that it has a price.” But for those who have no access to clean water, a fifth of the world's population, the price is thirst. This is the frightening landscape that Karen Piper conducts us through in The Price of Thirst—one where thirst is political, drought is a business opportunity, and more and more of our most necessary natural resource is controlled by multinational corporations.In visits to the hot spots of water scarcity and the hotshots in water finance, Piper shows us what happens when global businesses with mafia-like powers buy up the water supply and turn off the taps of people who cannot pay: border disputes between Iraq and Turkey, a “revolution of the thirsty” in Egypt, street fights in Greece, an apartheid of water rights in South Africa. The Price of Thirst takes us to Chile, the first nation to privatize 100 percent of its water supplies, creating a crushing monopoly instead of a thriving free market in water; to New Delhi, where the sacred waters of the Ganges are being diverted to a private water treatment plant, fomenting unrest; and to Iraq, where the U.S.-mandated privatization of water resources destroyed by our military is further destabilizing the volatile region. And in our own backyard, where these same corporations are quietly buying up water supplies, Piper reveals how “water banking” is drying up California farms in favor of urban sprawl and private towns.The product of seven years of investigation across six continents and a dozen countries, and scores of interviews with CEOs, activists, environmentalists, and climate change specialists, The Price of Thirst paints a harrowing picture of a world out of balance, with the distance between the haves and have-nots of water inexorably widening and the coming crisis moving ever closer.

Garden to Table: A Kid's Guide to Planting, Growing, and Preparing Food


Katherine Hengel - 2014
    Step-by-step planting, care and harvesting tips give the beginning gardener a good basic understanding of the growing process. Over 30 delicious recipes made with basil, carrots, green beans, leaf lettuce, potatoes, and tomatoes, complete with step-by-step photos, bring your homegrown foods to the table to share with others. Incorporating unique flavors and easy-to-grow veggies, these simple recipes will have you asking for seconds!

Collision Course: Endless Growth on a Finite Planet


Kerryn Higgs - 2014
    The public has been convinced that growth is the natural solution to virtually all social problems--poverty, debt, unemployment, and even the environmental degradation caused by the determined pursuit of growth. Meanwhile, warnings by scientists that we live on a finite planet that cannot sustain infinite economic expansion are ignored or even scorned. In Collision Course, Kerryn Higgs examines how society's commitment to growth has marginalized scientific findings on the limits of growth, casting them as bogus predictions of imminent doom.Higgs tells how in 1972, The Limits to Growth--written by MIT researchers Donella Meadows, Dennis Meadows, Jorgen Randers, and William Behrens III--found that unimpeded economic growth was likely to collide with the realities of a finite planet within a century. Although the book's arguments received positive responses initially, before long the dominant narrative of growth as panacea took over. Higgs explores the resistance to ideas about limits, tracing the propagandizing of "free enterprise," the elevation of growth as the central objective of policy makers, the celebration of "the magic of the market," and the ever-widening influence of corporate-funded think tanks--a parallel academic universe dedicated to the dissemination of neoliberal principles and to the denial of health and environmental dangers from the effects of tobacco to global warming. More than forty years after The Limits to Growth, the idea that growth is essential continues to hold sway, despite the mounting evidence of its costs--climate destabilization, pollution, intensification of gross global inequalities, and depletion of the resources on which the modern economic edifice depends.

Thanatia: The Destiny of the Earth's Mineral Resources : A Thermodynamic Cradle-to-Cradle Assessment


Antonio Valero Capilla - 2014
    

The Global Development of Policy Regimes to Combat Climate Change


Nicholas Stern - 2014
    Governments have agreed to adopt a universal legal agreement on climate change at the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris in 2015. The agreement will come into force no later than 2020.This book focuses on the prospects for global agreement, how to encourage compliance with any such agreement and perspectives of key players in the negotiations — the United States, India, China, and the EU. It finds that there is strong commitment to the established UN institutions and processes within which the search for further agreed actions will occur. There are already a myriad of local and regional policies that are helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build mutual confidence. However, the chapters in the book also highlight potential areas of discord. For instance, varying interpretations of the “common but differentiated responsibilities” of developing countries, agreed as part of the UNFCCC, could be a major sticking point for negotiators. When combined with other issues, such as the choice of consumption or production as the basis for mitigation commitments, the appropriate time frame and base date for their measurement and whether level or intensity commitments are to be negotiated, the challenges that need to be overcome are considerable. The authors bring to bear insights from economics, public finance and game theory.

New Lives for Ancient and Extinct Crops


Paul E. Minnis - 2014
    Despite the astonishing agricultural diversity that existed long ago, the world’s current food base has narrowed to a dangerous level. By studying the long and dynamic history of farming in the ancient past, archaeology can play a part in helping ensure the stability of the human food supply by identifying once-important crops and showing where and how such crops were grown in the past. Thanks to this work, extinct crops might even be redomesticated from their wild progenitors. New Lives for Ancient and Extinct Crops profiles nine plant species that were important contributors to human diets and had medicinal uses in antiquity: maygrass, chenopod, marshelder, agave, little barley, chia, arrowroot, little millet, and bitter vetch. Each chapter is written by a well-known scholar, who illustrates the global value of the ancient crop record to inform the present. From eastern and western North America, Mesoamerica, South America, western Asia, and south-central Asia, the contributors provide examples of the unexpected wealth of information available in the archaeological record about ancient and extinct crops.

Big Data Analytics Strategies for the Smart Grid


Carol L. Stimmel - 2014
    Readable and accessible, Big Data Analytics Strategies for the Smart Grid addresses the needs of applying big data technologies and approaches, including Big Data cybersecurity, to the critical infrastructure that makes up the electrical utility grid. It supplies industry stakeholders with an in-depth understanding of the engineering, business, and customer domains within the power delivery market. The book explores the unique needs of electrical utility grids, including operational technology, IT, storage, processing, and how to transform grid assets for the benefit of both the utility business and energy consumers. It not only provides specific examples that illustrate how analytics work and how they are best applied, but also describes how to avoid potential problems and pitfalls. Discussing security and data privacy, it explores the role of the utility in protecting their customers’ right to privacy while still engaging in forward-looking business practices. The book includes discussions of: SAS for asset management tools The AutoGrid approach to commercial analytics Space-Time Insight’s work at the California ISO (CAISO) This book is an ideal resource for mid- to upper-level utility executives who need to understand the business value of smart grid data analytics. It explains critical concepts in a manner that will better position executives to make the right decisions about building their analytics programs. At the same time, the book provides sufficient technical depth that it is useful for data analytics professionals who need to better understand the nuances of the engineering and business challenges unique to the utilities industry.

How on Earth: Flourishing in a Not-For-Profit World by 2050


Donnie Maclurcan - 2014
    Beyond the failures of state socialism and the excesses of corporate capitalism, a realistic alternative is emerging. In How on Earth, Donnie Maclurcan and Jennifer Hinton chart the rise of businesses that place purpose ahead of profit, and outline how the advantages these businesses hold in the marketplace pave the way to an entirely different economic system, focused on addressing human need, not greed.At the heart of this monumental transition lies the changing nature of not-for-profit (NFP) organizations. Contrary to popular notions of non-profit inefficiency, unaccountability, and dependence on donors, the 21st century NFP is proving highly efficient, transparent, and increasingly self-funded.Distinguishing themselves from B corps and ethical/green shareholder companies by always reinvesting rather than privatizing profits, NFP enterprises around the world are proliferating and succeeding in areas as diverse as construction, manufacturing, software development, food catering, and retail. In a process described by Jeremy Rifkin as 'the eclipse of capitalism', many NFP enterprises (including various forms of cooperatives, community interest companies, government-owned corporations, and social businesses) are now outperforming their for-profit counterparts, driven by marked advantages in terms of finance, human resources, productivity, innovation, governance, environmental outcomes, value creation and market reputation. Simultaneously, NFP enterprises are increasingly curbing the excesses that have traditionally been associated with the charitable sector. Moving beyond the market/state dichotomy, the NFP model finally aligns our economy with the social values that modern science and ancient wisdom agree are central to our shared prosperity. With wealth recirculating through a purpose-driven system, the emerging NFP world economy is better able to serve people and planet, while retaining market dynamics and requiring less taxation and government bureaucracy in the process. A groundbreaking contribution to economic theory, How on Earth presents the world's first practical blueprint for the transition to a fairer, thriving economy that offers quality of life for all while respecting our ecological limits.

Experiment Earth: Responsible innovation in geoengineering


Jack Stilgoe - 2014
    Drawing on three years of sociological research working with scientists on one of the world's first major geoengineering projects, this book examines the politics of experimentation. Geoengineering provides a test case for rethinking the responsibilities of scientists and asking how science can take better care of the futures that it helps bring about.This book gives students, researchers and the general reader interested in the place of science in contemporary society a compelling framework for future thinking and discussion.

Film and Everyday Eco-disasters


Robin L. Murray - 2014
    These ecological crises highlight the continual tensions between human needs and the environmental impact these needs produce. Contemporary documentaries and feature films explore environmental-human conflicts by depicting the consequences of our overconsumption and dependence on nonrenewable energy.Film and Everyday Eco-disasters examines changing perspectives toward everyday eco-disasters as reflected in the work of filmmakers from the silent era forward, with an emphasis on recent films such as Dead Ahead, an HBO dramatization of the Exxon Valdez disaster; Total Recall, a science fiction action film highlighting oxygen as a commodity; The Devil Wears Prada, a comment on the fashion industry; and Food, Inc., a documentary interrogation of the food industry. The authors evaluate not only the success of these films as rhetorical arguments but also their rhetorical strategies. This interdisciplinary approach to film studies fuses cultural, economic, and literary critiques in articulating an approach to ecology that points to sustainable development as an alternative to resource exploitations and their associated everyday eco-disasters.