Best of
Sustainability

2021

Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World


Katharine Hayhoe - 2021
    

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need


Bill Gates - 2021
    Gates says, "we can work on a local, national, and global level to build the technologies, businesses, and industries to avoid the worst impacts of climate change." His interest in climate change is a natural outgrowth of the efforts by his foundation to reduce poverty and disease. Climate change, according to Gates, will have the biggest impact on the people who have done the least to cause it. As a technologist, he has seen first-hand how innovation can change the world. By investing in research, inventing new technologies, and by deploying them quickly at large scale, Gates believes climate change can be addressed in meaningful ways. According to Gates, "to prevent the worst effects of climate change, we have to get to net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases. This problem is urgent, and the debate is complex, but I believe we can come together to invent new carbon-zero technologies, deploy the ones we have, and ultimately avoid a climate catastrophe."

Consumed: On Colonialism, Climate Change, Consumerism, and the Need for Collective Change


Aja Barber - 2021
    And how these oppressive systems have bled into the fashion industry and its lack of diversity and equality. She will also reveal how we spend our money and whose pockets it goes into and whose it doesn't (clue: the people who do the actual work) and will tell her story of how she came to learn the truth. In the second 'unlearning' half of the book, she will help you to understand the uncomfortable truth behind why you consume the way you do. She asks you to confront the sense of lack you have, the feeling that you are never quite enough and the reasons why you fill the aching void with consumption rather than compassion. And she makes you challenge this power disparity, and take back ownership of it. The less you buy into the consumer culture the more power you have. CONSUMED will teach you how to be a citizen not a consumer.

Under the Sky We Make: How to Be Human in a Warming World


Kimberly Nicholas - 2021
    It's us. We're sure. It's bad. But we can fix it.After speaking to the international public for close to fifteen years about sustainability, climate scientist Dr. Nicholas realized that concerned people were getting the wrong message about the climate crisis. Yes, companies and governments are hugely responsible for the mess we're in. But individuals CAN effect real, significant, and lasting change to solve this problem. Nicholas explores finding purpose in a warming world, combining her scientific expertise and her lived, personal experience in a way that seems fresh and deeply urgent: Agonizing over the climate costs of visiting loved ones overseas, how to find low-carbon love on Tinder, and even exploring her complicated family legacy involving supermarket turkeys.In her astonishing book Under the Sky We Make, Nicholas does for climate science what Michael Pollan did more than a decade ago for the food on our plate: offering a hopeful, clear-eyed, and somehow also hilarious guide to effecting real change, starting in our own lives. Saving ourselves from climate apocalypse will require radical shifts within each of us, to effect real change in our society and culture. But it can be done. It requires, Dr. Nicholas argues, belief in our own agency and value, alongside a deep understanding that no one will ever hand us power--we're going to have to seize it for ourselves.

Pollution Is Colonialism


Max Liboiron - 2021
    She points out that even when researchers are working toward benevolent goals, conducting environmental science and activism is often premised on a colonial worldview and access to land. Focusing on plastic pollution, Liboiron models an anticolonial scientific practice aligned with Indigenous, and particularly Métis, concepts of land, ethics, and relations. She draws on her work in the Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research (CLEAR)—an anticolonial science laboratory in Newfoundland, Canada—to illuminate how pollution is not a symptom of capitalism, but a violent enactment of colonial land relations that claim access to Indigenous land. Her creative, lively, and passionate text refuses theories of pollution that make Indigenous land available for settler and colonial goals. In this way, her methodology demonstrates that anticolonial science is not only possible, it is currently being practiced in ways that enact more ethical modes of being in the world.

Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation


Paul Hawken - 2021
    For three decades, scientists and the United Nations have urged us to address future existential threats, an effort that culminated in the 2015 Paris Agreement. Although 188 countries made commitments to prevent global warming from exceeding 2 degrees centigrade, as of 2021, 182 failed, and the G7 countries did not even come close. The result so far: 98 percent of the world is disengaged from the greatest danger civilization has ever faced. Instead, extreme weather is increasing, climate migration is disrupting borders and politics in the EU and US, while fossil fuel energy companies dig in their heals to prevent the advent of renewable energy. Journalistic lingo that says we should combat climate change, but by using war metaphors, climate became a story of one more conflict, a framing that has left out humanity.In Regeneration Paul Hawken has flipped the narrative, bringing people back into the conversation by demonstrating that addressing current human needs rather than future threats is the only path to solving the climate crisis. Regeneration is the first book to define, delineate, and set standards for regeneration, offering a comprehensive explanation of its meaning and application Why regeneration? Because every single economic sector in the world extracts life from the planet and by doing so harms it. The way to reverse a heating planet and human indifference is to reverse planetary degeneration.Using regeneration as a foundation for understanding and action includes everyone and shows how people the world over can benefit by creating rather than reacting. Regeneration contains an extraordinary array of initiatives that include but go well beyond solar, electric vehicles, and tree planting to include such solutions as marine protected areas, bioregions, azolla fern, food localization, regenerative agriculture, forest farms, and the #1 solution for the world: electrifying everything.Paul Hawken and the non-profit Regeneration are launching a series of initiatives to accompany the book that will include a streaming video series, curriculum, podcasts, teaching videos, and climate action software. Regeneration is the inspiring and needed guide to inform the burgeoning climate movement.

Electrify: An Optimist's Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future


Saul Griffith - 2021
    We have to do something now--but what? Saul Griffith has a plan. In Electrify, Griffith lays out a detailed blueprint--optimistic but feasible--for fighting climate change while creating millions of new jobs and a healthier environment. Griffith's plan can be summed up simply: electrify everything. He explains exactly what it would take to transform our infrastructure, update our grid, and adapt our households to make this possible. Billionaires may contemplate escaping our worn-out planet on a private rocket ship to Mars, but the rest of us, Griffith says, will stay and fight for the future.Griffith, an engineer and inventor, calls for grid neutrality, ensuring that households, businesses, and utilities operate as equals; we will have to rewrite regulations that were created for a fossil-fueled world, mobilize industry as we did in World War II, and offer low-interest "climate loans." Griffith's plan doesn't rely on big, not-yet-invented innovations, but on thousands of little inventions and cost reductions. We can still have our cars and our houses--but the cars will be electric and solar panels will cover our roofs. For a world trying to bounce back from a pandemic and economic crisis, there is no other project that would create as many jobs--up to twenty-five million, according to one economic analysis. Is this politically possible? We can change politics along with everything else.

Modern Mending


Erin Lewis-Fitzgerald - 2021
    But mending is trending and it’s never been easier to repair and reinvent your favourite clothes.Inspired by the global slow fashion movement, Erin Lewis-Fitzgerald has created a comprehensive guide to mending your own clothes that combines creativity and sustainability. She demystifies mending and shares step-by-step instructions for a range of techniques, including stitching, darning, patching, needle felting and machine darning.So next time you tear your favourite jeans or find a hole in your jumper, think twice before throwing it away. With Modern Mending, you’ll gain the skills and confidence needed to rebel against fast fashion and save the planet.

Speed & Scale: A Global Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis Now


John Doerr - 2021
    And we have to start now.In Speed and Scale, award-winning author and investor John Doerr convenes the world's foremost change-makers to show us how we can, if we fully commit to a high-stakes action plan, cut carbon emissions in half by 2030 and reach Net Zero by 2050. He shares practical efforts that we must take, applying Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) - the simple but powerful tools that scale small ideas into global movements - to our climate goals, setting out the standards that we need to reach as leaders. Featuring exclusive interviews with the world's most influential climate thinkers, including Bill Gates and Al Gore, this is the definitive plan of action which will save our planet.

Bright Green Lies: How the Environmental Movement Lost Its Way and What We Can Do About It (Politics of the Living)


Derrick Jensen - 2021
    And we hear all the time that 'solar power will save the planet.' But a) will 'renewables' actually power the economy? and b) are 'renewables' good for the planet?The answer in both cases is no.In fact, the answer is worse than no, in that because of these bright green lies much of the environmental movement has been transformed from being about saving wild places and wild nature into being about powering the industrial economy. These bright green lies have turned much of the environmental movement into a lobbying arm for a sector of the industrial economy, such that you can have 100,000 people marching on the streets of Washington, D.C., and if you ask them why they're marching, they'll say, 'To save the planet," but if you ask them for their demands, they'll say, "Subsidies for the solar industry." There has never been another social movement so completely coopted.Bright Green Lies systematically debunks many of the lies and distortions that characterize the discourse of those who argue that 'technology will stop global warming' or that 'technology will save the planet.' The book has a chapter devoted to debunking claims that each of following will individually or collectively power this culture sustainably; or help the planet: solar power, wind power, recycling, 'efficiency, ' batteries and other forms of energy storage, changes in the electrical grid, and hydropower. The authors also provide their own solutions, and more importantly, a way of looking at these problems that centers on the health of the planet.This book has taken six years to research and write. And no one is more qualified to write this book. The book's co-authors share between them seventy years of front-line grassroots environmental activism. In addition, Derrick Jensen is the author of twenty-five books, including the acclaimed A Language Older Than Words and Endgame. Lierre Keith is the author of The Vegetarian Myth, Deep Green Resistance, and others. Max Wilbert has been researching and writing about the environmental harms caused by solar, wind, and other 'renewables' for nearly a decade.

Clean & Green: 101 Hints and Tips for a More Eco-Friendly Home


Nancy Birtwhistle - 2021
    

Green Humour For A Greying Planet


Rohan Chakravarty - 2021
    is gifted with the ability to convey hard truths about science and people with a skill that is rare and unique. [This book is] a must read. -Dia Mirza, Actor and Producer, United Nations SDGS Advocate, Wildlife Trust of India AmbassadorRohan finds ways to portray the most stark environmental injustices ... I am yet to come across a more talented and effective advocate for Mother Earth and her voiceless children. -Faye D'Souza, Journalist and EntrepreneurGreen Humour For A Greying Planet is a curation of gag cartoons and comic strips based exclusively on wildlife and nature, perhaps the first of its kind. At a time when global warming, wildlife crimes and man-animal conflicts are at their worst, 'Green Humour' is sure to provide its readers some much needed comic relief. A comprehensive and satirical take on various aspects of the natural world and the threats to its conservation, this book will appeal to both the scientifically inclined readers as well as the general readers.

The Zero-Waste Chef: Plant-Forward Recipes and Tips for a Sustainable Kitchen and Planet


Anne-Marie Bonneau - 2021
    Because, while one person eliminating all their waste is great, if thousands of people do 20 percent better it will have a much bigger impact on the planet. The good news is you likely already have all the tools you need to begin to create your own change at home, especially in the kitchen.In her debut book, Bonneau gives readers the facts to motivate them to do better, the simple (and usually free) fixes to ease them into wasting less--you can, for example, banish plastic wrap by simply inverting a plate over your leftovers--and, finally, the recipes and strategies to turn them into more sustainable, money-saving cooks.Rescue a loaf from the landfill by making Mexican Hot Chocolate Bread Pudding, or revive some sad greens to make a pesto. Save five bucks (and the plastic tub) at the supermarket with Yes Whey, You Can Make Ricotta Cheese, then use the cheese in a galette and the leftover whey to make sourdough tortillas. With 75 vegan and vegetarian recipes for cooking with scraps, creating fermented staples, and using up all your groceries before they become waste--including end-of-recipe tips on what to do with your ingredients next--Bonneau lays out an attainable vision of a zero-waste kitchen.

Faith, Farming, and Family: Cultivating Hope and Harvesting Joy Wherever You Are


Caitlin Henderson - 2021
    "Grab a cup of coffee and join Caitlin on her porch to hear the lessons God has taught her through the good and hard of everyday life."--Vivian Mabuni, speaker and author of Open Hands, Willing Heart: Discover the Joy of Saying Yes to GodWhen Caitlin, a small-town girl, fell in love with a farm boy named Jake Henderson, she had little idea what farm life--or marriage and motherhood--would bring. But raising a family on a farm is teaching her more about God's goodness and grace than she could have imagined. Faith, Farming, and Family is a rich, story-filled walk through farmhouse hallways, harvest-ready fields, and God's bountiful dreams for our lives. As Caitlin reflects on everything from wayward tractors to watching a marriage grow from surviving to flourishing, she reminds us to see the redemption in our own stories. Join Caitlin in exploring biblical truth through the eyes of a farmer's wife, whether you are wrangling kids onto a school bus, sowing creative seeds in a business meeting, or walking the pastures of your own family farm. Faith, Farming, and Family invites us to recognize God's beauty right in front of us so that we might find the courage to take the next step--or the first step--into His incredible calling.

The Art of Repair


Molly Martin - 2021
    Her favourite pair. When the heels became threadbare, her mother got out her darning mushroom and showed her how to reinforce the thinning stitches and bring them back to life. She has been stitching and darning ever since.In The Art of Repair, Molly explores the humble origins of repair and how the act of mending a cherished item carefully by hand offers not just a practical solution but nourishment for the soul. Using her own beautiful illustrations, she guides us through the basics of the craft - from piecing and patching to the ancient Japanese art of Sashiko.This book will stay with you long after you put down your needle and thread. It offers an antidote to our increasingly disposable lifestyle, encouraging us to reconnect not just with the everyday objects in our environment but also with ourselves.

Speed & Scale: An Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis Now


John Doerr - 2021
    You better fix it.” Since then, Doerr has searched for solutions to this existential problem—as an investor, an advocate, and a philanthropist. Fifteen years later, despite breakthroughs in batteries, electric vehicles, plant-based proteins, and solar and wind power, global warming continues to get worse. Its impact is all around us: droughts, floods, wildfires, the melting of the polar ice caps. Our world is squarely in a climate crisis and on the brink of a climate disaster. Yet despite our state of emergency, climate change has yet to be tackled with the urgency and ambition it demands. More than ever, we need a clear course of action. What if the goal-setting techniques that powered the rise of today's most innovative organizations were brought to bear on humanity's greatest challenge? Fueled by a powerful tool called Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), SPEED & SCALE offers an unprecedented global plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions before it’s too late. Used by Google, Bono’s ONE foundation, and thousands of startups the world over, OKRs have scaled ideas into achievements that changed the world. With clear-eyed realism and an engineer’s precision, Doerr identifies the measurable OKRs we need to reduce emissions across the board and to arrive by 2050 at net zero—the point where we are no longer adding to the heat-trapping carbon in the atmosphere. By turns pragmatic and inspiring, SPEED & SCALE intersperses Doerr’s wide-ranging analysis with firsthand accounts from Jeff Bezos, Christiana Figueres, Al Gore, Mary Barra, Bill Gates, and other intrepid policy leaders, entrepreneurs, scientists, and activists. A launchpad for those who are ready to act now, this book is geared to leaders in every walk of life. With a definitive action plan, the latest science, and a rising climate movement on our side, we can still reach net zero before it is too late. But as Doerr reminds us, there is no more time to waste.

Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet


Johan Rockström - 2021
    Beyond these boundaries lurk tipping points. To stop short of these tipping points, the 2020s must see the fastest economic transition in history.This book demonstrates how societies are reaching positive tipping points that make this transition possible: Activism groups such as Extinction Rebellion, or the schoolchildren inspired by Greta Thunberg demand political action; countries are committing to eliminating greenhouse gas emissions; and one tipping point has even already passed - the price of clean energy has dropped below that of fossil fuels.Inside the pages of this scientifically-led publication, world-leading climate-change experts explain the greatest crisis humanity has ever faced.- Expert-authored text in an accessible style for both adults, and children ages 14+- A breakdown of the 9 planetary boundaries for relative stability on Earth, ranging from biodiversity to the ozone layer- An exploration of climate "tipping points" - good and bad- Stunning infographics and images visualising the problems and solutions to climate change- Contains detailed and unique images of Earth produced by Globaïa, the world's leading visualisers of human impact

Loved Clothes Last: How the Joy of Rewearing and Repairing Your Clothes Can Be a Revolutionary Act


Orsola de Castro - 2021
    By teaching you to scrutinise your shopping habits and make sustainable purchases, she will inspire you to buy better, care more and reduce your carbon footprint by simply making your loved clothes last longer.Following Orsola's practical tips to lavish care and attention on the clothes you already own will not only have a positive environmental impact, but will be personally rewarding too: hand wash, steam and spot clean your clothes, air dry instead of tumble drying, or revive your clothes by sewing or crocheting.Fast fashion leaves behind a trail of human and environmental exploitation. Our wardrobes don't have to be the finish line; they can be a starting point. We can all care, repair and rewear. Do you accept the challenge?

Revolutionary Power: An Activist's Guide to the Energy Transition


Shalanda Baker - 2021
    The nearly year-long power outage that followed vividly shows how the new climate reality intersects with race and access to energy. The island is home to brown and black US citizens who lack the political power of those living in the continental US. As the world continues to warm and storms like Maria become more commonplace, it is critical that we rethink our current energy system to enable reliable, locally produced, and locally controlled energy without replicating the current structures of power and control. In Revolutionary Power, Shalanda Baker arms those made most vulnerable by our current energy system with the tools they need to remake the system in the service of their humanity. She argues that people of color, poor people, and indigenous people must engage in the creation of the new energy system in order to upend the unequal power dynamics of the current system.Revolutionary Power is a playbook for the energy transformation complete with a step-by-step analysis of the key energy policy areas that are ripe for intervention. Baker tells the stories of those who have been left behind in our current system and those who are working to be architects of a more just system. She draws from her experience as an energy-justice advocate, a lawyer, and a queer woman of color to inspire activists working to build our new energy system. Climate change will force us to rethink the way we generate and distribute energy and regulate the system. But how much are we willing to change the system? This unique moment in history provides an unprecedented opening for a deeper transformation of the energy system, and thus, an opportunity to transform society. Revolutionary Power shows us how.

The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet


Michael E. Mann - 2021
    Recycle. Fly less. Eat less meat. These are some of the ways that we've been told can slow climate change. But the inordinate emphasis on individual behavior is the result of a marketing campaign that has succeeded in placing the responsibility for fixing climate change squarely on the shoulders of individuals.Fossil fuel companies have followed the example of other industries deflecting blame (think "guns don't kill people, people kill people") or greenwashing (think of the beverage industry's "Crying Indian" commercials of the 1970s). Meanwhile, they've blocked efforts to regulate or price carbon emissions, run PR campaigns aimed at discrediting viable alternatives, and have abdicated their responsibility in fixing the problem they've created. The result has been disastrous for our planet.In The New Climate War, Mann argues that all is not lost. He draws the battle lines between the people and the polluters-fossil fuel companies, right-wing plutocrats, and petrostates. And he outlines a plan for forcing our governments and corporations to wake up and make real change, including:A common-sense, attainable approach to carbon pricing- and a revision of the well-intentioned but flawed currently proposed version of the Green New Deal;Allowing renewable energy to compete fairly against fossil fuelsDebunking the false narratives and arguments that have worked their way into the climate debate and driven a wedge between even those who support climate change solutionsCombatting climate doomism and despair-mongeringWith immensely powerful vested interests aligned in defense of the fossil fuel status quo, the societal tipping point won't happen without the active participation of citizens everywhere aiding in the collective push forward. This book will reach, inform, and enable citizens everywhere to join this battle for our planet.

Use It All: The Cornersmith guide to a more sustainable kitchen


Alex Elliott - 2021
    It's time to rethink the role of the modern home kitchen as a place that can effect positive change, as well as produce delicious meals, even when we are busy with the rest of our lives. Most cookbooks present inspiring recipe after inspiring recipe, sending you to the shops with an enormous list of ingredients, much of which get wasted. Use it All is a kitchen skills handbook for real people with really busy lives who want to do a bit of good. Packed with over 160 recipes that form a blueprint for seasonal eating, offering dozens of alternative flavour combinations to adapt according to what you have on hand. Putting these skills into practice means you'll eat creative meals, buy less, use less packaging and make so much more with what you've got.

What I Stand for Is What I Stand On (Green Ideas)


Wendell Berry - 2021
    

How to Change Everything: The Young Human's Guide to Protecting the Planet and Each Other


Naomi Klein - 2021
    Fires in the Amazon. Superstorms. These are just some of the effects of climate change that we are already experiencing. The good news is that we can all do something about it. A movement is already underway to combat not only the environmental effects of climate change but also to fight for climate justice and make a fair and livable future possible for everyone. And young people are not just part of that movement, they are leading the way. They are showing us that this moment of danger is also a moment of great opportunity—an opportunity to change everything. Full of empowering stories of young leaders all over the world, this information-packed book from award-winning journalist and one of the foremost voices for climate justice, Naomi Klein, offers young readers a comprehensive look at the state of the climate today and how we got here, while also providing the tools they need to join this fight to protect and reshape the planet they will inherit.

Defending Beef: The Ecological and Nutritional Case for Meat


Nicolette Hahn Niman - 2021
    

A Bestiary of the Anthropocene: On Hybrid Plants, Animals, Minerals, Fungi, and Other Specimens


Nicolas NovaAnna Lowenhaupt Tsing - 2021
    Designed as a field handbook, it aims at helping us observe, navigate, and orientate into the increasingly artificial fabric of the world.Plastiglomerates, surveillance robot dogs, fordite, artificial grass, antenna trees, Sars-Covid-2, decapitated mountains, drone-fighting eagles, standardised bananas… each of these specimens are symptomatic of the rapidly transforming “post-natural” era we live in. Often without us even noticing them, these creatures exponentially spread and co-exist with us.A Bestiary of the Anthropocene seeks to capture this precise moment when the biosphere and technosphere merge and mesh into one new hybrid body. What happens when technologies and their unintended consequences become so ubiquitous that it is difficult to define what is “natural” or not? What does it mean to live in a hybrid environment made of organic and synthetic matter? What new specimens are currently populating our planet at the beginning of the 21st century?

Own Your Period: A Fact-filled Guide to Period Positivity


Chella Quint - 2021
    Topics covered include the fascinating science behind why things happen, with all the details of menstruation through to the menopause explained, as well as answers to all essential questions like what’s a vulva and what does it look like, what do periods actually feel like, and what happens if blood stains your clothes?Menstrual expert and educator Chella Quint’s witty text slays superstitions, busts common myths and fights period shame, while providing practical information about menstrual products, tracking cycles and sharingher own personal stories.   Funny, insightful and warm illustrations with friendly chatty text makes this an everything-you-need-to-know essential handbook, which pre-teens can refer to before their periods start, and will appreciate when their cycle is more established.  This complete guide will prove an invaluable companion to any young person about to start their first period, and will help them embrace their cycle with positivity and pride, and grow into healthy, happy people!

Polyface Micro: Success with Livestock on a Homestead Scale


Joel Salatin - 2021
    How do I do this at my scale?"Success with domestic livestock does not require large land bases. Joel Salatin and his family's Polyface Farm in Virginia lead the world in animal-friendly and ecologically-authentic commercial pasture-based livestock production. In POLYFACE MICRO he adapts his ideas and protocols to small holdings (including apartments)! Homesteaders can increase production, enjoy healthy animals, and create aesthetically pleasant livestock systems, Whether you're a new or seasoned homesteader, you'll find tips and inspiration as Joel coaches you toward success and abundance,

The Last Tree on Easter Island


Jared Diamond - 2021
    As life on Earth has become irrevocably altered by humans, visionary thinkers around the world have raised their voices to defend the planet, and affirm our place at the heart of its restoration. Their words have endured through the decades, becoming the classics of a movement. Together, these books show the richness of environmental thought, and point the way to a fairer, saner, greener world.

Questions Raised by Quolls: Fatherhood and Conservation in an Uncertain World


Harry Saddler - 2021
    We were cleaning up after dinner in the gathering dark, the pots and pans scraped empty but with traces of our meal still lingering, when we heard the noise of them: yapping calls, one to the other, or just to themselves in their excitement.’When Harry Saddler first encountered a quoll while camping with his father, he was struck by the beauty of the rare creature who had emerged fromthe bush, sniffing for dinner. As Harry frantically snapped a photo, the fast-moving mammal disappeared back into the undergrowth.Many years later that blurry photo remains a memory, as fleeting as the animal it captured. After two centuries of habitat destruction, quolls are now on the brink of extinction and Harry, contemplating fatherhood, aches for the absence of all the species lost to children born today.Questions Raised by Quolls is an eloquent examination of extinction and conservation set against the backdrop of global climate change. From his own family lineage, Harry reveals how humanity’s ever-accelerating modern way of life runs parallel with the destruction of the natural world. Evocative and challenging, this eulogy to lost species will force you to question your place in the vast interconnected web of life.

Wild Mushrooming: A Guide for Foragers


Alison Pouliot - 2021
    With interest in foraging for wild food on the rise, learning to accurately identify fungi reduces both poisoning risk to humans and harm to the environment. This extensively illustrated guide takes a "slow mushrooming" approach - providing the information to correctly identify a few edible species thoroughly, rather than many superficially.Wild Mushrooming: A Guide for Foragers melds scientific and cultural knowledge with stunning photography to present a new way of looking at fungi. It models "ecological foraging" - an approach based on care, conservation and a deep understanding of ecosystem dynamics.Sections on where, when, and how to find fungi guide the forager in the identification of 10 edible species. Diagnostic information on toxic fungi and lookalike species helps to differentiate the desirable from the deadly. Wild Mushrooming then takes us into the kitchen with cooking techniques and 29 recipes from a variety of cuisines that can be adapted for both foraged and cultivated fungi.Developing the skills to find fungi requires slowness, not speed. This guide provides the necessary information for the safe collection of fungi, and is essential reading for fungus enthusiasts, ecologists, conservationists, medical professionals and anyone interested in the natural world.Features: Provides basic guidance on how to find, collect, identify and prepare 10 edible wild fungus speciesIncludes details on known poisonous fungi to avoid, as well as common lookalikes to edible speciesDiscusses the diversity, ecological significance and conservation of Australian fungiIllustrated with captivating color photographs, including a variety of images for each species to assist with identificationIncludes 29 recipes that readers can follow using foraged or cultivated fungiCovers both native Australian fungi and species that have been introduced to Australia.

Dead in the Water


Richard Beasley - 2021
    We want to see our fish spawning as they once were, our animals coming back down to drink. Fresh quality water out of the Coorong, not this super saline stuff that we're living in today's environment. It's slowly dying. You can smell the impact of what's happening . . .' Grant Rigney, Ngarrindjeri Nation, from his sworn evidence at the Royal Commission into the Murray-Darling Basin.Richard Beasley is fed up. He's fed up with vested interests killing off Australia's most precious water resource. He's fed up with the cowardice and negligence that have allowed Big Agriculture and irrigators to destroy a river system that can sustain both the environment and the communities that depend on it. He's fed up that a noble plan to save Murray-Darling Basin based on the 'best scientific knowledge' has instead been corroded by lies, the denial of climate change, pseudoscience and political expediency.He pulls no punches. He's provocative, he's outrageous, he points the finger without shame. And he will leave you very, very angry. Dead in the Water would be political satire of the highest order . . . if it weren't so tragically true.

Drought Rescue (Song Bird)


Karen Tyrrell - 2021
    Rosie, aka Song Bird superhero, must save the outback from the drought.Animals are dying, water’s disappearing, dinosaurs are stampeding, and now Aunt Matty’s kidnapped.Is Destructo behind the devastation?Song Bird follows a secret map to unlock a mystery.Can Song Bird rescue the outback before it’s too late?

Psychological Roots of the Climate Crisis: Neoliberal Exceptionalism and the Culture of Uncare


Sally Weintrobe - 2021
    It helps us to recognise the uncaring imagination in politics, in culture - for example in the writings of Ayn Rand - and also in ourselves.Sally Weintrobe argues that achieving the shift to greater care requires us to stop colluding with Exceptionalism, the rigid psychological mindset largely responsible for the climate crisis. People in this mindset believe that they are entitled to have the lion's share and that they can 'rearrange' reality with magical omnipotent thinking whenever reality limits these felt entitlements.While this book's subject is grim, its tone is reflective, ironic, light and at times humorous. It is free of jargon, and full of examples from history, culture, literature, poetry, everyday life and the author's experience as a psychoanalyst, and a professional life that has been dedicated to helping people to face difficult truths.

A Future Untold


Alina Siegfried - 2021
    Drawing on her experience in award-winning spoken word, environmental advocacy, political communications, and her role helping to build a 500+ strong global entrepreneurial leadership community, Alina Siegfried (AKA NZ Poetry Slam champion Ali Jacs) translates the fundamentals of narrative change into authentic stories, entertaining anecdotes, a handful of powerful poems with corresponding QR code video links, and ten new myths for humanity. The book provides a call to action for everyday citizens who believe that we can build a better future, urging them to re-author the harmful stories and cultural narratives that lie beneath the way things are .

Race for Tomorrow: Survival, Innovation and Profit on the Front Lines of the Climate Crisis


Simon Mundy - 2021
    In this extraordinary journey through twenty-six countries, Simon Mundy meets the people on the front lines of the climate crisis, showing how the struggle to respond is already reshaping the modern world – shattering communities, shaking up global business, and propelling a groundbreaking wave of cutting-edge innovation.HOW is China’s green energy push driving a hazardous mining rush in Congo?WHY is a maverick scientist building a home for engineered mammoths in northeast Siberia?CAN an Israeli fake meat startup make a fortune while helping to save the Amazon?WILL Greenland’s melting sea ice put its people at the centre of a global power struggle?WHO are the entrepreneurs chasing breakthroughs in fusion power, electric cars, and technology to suck carbon from the atmosphere?As the impacts of climate change cascade across the planet and the global economy, who is battling to survive the worst impacts – and who is chasing the most lucrative rewards?Telling unforgettable human stories from six continents, this is an account of disaster, of promise, of frantic adaptation and relentless innovation, of hope, of survival, and of the forces that will define our future.

The Hydrogen Revolution: A Blueprint for the Future of Clean Energy


Marco Alverà - 2021
    But in The Hydrogen Revolution, Marco Alverà argues that we don’t need to upend our lives. We just need a new kind of fuel: hydrogen. From transportation and infrastructure to heating and electricity, hydrogen could eliminate fossil fuels, boost economic growth, and encourage global action on climate change. It could also solve the most bedeviling aspects of today’s renewable energy—from transporting and storing wind and solar energy and their vulnerability to weather changes to the inefficiency and limited utility of heavy, short-lasting batteries.  The Hydrogen Revolution isn’t just a manifesto for a powerful new technology. It’s a hopeful reminder that despite the gloomy headlines about the fate of our planet, there’s still an opportunity to turn things around.

New Mobilities: Smart Planning for Emerging Transportation Technologies


Todd Litman - 2021
    During the last century, motorized modes increased our mobility by an order of magnitude, providing large benefits, but also imposing huge costs on individuals and communities. Faster and more expensive modes were favored over those that are more affordable, efficient, and healthy. As new transportation innovations become available, from e-scooters to autonomous cars, how do we make decisions that benefit our communities?   In New Mobilities: Smart Planning for Emerging Transportation Technologies, transportation expert Todd Litman examines 12 emerging transportation modes and services that are likely to significantly affect our lives: bike- and carsharing, micro-mobilities, ridehailing and micro-transit, public transit innovations, telework, autonomous and electric vehicles, air taxis, mobility prioritization, and logistics management. These innovations allow people to scoot, ride, and fly like never before, but can also impose significant costs on users and communities. Planners need detailed information on their potential benefits and impacts to make informed choices.   Litman critically evaluates these new technologies and services and provides practical guidance for optimizing them. He systematically examines how each New Mobility is likely to affect travel activity (how and how much people travel); consumer costs and affordability; roadway infrastructure design and costs; parking demand; land use development patterns; public safety and health; energy and pollution emissions; and economic opportunity and fairness.   Public policies around New Mobilities can either help create heaven, a well-planned transportation system that uses new technologies intelligently, or hell, a poorly planned transportation system that is overwhelmed by conflicting and costly, unhealthy, and inequitable modes. His expert analysis will help planners, local policymakers, and concerned citizens to make informed choices about the New Mobility revolution.

Welcome to the Circular Economy: The next step in sustainable living


Claire Potter - 2021
    

Power: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival


Richard Heinberg - 2021
    -- Dahr Jamail, author, The End of IceWeaving together findings from a wide range of disciplines, Power traces how four key elements developed to give humans extraordinary power: tool making ability, language, social complexity, and the ability to harness energy sources ― most significantly, fossil fuels. It asks whether we have, at this point, overpowered natural and social systems, and if we have, what we can do about it.Has Homo sapiens -- one species among millions -- become powerful enough to threaten a mass extinction and disrupt the Earth's climate? Why have we developed so many ways of oppressing one another? Can we change our relationship with power to avert ecological catastrophe, reduce social inequality, and stave off collapse?These questions -- and their answers -- will determine our fate.

The Case for Basic Income: Freedom, Security, Justice


Jamie Swift - 2021
    Decent work is down. Free market fundamentalism has been exposed as a tragic failure. In a job market upended by COVID-19—with Canadians caught in the grip of precarious labour, stagnant wages, a climate crisis, and the steady creep of automation—an ever-louder chorus of voices calls for a liveable and obligation-free basic income.Could a basic income guarantee be the way forward to democratize security and intervene where the market economy and social programs fail? Jamie Swift and Elaine Power scrutinize the politics and the potential behind a radical proposal in a post-pandemic world: that wealth should be built by a society, not individuals. And that we all have an unconditional right to a fair share.In these pages, Swift and Power bring to the forefront the deeply personal stories of Canadians who participated in the 2017–2019 Ontario Basic Income Pilot; examine the essential literature and history behind the movement; and answer basic income’s critics from both the right and left.

Down to Earth: A Guide to Simple Living


Rhonda Hetzel - 2021
    It crept up on me using the smallest of steps and didn't reveal its true beauty and real power until I was totally hooked. I was searching for a way to live well while spending very little money. What I found was a way of life that also gave me independence, opportunity and freedom.' Rhonda Hetzel gently encourages readers to find the pleasure and meaning in a simpler life, sharing all the practical information she has gathered on her own journey. Whether you want to learn how to grow tomatoes, bake bread, make your own soap and preserve fruit, or just be inspired to slow down and live more sustainably, Down to Earth will be your guide.

Up to Heaven and Down to Hell: Fracking, Freedom, and Community in an American Town


Colin Jerolmack - 2021
    But in greater Williamsport, Pennsylvania, fracking is personal. Up to Heaven and Down to Hell is a vivid and sometimes heartbreaking account of what happens when one of the most momentous decisions about the well-being of our communities and our planet--whether or not to extract shale gas and oil from the very land beneath our feet--is largely a private choice that millions of ordinary people make without the public's consent.The United States is the only country in the world where property rights commonly extend "up to heaven and down to hell," which means that landowners have the exclusive right to lease their subsurface mineral estates to petroleum companies. Colin Jerolmack spent eight months living with rural communities outside of Williamsport as they confronted the tension between property rights and the commonwealth. In this deeply intimate book, he reveals how the decision to lease brings financial rewards but can also cause irreparable harm to neighbors, to communal resources like air and water, and even to oneself.Up to Heaven and Down to Hell casts America's ideas about freedom and property rights in a troubling new light, revealing how your personal choices can undermine your neighbors' liberty, and how the exercise of individual rights can bring unintended environmental consequences for us all.

The Waste-Free World: How the Circular Economy Will Take Less, Make More, and Save the Planet


Ron Gonen - 2021
    But it doesn't have to be this way. The Waste-Free World makes a persuasive, forward-looking case for a circular economic model, a "closed-loop" system that wastes no natural resources. Entrepreneur, CEO and sustainability expert Ron Gonen argues that circularity is not only crucial for the planet but holds immense business opportunity.As the founder of an investment firm focused on the circular economy, Gonen reveals brilliant innovations emerging worldwide-- "smart" packaging, robotics that optimize recycling, nutrient rich fabrics, technologies that convert food waste into energy for your home, and many more. Drawing on his experience in technology, business, and city government and interviews with leading entrepreneurs and top companies, he introduces a vital and growing movement.The Waste-Free World invites us all to take part in a sustainable and prosperous future where companies foster innovation, investors recognize long term value creation, and consumers can align their values with the products they buy.

Activate Your Money: Invest to Grow Your Wealth and Build a Better World


Janine Firpo - 2021
    However, most personal finance books do not go far enough to provide the depth of information they need to become confident investors. In addition, these women want more from their money than financial return. They also want to know that their assets are having a positive impact on the world. This ground-breaking book educates readers about personal finance and values-aligned investing. It demystifies financial lingo, explains investment strategies, and provides you with the knowledge you need to make informed ethical investment decisions across your entire portfolio. Starting with your cash and proceeding asset class by asset class, Activate Your Money provides the foundational support you need to take control of your money, grow your wealth, and put your assets to work supporting the things you care about. Grounded in her personal finance journey, author Janine Firpo collaborated with almost 150 women (and a few men) to create this practical how-to guide. Activate Your Money is more than a book. It is accompanied by a website that contains additional resources and downloadable tools to move you to action. What’s more, you do not have to go it alone. Janine and her colleagues also developed a comprehensive curriculum that walks you through the process of starting and running your own investment club. With Activate Your Money, you can: • Step up your relationship with money and recognize the power you have to change the world through your investment decisions• Demystify financial lingo, learn investment strategies, and acquire tools to help you grow your wealth • Explore values-aligned investment options, asset class by asset class, and make informed decisions about where to put your money• Break the taboo on discussing money with family, friends, and advisorsActivate Your Money offers expert guidance, a uniquely woman-centered approach, and a focus on having your money work for you and for the world. Whether you are just starting out or are already a seasoned investor, this book has something for you. Perfect for smart, savvy women who want to feel financially empowered, Activate Your Money will also earn a place in the libraries of financial advisors and professional investors who seek to address the needs of clients interested in more than just the bottom line.

Klimat: Russia in the Age of Climate Change


Thane Gustafson - 2021
    No major power is more economically dependent on the export of hydrocarbons; at the same time, two-thirds of Russia's territory lies in the arctic north, where melting permafrost is already imposing growing damage. Climate change also brings drought and floods to Russia's south, threatening the country's agricultural exports.Thane Gustafson predicts that, over the next thirty years, climate change will leave a dramatic imprint on Russia. The decline of fossil fuel use is already underway, and restrictions on hydrocarbons will only tighten, cutting fuel prices and slashing Russia's export revenues. Yet Russia has no substitutes for oil and gas revenues. The country is unprepared for the worldwide transition to renewable energy, as Russian leaders continue to invest the national wealth in oil and gas while dismissing the promise of post-carbon technologies. Nor has the state made efforts to offset the direct damage that climate change will do inside the country. Optimists point to new opportunities--higher temperatures could increase agricultural yields, the melting of arctic ice may open year-round shipping lanes in the far north, and Russia could become a global nuclear-energy supplier. But the eventual post-Putin generation of Russian leaders will nonetheless face enormous handicaps, as their country finds itself weaker than at any time in the preceding century.Lucid and thought-provoking, Klimat shows how climate change is poised to alter the global order, potentially toppling even great powers from their perches.

After Cooling: On Freon, Global Warming, and the Terrible Cost of Comfort


Eric Dean Wilson - 2021
    As he traces the refrigerant’s life span from its invention in the 1920s—when it was hailed as a miracle of scientific progress—to efforts in the 1980s to ban the chemical (and the resulting political backlash), Wilson finds himself on a journey through the American heartland, trailing a man who buys up old tanks of Freon stockpiled in attics and basements to destroy what remains of the chemical before it can do further harm. Wilson is at heart an essayist, looking far and wide to tease out what particular forces in American culture—in capitalism, in systemic racism, in our values—combined to lead us into the Freon crisis and then out. “Meticulously researched and engagingly written” (Amitav Ghosh), this “knockout debut” (New York Journal of Books) offers a rare glimpse of environmental hope, suggesting that maybe the vast and terrifying problem of global warming is not beyond our grasp to face.

The Economics of Sustainable Food: Smart Policies for Health and the Planet


Nicoletta Batini - 2021
    But because the food industry does not bear those costs and the price tag for these losses does not show up at the grocery store, it is too often ignored by economists and policymakers.The Economics of Sustainable Food details the true cost of food for people and the planet. It illustrates how to transform our broken system, alleviating its severe financial and human burden. The key is smart macroeconomic policy that moves us toward methods that protect the environment like regenerative land and sea farming, low-impact urban farming, and alternative protein farming, and toward healthy diets. The book’s multidisciplinary team of authors lay out detailed fiscal and trade policies, as well as structural reforms, to achieve those goals. Chapters discuss strategies to make food production sustainable, nutritious, and fair, ranging from taxes and spending to education, labor market, health care, and pension reforms, alongside regulation in cases where market incentives are unlikely to work or to work fast enough. The authors carefully consider the different needs of more and less advanced economies, balancing economic development and sustainability goals. Case studies showcase successful strategies from around the world, such as taxing foods with a high carbon footprint, financing ecosystems mapping and conservation to meet scientific targets for healthy biomes permanency, subsidizing sustainable land and sea farming, reforming health systems to move away from sick care to preventive, nutrition-based care, and providing schools with matching funds to purchase local organic produce. In the years ahead, few issues will be more important for individual prosperity and the global economy than the way we produce our food and what food we eat. This roadmap for reform is an invaluable resource to help global policymakers improve countless lives.

Sustainable Marketing: How to Drive Profits with Purpose


Michelle Carvill - 2021
    Sustainable Marketing represents the new benchmark for modern marketing. It emphasizes the importance of sustainability in modern marketing, before providing a comprehensive guide to implementing and driving sustainable practices in any organization. It draws upon both professional experiences and academic research, featuring in-depth case studies that are supported by facts, figures, commentary, interviews and analysis.In the modern age of authenticity and transparency, consumers are no longer content with brands that are dismissive of, or even apathetic to, sustainability. This includes, but isn't limited to, environmental factors - brands are expected to convey understanding, concern and proactivity, whether this applies to their carbon footprint, employee welfare or charitable contribution. Sustainable marketing isn't just great for the environment--it also results in a loyal consumer base and a widely respected brand identity.

Bjarne Mastenbroek: Dig it! Building Bound to the Ground


Bjarne Mastenbroek - 2021
    Nevertheless, for centuries, especially in the West, we have considered ourselves separate and above nature, drifting away, defining our own systems and order, and using the ground as a nothing more than a passive foundation. Other times we sought connection, drawing on nature for ritual and religion, fortified protection, and ecological balance.This global compendium of nearly 1,400 pages brings architecture back in harmony with Earth’s surface. For years, Bjarne Mastenbroek and his architectural firm, SeARCH, have delved into the relationship architecture has, had, and will have with its surroundings, seeing buildings as landscapes that fit into their site without dominating or disturbing it. For Dig It!, they have dug deep into the history of building culture and brought to light fascinating examples of this philosophy—some well known, some previously overlooked.From African churches chiseled from rock and Chinese villages dug into terrains to Parisian housing vibrantly overgrown and a villa built into the cliffs of Capri (famously featured in the film Le Mépris starring Brigitte Bardot), this book dissects structures from the past millennia. Part atlas, part encyclopedia, it highlights traditional vernacular practices, reconsiders all-time favorites, and celebrates contemporary examples across the globe. Designed by Mevis & Van Deursen, the extensive collection features analytical drawings from SeARCH and photo essays by Iwan Baan.Dig It! acknowledges an effort to reconnect architecture and landscape and merge building with ground. Separated into six chapters (or “strategies”)—Bury, Embed, Absorb, Spiral, Carve, and Mimic—this remarkable survey reveals humanity’s connection to the earth through building culture: clever and utterly relevant for the challenges that we have and will face in both urban and natural environments.

Rethinking Corporate Sustainability in the Era of Climate Crisis: A Strategic Design Approach


Raz Godelnik - 2021