Book picks similar to
Nature's Operating Instructions: The True Biotechnologies by Kenny Ausubel
science
eco-env-agro
non-fiction
dining-room-2-home-ed
The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World
Bjørn Lomborg - 1998
The author, himself a former member of Greenpeace, is critical of the way in which many environmental organisations make selective and misleading use of the scientific evidence. Using the best available statistical information from internationally recognised research institutes, Bjørn Lomborg systematically examines a range of major environmental problems that feature prominently in headline news across the world. His arguments are presented in non-technical, accessible language and are carefully backed up by over 2500 footnotes allowing readers to check sources for themselves. Concluding that there are more reasons for optimism than pessimism, Bjørn Lomborg stresses the need for clear-headed prioritisation of resources to tackle real, not imagined problems. The Skeptical Environmentalist offers readers a non-partisan stocktaking exercise that serves as a useful corrective to the more alarmist accounts favoured by campaign groups and the media.
Soil and Soul: People versus Corporate Power
Alastair McIntosh - 2001
In this powerful and provocative book, Scottish writer and campaigner Alastair McIntosh shows how it is still possible for individuals and communities to take on the might of corporate power and emerge victorious. As a founder of the Isle of Eigg Trust, McIntosh helped the beleaguered residents of Eigg to become the first Scottish community ever to clear their laird from his own estate. And plans to turn a majestic Hebridean mountain into a superquarry were overturned after McIntosh persuaded a Native American warrior chief to visit the Isle of Harris and testify at the government inquiry. This extraordinary book weaves together theology, mythology, economics, ecology, history, poetics and politics as the author journeys towards a radical new philosophy of community, spirit and place. His daring and imaginative responses to the destruction of the natural world make Soil and Soul an uplifting, inspirational and often richly humorous read.
A Rough Ride to the Future
James E. Lovelock - 2014
In A Rough Ride to the Future, James Lovelock - the great scientific visionary of our age - presents a radical vision of humanity's future as the thinking brain of our Earth-system James Lovelock, who has been hailed as 'the man who conceived the first wholly new way of looking at life on earth since Charles Darwin' (Independent) and 'the most profound scientific thinker of our time' (Literary Review) continues, in his 95th year, to be the great scientific visionary of our age.
The Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal: The Political Economy of Saving the Planet
Noam Chomsky - 2020
It is a true existential crisis. Those alive today will decide the fate of humanity. Meanwhile, the leaders of the most powerful state in human history are dedicating themselves with passion to destroying the prospects for organized human life. At the same time, there is a solution at hand, which is the Green New Deal. Putting meat on the bones of the Green New Deal starts with a single simple idea: we have to absolutely stop burning fossil fuels to produce energy within the next 30 years at most; and we have to do this in a way that also supports rising living standards and expanding opportunities for working people and the poor throughout the world. This version of a Green New Deal program is, in fact, entirely realistic in terms of its purely economic and technical features. The real question is whether it is politically feasible. Chomsky and Pollin examine how we can build the political force to make a global Green New Deal a reality.
Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered
Ernst F. Schumacher - 1973
Schumacher's riveting, richly researched statement on sustainability has become more relevant and vital with each year since its initial groundbreaking publication during the 1973 energy crisis. A landmark statement against "bigger is better" industrialism, Schumacher's Small Is Beautiful paved the way for twenty-first century books on environmentalism and economics, like Jeffrey Sachs's The End of Poverty, Paul Hawken's Natural Capitalism, Mohammad Yunis's Banker to the Poor, and Bill McKibben's Deep Economy. This timely reissue offers a crucial message for the modern world struggling to balance economic growth with the human costs of globalization.
Value(s): Building a Better World for All
Mark Carney - 2021
VALUE(S) is a meditation on his experiences that examines the short-comings and challenges of the market in the past decade which he argues has led to rampant, public distrust and the need for radical change.Focusing on four major crises-the Global Financial Crisis, the Global Health Crisis, Climate Change and the 4th Industrial Revolution-- Carney proposes responses to each. His solutions are tangible action plans for leaders, companies and countries to transform the value of the market back into the value of humanity.
Mastering Bitcoin for Dummies: Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies, Mining, Investing and Trading - Bitcoin Book 1, Blockchain, Wallet, Business
Alan T. Norman - 2017
Get this Amazing #1 Amazon Top Release - Great Deal! You can read on your PC, Mac, smartphone, tablet or Kindle device. Bitcoin is not just a new word in the Internet age or technological and financial progress, it's a start of a new era on the Earth! Even 10 years ago we even couldn't imagine dreaming about digital money - you can't physically touch them but you can own and spend them. Today this is a reality! Bitcoin revolution covered the whole world like a huge wave, more and more people interested in this "Digital Gold". Over the past few years, Bitcoin has grown from something known only to a select few tech nerds into a revolutionary currency that has rapidly changed the way that we think about the concept of money. You no doubt see Bitcoin payments accepted in all kinds of places now, but, if you can believe it, it used to be a fairly complicated procedure for finding places that let you pay in Bitcoin. Anyway, to run the world you need to know everything. We can't guarantee that you will know EVERYTHING from this book, but we can guarantee you will have the notion of a new currency - Bitcoin. What is it? Where did it come from? How do you use it? Is it really just fake internet money created by drug dealers? That is precisely what we will be answering in this book. We’ll cover everything you need to know in order to get started with Bitcoin: understanding the Blockchain and Bitcoin transactions where to keep your Bitcoin (how to choose a secure wallet) buying Bitcoin investing in Bitcoin how to start accepting and using Bitcoin as a part of your business principles of Bitcoin mining the security of Bitcoin etc. Also, the author will share with you interesting facts about Bitcoin and will give you professional tips on the start of your way in Bitcoin family! Ready to take on the Bitcoin world yet? I hope so. I’d like to be the first to officially welcome you to the world of Bitcoin!
Breakfast is a Dangerous Meal: Why You Should Ditch Your Morning Meal For Health and Wellbeing
Terence Kealey - 2016
We have long been told to breakfast like kings and dine like paupers. In the wake of his own type 2 diabetes diagnosis, Professor Terence Kealey was given the same advice. He soon noticed that his glucose levels were unusually high after eating in the morning, but if he fasted until lunchtime they fell. Professor Kealey began to question how much evidence there was to support the advice he’d been given, and whether there might be an advantage to not eating breakfast after all.Breakfast is a Dangerous Meal asks:What is the reliable scientific and medical evidence for eating breakfast?Who should consider intermittent fasting by removing breakfast from their daily routine?From weight loss to reduced blood pressure, what are the potential benefits of missing breakfast?
Rescue Your Money: Your Personal Investment Recovery Plan
Ric Edelman - 2009
With a cheerful tone that will boost even the most panicked investor's spirit, Edelman reveals the best investments you can make right now.If you're scared or confused about how to handle your investments and fed up with “advice” from brokers, advisors, and media darlings that has cost you huge sums and placed your financial security at risk, the cure is in your hands. Ric Edelman, an award-winning advisor with more than two decades of experience, reveals the one investment goal you should have, the two obstacles you'll face, and why you've been failing with your investment strategies. Above all, he shares the secret to successful investing—and even includes a special section for those who are already retired. -Rescue yourself from the pain of watching your life savings go down the drain. -Regain the confidence that your investments can provide you with lifelong financial security and prosperity. -Get a great night's sleep by not having to lie awake worrying about your investments.
The New Noah
Gerald Durrell - 1955
Each animal in his menagerie exhibits such curious habits and eccentricities. There was Cholmondely the chimpanzee, for example, who was 'king' of the collection, liked a good cigarette and his tea not too hot, but had a horror of snakes! Cuthbert the curassow loved to collapse across people's feet when they weren't looking.Gerald Durrell describes not only the capture of these rare and exotic animals in Africa and South America, but also the problems of caging and feeding them. Footle, the moustached monkey, insisted on nose-diving into his milk, while the Kusimanses - nicknamed the Bandits - found Durrell's toes the most delectable thing in camp!
Dark Winter: How the Sun Is Causing a 30-Year Cold Spell
John Casey - 2014
In Dark Winter, author John L. Casey, a former White House national space policy advisor, NASA headquarters consultant, and space shuttle engineer tells the truth about ominous changes taking place in the climate and the Sun.Casey’s research into the Sun’s activity, which began almost a decade ago, resulted in discovery of a solar cycle that is now reversing from its global warming phase to that of dangerous global cooling for the next thirty years or more. This new cold climate will dramatically impact the world’s citizens. In Dark Winter, he provides evidence of the following:• The end of global warming• The beginning of a “solar hibernation,” a historic reduction in the energy output of the Sun• A long-term drop in Earth’s temperatures• The start of the next climate change to decades of dangerously cold weather• The high probability of record earthquakes and volcanic eruptionsA sobering look at Earth’s future, Dark Winter predicts worldwide, crop- destroying cold; food shortages and riots in the United States and abroad; significant global loss of life; and social, political, and economic upheaval.
Rebirding: Rewilding Britain and its Birds
Benedict Macdonald - 2019
It explores how Britain has, uniquely, relied on modifying farmland, rather than restoring ecosystems, in a failing attempt to halt wildlife decline. The irony is that 94% of Britain is not built upon at all. And with more nature-loving voices than any European country, we should in fact have the best, not the most impoverished, wildlife on our continent. Especially when the rural economics of our game estates, and upland farms, are among the worst in Europe.Britain is blessed with all the space it needs for an epic wildlife recovery. The deer estates of the Scottish Highlands are twice the size of Yellowstone National Park. Snowdonia is larger than the Maasai Mara. The problem in Britain is not a lack of space. It is that our precious space is uniquely wasted – not only for wildlife, but for people’s jobs and rural futures too.Rebirding maps out how we might finally turn things around: rewilding our national parks, restoring natural ecosystems and allowing our wildlife a far richer future. In doing so, an entirely new sector of rural jobs would be created; finally bringing Britain’s dying rural landscapes and failing economies back to life.
Anthropocene or Capitalocene?: Nature, History, and the Crisis of Capitalism
Jason W. Moore - 2016
Runaway climate change, the sixth great extinction of planetary life, the acidification of the oceans—all point toward an era of unprecedented turbulence in humanity’s relationship within the web of life. But just what is that relationship, and how do we make sense of this extraordinary transition? Anthropocene or Capitalocene? offers answers to these questions from a dynamic group of leading critical scholars who challenge the conventional practice of dividing historical change and contemporary reality into “Nature” and “Society,” demonstrating the possibilities offered by a more nuanced and connective view of human environment-making, joined at every step with and within the biosphere. In distinct registers, the authors frame their discussions within a politics of hope that signal the possibilities for transcending capitalism, broadly understood as a “world-ecology” that joins nature, capital, and power as a historically evolving whole.
Before the Lights Go Out: Conquering the Energy Crisis Before It Conquers Us
Maggie Koerth-Baker - 2012
And everybody knows it, even if we can't all agree on what, specifically, the problem is. Rising costs, changing climate, peaking oil, foreign oil, public safety--if the fears are this complicated, then the solutions are bound to be even more confusing. Maggie Koerth-Baker--science editor at the award-winning blog BoingBoing.net--finally makes some sense out of the madness. Over the next 20 years, we'll be forced to cut 20 quadrillion BTU worth of fossil fuels from our energy budget, by wasting less and investing in alternatives. To make it work, we'll need to radically change the energy systems that have shaped our lives for 100 years. And the result will be neither business-as-usual, nor a hippie utopia. Koerth-Baker explains what we can do, what we can't do, and why "The Solution" is really a lot of solutions working together. This isn't about planting a tree, buying a Prius, and proving that you're a good person. Economics and social incentives got us a country full of gas-guzzling cars, long commutes, inefficient houses, and coal-fired power plants out in the middle of nowhere, and economics and incentives will be the things that build our new world. Ultimately, change is inevitable.Argues we're not going to solve the energy problem by convincing everyone to live like it's 1900 because that's not a good thing. Instead of reverting to the past, we have to build a future where we get energy from new places, use it in new ways, and do more with less.Clean coal? Natural gas? Nuclear? Electric cars? We'll need them all. When you look at the numbers, you'll find that we'll still be using fossil fuels, nuclear, and renewables for decades to come. Looks at new battery technology, smart grids, passive buildings, decentralized generation, clean coal, and carbon sequestration. These are buzzwords now, but they'll be a part of your world soon. For many people, they already are.Written by the cutting edge Science Editor for Boing Boing, one of the ten most popular blogs in America
Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature
Janine M. Benyus - 1997
Biomimics study nature's most successful ideas over the past 3.5 million years, and adapt them for human use. The results are revolutionizing how materials are invented and how we compute, heal ourselves, repair the environment, and feed the world.Janine Benyus takes readers into the lab and in the field with maverick thinkers as they: discover miracle drugs by watching what chimps eat when they're sick; learn how to create by watching spiders weave fibers; harness energy by examining how a leaf converts sunlight into fuel in trillionths of a second; and many more examples.Composed of stories of vision and invention, personalities and pipe dreams, Biomimicry is must reading for anyone interested in the shape of our future.