Green Metropolis: What the City Can Teach the Country About True Sustainability


David Owen - 2009
    Yet residents of compact urban centers, David Owen shows, individually consume less oil, electricity, and water than other Americans. They live in smaller spaces, discard less trash, and, most important of all, spend far less time in automobiles. Residents of Manhattan--the most densely populated place in North America--rank first in public-transit use and last in per-capita greenhouse gas production, and they consume gasoline at a rate that the country as a whole hasn't matched since the mid-1920s, when the most widely owned car in the United States was the Ford Model T. They are also among the only people in the United States for whom walking is still an important means of daily transportation. These achievements are not accidents. Spreading people thinly across the countryside may make them feel green, but it doesn't reduce the damage they do to the environment. In fact, it increases the damage, while also making the problems they cause harder to see and to address. Owen contends that the environmental problem we face, at the current stage of our assault on the world's nonrenewable resources, is not how to make teeming cities more like the pristine countryside. The problem is how to make other settled places more like Manhattan, whose residents presently come closer than any other Americans to meeting environmental goals that all of us, eventually, will have to come to terms with.

Simple Living: One Couple's Search for a Better Life


Frank Levering - 1992
    Originally published in 1992, Simple Living is the story of one couple's attempt to put more meaning into their lives by eliminating unnecessary debt and superfluous consumption, as well as lessening their environmental footprint.

The Conscious Closet: The Revolutionary Guide to Looking Good While Doing Good


Elizabeth L. Cline - 2019
    It is a call to action to transform one of the most polluting industries on earth--fashion--into a force for good. Readers will learn where our clothes are made and how they're made, before connecting to a global and impassioned community of stylish fashion revolutionaries. In The Conscious Closet, Elizabeth shows us how we can start to truly love and understand our clothes again--without sacrificing the environment, our morals, or our style in the process.

How Much Is Enough?: The Consumer Society and the Future of the Earth


Alan Thein Durning - 1992
    It discusses the use of resources, pollution, and the distortions created in the economies of both wealthy industrialized nations and Third World countries.

The Ecology of Commerce


Paul Hawken - 1993
    A visionary new program that businesses can follow to help restore the planet.

The Sustainable(ish) Living Guide: Everything you need to know to make small changes that make a big difference


Jen Gale - 2020
    Covering every aspect of our lives from the stuff we buy and the food we eat, to how we travel, work, and celebrate. This book provides stacks of practical, down to earth ideas to slot into your daily life, alongside a gentle kick up the butt to put your newfound knowledge into action. Find out how to fit "sustainable living" into your life, in a way that works for you. Change your impact without radically changing your life and figure out the small steps you can make that will add up to make a big difference (halo not included).

Development and Social Change: A Global Perspective (Sociology for a New Century)


Philip D. McMichael - 1996
    This new edition has been updated and revised to incorporate the treatments of fundamentalism, terrorism, the AIDS crisis, and the commercialization of services via the World Trade Organization.Development and Social Change is the first book to present students with a coherent explanation of how "globalization" took root in the public discourse and how "globalization" represents a shift away from development as a way to think about non-western societies. This is an ideal text for undergraduate and graduate students studying globalization, social development, and social change in Sociology, Political Science, Anthropology, and International Studies.

C++ GUI Programming with Qt 4


Jasmin Blanchette - 2007
    Now, two Trolltech insiders have written a start-to-finish guide to getting outstanding results with the latest version of Qt: Qt 4.3.Packed with realistic examples and in-depth advice, this is the book Trolltech uses to teach Qt to its own new hires. Extensively revised and expanded, it reveals today's best Qt programming patterns for everything from implementing model/view architecture to using Qt 4.3's improved graphics support. You'll find proven solutions for virtually every GUI development task, as well as sophisticated techniques for providing database access, integrating XML, using subclassing, composition, and more. Whether you're new to Qt or upgrading from an older version, this book can help you accomplish everything that Qt 4.3 makes possible.Completely updated throughout, with significant new coverage of databases, XML, and Qtopia embedded programming Covers all Qt 4.2/4.3 changes, including Windows Vista support, native CSS support for widget styling, and SVG file generation Contains separate 2D and 3D chapters, coverage of Qt 4.3's new graphics view classes, and an introduction to QPainter's OpenGL back-end Includes new chapters on look-and-feel customization and application scripting Illustrates Qt 4's model/view architecture, plugin support, layout management, event processing, container classes, and much more Presents advanced techniques covered in no other book--from creating plugins to interfacing with native APIs Includes a new appendix on Qt Jambi, the new Java version of Qt

Everything That Remains: A Memoir by the Minimalists


Joshua Fields Millburn - 2013
    Until he didn't anymore. Blindsided by the loss of his mother and his marriage in the same month, Millburn started questioning every aspect of the life he had built for himself. Then, he accidentally discovered a lifestyle known as minimalism...and everything started to change. That was four years ago. Since, Millburn, now 32, has embraced simplicity. In the pursuit of looking for something more substantial than compulsory consumption and the broken American Dream, he jettisoned most of his material possessions, paid off loads of crippling debt, and walked away from his six-figure career. So, when everything was gone, what was left? Not a how-to book but a why-to book, Everything That Remains is the touching, surprising story of what happened when one young man decided to let go of everything and begin living more deliberately. Heartrending, uplifting, and deeply personal, this engrossing memoir is peppered with insightful (and often hilarious) interruptions by Ryan Nicodemus, Millburn's best friend of twenty years.

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


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

The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist: When Girl Meets Oil


Christine Bader - 2014
    They are trying to prevent the next Rana Plaza factory collapse, the next Deepwater Horizon explosion, the next Foxconn labor abuses. Obviously, they don’t always succeed.Christine Bader, is one of those people. She worked for and loved BP and then-CEO John Browne’s lofty rhetoric on climate change and human rights—until a string of fatal BP accidents, Browne’s abrupt resignation under a cloud of scandal, and the start of Tony Hayward’s tenure as chief executive, which would end with the Deepwater Horizon disaster.Bader’s story of working deep inside the belly of the beast is unique in its details, but not in its themes: of feeling like an outsider both inside the company (accused of being a closet activist) and out (assumed to be a corporate shill); of getting mixed messages from senior management; of being frustrated with corporate life but committed to pushing for change from within.The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist: When Girl Meets Oil is based on Bader’s experience with BP and then with a United Nations effort to prevent and address human rights abuses linked to business. Using her story as its skeleton, Bader weaves in the stories of other “Corporate Idealists” working inside some of the world's biggest and best-known companies.

Mini-missions for Simplicity: small actions for massive change


Courtney Carver - 2013
    Instead of getting frustrated or giving up, try a mini-mission. Mini-Missions are assignments or challenges that you can implement immediately, so you can benefit from some immediate gratification during this adventure and make your simple life more enjoyable and sustainable. Mini-missions are often one step actions that you can do to improve your health, relationships, bank account or wardrobe. Table of Contents Section One: Clutter One is Enough Hide Your Stuff Stop the Inflow by Mike Burns | The Other Side of Complexity Pass it On Shoot Your Stuff The Digital Dip by Joel Zaslofsky | Value of Simple Break it Off Sell Something You Don’t Want by Betsy & Warren Talbot | Married with Luggage 33 Items or Less Section Two: Productivity Make Time Habit Stack Single Task by Brooke McAlary | Slow Your Home Say No So You Can Say Yes Sleep Well Track Every Penny You Spend Section Three: Relationships Make Moments Give Freely Help No One by Britt Reints | In Pursuit of Happiness Love More Deeply Feed Someone Judge Less Send a Care Package by Tammy Strobel | Rowdy Kittens Section Four: Life Drive Less Go Cameraless by Paul Jarvis | pjrvs.com Banish Doubt Take Brave Baby Steps by Jolie Guillebeau | jolieguillebeau.com Speak Up by Leslie Webster | A Simple Life Afloat Enjoy Section Five: Health & Happiness Smile by Valentina Thörner | ValDeOro Sit Still Calm Down Grow Something Floss Every Day Feel Your Pain Stand up for Your Health Eat Real Food Putting these mini-missions into action will help you reduce stress and discover what really makes you healthy and happy.

The Fat of the Land


John Seymour - 1961
    More than fifty years on, The Fat of the Land remains an important and inspiring book and retains its power to make us think carefully about our own lives.

Give a Sh*t: Do Good. Live Better. Save the Planet.


Ashlee Piper - 2018
    And this book is an easy, enjoyable place to start." -- MobyIt's time to put your good intentions into action. It's time to give a shit -- about your health, your footprint, and your planet.Give a Sh*t guides you through the transition to a kinder, healthier, more conscious, and sustainable life like no book has done before. With a humorous and nonjudgmental tone, savvy eco-friendly lifestyle expert Ashlee Piper walks you through easy-but-impactful shifts anyone can make to live and be better every damn day:In your home - Room-by-room guidance and tactics for a chic, affordable, sustainable living space, no matter where or how you liveIn the kitchen - 20+ unfussy, quick, and delicious plant-based recipes for every life occasion, from pantry staples like White Witch Almond Milk to exciting everyday fare like Walnut Chorizo Tostadas to kick-ass desserts like Jamocha Silk PieIn your closet - Advice for building a polished, ethical wardrobe in a world of fast fashionIn the mirror - Beauty and grooming tips and DIY products (from skin care to foundation to, ahem, ladytime provisions) that are safer, natural, cruelty-free, and, best of all, effectiveIn the wild - How to maintain your values (and your moxie) at work, in your social life, and when abroadGive a Sh*t isn't a manual of restrictions -- it's a practical handbook that meets you where you are and finally harmonizes doing good with living well.

Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth


Mathis Wackernagel - 1994
    An excellent handbook for community activists, planners, teachers, students and policy makers.