Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes


Dana Thomas - 2019
    More than ever, we are told it should be something new. Today, the clothing industry churns out 80 billion garments a year and employs every sixth person on Earth. Historically, the apparel trade has exploited labor, the environment, and intellectual property--and in the last three decades, with the simultaneous unfurling of fast fashion, globalization, and the tech revolution, those abuses have multiplied exponentially, primarily out of view. We are in dire need of an entirely new human-scale model. Bestselling journalist Dana Thomas has traveled the globe to discover the visionary designers and companies who are propelling the industry toward that more positive future by reclaiming traditional craft and launching cutting-edge sustainable technologies to produce better fashion.In Fashionopolis, Thomas sees renewal in a host of developments, including printing 3-D clothes, clean denim processing, smart manufacturing, hyperlocalism, fabric recycling--even lab-grown materials. From small-town makers and Silicon Valley whizzes to such household names as Stella McCartney, Levi's, and Rent the Runway, Thomas highlights the companies big and small that are leading the crusade.We all have been casual about our clothes. It's time to get dressed with intention. Fashionopolis is the first comprehensive look at how to start.

Municipal Dreams: The Rise and Fall of Council Housing


John Boughton - 2018
    This history begins in the slum clearances of the late nineteenth century and the aspirations of those who would build anew. John Boughton looks at how and why the state's duty to house its people decently became central to our politics. Traversing the UK, Boughton offers an architectural tour of some of the best and most remarkable of our housing estates, as well as many accounted ordinary; he asks us to understand better their complex story and to rethink our prejudices. His accounts include extraordinary planners and architects who wished to elevate working men and women through design and the politicians, high and low, who shaped their work, the competing ideologies which have promoted state housing and condemned it, the economics which has always constrained our housing ideals, the crisis wrought by Right to Buy, and the evolving controversies around regeneration. He shows how the loss of the dream of good housing for all is a danger for the whole of society - as was seen in the fire in Grenfell Tower.

Waking Up White: And Finding Myself in the Story of Race


Debby Irving - 2014
    By sharing her sometimes cringe-worthy struggle to understand racism and racial tensions, she offers a fresh perspective on bias, stereotypes, manners, and tolerance. As Irving unpacks her own long-held beliefs about colorblindness, being a good person, and wanting to help people of color, she reveals how each of these well-intentioned mindsets actually perpetuated her ill-conceived ideas about race. She also explains why and how she's changed the way she talks about racism, works in racially mixed groups, and understands the antiracism movement as a whole. Exercises at the end of each chapter prompt readers to explore their own racialized ideas. Waking Up White's personal narrative is designed to work well as a rapid read, a book group book, or support reading for courses exploring racial and cultural issues.

An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It


Al Gore - 2006
    Both the book and film were inspired by a series of multimedia presentations on global warming that Gore created and delivers to groups around the world. With this book, Gore, who is one of our environmental heroes—and a leading expert—brings together leading-edge research from top scientists around the world; photographs, charts, and other illustrations; and personal anecdotes and observations to document the fast pace and wide scope of global warming. He presents, with alarming clarity and conclusiveness—and with humor, too—that the fact of global warming is not in question and that its consequences for the world we live in will be disastrous if left unchecked. This riveting new book—written in an accessible, entertaining style—will open the eyes of even the most skeptical.

Team Human


Douglas Rushkoff - 2019
    In one hundred lean and incisive statements, he argues that we are essentially social creatures, and that we achieve our greatest aspirations when we work together—not as individuals. Yet today society is threatened by a vast antihuman infrastructure that undermines our ability to connect. Money, once a means of exchange, is now a means of exploitation; education, conceived as way to elevate the working class, has become another assembly line; and the internet has only further divided us into increasingly atomized and radicalized groups.Team Human delivers a call to arms. If we are to resist and survive these destructive forces, we must recognize that being human is a team sport. In Rushkoff’s own words: “Being social may be the whole point.” Harnessing wide-ranging research on human evolution, biology, and psychology, Rushkoff shows that when we work together we realize greater happiness, productivity, and peace. If we can find the others who understand this fundamental truth and reassert our humanity—together—we can make the world a better place to be human.

Revolution in a Bottle: From Worm Poop to a Garbage Empire That Is Redefining Green Business


Tom Szaky - 2009
    calls "The coolest little startup in America." While a freshman at Princeton, Tom Szaky co- founded a company that recycles garbage into worm poop, liquefies it, then packages it in used soda bottles, creating TerraCycle Plant Food. Five years later, this all-natural, highly effective fertilizer is available in every Home Depot, Target,Wal?Mart, and more than 3000 other locations. It's a thrilling entrepreneurial success story-and just the beginning of what makes Revolution in a Bottle fascinating. Szaky argues for a new approach to business, an "ecocapitalism" based on a "triple bottom line." Every business, he says, should aspire to be good for people, good for the environment, and (last but definitely not least) good for profits. He shows how the first two goals can help the third. Many companies brag about being environmentally-friendly. But no one does it as effectively as TerraCycle. Now they're also reusing garbage to create new products, from bird feeders to tote bags, and even engaging major companies like Kraft and General Mills to sponsor their waste streams. In the spirit of TerraCycle, this book will be printed on 100% recycled materials. About the Cover: This may look like a book jacket, but it's actually your very own upcycling container. Tom Szaky, founder of TerraCycle, is dedicated to eliminating the concept of waste. His firm works with other companies to collect and reuse nonrecyclable packaging and upcycle it into eco-friendly affordable products. And they want your help. One such company is Bear Naked(r), an all-natural food and lifestyle brand that has partnered with Terra-Cycle to operate the Bear Naked(r) Bag Brigade. This free program makes a donation to a school or nonprofit for every bag a participant collects. Now you can join in by using your book jacket as an envelope. See the back flap for instructions-it's easy. Then fill it with a used Bear Naked(r) granola bag and drop it in a mailbox to become a part of TerraCycle's eco- revolution! Bear Naked(r) will even donate $1 to plant a tree in American Forests, up to $5,000. Offer expires 12/31/09 or after the first 25,000 copies are sold, whichever comes first.

The Sage Stone Prophecy (Arkana Archaeology Adventures Book 7)


N.S. Wikarski - 2016
    Reviews, February 2017) The Arkana Series - Archaeology Mysteries That Defy HistoryAn ancient civilization hovers on the brink of collapse. Besieged by invaders, it entrusts its most precious artifacts to a band of guardians who hide the objects where no one can find them. Three thousand years later, two rival factions launch a global hunt to recover the cache. The Arkana wants to preserve it for posterity. The Nephilim wants to exploit it for a darker purpose. Caught in the crossfire is a reluctant young woman who might unwittingly hold the key to salvaging their coveted treasure.Volume 7 - The Sage Stone ProphecyIn the series finale, the Nephilim and the Arkana scour the farthest reaches of the planet for the hiding place of the legendary relic known as the Sage Stone. At the same time, mortal danger threatens friends and foes alike as the cult's leader pushes humanity to the brink of extinction.The fate of the world hinges on the outcome of a final confrontation with both factions pinning all their hopes on a prophecy that might not mean exactly what it says. If you've followed this saga from the beginning, THE SAGE STONE PROPHECY reveals at long last who will claim the most sought-after relic of all and how many others will lose their lives trying.

Winder Hollow


R.F. McClure - 2010
    That is, until Alma Lee is confronted with a life-threatening illness, forcing them from the refuge of the hollow to confront the unknown perils of the modern world.

The Ferrari in the Bedroom


Jean Shepherd - 1972
    But he was so much more, a comic Garrison Keillor-like figure whose unique voice transcended the airwaves and affected a whole generation of nostalgic Americans.The Ferrari in the Bedroom is Shepherd's wry, affectionate look at the hang-ups and delusions of Americans in the 1970s. From his sardonic assessment of fads such as the nostalgia craze ("Thinking that the old days were good is a terrible sickness. Everything was just as bad then as it is now.") to a modest proposal for the foundation of S.P.L.A.T. (The Society for the Prevention of the Leaving of Animal Turds), Jean Shepherd provides a generous measure of his special brand of wise and warm humor as an antidote for some of America's more ridiculous obsessions.

Black Ice: A Classic Cold War Thriller


Colin Dunne - 1986
    Confused. That's the word, I think. Confused, and cold around the knees'. Stranded in Iceland,journalist turned spy Sam Craven wakes up to the greatest adventure of his career. Sent to Reykjavik to track down the model Solrun, in whom British intelligence have taken a sudden interest, Craven finds himself caught up in a vast power-play between two superpowers on the brink of war - and with only his wits to rely on. Trying to stay alive, and one step ahead of a band of ruthless killers, Sam is skating on black ice. One slip and he's dead. 'Black Ice' is a classic Cold War thriller, certain to appeal to fans of Jack Higgins, Len Deighton and Ian Fleming. 'Black Ice' has been widely praised. 'Cleverly plotted and genuinely witty’ (Jack Higgins) ‘Crisp characters, amazing pace, every low lunch in the book on target’ (The Sunday Times) ‘Sharp, funny and stylish’ (Yorkshire Post) Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher.

The Christmas Guardians: A heart-warming, small town Christmas story with a dash of Heaven.


Janice Voorhies - 2020
    They encounter a mystery, foster a romance, rescue a community choir, assist a family in crisis, and witness a miracle. Along the way, they remind their small Utah town of the things which really matter in life: friendship, service, forgiveness, and the strength of family.

A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain


Owen Hatherley - 2010
    Darkly humorous architectural guide to the decrepit new Britain that neoliberalism built.

Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals


Saul D. Alinsky - 1969
    Like Thomas Paine before him, Alinsky was able to combine, both in his person and his writing, the intensity of political engagement with an absolute insistence on rational political discourse and adherence to the American democratic tradition.ContentsThe PurposeOf Means and EndsA Word about WordsThe Education of an OrganizerCommunicationIn the BeginningTacticsThe Genesis of Tactic ProxyThe Way Ahead

The Little Book of the Icelanders


Alda Sigmundsdóttir - 2011
    Hi, and thank you for your interest in The Little Book of the Icelanders – a collection of 50 miniature essays about the quirks and foibles of the Icelandic people and what it is like to live in their midst.In 1994, I moved back to Iceland after more than 20 years of living abroad, and ever since I have been in the enviable [to me!] position of being both an insider and an outsider in Icelandic society.I figure this makes me sufficiently qualified to dissect the national psyche of the Icelandic people.Among the fascinating subjects broached in the book: * the appalling driving habits of the Icelanders * naming conventions and customs * the Icelanders’ profound fear of commitment * the Icelander’s penchant for irreverence * why Icelandic women are really men * how the Icelanders manage to make social interactions really complicated * the importance of the family in Icelandic society * where to go to meet the real Icelanders [and possibly score some free financial advice] * Rituals associated with weddings, confirmations, graduations, and deaths… and many, many more.

Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things


William McDonough - 2002
    But as architect William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart point out in this provocative, visionary book, such an approach only perpetuates the one-way, "cradle to grave" manufacturing model, dating to the Industrial Revolution, that creates such fantastic amounts of waste and pollution in the first place. Why not challenge the belief that human industry must damage the natural world? In fact, why not take nature itself as our model for making things? A tree produces thousands of blossoms in order to create another tree, yet we consider its abundance not wasteful but safe, beautiful, and highly effective.Waste equals food. Guided by this principle, McDonough and Braungart explain how products can be designed from the outset so that, after their useful lives, they will provide nourishment for something new. They can be conceived as "biological nutrients" that will easily reenter the water or soil without depositing synthetic materials and toxins. Or they can be "technical nutrients" that will continually circulate as pure and valuable materials within closed-loop industrial cycles, rather than being "recycled" -- really, downcycled -- into low-grade materials and uses. Drawing on their experience in (re)designing everything from carpeting to corporate campuses, McDonough and Braungart make an exciting and viable case for putting eco-effectiveness into practice, and show how anyone involved with making anything can begin to do as well.