Environment ~ Ecology ~ Green Architecture ~ Green Building ~ Peak Oil
Climate Change
~ Permaculture ~ City Repair ~ Eco-Psychology
Richard Heinberg ~ Bill McKibben ~ George Monbiot ~ Toby Hemenway ~ Joanna Macy
James Kunstler ~ Lloyd Kahn ~ Naomi Wolf ~ Naomi Klein ~ Jeremy Scahill
Bill Mollison ~ David Holmgren
Peak Everything by Richard Heinberg |
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The 20th century saw unprecedented growth in population, energy consumption and food production. As the population shifted from rural to urban, the impact of humans on the environment increased dramatically.
The 21st century ushered in an era of declines, in a number of crucial parameters:
To adapt to this profoundly different world, we must begin now to make radical changes to our attitudes, behaviors and expectations. Peak Everything addresses many of the cultural, psychological and practical changes we will have to make as nature rapidly dictates our new limits. This latest book from Richard Heinberg, author of three of the most important books on Peak Oil, touches on the most important aspects of the human condition at this unique moment in time.A combination of wry commentary and sober forecasting on subjects as diverse as farming and industrial design, this book tells how we might make the transition from The Age of Excess to the Era of Modesty with grace and satisfaction, while preserving the best of our collective achievements. A must-read for individuals, business leaders and policy makers who are serious about effecting real change. Richard Heinberg, from Santa Rosa, CA, is widely regarded as one of the world's foremost Peak Oil educators. A member of the core faculty at New College of California and Rsearch Fellow of the Post Carbon Insitute, he is an award-winning author of seven books. His monthly Museletter has been in publication since 1992. |
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Fight Global Warming Now The Handbook for Taking Action in Your Community by Bill McKibben |
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| Bestselling author Bill McKibben turns activist in the first hands-on guidebook to stopping climate change, the world's greatest threat. Hurricane Katrina. A rapidly disappearing Arctic. The warmest winter on the East Coast in recorded history. The leading scientist at NASA warns that we have only ten years to reverse climate change; the British government's report on global warming estimates that the financial impact will be greater than the Great Depression and both world wars—combined. Bill McKibben, the author of the first major book on global warming, The End of Nature, warns that it's no longer time to debate global warming, it's time to fight it. | |
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| Challenging the prevailing wisdom that the goal of economies should be unlimited growth, McKibben (The End of Nature) argues that the world doesn't have enough natural resources to sustain endless economic expansion. For example, if the Chinese owned cars in the same numbers as Americans, there would be 1.1 billion more vehicles on the road—untenable in a world that is rapidly running out of oil and clean air. Drawing the phrase "deep economy" from the expression "deep ecology," a term environmentalists use to signify new ways of thinking about the environment, he suggests we need to explore new economic ideas. Rather then promoting accelerated cycles of economic expansion—a mindset that has brought the world to the brink of environmental disaster—we should concentrate on creating localized economies: community-scale power systems instead of huge centralized power plants; cohousing communities instead of sprawling suburbs. He gives examples of promising ventures of this type, such as a community-supported farm in Vermont and a community biosphere reserve, or large national park–like area, in Himalayan India, but some of the ideas—local currencies as supplements to national money, for example—seem overly optimistic. Nevertheless, McKibben's proposals for new, less growth-centered ways of thinking about economics are intriguing, and offer hope that change is possible. | |
The Long Emergency by James Kunstler |
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| The indictment of suburbia and the car culture that the author presented in The Geography of Nowhere turns apocalyptic in this vigorous, if overwrought, jeremiad. Kunstler notes signs that global oil production has peaked and will soon dwindle, and argues in an eye-opening, although not entirely convincing, analysis that alternative energy sources cannot fill the gap, especially in transportation. The result will be a Dark Age in which "the center does not hold" and "all bets are off about civilization's future." Absent cheap oil, auto-dependent suburbs and big cities will collapse, along with industry and mechanized agriculture; serfdom and horse-drawn carts will stage a comeback; hunger will cause massive "die-back"; otherwise "impotent" governments will engineer "designer viruses" to cull the surplus population; and Asian pirates will plunder California. Kunstler takes a grim satisfaction in this prospect, which promises to settle his many grudges against modernity. A "dazed and crippled America," he hopes, will regroup around walkable, human-scale towns; organic local economies of small farmers and tradesmen will replace an alienating corporate globalism; strong bonds of social solidarity will be reforged; and our heedless, childish culture of consumerism will be forced to grow up. Kunstler's critique of contemporary society is caustic and scintillating as usual, but his prognostications strain credibility. | |
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| We know that climate change is happening. We know that it could, if the worst predictions come true, destroy the conditions which make human life possible. Only one question is now worth asking: can it be stopped? In Heat, George Monbiot shows that it can.
For the first time, he demonstrates that we can achieve the necessary cut - a 90% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 - without bringing civilisation to an end. Combining his unique knowledge of campaigning and environmental science, he shows how we can transform our houses, our power and our transport systems. But he also shows that this can happen only with a massive programme of action which no government has yet been prepared to take. His exciting, disturbing ideas expose the cowardice of our politicians. By showing that we can save the biosphere without losing our comfort and security, Monbiot sweeps away their perpetual excuse for doing nothing: that it would be too painful and expensive to sustain life on earth. In every case, he supports his proposals with a rigorous investigation into what works, what doesn’t, how much it costs and what the problems might be. He wages war on bad ideas as energetically as he promotes good ones. He is not afraid to attack anyone - friend or foe - whose claims are false or whose figures have been fudged. HEAT also contains a breath-taking new exposure of the corporations trying to stop us from taking action. Inspiring, original, burning with energy, this book could change the world. Monbiot has also launched a new website, linked to the book, exposing the false green claims made by corporations, politicians and celebrities: www.turnuptheheat.org |
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World as Lover, World as Self by Joanna Macy |
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| A new beginning for the environment must start with a new spiritual outlook. In this book, author Joanna Macy offers concrete suggestions for just that, showing how each of us can change the attitudes that continue to threaten our environment. Using the Buddha's teachings on Paticca Samuppada, which stresses the interconnectedness of all things in the world and suggests that any one action affects all things, Macy describes how decades of ignoring this principle has resulted in a self-centeredness that has devastated the environment. Humans, Macy implores, must acknowledge and understand their connectedness to their world and begin to move toward a more focused effort to save it. | |
The Better World Shopping Guide by Ellis Jones |
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| This is the only comprehensive guide for socially and environmentally responsible consumers available. It contains over 15 years comprehensive research distilled into a pocket-sized, shopping-friendly format, ranking every product on the shelf from A to F - turning your grocery list into a most powerful tool to change the world. About the Author Ellis Jones has been teaching students to make a difference in the world for the past 15 years. A scholar of social responsibility, social change and everyday activism, he founded and directs the Better World Network, giving presentations throughout the US. He currently teaches sociology at University of California, Davis. |
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| Permaculture by David Holmgren |
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| David Holmgren brings into sharper focus the powerful and still evolving Permaculture concept he pioneered with Bill Mollison in the 1970s. It draws together and integrates 25 years of thinking and teaching to reveal a whole new way of understanding and action behind a simple set of design principles. The 12 design principles are each represented by a positive action statement, an icon and a traditional proverb or two that captures the essence of each principle.
Holmgren draws a correlation between every aspect of how we organize our lives, communities and landscapes and our ability to creatively adapt to the ecological realities that shape human destiny. For students and teachers of Permaculture this book provides something more fundamental and distilled than Mollison’s encyclopedic Designers Manual. For the general reader it provides refreshing perspectives on a range of environmental issues and shows how permaculture is much more than just a system of gardening. For anyone seriously interested in understanding the foundations of sustainable design and culture, this book is essential reading. Although a book of ideas, the big picture is repeatedly grounded by reference to Holmgren’s own place, Melliodora, and other practical examples. |
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| Hemenway, a permaculture expert and associate editor of The Permaculture Activist, explains how gardens can function as ecosystems, describes the basic parts of an ecological garden (soil, water, plants, and animals), and shows how to create backyard ecosystems through guilds. Guilds, the author tells us, are groups of plants that function as an ecosystem to provide products for humans, create cover and food for wildlife, nourish the soil, conserve water, and repel pests. A simple example of a guild is the "three sisters" (corn, beans, and squash); corn stalks provide a trellis for beans, the beans supply nitrogen to the soil, and the squash leaves inhibit weeds and conserve water. While Hemenway's ideas are intriguing, creating guilds specific to an area involves extensive research, which involves either observing plant communities in the wild or using books or university contacts. In addition, the author doesn't sufficiently explain how to incorporate the many sun-loving vegetables and flowers into guilds, which are often shade-oriented. Recommended only for botanical and academic libraries. | |
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| A stunning sequel to the classic 1973 book Shelter, Home Work illustrates even more imaginative ways to put a roof over one’s head, some of which were inspired by Shelter itself. Home Work showcases the ultimate in human ingenuity, building construction, and an independent lifestyle. Home Work describes homes around the globe built with soul, creativity, and designed with a solid understanding of natural materials, structure, and aesthetics. Home Work contains over 1,000 photos and 300 line drawings, stories of real people building and living in their own homes, plus photos, stories, and feedback gathered over the thirty years since Shelter was first published. Publisher: Shelter Publications (April 20, 2004) | |
Placemaking Guidebook by The City Repair Project |
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| The City Repair Project started in 1996 with a Portland, Oregon Intersection Repair, a citizen-led transformation of a street intersection into a public square. This book documents the process of rebuilding community by claiming, building and loving public spaces. This book discusses the external forms of placemaking--community kiosks, benches, murals and other public projects, but it also deals with the essence of community building, which is getting people who live near each other to come together as neighbors to converse, collaborate, celebrate, get to know one another, and take ownership of their public spaces. City Repair promotes and facilitates community placemaking organizations and projects throughout the world, including yours! | |
The Barefoot Architect by Johan van Lengen |
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| FROM THE JUNGLES OF BRAZIL – A GREEN BUILDING MANUAL FOR THE 21ST CENTURY Basic design, climate, and site planning for humid and dry climatesAdobe, rammed earth, bamboo, plaster, wood, concrete and ferro-cementFoundations, roofs, floors, walls, doors, windows, and eco-techniquesSolar heating, water-powered electicity, natural cooling and ventilationWater purification, pumps, cisterns, septic tanks, composting toiletsThis book is for people who dream of building a simple home. It is also for those in the building trades: carpenters, masons, plumbers, and artisans, as well as for urban planners, rural technicians, and small community designers. It covers basic design, use of a great variety of natural materials, construction details, natural heating and cooling, and water and sanitation techniques. Although many of the methods shown are traditional, more modern techniques are shown as well. FIRST ENGLISH TRANSLATION - INTERNATIONAL BEST-SELLER Johan van Lengen wrote and illustrated the Manual of the Barefoot Architect in Spanish in 1982, while in Mexico. The government bought 40,000 copies and placed one in every library in the country. The book went on to sell over 200,000 copies in Latin America. An extended version was later published in Portuguese in Brazil. This is the first English translation. |
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| The New Ecological Home by Dan Chiras |
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| Shelter, like many other elements of human existence, comes at an extraordinary cost to our planet and its inhabitants. In the U.S. alone, construction of 1.2 million new homes a year results in a massive drain on Earth's natural resource base. Today, nearly 60 percent of all timber cut in the U.S. is used in building houses, not to mention construction wastes and the huge amounts of resources used in the day-to-day operation of the "modern" household. In addition to environmental costs, there are the personal economic costs--the thousands of dollars each homeowner spends each year to heat, cool, and power our homes. Today, a new generation of architects and builders is emerging, intent on creating homes that meet human needs for shelter while causing only a fraction of the environmental impact of conventional housing. The New Ecological Home provides an overview of green building techniques, materials, products, and technologies that are either currently available or will be in the near future. Author Daniel Chiras provides a wealth of up-to-date, practical information for home buyers, owner-builders, and anyone interested in building for a sustainable future. Included are chapters on: * The Healthy House; * Green Building Materials; * Wood-Wise Construction; * Energy Efficiency; * Earth-Sheltered Architecture; * Passive Solar Heating and Passive Cooling; * Green Power: Electricity from the Sun and Wind; * Water and Waste: Sustainable Approaches;* Environmental Landscaping. | |
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| This latest offering from best-selling author Wolf, The Beauty Myth, is a harbinger of an age that may finally see the patriarchal realm of political discourse usurped. Here is Wolf’s compellingly and cogently argued political argument for civil rights, not women’s rights. She contributes this call to action to a canon that from Plato and Aristotle to Hobbes and Locke and forward, with a few exceptions (e.g., Hannah Arendt), has been largely populated by men. Wolf’s work is actually closer to the agitated, passionate polemics of Emma Goldman than the ponderous, philosophical musings of Arendt. Readers will appreciate her energy and urgency as she warns we are living through a dangerous "fascist shift” brought about by the Bush administration. Her chapters outline the “Ten Steps to Fascism” citing historical corollaries (as well as the pigs in Orwell’s Animal Farm), with headings like “Invoke an External and Internal Threat,” “Establish Secret Prisons,” and “Target Key Individuals.” In other words, fascism can exist without dictatorship. Her book’s publication through a small press in Vermont that is committed to “the politics and practice of sustainable living” rather than through a large trade house is itself a political act. Highly recommended for all collections. —Theresa Kintz, Wilkes Univ., Wilkes-Barre, PA “You will be shocked and disturbed by this book. Most Americans reject outright any comparison of post 9/11 America with the fascism and totalitarianism of Nazi Germany or Pinochet’s Chile. Sadly, the parallels and similarities, what Wolf calls the ‘echoes’ between those societies and America today, are all too compelling.” —Michael Ratner, Center for Constitutional Rights "Naomi Wolf sounds the alarm for all American patriots. We must come together as a nation and recommit ourselves to the fundamental American idea that no president, whether Democrat or Republican, will ever be given unchecked power." —Wes Boyd, co-founder, MoveOn.org “The framers of our Constitution fully understood that it can happen here. Patriots like Madison, Paine, and Franklin would certainly applaud Naomi Wolf and recognize her as a sister in their struggle.” —Mark Crispin Miller, author of Fooled Again "One of the most important books that's been written, certainly in the last decade or two, and perhaps in my lifetime." -- Thom Hartmann, best-selling author and host of The Thom Hartmann Radio Program “Naomi Wolf ’s End of America is a vivid, urgent, mandatory wake-up call that addresses momentous issues of tyranny, democracy, and survival.” —Blanche Wiesen Cook, author of the three-volume Eleanor Roosevelt |
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The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein |
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| Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine advances a truly unnerving argument: historically, while people were reeling from natural disasters, wars and economic upheavals, savvy politicians and industry leaders nefariously implemented policies that would never have passed during less muddled times. As Klein demonstrates, this reprehensible game of bait-and-switch isn't just some relic from the bad old days. It's alive and well in contemporary society, and coming soon to a disaster area near you.
"At the most chaotic juncture in Iraq'' civil war, a new law is unveiled that will allow Shell and BP to claim the country's vast oil reserves… Immediately following September 11, the Bush Administration quietly outsources the running of the 'War on Terror' to Halliburton and Blackwater… After a tsunami wipes out the coasts of Southeast Asia, the pristine beaches are auctioned off to tourist resorts… New Orleans residents, scattered from Hurricane Katrina, discover that their public housing, hospitals and schools will never be re-opened." Klein not only kicks butt, she names names, notably economist Milton Friedman and his radical Chicago School of the 1950s and 60s which she notes "produced many of the leading neo-conservative and neo-liberal thinkers whose influence is still profound in Washington today." Stand up and take a bow, Donald Rumsfeld. There's little doubt Klein's book--which arrived to enormous attention and fanfare thanks to her previous missive, the best-selling No Logo, will stir the ire of the right and corporate America. It's also true that Klein's assertions are coherent, comprehensively researched and footnoted, and she makes a very credible case. Even if the world isn't going to hell in a hand-basket just yet, it's nice to know a sharp customer like Klein is bearing witness to the backroom machinations of government and industry in times of turmoil. --Kim Hughes |
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Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army by Jeremy Scahill |
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| Scahill, a regular contributor to the Nation, offers a hard-left perspective on Blackwater USA, the self-described private military contractor and security firm. It owes its existence, he shows, to the post–Cold War drawdown of U.S. armed forces, its prosperity to the post-9/11 overextension of those forces and its notoriety to a growing reputation as a mercenary outfit, willing to break the constraints on military systems responsible to state authority. Scahill describes Blackwater's expansion, from an early emphasis on administrative and training functions to what amounts to a combat role as an internal security force in Iraq. He cites company representatives who say Blackwater's capacities can readily be expanded to supplying brigade-sized forces for humanitarian purposes, peacekeeping and low-level conflict. While emphasizing the possibility of an "adventurous President" employing Blackwater's mercenaries covertly, Scahill underestimates the effect of publicity on the deniability he sees as central to such scenarios. Arguably, he also dismisses too lightly Blackwater's growing self-image as the respectable heir to a long and honorable tradition of contract soldiering. Ultimately, Blackwater and its less familiar counterparts thrive not because of a neoconservative conspiracy against democracy, as Scahill claims, but because they provide relatively low-cost alternatives in high-budget environments and flexibility at a time when war is increasingly protean. |
| Links | Web sites of interest Recently updated |
| Publishers | Links to publishers of books on green, sustainable topics Recently updated |
| Architecture | Books about architecture and architects. We feature books on architecture with an environmental bent. Recently updated |
| Bamboo | Bamboo - that fabulous renewable resource with a 1000 uses. Recently updated |
| Cob Building | Build
it with mud - natural earth building - beautiful and hand made home
made. Cob is a mixture of sand clay and straw. Recently updated |
| Peak Oil | Recently updated |
| Politics | Recently updated |
| Sustainable Enterprise | Recently updated |
| Cohousing | Cohousing communities combine the advantages of private homes with the benefits of more sustainable living, including shared common facilities and ongoing connections with neighbors. These intentional neighborhoods, created and managed by residents, offer an innovative solution to today's environmental and social challenges. |
| Earth Homes | |
| Earthship | |
| Eco Cities | |
| Green Architecture | |
| Green Building | |
| Green Building Materials | |
| Green Homes | |
| Green Interior Design |
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| Gardens & Landscape | |
| Modular/Prefab | |
| Healthy Homes | |
| Natural Home Building | |
| Natural Building Materials | |
| Off the Grid | |
| Permaculture | |
| Simple Living | I went to the woods
because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential
facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and
not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I wanted to
live deep and suck all the marrow of life... -- Henry David Thoreau |
| Solar Energy | |
| Solar Homes | |
| Strawbale Homes | |
| Sustainable Communities | |
| Sustainable Homes | |
| Sustainability |
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