Green Reading & Media List
This list of "green reading" books and other media may help assist you in greening your daily habits and leading a more sustainable lifestyle. It was compiled through recommendations from DEEP staff and supplimented with an Internet search. If you have a suggestion for a book, movie, poem or other published work that fits the theme of this page, please let us know and we'll consider adiding it here.
Listed in alphabetical order, these books can be found at libraries, bookstores, as well as on-line at Amazon, BookFinder, and other Internet sites. As you look through the list, you will notice that the title and author of books are provided as well as the ISBN (International Standard Book Number). The ISBN is a unique number assigned to a book title by its publisher for tracking and ordering purposes. Publishers, retailers, libraries, and readers use the ISBN as a way to specify a particular book without confusion; it is essentially a product identifier. You can find the ISBN on the back cover and is the best way to identify your book. Therefore searching for books by ISBN ensures that you find the correct edition and copy. We recommend that as you search for the books below, you search by title but also cross reference the ISBN to ensure that you have found the same book listed here. Descriptions of the books were taken from the author's, publisher's and retailer's websites, or from published reviews.
|
General |
|
A New Green History of the World: The Environment and the Collapse of Great Civilizations |
|
A Sand County Almanac |
|
An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It |
|
Born Under a Bad Sky: Notes from the Dark Side of the Earth |
|
Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water |
|
Collapse |
|
Confessions of an Eco Sinner – Tracking Down the Sources of My Stuff |
|
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things |
|
Desert Solitaire |
|
Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit |
|
Eco Village at Ithaca: Pioneering a Sustainable Culture |
|
Energy in America: A Tour of our Fossil Fuel Culture and Beyond |
|
Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash |
|
Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage |
|
David Suzuki’s Green Guide |
|
In Defense of Food |
|
Living green: A Practical Guide to Simple Sustainability |
|
No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process |
|
Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble |
|
Rubbish! The Archaeology of Garbage |
|
Silent Spring |
|
Simple Prosperity: Finding Real Wealth in a Sustainable Lifestyle |
|
Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered |
|
Song for a Blue Ocean |
|
Stumbling Toward Sustainability |
| Taking Out the Trash: A No-Nonsense Guide to Recycling |
|
The Bridge at the Edge of the World |
|
The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth |
|
The Eco Chick Guide to Life: How to be Fabulously Green |
|
The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability |
|
The Ecology of Eden |
|
The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story |
|
The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget: Save Money, Save Time, Save the Planet |
|
The Man Who Planted Trees |
|
The Story of Stuff |
|
The Story of Yew |
|
The Weathermakers |
|
The World Without Us |
|
Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature |
|
Walden |
|
Wilderness and the American Mind |
|
The Botany of Desire |
For Kids |
|
Compost, By Gosh! An Adventure with Vermicomposting |
| Recycling and Waste Disposal |
Food/Organic |
|
An Organic Recipe for Development |
|
Diet for a Small Planet |
|
Food Fight |
|
Losing Ground |
|
Organic, Inc. |
|
The Omnivore’s Dilemma |
|
The Organic Food Guide |
|
The Worm Café Mid-Scale Vermicomposting of Lunchroom Wastes |
A New Green History of the World: The Environment and the Collapse of Great Civilizations
Author: Clive Ponting
ISBN 978-0143038986
“British historian Ponting provides a fascinating and comprehensive environmental perspective on the rise and fall of civilizations, including the Sumerians, the Egyptians, and the Mayans. Beginning with hunting-and-gathering societies, settled societies, and the industrialized societies of today, he describes how each has had greater effects on the environment than the last. Settled societies use more resources to support larger populations, often overextending the resources available. "Since the rise of settled societies . . . the majority of the world's population has lived in conditions of grinding poverty." Ponting's forecast for the future based on current population trends and available resources is equally bleak. "To feed the whole world on the diet enjoyed by the average American, using the same level of inputs into agriculture, would require the entire world's current oil production and exhaust known reserves within not much more than a decade. This book is a significant contribution that needs to be available and promoted in every public library.”
A Sand County Almanac
Author: Aldo Leopold
ISBN: 978-0195146172
“In this 1949 literary landmark, Leopold, a hunter and forester, uses close observation to argue the intangible benefits of wilderness by describing ecosystems from the perspective of the land and the animals that dwell there.”
An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It
Author: Al Gore
ISBN 1-59486-567-1
“Al Gore’s groundbreaking book, An Inconvenient Truth, brings together leading-edge research from top scientists around the world, as well as photographs, charts, and other illustrations to document the reality of global warming--and to sound a warning bell for action before it’s too late. Filled with personal anecdotes and observations about how this issue has become a central focus in Mr. Gore’s life--and why he believes it is the crucial issue of our time--AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH argues that global warming is not just about science, nor is it just a political issue: it is a moral issue and we have a responsibility to do something about it.”
Born Under a Bad Sky: Notes from the Dark Side of the Earth
Author: Jeffrey St. Clair
ISBN 978-1904859703
“Jeffrey St. Clair is a sane voice in a chaotic, cruel world. The most articulate, passionate writer covering environmental issues in America today, no other author matches St. Clair’s deep understanding of our noxious political landscape, nor his unwavering commitment to preserving what’s left of the embattled American west. He’s been in the muddy trenches for decades, covering the savage forest battles of the Pacific Northwest as editor of Forest Watch and the eminent Wild Forest Review, and this wisdom shines herein. This latest collection of reports from the frontlines should be atop the reading lists of all who want to understand what it is going to take to push the environmental movement forward, when the fate of our little blue planet seems to be sinking, with the barons of industry drunk at the helm. While the history and events discussed in this book are not pretty (in fact, they are pretty damn depressing at times), St. Clair’s writing describes them in a style that he has become known for. Hard-hitting with the occasional humor, he lays out the facts of his subject matter and then reels in the reader with prose that captivates the reader like the best blues narratives. You get the story and you get it with an emotional force and truth you’ll rarely find in the New York Times.”
Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water
Author: Marc Reisner
ISBN: 978-0140178241
“Reisner's compelling chronicle of water management and mismanagement in the West brought well-deserved attention to the pressing need for wise water use policy.”
Collapse
Author: Jared Diamond
ISBN: 978-0143036555
“With modern-day lessons from places as diverse as Japan and Rwanda, Diamond's haunting narrative exploration through doomed civilizations makes the case that ecological catastrophe can be averted if we make the right choices.”
“Through a grab bag of case studies that range from the Mayan Empire to modern China, Diamond tries to distill a unified theory about why societies fail or succeed. He identifies five factors that contribute to collapse: climate change, hostile neighbors, trade partners (that is, alternative sources of essential goods), environmental problems, and, finally, a society's response to its environmental problems. The first four may or may not prove significant in each society's demise, Diamond claims, but the fifth always does. The salient point, of course, is that a society's response to environmental problems is completely within its control, which is not always true of the other factors. In other words, as his subtitle puts it, a society can "choose to fail."
Confessions of an Eco Sinner – Tracking Down the Sources of My Stuff
Author: Fred Pierce
ISBN: 9780807085950
“Pearce's quest to discover the hidden world sustaining Western consumption habits is fulfilled with varying degrees of success in this, his third book. Tracking the routes taken by the items in his home—his coffee, cell phone, computer, green beans, chocolate, socks—from raw ingredient to finished product, the author presents fascinating firsthand investigations, as when he visits a group of fair-trade coffee farmers, follows the trail of his donated shirts to markets in Africa, visits Uzbek communities whose health, infrastructure and environment have been devastated by the cotton industry, and interviews female sweatshop workers who view their factory jobs as empowering. When Pearce strays from these journalistic portraits, however, he is prone to flaccid opining about the greenest fuel sources and simplistic boosting for urban planners designing small-footprint cities. The most effective chapters puncture the feel-good myths surrounding fair trade and recycling and introduce unique characters, such as the farmers and middlemen responsible for getting prawns from Bangladesh to a London curry shop. Although a timely effort, Pearce's diffusion of his reportorial mission with green-pleading mires his refreshing discoveries in moralizing and familiar cant.”
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
Author: William McDonough & Michael Braungart
ISBN: 978-0865475878
“Environmentalists are normally the last people to be called shortsighted, yet that's essentially what architect McDonough and chemist Braungart contend in this clarion call for a new kind of ecological consciousness. The authors are partners in an industrial design firm that devises environmentally sound buildings, equipment and products. They argue that conventional, expensive eco-efficiency measures things like recycling or emissions reduction are inadequate for protecting the long-term health of the planet. Our industrial products are simply not designed with environmental safety in mind; there's no way to reclaim the natural resources they use or fully prevent ecosystem damage, and mitigating the damage is at best a stop-gap measure. What the authors propose in this clear, accessible manifesto is a new approach they've dubbed "eco-effectiveness": designing from the ground up for both eco-safety and cost efficiency. They cite examples from their own work, like rooftops covered with soil and plants that serve as natural insulation; nontoxic dyes and fabrics; their current overhaul of Ford's legendary River Rouge factory; and the book itself, which will be printed on a synthetic "paper" that doesn't use trees. Because profitability is a requirement of the designs, the thinking goes, they appeal to business owners and obviate the need for regulatory apparatus. These shimmery visions can sound too good to be true, and the book is sometimes frustratingly short on specifics, particularly when it comes to questions of public policy and the political interests that might oppose widespread implementation of these designs. Still, the authors' original concepts are an inspiring reminder that humans are capable of much more elegant environmental solutions than the ones we've settled for in the last half-century. It reads best with an open mind.”
Desert Solitaire
Author: Edward Abbey
ISBN: 978-0671695880
“This spirited critique of the car culture that has blighted our national parks is also an invitation to experience the natural world.”
Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit
Author: Al Gore
ISBN: 978-1594866371
“A passionate and lifelong defender of the environment, Vice President Al Gore describes in this classic best-selling book how human actions and decisions can endanger or safeguard the vulnerable ecosystem that sustains us all. The book's groundbreaking analysis helped place the environment on the national agenda, summoning politicians, the media, and the public to attention and action. The message remains just as urgent today as it did eight years ago: while much has been accomplished, we must meet a global environmental challenge that reaches into every aspect of our society.”
Eco Village at Ithaca: Pioneering a Sustainable Culture
Author: Liz Walker
ISBN: 0-865715246
“This is a very truthful and inspiring story of the development of Ecovillage at Ithaca, with all its successes but also with the challenges and problems faced by the community. This is an excellent first-hand personal account of the forming, and subsequent trials, tribulations and accomplishments of one of the most famous eco-villages in the US. Liz Walker does a good job describing how the eco-village at Ithaca began as more of a movement than just a simple community. She details some of the initial aspects of getting the community going, and offers up some vignettes on life in the community as it formed and once it was formed and stable.”
Energy in America: A Tour of our Fossil Fuel Culture and Beyond
Author: Ingrid Kelley
ISBN: 978158465640
"Those wishing to board the green-technology bandwagon might benefit from learning how the wagon is built and the existing road over which it must travel. This is a useful guide for those purposes. Green technologist Kelley identifies her audience as the concerned public rather than energy and policy experts. For the former, she inventories the existing energy infrastructure; its primary fuel supplies of coal, oil, and gas; and the pollutants they emit. Her tone steadily factual, Kelley caps her discussion of each energy element with a roster of Web sites of government agencies and advocacy organizations engaged in greening up America's energy complex. Turning from the past to the future, Kelley explains technical attributes of renewable energy sources, ranging from solar panels to something called an anaerobic digester, and touts strategies for introducing them into the energy grid. Readers drawn to the issue of global warming but perhaps unsure of technological options for mitigating it will be better informed by Kelley's knowledgeable overview of the green viewpoint on the generation and delivery of power." "Taylor, Gilbert".
Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash
Author: Elizabeth Royte
ISBN: 031615461X
"Refuse reflects truth," writes Brooklyn-based journalist Elizabeth Royte. "We underestimate how much booze we drink; we overestimate our leafy greens." To uncover the truth about her own consumption patterns--and what really happens to the waste she makes--Royte literally got her hands dirty, spending almost a year sorting and weighing her household trash, then following it to its final destinations.”
Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage
Author: Heather Rogers
ISBN: 978-1595581204
“Heather Rogers' 'Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage' takes a very interesting look at recent history as seen through the recent history of garbage. It's not, as we might surmise, something that has always been with us. Garbage is the focus of economic, social and technological forces that are usually quite well hidden, beneath -- garbage. Rogers' book is fascinating, didactic and consistently surprising. It's well-written, passionately argued and admirably short.”
David Suzuki’s Green Guide
Authors: David Suzuki and David R. Boyd, (Greystone Books)
ISBN: 978-1-55365-293-9
“[David Suzuki’s Green Guide] tackles those confusing questions. You know the ones: does a bath or a shower use more water? Is it better to turn on the dishwasher or hand-wash? …Handy tables and charts sprinkled throughout offer eye-opening statistics. …Practical, informative, and easy-to-take.”
“…even with just small steps, we can all help create a better, more sustainable, tomorrow for ourselves as well as generations to come. But the book is more than just a checklist or guide to being green. It is also filled with inspiring true stories of countries, cities and everyday people who have embraced greener, cleaner, healthier choices, all the while working toward a positive, sustainable outcome for ourselves and our planet.”
In Defense of Food
Author: Michael Pollan
ISBN: 978-0143114963
“In Defense of Food shows us how, despite the daunting dietary landscape Americans confront in the modern supermarket, we can escape the Western diet and, by doing so, most of the chronic diseases that diet causes. We can relearn which foods are healthy, develop simple ways to moderate our appetites, and return eating to its proper context -- out of the car and back to the table.
Living green: A Practical Guide to Simple Sustainability
Author: Greg Horn
ISBN: 1893910474
“Greg Horn did an excellent job with this book! It's very comprehensive, realistic and empowering. It explains the effects on the environment from the food we eat, the products we use, the energy choices we make and how our homes are built. The best part is his very specific recommendations in each chapter. Some of the life changes are quick and easy and others require longer term planning. Horn doesn't sugar coat the disturbing facts about our current environmental problems but focuses on the many potential solutions. Some of the content of this book may be a bit shocking to people who haven't read environmental literature lately, but fortunately Horn balances every problem with one or more solutions. After reading the book, I feel informed and empowered that I am making choices that are making a real difference.”
No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process
Author: Colin Beavan
ISBN: 9780374222888
“When it comes to saving the planet, can one person really make a difference? Define difference. For Beavan, his wife, and their infant daughter, it meant trying to live for a year in New York City without producing any trash, consuming any nonlocal foodstuffs, or traveling by any method other than foot-power. It meant not buying anything new, giving up coffee, going off the grid. From their first baby steps (no takeout) to their giant leap (no toilet paper), the Beavans' experiment in ecological responsibility was a daunting escapade in going green to the extreme. Along with the frustrating practicalities of schlepping a two-year-old, a dog, and a bike up and down nine flights of stairs came the exhilarating rush of success as each new challenge was met and conquered. Yet throughout, Beavan experienced overwhelming crises of faith in both himself and his mission. So fervent as to make Al Gore look like a profligate wastrel, Beavan's commitment to the cause is, nonetheless, infectiously inspiring and uproariously entertaining.”
Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble
Author: Lester R. Brown
ISBN: 978-0393328318
“Lester Brown notes that if the environmental trends of recent decades continue, the global economy will soon begin to unravel. The food sector, he believes, is the most vulnerable. Record-high temperatures and falling water tables are already taking the edge off grain harvests in some countries, including China, the world's largest grain producer. At that point, it will be clear that business as usual--Plan A--is not working. In Plan B. Brown outlines a World War II-type mobilization to stabilize climate by restructuring the global energy economy and to stabilize population by investing heavily in health care, family planning, and the education of girls in developing countries.”
Rubbish! The Archaeology of Garbage
Author: William Rathje and Cullen Murphy
ISBN: 0816521433
“Rathje and Murphy show what the study of garbage tells us about a population's demographics and buying habits. Along the way, they dispel the common myths about our "garbage crisis"—about fast-food packaging and disposable diapers, about biodegradable garbage and the acceleration of the average family's garbage output. They also suggest methods for dealing with the garbage we do have.”
Silent Spring
Author: Rachel Carson
ISBN: 978-0618249060
“In her book that gave birth to the modern environmental movement, Carson exposes the hazards of pesticides and other pollution, sounding both a warning and a call to action.”
Simple Prosperity: Finding Real Wealth in a Sustainable Lifestyle
Author: David Wann
ISBN: 9780312361419
“In his bestseller Affluenza, David Wann and his co-authors diagnosed the debilitating disease of over-consumption. In Simple Prosperity he shows readers how we can overcome this disease by investing in a variety of real wealth sources. To recapture a more abundant and sustainable lifestyle, try: Creating a richer life story through personal growth incentives, Forming higher-yield friendships and stronger bonds through social capital, Taking preventive healthcare measures to build up wellness reserves, Caring for people, not just cars, to improve your neighborhood wealth index and Celebrating instead of desecrating! Cultural prosperity futures value the earth as a sacred place.”
Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered
Author: E.F. Schumacher
ISBN: 978-0060916305
“Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered is a collection of essays by British economist E. F. Schumacher. The phrase "Small Is Beautiful" came from a phrase by his teacher Leopold Kohr. It is often used to champion small, appropriate technologies that are believed to empower people more, in contrast with phrases such as "bigger is better". First published in 1973, Small Is Beautiful brought Schumacher's critiques of Western economics to a wider audience during the 1973 energy crisis and emergence of globalization. The Times Literary Supplement ranked Small Is Beautiful among the 100 most influential books published since World War II. A further edition with commentaries was published in 1999.”
“The classic of common-sense economics. ‘Enormously broad in scope, pithily weaving together threads from Galbraith and Gandhi, capitalism and Buddhism, science and psychology.’
"Perhaps we cannot raise the winds. But each of us can put up the sail, so that when the wind comes we can catch it." - E. F. Schumacher, Small Is Beautiful
Song for a Blue Ocean
Author: Carl Safina
ISBN: 0805046712
“Chronicling Safina’s ocean expeditions and encounters with scientists, fishermen and sea creatures,”Song for a Blue Ocean exults in the author’s wide and varied background: Safina writes with a scientist's knowledge, a fisherman's background, a writer's lyricism and a conservationist's passion.”
Stumbling Toward Sustainability
Author: John C. Dernbach
ISBN: 1-58576-036-6
“A much needed report from civil society, this volume assesses U.S. performance since Rio. It lays out a roadmap for a societal shift that takes new routes to improving people's lives and sustaining the environment.”
“This timely book spotlights the promise of new approaches to decision making and incentives for stewardship. The authors also show we must do far more to protect our ecosystems and public health. Business as usual puts the world we cherish at great risk.”
Taking Out the Trash: A No-Nonsense Guide to Recycling
Author: by Jennifer Carless
ISBN: 1559631708
“Overview of concepts and practices of recycling, from the history of recycling to the issues of today. Taking Out the Trash is a practical and useful guide to how individuals, businesses, and communities can help alleviate America's garbage crisis.”
The Bridge at the Edge of the World
Author: James Gustave Speth (author of Red Sky at Morning)
ISBN: 978-0300151152
“Acclaimed environmentalist Speth asserts that our capitalist economy, with its emphasis on continuous robust growth, is at loggerheads with the environment. He minces no words as he writes that to destroy life as we know it, all we have to do is “keep doing exactly what we are doing today.” Observations from nineteenth-century naturalists, such as Audubon writing about the passenger pigeon, reveal humanity’s failure to understand the repercussions of environmental destruction, a lack of foresight now exacerbated by the whirlwind demands of modern consumerism. Quotes from economists, political philosophers, and technology experts offer erudite analyses of a realization set out in Bill McKibben’s Deep Economy (2007) and now gaining momentum: society’s slavish devotion to economic growth does not allow for critical environmental protections. We need look no further than the controversial Kyoto Protocol, Speth reminds us, as evidence. If Americans do not rein in spending, only one result is assured. If we do not learn to consume less, we will consume the biosphere itself in our binge.”
The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth
Author: E.O. Wilson
ISBN: 978-0393330489
“In this wonderfully written book on the marvels of nature, renowned Harvard entomologist Wilson makes the moral case to preserve biodiversity from a humanistic, religious and practical standpoint.”
The Eco Chick Guide to Life: How to be Fabulously Green
Personal Author: Starre Vartan
ISBN: 9780312378943
“Journalist Vartan, founder of the environmental Web site eco-chick.com, makes going green irresistible in this breezy, energetic guide. In upbeat prose that will especially appeal to younger women, Vartan emphasizes that sustainable living needn't involve making sacrifices; her host of recipes, trivia, instructions on cooking up homemade household cleaners and pet food (not to mention toothpaste!) and tips on ecological makeovers for the home, body and wardrobe make an environmentally friendly lifestyle seem desirable, accessible and full of creative potential. Packed with profiles of inspiring eco chicks and lists of organic products and companies, the book supplies readers with every possible resource necessary to launch and sustain their eco-conversion. Vartan's pleasure in living consciously is infectious; readers will appreciate her lack of condescension or preachiness and feel inspired to test if not wholeheartedly adopt her simple prescriptions. The author informs and entertains as she presents natural solutions to roaches (catnip!), the unexpected health benefits of cast-iron cookware, how to offset the carbon-emissions caused by plane travel and how to (subtly) convert others to the cause.”
The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability
Author: Paul Hawken's
ISBN: 0887306551
“Hawken begins with the premise that business is not just a reasonable agent for achieving sustainability; it is the only mechanism powerful enough to reverse global environmental and social degradation. He goes on to argue that "every commercial act in today's industrial society, regardless of intention, degrades the environment. We need, says Hawken, a system where the opposite is true, where the everyday acts of work and production accumulate in a better world as a matter of course. Hawken outlines a series of economic strategies that will overthrow the conventional wisdom among both economists and environmentalists."
The Ecology of Eden
Author: Evan Eisenberg
ISBN: 0394577507
“For thousands of years, we have dreamed of going back to a time, to a place - Eden, Arcadia, and the Golden Age - to a paradise that we ourselves have never known. The Ecology of Eden is at once an inquiry into this dream and a startling new vision of humankind's role in nature. The Ecology of Eden sheds a new light on present-day environmental problems, showing how we can make peace with our exile not by going back but by looking forward: by learning from nature itself - with, perhaps, some help from Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker - how humans and nature can make tough, supple music together.”
The High Price of Materialism
Produced by the Center for a New American Dream.
In this short animation, psychologist Tim Kasser discusses how America's culture of consumerism undermines our well-being. When people buy into the ever-present marketing messages that "the good life" is "the goods life," they not only use up Earth's limited resources, but they are less happy and less inclined toward helping others.
The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story
Author: Richard Preston
ISBN: 0679430946
“The dramatic and chilling story of an Ebola virus outbreak in a suburban Washington, D.C. laboratory, with descriptions of frightening historical epidemics of rare and lethal viruses. More hair-raising than anything Hollywood could think of, because it's all true.”
The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget: Save Money, Save Time, Save the Planet
Author: Josh Dorfman
ISBN: 9781584797746
“In The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget, Josh Dorfman takes you inside the latest developments in green living to demonstrate how you can easily and affordably have your designer jeans and your planet too. From raising eco-conscious kids to greening your daily commute, Dorfman provides insights into the next wave of green innovation and the products and services that will lighten your planetary impact and lower your expenses. Find bargain basement deals on stylish organic bedding and bamboo furnishings at the largest retailers in the world. Score instant rebates on everything from compact fluorescent light bulbs to energy-efficient air conditioners. And earn reward points for carpooling with friends. In a time when many people are feeling financially restricted, The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget is your guide to effortlessly saving the planet while keeping some extra cash in your pocket.”
The Man Who Planted Trees
Author: Jean Giono
ISBN: 1890132322
“Twenty years ago Chelsea Green published the first trade edition of The Man Who Planted Trees, a timeless eco-fable about what one person can do to restore the earth. The hero of the story, Elzéard Bouffier, spent his life planting one hundred acorns a day in a desolate, barren section of Provence in the south of France. The result was a total transformation of the landscape-from one devoid of life, with miserable, contentious inhabitants, to one filled with the scent of flowers, the songs of birds, and fresh, flowing, water.”
The Story of Stuff
Produced by The Story of Stuff Project. Narrated by Anne Leonard.
A 20-minute animation of the consumerist society and the life cycle of everyday items from its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.
The Story of Yew
Author: Guido Mina di Sospiro
ISBN: 978-1-89917-163-7
How often do you encounter a tale told by a tree? A tree that had seen a thousand winters before the Vikings came to America. She is a female tree, she explains with botanical exactitude, with access to the consciousness and memories of all other trees, and even to her own race memory, which is that of the first tree that grew on Earth. This is the Story of Yew, oldest of the old. And because her story becomes intimately entwined with humankind, it is also the Story of You.”
“One of my all time favorite books, this 'autobiography' of a centuries old yew tree is full of knowledge about forest ecosystems and lessons which have a bearing on our lives today. A fun, inspiring read.”
The Weathermakers
Author: Tim Flannery
ISBN: 1-920885-84-6
“Scientist Tim Flannery argues the importance of addressing the implications of a global change that is damaging all life on earth and threatening our very survival. This book addresses the global crisis caused by climate change while looking at the overwhelming science behind global warming.”
The World Without Us
Author: Alan Weisman
ISBN: 0312427905
The New Yorker: “Teasing out the consequences of a simple thought experiment¬ what would happen if the human species were suddenly extinguished¬ Weisman has written a sort of pop-science ghost story, in which the whole earth is the haunted house. Among the highlights: with pumps not working, the New York City subways would fill with water within days, while weeds and then trees would retake the buckled streets and wild predators would ravage the domesticated dogs.”
Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature
Author: William Cronon
ISBN: 0393315118
“The essays in Uncommon Ground challenge our accepted ideas about nature and push us to a deeper understanding of the environmental implications of our views. In a lead essay that states the broad argument of the book, Cronon writes that the environmentalist goal of wilderness preservation is conceptually and politically wrongheaded. The problem is that we haven't learned to live responsibly in nature. Rather than attempting to exclude humans, environmental advocates should help us learn to live sustainably with nature.”
Walden (Novel)
Author: Henry David Thoreau
“More than a literary staple of English classes across the United States, Thoreau’s most famous work, which chronicles his two-year retreat to the woods, celebrates the simple life.”
"Walden" is the classic account of two years spent by Henry David Thoreau living at Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts. The story is detailed in its accounts of Thoreau's day-to-day activities, observations, and undertakings to survive out in the wilderness for two years. Thoreau's journal is an exquisite account of a man seeking a more simple life by living in harmony with nature. In today's fast-paced consumer-driven society the austere life style endorsed by Thoreau is as relevant and refreshing as ever.”
Wilderness and the American Mind
Author: Roderick Nash
ISBN: 978-0300091229
“In this 1967 classic on the origins of America's environmental movement, Nash makes the case that the view of undeveloped wilderness as a treasure worth saving is a uniquely American idea.”
The Botany of Desire
Author: Michael Pollan
ISBN: 0-375-76039-3
“This work explores the nature of domesticated plants from the dual perspective of humans and the plants themselves. Pollan presents case studies that mirror four types of human desires that are reflected in the way that we selectively grow, breed, and genetically engineer our plants. The apple reflects the desire of sweetness, the tulip beauty, marijuana intoxication, and the potato control. Pollan narrates his own experience with each of the plants, which he then intertwines with an exploration into their social history. Each section presents an element of human domestication, or the "human bumblebee" as Pollan calls us. The stories range from the true story of Johnny Appleseed to Pollan's first-hand research with sophisticated marijuana hybrids in Amsterdam to the paradigm-shifting possibilities of genetically engineered potatoes.”
Books for Kids:
Compost, By Gosh! An Adventure with Vermicomposting
Author: Michelle Eva Portman
(Children’s book)
ISBN: 0942256166
“Author Michelle Eva Portman presents a wonderful adventure where a young girl and her mom convert a storage box into a house for their new pets. The box becomes a vermicomposting bin and the pets are redworms. Portman’s poetic, rhyming couplets provide a grand explanation of the process of vermicomposting in a manner that the youngest reader/listener will enjoy. The story is accompanied by adorable illustrations. The book includes How To and Resources sections to encourage further exploration of vermicomposting.”
Pee Wee and the Majical Compost Heap
The first book of the Pee Wee Series, 'Pee Wee and the Magical Compost Heap,' introduces children to backyard composting through the adventures of Pee Wee, the endearing little red wiggler worm, and all the insects in the compost heap. The adventure begins when four neighbourhood children are magically transported on the back of a butterfly to visit Castle Compost.
Pee Wee's Great Adventure
Pee Wee's Family in a Nutshell ISBN# 0969788320
The book begins where the second in the series left off. After reminiscing to his friends about the worm bin where he was born, Pee Wee realized how much he missed his cousins and other dear friends from the past. His new pals noticed his gloomy mood and they set out on another adventure to reunite Pee Wee with his family. Ironically, the worm bin at school needed a caretaker. Nancy and her brother Scott won the contest for the right to care for the bin over the summer and they proudly toted it home right after school. Too tired to anything else for the bin at the moment, they rested it by the backyard apple tree. Suddenly, Vanessa – the magical and beautiful butterfly, visits Nancy, Scott and their friends Mathieu and Naseem one more time. With her special powers, Vanessa shrinks the children down to the size of bugs. Pee Wee was thrilled to visit with his family – and share the adventure with his dear friends - but the compost pile will always be “home” for him.
Pee Wee Goes to the Fair
Author: Lorraine Roulston
ISBN: N/A - Independently Published
Recycling and Waste Disposal (SWANA)
This is a whole website dedicated to Green Reading books for Kids.
Organic Reading
An Organic Recipe for Development
Author: Stephen Leahy
“Organic agriculture is a potent tool to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, but also to alleviate poverty and improve food security in developing countries, many experts now believe…….Everyone is embracing organic agriculture now. And climate change will only boost that interest," Engelsman said.
Diet for a Small Planet
Author: Frances Moore Lappe
ISBN: 0345321200
“If you're a practicing vegetarian, then you've no doubt come across this book. Although our younger readers may not appreciate this, it's still around after 32 years. (The sequel will be reviewed shortly.) The author was passionate about her subject, and practiced what she "preached." And you don't need to be a vegetarian to benefit from the section on substitutions, for example. It is an eye-opening treatise from one of our food pioneers.”
Food Fight
Author: Daniel Imhoff
ISBN: 0970950020
“With the U.S. Farm Bill coming up for revision this year, it's difficult for consumers to interpret the complex jargon used by the USDA. Daniel Imhoff has attempted to make the bill more user-friendly. Those of us who want to understand what the bill will mean for farmers and consumers will find this book helpful.”
Losing Ground
Author: Environmental Working Group
ISBN: N/A, available free on-line
"A 2011 EWG study called Losing Ground shows that our nation's broken farm policy is harming the productive soils that are the foundation of healthy and sustainable food production. Losing Ground, based on innovative new research by scientists at Iowa State University -- and featured in The New York Times -- shows what industrial-scale crop production is doing to the land we depend on for our food. As part of this eye-opening report, EWG filmed Iowa farmland losing soil after recent rainstorms and created a short video (with Atlas Films) that highlights how federal farm subsidies and ethanol mandates are threatening healthy and sustainable food production. If you are concerned about the food that you and your family eat and the water you drink, this is a video that you cannot miss. Maintaining healthy soil is crucial to farming healthy food."
Organic, Inc.
Author: Samuel Fromartz
ISBN: 0156032422
“This recent publication contains a wealth of information on the history and progress of the organics "movement", organic farming, and organic products. Mr. Fromatz's journalistic background has served him well, as his first book is well-researched and engaging. For those of us who are committed to organics, this book will serve to solidy our belief in the importance of organic farming, and give us a better understanding of the forces and the major players involved in the organics "industry".
The Omnivore’s Dilemma
Author: Michael Pollan
ISBN: 978-1594200823
“In this groundbreaking book, one of America’s most fascinating, original, and elegant writers turns his own omnivorous mind to the seemingly straightforward question of what we should have for dinner. To find out, Pollan follows each of the food chains that sustain us—industrial food, organic or alternative food, and food we forage ourselves—from the source to a final meal, and in the process develops a definitive account of the American way of eating.”
The Organic Food Guide
Author: Steve Meyerowitz
ISBN: 0762730692
“This book by Steve "the Sproutman" Meyerowitz is straightforward and no-nonsense in its coverage of organic vs. non-organic foods. If you are new to the organics lifestyle, it will cover the basics and give you a basis for comparison. Happy eating!
The Worm Café Mid-Scale Vermicomposting of Lunchroom Wastes
Author: Binet Payne; Illustrations by Paul Bourgeois
(Children’s Book)
ISBN: 0942256115
“The WormCafe: Mid-Scale Vermicomposting of Lunchroom Wastes describes how a teacher and her students developed a system to compost lunchroom waste with worms and save their school $6000 per year. How they performed a waste audit, garnered support from school personnel. This book discusses bins, bedding, and maintenance, harvesting and using castings in the school garden. It also contains earthworm diagrams, bulletin board materials, quizzes, and letters to parents, charts, and dozens of resources. This is a great manual for schools, small businesses and community groups.”
Content Last Updated May 29, 2020