Environmental and Natural Resource Economics (7th Edition)

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Introduction to EE concepts.......2006-01-21

Tietenberg is a big player in evironmental economics, and clearly lays out the fundamentals of environmental and natural resources economics accessible to those without significant economics training.

Out of Date.......2004-04-28

The book is hopelessly out of date. Although it carries a 2003 publication date, it still refers to the USSR and Czechoslovakia in the present tense. It consistently refers to studies done in the 1980s as recent and less than 25% of the examples, charts. etc. use data from 1990 or later. For example, only 5 out of 37 references in the chapter on Economic Justice are more recent than 1990, and the most recent is 1994. This is typical of just about every chapter. One gets the feeling that the publisher never reviewed this revided edition.

Good for Graduate School.......2001-06-06

I used this book for graduate school. Its a textbook and little more. But, it is a well written textbook.

good.......1999-03-15

goo

The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community (BK Currents)

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Hope Restored
The Great Turning
The Ideal of the Bodhisattva
A "Must Read" for Every Lover of Democracy
A MUST-READ

The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community (BK Currents)
David C Korten
Manufacturer: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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When Corporations Rule the World
Evening Thoughts: Reflecting on Earth as Sacred Community
Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming
Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future
The Post Corporate World: Life After Capitalism (BK Currents)

ASIN: 1887208070

Book Description

The threat of continued warfare to the future of humanity has become dire. "The Great Turning explores that threat in detail and provides an equally detailed plan for meeting -- and overcoming -- it. Written in the author's trademark clear, compelling style, this timely book uncovers the roots of Empire in ancient Athens and charts the long transition from the institutions of monarchy to those of the global economy as the favored instruments of imperialism. Korten then discusses the promise of early America as a democracy dedicated to spreading liberty and freedom -- and the failure of the "American experiment" through the contemporary takeover of the U.S. government by corporate plutocrats, religious theocrats, and neoconservative militarists in pursuit of naked imperial ambition. Korten draws on sources as varied as evolution, developmental psychology, and the wisdom of religious mystics to make the case for "Earth Community" -- a people-centered, community-based future that is both possible and necessary.

Customer Reviews:

Hope Restored.......2007-08-07

David Korten has restored my hope that humanity can and will survive the upcoming collision with our own short sighted Hubris. Some, perhaps many of us will make it through and will have restored to us in the process a great deal more of our own compassionate humanity. Well researched, well written. A seminal work! Thank you David!

The Great Turning.......2007-06-12

This book should be read by anyone thinking about how to move toward a fair, just society. Korten talks about levels of maturity leading to understanding that enough people and groups have reached a level where a society based on the principle of community rather than that of domination is within reach. It undercuts struggling with all the forms injustice takes in our present society and considers joining with like-minded groups all over the world to form a bottom-up society concerned with the good of all rather than just looking out for what's good for the most powerful among us.

The Ideal of the Bodhisattva.......2007-05-13

The Great Turning masterfully traces the concept of Empire from pre-history to the present and states that the current world situtation has been shaped by the concentration of power and wealth in the hands of the few. The motivating actions of governments are to preserve their control over the forces of money and power. The democracies of the Western world are not true democracies as they maintain their control over the many by giving prevledge to the few. Korten goes on to relate various pardighms that our culture buys into and which perpetuate the rule of Empire. one of these views is related in the "Imperial Secular Meaning Story."
"Matter is the only reality. the whole of the cosmos is a product of the orderly playing out of physical forces amenable to description and prediction by mathematical equations. Life is the accidental outcome of material complexity. Consciousness and free will are illusions, nothing more. Because life has no intrinsic meaning, the only rational couse of the intelligent individual is to seek material gratification through the accumulation of wealth and power.
The evolution of the living species occurs through a competitive struggle in which the fittest survive and the less fit perish. Mammalian species, naturally organize themselves into heirarchies of dominance for mutual protection and breeding success.
Human progress likewise depends on competitive struggle in which the most fit triumph and those of second rank serve the most fit. the winners prove their superior worth and therby their contribution to the betterment of the whole by virute of their victory. They have a natural right to the rewards of their victory as their just due. Their is no reason for guilt or for concern for those whom the struggle destroys or leaves behind, as their loss is itself proof that they are the less fit. For the betterment of the whole, we must all accept that this their proper fate."
What makes the Great Turning a landmark book is that it exposes these myths for what they are-propaganda for maintaining control with power and wealth. The actions of governments rather than being for the well being of the people are for the maintaining of the myths which concentrate power and wealth in the hands of the few. Korten goes on to forge the strategy for removal of these myths and replacing them with the reality of a sustainable Earth Community.
The human and Divine potential of the sage, writer, artist, scientist cannot be fully realized without the move away from empire to Earth Community. The Bodhisattva's vow while at the threshold of enlightenment takes on the meaning for all of us to work out our daily lives in harmony with the forces that are attempting to bring about an Earth Community.

A "Must Read" for Every Lover of Democracy.......2007-03-08

This is the most important book I have read in years! There is hope. The people can take back America and truly make it a land of freedom, liberty and justice for all.

A MUST-READ.......2007-02-20

This book has changed the way I think about the world and the challenge we face in avoiding "the great unraveling." After reading it, I want to stand up and start making a difference.

Average customer rating:

Sustainability: Economic revolution - Ecological necessity
The Ecology Of Commerce: A Personal Review
Wonderful Book!
Foundation Reference for Future of Business Without Waste
An outstanding book about healing our environment and our indifference to the crises of planetary pollution

The Ecology of Commerce
Paul Hawken
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
Mid-Course Correction: Toward a Sustainable Enterprise: The Interface Model
Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature
Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming

ASIN: 0887307043

Amazon.com

Paul Hawken, the entrepreneur behind the Smith & Hawken gardening supplies empire, is no ordinary capitalist. Drawing as much on Baba Ram Dass and Vaclav Havel as he does on Peter Drucker and WalMart for his case studies, Hawken is on a one-man crusade to reform our economic system by demanding that First World businesses reduce their consumption of energy and resources by 80 percent in the next 50 years. As if that weren't enough, Hawken argues that business goals should be redefined to embrace such fuzzy categories as whether the work is aesthetically pleasing and the employees are having fun; this applies to corporate giants and mom-and-pop operations alike. He proposes a culture of business in which the real world, the natural world, is allowed to flourish as well, and in which the planet's needs are addressed. Wall Street may not be ready for Hawken's provocative brand of environmental awareness, but this fine book is full of captivating ideas.

Book Description

A visionary new program that businesses can follow to help restore the planet.

Customer Reviews:

Sustainability: Economic revolution - Ecological necessity .......2007-09-09

I discovered both this book and the author after watching "The Corporation", an award winning documentary about the genesis, evolution, and nature of the "dominant institution of our time". In one of the film's many compelling interviews, Ray Anderson, the CEO of the world's largest carpet manufacturer Interface, mentions that after reading Hawken's book he was so deeply convicted about the negative effects his company was having on the environment that he vowed to completely restructure the Interface business model. In a campaign called, "Mission Zero", Interface carpet has promised to "eliminate any negative impact our company may have on the environment by the year 2020." Needless to say, after hearing from Anderson that Hawken's book was capable of so dramatically transforming his managerial approach at Interface, I put The Ecology of Commerce at the top of my "to read" list. I would suggest that you do the same.

[...].

The Ecology Of Commerce: A Personal Review.......2007-09-07

The best book I have ever read since June 1999 was The Sorcerers Apprentice by Tahir Shah. I have read hundreds since then. Some came close to displacing this book. But not one ever quite did.

Until August 2007 when I read this one. The Ecology Of Commerce by Paul Hawken.

The book is amazing piece of writing. A stunning piece of research. An exemplary piece of analysis. An inspiring piece of synthesis. The scope and breadth of the raw and polished material is stunning.

Levels of life from bacteria to the solar system; from subsistence markets to global money markets; from home gardening to food super marketing; from ecological disasters to ecological wisdoms; all levels of life are combed for threads that weave his compelling picture.

The highlights of this book are too many to itemise here.

At the heart of this work is the idea that over the agrarian, industrial and current information ages, the primacy of economy has overtaken the primacy of ecology in the bid to meet the (so-called) needs of 5.8 billion people breeding exponentially.

The top quintile metabolizes 83% of the world resources in the process while the remaining 17% is shared by the other 4.5 billion.

Economic practices and "principles" are outstripping the ecological resources of the planet faster than nature can replace them.

Hawken squarely points the finger at business for plundering these resources but makes the salient point that all these problems derive not from management problems per se but fundamentally from business design problems.

The way business and economy is designed is the key problem. Bad business is the result of bad design. Bad business behaviour and impacts is the result of bad design.

What we need to do is redesign business and the role it plays in human life.

To quote Hawken: "At the heart of the (new) design is a system of commerce and production where each and every act is inherently sustainable and restorative. Business will need to integrate economic, biologic and human systems to create a sustainable method of commerce."

A litany of environmental disasters is chronicled as a necessary preface to solutions.

One hundred and fifty years ago there seemed no need to understand the relationship between business and a healthy environment because natural resources seemed unlimited.

Now the challenge is for business, the single biggest organism in this ecology of commerce, to redesign themselves because natural resources are depleting at alarming rates.

He suggests a set of 8 objectives to move this mission forward.

1. Reduce absolute consumption of energy and natural resources in the North by 80 percent within the next half of the century.
2. provide secure, stable, and meaningful employment for people everywhere
3. Be self-actuating as opposed to regulated or morally mandated
4. Honor market principles
5. Be more rewarding than our present way of life
6. Exceed sustainability by restoring degraded habitats and ecosystems to their fullest capacity
7. Rely on current income
8. Be fun and engaging and strive for an aesthetic outcome.

Hawken filled in a lot of gaps, and synthesised a lot of strands for me, in one powerful book.

One of the gaps he filled for me was the carbon-emission issue. (breathtakingly simulated at the breathing earth website).

Another for me was how green taxes would replace income tax so that the population can afford the real price of food and that tax breaks come on what you can restore and replenish the environment rather than on income.

Another was the tactics and strategies free market interest use to influence and direct public policy.

As I said to my partner, a great thing about this book was that it provided real information for things we suspected for years that we could only express to a slogan or sound bite level.

Also Hawken provides a framework for thinking and acting not only for business, but also for that scared entity for whom the shareholder claims to act.

Namely, the customer. Otherwise known as you or me.

This was a deeply deeply unsettling book. I don't think it was just my age. I think it was because the information is deeply disturbing to anyone who has just been reminded their children and their children cannot be guaranteed clean water to drink or fresh air to breathe.

It's as unsettling as being told your closest friend has cancer.

As Hawken said, the situation was far worse than he could have imagined.

This book had me checking not only my assumptions at the end of each chapter, but the assumptions of my assumptions too.

I'm a learn easy guitar teacher and I was wondering how everybody in the guitar users chain, from the virgin wood growers all the way through the value chain to the end user and teacher can act on the 8 objectives and produce ecologically inspired guitars. And music

Before reading this book such a question about guitar would never have occurred to me.

Wonderful Book!.......2007-06-04

This book is compelling and thoughtful. I find that the analysis is very well thought out and provides insight and solutions to the ecological disaster that we now face, not just a rambling list of how bad everything is and how hopeless our situation as a human race is.

Foundation Reference for Future of Business Without Waste.......2006-12-09

This is easily one of the top ten books on the pragmatic reality of what Herman Daly calls "ecological economics" (see my list of Environmental Security).

The author excels at painting a holistic view of the realities that are not being addressed by the media or by scholars in anything other than piecemeal fashion.

The bottom line: what we are doing now in the face of accelerating decay (changes and losses that used to take 10,000 years now take three years) is the equivalent of "trying to bail out the Titanic with teaspoons." On page 21-22 the author states that we are using 10,000 days of energy creation every day, or 27 years of energy each day.

This is a practical book. In brief, we can monetize the costs of the decay, we can show people the *real* cost of each product and in this way inspire both boycotts (of wasteful products) and boycotts (Jim Turner's term) of solar energy and long-lasting repairable products.

The author appears to be both pro-business and very wise in seeing that the cannot save the environment by destroying business, but rather must save business so it can save the environment--we must help business understand that doing more with less is what they must do to survive.

The author includes a recurring theme from the literature, that diversity is an option generator, and hence one of the most precious aspects of life on Earth. Diversity is the ultimate source of wealth, and anything that reduces diversity is impoverishing the planet and mankind. In a magnificent turn of phrase, the author states that the loss of a species is the loss of a biological library.

At its root this book is about missing information, needed information, about the urgency of making all inputs, processes, and outputs from corporate production transparent. He quotes Vaclav Havel on page 54 as saying that this is an information challenge, a challenge of too much (or too little) information and not enough actionable intelligence supporting sustainable sensible outcomes.

This is also a financial problem that has not been monetized properly. Although E. O. Wilson takes a crack at the strategic or gross costs of saving the Earth in his book "The Future of Life," this author looks at the retail level and describes the waste inherent in our military system. He reminds me of Derek Leebaert's "The 50 Year Wound" when he notes that the US and the USSR spent over 10 trillion dollars on the Cold War, enough to completely re-make the entire infrastructure of Earth, including all schools. As I myself like to note, for the half trillion we have spent on the war against Iraq, we could instead have given a free $50 cell phone to each of the 5 billion poor people, and changed the planet forever.

The author is compelling in pointing out that conservation alone would save more energy than drilling in Alaska, and that President Reagan not rolled back gasoline mileage expectations, we would today be free of any dependency of Middle Eastern energy.

A good part of the book focuses on the need to eliminate waste, what some call "cradle to cradle" (waste must be fully absorbed of other pieces of the system), and where waste cannot be eliminated, to include the cost of its storage in the price of the product, requiring producers of products to take them back (e.g. refrigerators).

I am inspired by the author's view that not only is technology NOT a complete solution, but that full employment is possible if we REDUCE our excessive acquisition of technology that not only replaces humans, but also consumes energy and produces pollution.

This is an extraordinarily clever and useful book that fully integrates discussions of feedback loops and especially of financial and legal feedback loops that are now misrepresentative. One example the author uses is the GATT demand that there be no discrimination of "like" products based on methods of production. This is code for blocking labor laws by imposing high tariffs on products made by slaves or under sweatshop conditions.

I completely agree with one of the author's most important opinions, that we must end corporate claims of "personality" and the rights of a person. This has had two pernicious effects, the first allowing corporations to dominate the public debate; and the second of exempting managers from legal liability and transparency.

The book emphasized the restoration of human and natural capital as vital foundations for evaluating investments--this would dramatically reduce the financial criteria's dominance and emphasis on short-term returns that do not reflect the cost of natural resources and lost jobs to the future and the community.

Distressingly but importantly, the author notes that a major component of the cost of goods is in advertising, where corporations spend more on advertising than the government spends on all secondary schools, and on packaging, much of which is designed to last vastly longer than the contents.

I especially liked the author's suggestion that insurance costs be included in the price of homes and of gasoline, essentially making universal insurance affordable for all. I also liked his idea for indexing Nations by their sustainability, i.e. Most Sustainable Nation (MSN).

The author ends with a restatement of his three fundamentals:

1) End waste
2) Shift to renewable power (solar and hydro)
3) Create accountability and feedback

Although this book was published in 1993 and the author has now published "Natural Capital" (next on my reading list), I did not discover it until recently and am now very enthused about the author's newest project, the World Index of Social and Environmental Responsibility (WISER). I am certain in my heart that a bottom up Earth Intelligence Network is forming, and that end-user voluntary labor--social networks--are going to place enough information in the hands of individuals to restore participatory democracy and moral communal capitalism. This author is extraordinary in his understanding and his ability to teach adults about reality and the future.

An outstanding book about healing our environment and our indifference to the crises of planetary pollution.......2006-03-27

Our planet is threatened on the one side by pressures of overpopulation and on the other side by pressures of nearly exhausted natural resources and pollution that are threatening to make our world uninhabitable. Paul Hawken does a masterful job of explaining the problems we face and suggesting creative solutions to these problems.

Hawken points out that our pursuit of material gain has grown to be such an accepted goal and one that has been so successful for the industrial nations of the world, that it is difficult for most people to realize that the western standard of living cannot be sustained much longer.

Hawken suggests that it is entirely possible to create companies that are profitable but do not destroy the environment - either directly or indirectly. The problem in most Western countries is the limited vision of environmental proponents. They are doing a good job addressing recycling and reducing pollution, but are missing crucial broader principles.

Hawken recommends taxation on pollution. Hawken cautions that the public must stand vigilant guard on issues of protecting the environment, because our government is run by those who have vested interests in corporate profits rather than in the general good of all.

This is an outstanding book about healing our environment, the conduct of business, governmental management of both - and most importantly, about healing our indifference to the crises of planetary pollution and our limited healing of these problems. This book is very highly recommended - despite its publication a dozen years ago.

The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World

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Thank goodness for a voice of reason
Best book I have read in a long time
Bjorn Lomborg is the Waylon Smithers of the corporate world
The Real Deal
A Fraud perpetrated on the Gullible

The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World
Bjorn Lomborg
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521010683

Book Description

Bjørn Lomborg, a former member of Greenpeace, challenges widely held beliefs that the world environmental situation is getting worse and worse in his new book, The Skeptical Environmentalist. Using statistical information from internationally recognized research institutes, Lomborg systematically examines a range of major environmental issues that feature prominently in headline news around the world, including pollution, biodiversity, fear of chemicals, and the greenhouse effect, and documents that the world has actually improved. He supports his arguments with over 2500 footnotes, allowing readers to check his sources. Lomborg criticizes the way many environmental organizations make selective and misleading use of scientific evidence and argues that we are making decisions about the use of our limited resources based on inaccurate or incomplete information. Concluding that there are more reasons for optimism than pessimism, he stresses the need for clear-headed prioritization of resources to tackle real, not imagined, problems. The Skeptical Environmentalist offers readers a non-partisan evaluation that serves as a useful corrective to the more alarmist accounts favored by campaign groups and the media. Bjørn Lomborg is an associate professor of statistics in the Department of Political Science at the University of Aarhus. When he started to investigate the statistics behind the current gloomy view of the environment, he was genuinely surprised. He published four lengthy articles in the leading Danish newspaper, including statistics documenting an ever-improving world, and unleashed the biggest post-war debate with more than 400 articles in all the major papers. Since then, Lomborg has been a frequent participant in the European debate on environmentalism on television, radio, and in newspapers.

Customer Reviews:

Thank goodness for a voice of reason.......2007-08-12

No one denies that there is warming. What *is* being disputed is what are the causes.

Fact: solar changes are far more significant than human causes.

Fact: there have always been changes in overall temperatures.

Fact: many of the temperature collection locations are ill-chosen (changes over time) and ill-maintained (many in Russia e.g.).

Fact: many of the suggested "fixes" for warming will do little for global temperatures, but will be catastrophic for the economy.

Best book I have read in a long time.......2007-08-08

Finally, a book that puts perspective and context to the environmental movement. Yes, we have problems and Yes, we have come a long way in the last century. It provides optimism that together we can solve tomorrow's environmental/quality of life problems. And does this with humor, population increases, quote: "it is not that we have begun breeding like rabbits, but that we are not dying off like flies" that is driving population increases, which should flatten around 12 billion by 2050 or so. And, is this sustainable, yes and no. Read the book.

Bjorn Lomborg is the Waylon Smithers of the corporate world.......2007-07-30

Paper not even worthy a cleaning up after Fido, Bjorn breaks out his best "Pollyanna" dress for Sunday brunch with this sunny side up rotten egg! Undigestable for real scientists, but bubble boys and zombies on a healthy diet of televised info-tainment will eat it up. Pure nonsense.

The Real Deal.......2007-05-19

I have always been deeply skeptical of any "study" or "survey" that does not include numbers and verifiable references. This is not the case in this book. It is well researched and you don't have to be a statistician to understand the graphs and references. Of course since it reflects my empirical world view quite closely (my husband asked if I had written it), I enjoyed it all the more. However, the chapter on global warming is not for the faint of heart. The U.N.'s plan for the way you and I should live scared the socks off me. As an antidote for your chills I suggest you Google "Little Climate Optimum".

A Fraud perpetrated on the Gullible.......2007-05-10

Bjorn Lomberg, a political scientist in Denmark, has become the darling of the anti-environmentalist movement with the claim that he started as an environmentalist, and has disproved their claims. He his book has been found by the Danish government's Committee on Scientific Dishonesty, to be "deemed to fall within the concept of scientific dishonesty. ...In view of the subjective requirements made in terms of intent or gross negligence, ... the publication is deemed clearly contrary to the standards of good scientific practice."

Lomberg was only aquitted on the grounds that he was not, as claimed, an environmentalist. His claim that he was involved in Greenpeace was later found also to be in error, as an examination of Greenpeace records never showed him to have ever been a member. He later claimed that he had at some time, donated money to the organisation.

The book it appears contains 111 outright errors and 208 flaws.

Average customer rating:

Confronting Overconsumption
Best book in Global Environmental Affairs
Best Book in Global Environmental Affairs

Confronting Consumption

Manufacturer: The MIT Press
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0262661284

Book Description

Comforting terms such as "sustainable development" and "green production" frame environmental debate by stressing technology (not green enough), economic growth (not enough in the right places), and population (too large). Concern about consumption emerges, if at all, in benign ways--as calls for green purchasing or more recycling, or for small changes in production processes. Many academics, policymakers, and journalists, in fact, accept the economists' view of consumption as nothing less than the purpose of the economy. Yet many people have a troubled, intuitive understanding that tinkering at the margins of production and purchasing will not put society on an ecologically and socially sustainable path.

Confronting Consumption places consumption at the center of debate by conceptualizing "the consumption problem" and documenting diverse efforts to confront it. In Part 1, the book frames consumption as a problem of political and ecological economy, emphasizing core concepts of individualization and commoditization. Part 2 develops the idea of distancing and examines transnational chains of consumption in the context of economic globalization. Part 3 describes citizen action through local currencies, home power, voluntary simplicity, "ad-busting," and product certification. Together, the chapters propose "cautious consuming" and "better producing" as an activist and policy response to environmental problems. The book concludes that confronting consumption must become a driving focus of contemporary environmental scholarship and activism.

Customer Reviews:

Confronting Overconsumption.......2005-06-04

Obviously you need to consume in order to survive and consume more in order to live comfortably. But in this country at least, it is almost impossible not to overconsume. Our president encourages us to spend more. Our vice president sneers that some "virtuous" people would have us conserve energy rather than use as much as we want to, at any cost. TV and other media bombard us with messages to eat more and buy more. Our financial advisors tell us to buy the biggest house we can afford. When was the last time anyone suggested saving money rather than "investing" it?

Confronting Consumption tackles the problem from several angles. I'm afraid the larger global arguments Princen and his fellow editors and academics make are lost on me when they write of "commoditization" and "conceptualizing the consumption problem." But in the final section they get down to ground level and talk about voluntary simplicity, Adbusters, and alternate methods of home power (off the grid).

An especially interesting observation appears in Michael Maniates's essay about the voluntary simplicity movement. He attended a voluntary simplicity day at a university. Thousands of people showed up, many more than the organizers expected. They wanted to know about cutting living expenses, downshifting, and job-sharing. They were not at all interested in the Sierra Club presentation or other "save the planet" groups. It isn't that people aspiring to live simply don't want to help save the planet. They just want to do it in a more manageable way, one person, one family at a time.

Unfortunately, that won't undo the ecological, financial, and human damage already caused by overconsumption. For that, we will need leaders who at the very least acknowledge that overconsumption is a problem, not a virtue.

Best book in Global Environmental Affairs.......2003-02-02

This award-winning book ("The Best Book in Global Environmental Affairs" according to the International Studies Association) offers an accessible and engaging analysis of the 800 pound gorilla in the living room that environmentalists find difficult to talk about with force: overconsumption. The early portion of the book documents the problem; the middle chunk offers a set of mental lenses for making sense of our quandry; and the final chapters offer real-life stories of actors and movements (the voluntary simplicity movement, for example, and the home power and local currency movements too) challenging the upward escalating trajectory of the consumption of "stuff."

Best Book in Global Environmental Affairs.......2003-01-30

Book Description

One of the worldÂ's most influential environmentalists reveals a worldwide grassroots movement of hope and humanity

Blessed Unrest tells the story of a worldwide movement that is largely unseen by politicians or the media. Hawken, an environmentalist and author, has spent more than a decade researching organizations dedicated to restoring the environment and fostering social justice. From billion-dollar nonprofits to single-person causes, these organizations collectively comprise the largest movement on earth. This is a movement that has no name, leader, or location, but is in every city, town, and culture. It is organizing from the bottom up and is emerging as an extraordinary and creative expression of peopleÂ's needs worldwide.

Blessed Unrest explores the diversity of this movement, its brilliant ideas, innovative strategies, and centuries-old history. The culmination of HawkenÂ's many years of leadership in these fields, it will inspire, surprise, and delight anyone who is worried about the direction the modern world is headed. Blessed Unrest is a description of humanityÂ's collective genius and the unstoppable movement to re-imagine our relationship to the environment and one another. Like HawkenÂ's previous books, Blessed Unrest will become a classic in its fieldÂ— a touchstone for anyone concerned about our future.

Customer Reviews:

Creating a base of solid ground for The Movement.......2007-10-04

This work by Paul Hawken is so affirming and awe inspiring it should be rated 10 stars. It creates a base of solid ground for the thousands of strands of The Movement to join hands and connect and move out from.

I would suggest reading the introduction to The Appendix first to get an understanding of what Hawken and all who contributed to the effort have accomplished. Browse through The Appendix, discover what it means and what it represents. Then read the last chapter. Then start over at the beginning of the book. As you are reading note Hawken's reminders of the importance of singing and dancing along with all the hard work.

Not only are organizations interwoven in this work, but authors, thinkers, poets whom I have loved through the years are referenced and quoted. Again tying strands together. This book is a blessed gift.

The Unconquered Underground.......2007-09-22

This book surely deserves its nearly universal praise, but I'm going to have to throw a wrench into the works by pointing out a few of its structural flaws. As a widely-read conservationist I can credit Paul Hawken as one of the best modern writers and thinkers on our movement, and his classic "Natural Capitalism" is my absolute all-time favorite from the genre. "Blessed Unrest" will surely be a groundbreaker and it could seriously be influential for millions of people for decades to come. But the proof is actually in the appendix (which takes up more than a third of the book), while the main text is faintly disappointing in a few structural ways. In a nutshell, the relatively short main text covers Hawken's research into the quietly rising social movement around the world of literally millions of small organizations that are combining environmentalism, civil rights, and social justice in ways that are revitalizing democracy, conservation, and the human spirit for volunteerism. Most importantly, this movement utilizes ideas and not ideologies, and is inclusive rather than exclusive.

This is a crucially important topic and Hawken is doing the world a great service by bringing this immense but little-respected mass movement into the light. However, only one chapter in the book's main text ("Immunity") and a few other passages really focus specifically on this great movement and how exemplary groups are creating real change. Instead, most of the main text functions as a lengthy introduction that accomplishes little more than a set-up for the appendix. Hawken fills these pages with a fairly standard history of the environmental movement and the latest developments in conservationist philosophy. Of course this material is informative and necessary, but similar information can be found in myriad other books, and here it becomes quite predictable and detracts from the specifics of the unique worldwide movement that this book is supposed to be about. Thus the book becomes a bit of a disappointment for those who have been attracted by its promotional materials, which promise coverage of the movement itself, not its less specific historical underpinnings.

With that being said, the book is saved by the immense appendix, which is built from the crucial and valuable database of small worldwide organizations at the WiserEarth website. Here we can see the movement in full flower, with a useful categorization of volunteer efforts into a mindboggling array of topics that combine conservation of the Earth's gifts and justice for humanity. This book will be vastly influential merely for drawing attention to this outstanding online resource. Overall, Hawken remains at the top of the heap for influential and inspirational conservationist writers, but just beware of this book's structural limitations. [~doomsdayer520~]

A thought provoking and revealing book, an absolute masterpiece by a genuis.......2007-09-14

After many years of reading, one book stands out, this is it, this is one of the best books that I have ever read, it reveals many truths not found in regular books, like where we are heading as human beings, and about how we are destroying the environment and upsetting the fragile ecological balance of mother earth etc. I've been book marking many pages and am amazed by the wisdom and inspiration of this book.

It mentions how civilizations, species, indigenous people and cultures are being destroyed by greed and materialism, by most of us, it talks about Columbus and colonialism and how it has destroyed entire cultures and civilizations, quote "Native people have remarked that, of the many promises made by white men, the only one that they kept was the vow to take their land"

Most popular books available today are about "How to succeed", "How to make more money" "How to open a franchise" " "How to market", "How to get an MBA" etc, there are very few books on morality, wisdom, truth, divinity, modesty, humbleness, respect, protection of the environment, protection of animals etc.

It reminds us that from our very first day at school, through high school and college, we are mostly taught about making money and materialism, getting and spending etc, we have thus become modern day slaves to banks and the wealthy in the form of mounting debt, we are debt ridden all our lives and it takes a lifetime to pay off this debt, part of the ultimate consumer society.

Today, markets and currencies are manipulated by wealthy nations, and poorer nations are at the mercy of industrialized nations, sadly poorer countries are exploited by trading their minerals, diamonds, gold, raw materials, forests etc. by wealthier nations and are paid for in kind by weapons and armaments, which are then used for committing genocide on their own people while wealthy nations enjoy all the material comforts and luxurious life at the expense of the poor.

Hawkens mentions that businesses talk about adding value and making higher profits to satisfy shareholders, but at what price, profit without consequence is what they are practicing, they do not think about the destruction to the environment and natural resources, the practice of a 'profits at any cost' will lead to a scorched earth, which threatens our very existence on planet earth.

Globalization only benefits wealthy and highly industrialized nations, it results in exploitation of resources in poorer nations, destroying their cultures, natural resources and the environment so that more profits can be made by the wealthy, i.e. profits without shame, the best example is China, which has the worst human right's record and worker abuses bordering on slavery, only a handful of wealthy Chinese folks and the Communist Party are benefiting from it, what a pity. Globalization is the modern day equivalent of imperialism and colonization, sadly the rich get richer and the poor suffer.

Paul Hawkens is a true visionary and a genius, this book has many spiritual insights. it should become a prescribed text book in high schools and colleges around the world.

Bharat V. P.
Ohio (Lenasia, SA)

A RAY OF HOPE IN THIS PROFIT-BEFORE -PEOPLE WORLD.......2007-09-13

I have just read and am happy to recommend Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming. " Blessed Unrest" is that restlessness and energy that humans of conscience and good will experience when they encounter such evils as injustice, poverty, and wanton damage to the environment.

Author Paul Hawken posits a worldwide coalescing (aided by the World Wide Web) of over a million grass-roots organizations, non-government organizations, relief agencies, and a few enlightened persons and organizations of wealth and influence (e.g., Warren Buffett, the Omidyar Network), each with its special focus, but all sharing a vision of a healed and equitable earth. He likens this unrest to the body's little understood but marvelously effective immune system

This book is partly about profits-before-people social injustice, and climate change, and it cites at length the many shocking global injustices and environmental catastrophes caused by governments (including ours), transnational corporations, the military, and so on. Although you may know of some such instances, Hawken details many examples you may not have known before, concerning Bechtel, The IMF, Exxon-Mobile and Conoco, the World Bank, The WTO, and many others. For example. he describes at length how the massive peaceful demonstrations at WTO's Third Ministerial in Seattle in 1999 were turned into "riots" by over-reactive police and sensationalist reporting by the media.

Another example: The World Bank forced Bolivia (the 5th poorest nation in the world) to privatize a water system to a company partially owned by multinational corporation Bechtel, resulting in water rates to Bolivia's poor becoming higher than for wealthy Bechtel executives living near San Francisco

Hawken holds up two bright red flags regarding our future. In 2005, the Millenium Ecoystem Assessment report, a consensus representing over 1,000 international scientists, concluded that the earth is rapidly losing its ability to support life as we know it due to pollution and environmental degradation and could soon enter a precipitous decline. The second red flag is the separate and rapidly increasing threat of climate change, a human-caused phenomenon recently emphasized in the media. His conclusion is that in order to preserve and heal the earth, and its climate, we must simultaneously address and heal social injustices, including of poverty, ignorance, biases of race, religion, nationality, and culture.

You may read other reviews of this book by Googling the author and title. Hawken is also the author of Natural Capitalism, which former President Clinton has named one of the five most important books in the world today. In its exposition of the world-wide "underground" massing of forces of social change, Blessed Unrest is the only recent book of this kind I have read that gives me a shred of hope for the future.

One caution: as you read, have a good dictionary at your side, unless such words as eutrophication and fungible are part of your daily word bank. For sure, Hawken has not written Blessed Unrest for Dummies. But please consider reading this book; it is informative, hopeful, and important.

Important Book.......2007-09-08

Extremely well-written, insightful, brilliant analysis of what we're all doing to our planet. Grim, yet optimistic.

The Improving State of the World: Why We're Living Longer, Healthier, More Comfortable Lives on a Cleaner Planet

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Right, but...
Antidote to Disaster

The Improving State of the World: Why We're Living Longer, Healthier, More Comfortable Lives on a Cleaner Planet
Indur Goklany
Manufacturer: Cato Institute
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming (and Environmentalism)
Eco-Freaks: Environmentalism Is Hazardous to Your Health!
The Age of Abundance: How Prosperity Transformed America's Politics and Culture
The Chilling Stars: The New Theory of Climate Change

ASIN: 1930865988

Book Description

Many people believe that globalization and its key components have made matters worse for humanity and the environment. Indur M. Goklany exposes this as a complete myth and challenges people to consider how much worse the world would be without them. Goklany confronts foes of globalization and demonstrates that economic growth, technological change and free trade helped to power a cycle of progress that in the last two centuries enabled unprecedented improvements in every objective measurement of human well-being. His analysis is accompanied by an extensive range of charts, historical data, and statistics. The Improving State of the World represents an important contribution to the environment versus development debate and collects in one volume for the first time the long-term trends in a broad array of the most significant indicators of human and environmental well-being, and their dependence on economic development and technological change. While noting that the record is more complicated on the environmental front, the author shows how innovation, increased affluence and key institutions have combined to address environmental degradation. The author notes that the early stages of development can indeed cause environmental problems, but additional development creates greater wealth allowing societies to create and afford cleaner technologies. Development becomes the solution rather than the problem. He maintains that restricting globalization would therefore hamper further progress in improving human and environmental well-being, and surmounting future environmental or natural resource limits to growth. **Key points from the book** * The rates at which hunger and malnutrition have been decreasing in India since 1950 and in China since 1961 are striking. By 2002 China's food supply had gone up 80%, and India's increased by 50%. Overall, these types of increases in the food supply have reduced chronic undernourishment in developing countries from 37 to 17%, despite an overall 83% growth in their populations. * Economic freedom has increased in 102 of the 113 countries for which data is available for both 1990 and 2000. * Disability in the older population of such developed countries as the U.S., Canada, France, are in decline. In the U.S. for example, the disability rate dropped 1.3 % each year between 1982 and 1994 for persons aged 65 and over. * Between 1970 and the early 2000s, the global illiteracy rated dropped from 46 to 18 percent. * Much of the improvements in the United States for the air and water quality indicators preceded the enactment of stringent national environmental laws as the Clean Air Act of 1970, Clean Water Act of 1972, and the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974. * Between 1897-1902 and 1992-1994, the U.S. retail prices of flour, bacon and potatoes relative to per capita income, dropped by 92, 85, and 82 percent respectively. And, the real global price of food commodities has declined 75% since 1950.

Customer Reviews:

Right, but... .......2007-06-22

Indur Goklany has written a very convincing and fact-filled work arguing that Mankind is thanks primarily to technological development on a progressive path towards greater and greater well- being. As the subtitle of the book says he argues that we are living longer , healthier more comfortable lives on a cleaner planet.

In an outstanding review of this book in 'Foreign Affairs'James Suroweicki suggests it is the Industrial Revolution that is at the heart of the economic and social transformation which is the subject of this book.
"In the West, above all, the effects of this transformation have been so massive as to be practically unfathomable. Real income, life expectancy, literacy and education rates, and food consumption have soared, while infant mortality, hours worked, and food prices have plummeted. And although the West has been the biggest beneficiary of these changes, the diffusion of technology, medicine, and agricultural techniques has meant that developing countries have enjoyed dramatic improvements in what the United Nations calls "human development indicators," even if most of their citizens remain poor. One consequence of this is that people at a given income level today are likely to be healthier and to live longer than people at the same income level did 40 or 50 years ago.
But Suroweicki takes objection to the idea that it is unregulated free market which alone can deal with environmental problems and points out that it is only through various government initiatives that the quality of air and water has improved in most Western cities.
This book does a good job of debunking the work of the doomsayer demographers of the Ehrlich, Club of Rome school which were at the heart of public awareness in the nineteen seventies.
To do this it amasses a tremendous amount of evidence as to the generally improved quality of life in most geographical regions. It does note the exceptions in sub- Saharan Africa and Russia.
Yet it does not give sufficient attention to such possibly catastrophic processes as nuclear proliferation. Nor does he consider the full effect of radical fundamentalist Islam both on the standards, level of economic development in Islamic societies- but on their general capacity for bringing through war disruption and even disaster to the world.
Nor does he consider the damage wrought by new technology on the family, and the overall mental health - profile of mankind. The great growth in mental illness, primarily Depression certainly is related to disruptive effects of new technology.
Thus while presenting a very convincing case that technological progress has given us longer, more prosperous lives Goklany does not reckon fully the negative consequences which have also come with this.

Antidote to Disaster.......2007-05-13

Probably one of the most important, well written, and throughly researched books on the topic of human development and the way we interact with our environment to come out in the past decade. It is a detailed and unapologetic look at what is really going on and where we should properly focus our attention in the future.
It is a brilliant answer to the eco-doom "best-sellers" that have proliferated recently. Highly recommended for those who want to KNOW, not just pontificate and pursue a political agenda.

Average customer rating:

Handbook on Urban Sustainability

Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Urban Planning & Development | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Environmental Science | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

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All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 1402053509

Product Description

Municipal authorities and agencies around the world are striving to place their cities on the road to sustainability. Cities, as very complex entities, offer a constant interaction between people, resources and the environment. This makes strategic planning demanding and difficult.

This book, written by worldwide specialists from Canada, India, Italy, Palestine, Peru, Spain and the Netherlands, is a guide to establishing a city on a sustainable path. It addresses sustainable urban planning issues by breaking the city down to its main components. The authors analyze and discuss such topics as:

urban social and economic factors, including immigration and cultural integration, the gender component, the formation of slums, and social indicators

the interaction of the city with the environment, including the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

urban and regional economics, including specialization and dependency, asset management, and community facilities

the relationship of a city within its region

urban planning, including urban sprawl and core revitalization

housing and relocation, including such concepts as community participation

degradation and measures to reverse this situation

energy needs, transportation management, basic infrastructural services, the generation and disposal of waste, and water in the region

a citys preparedness, including risk analysis and contingency plans

urban reconstruction after disasters

The concluding chapters provide a what to do and how to do it practical roadmap for implementing a sustainability program.

Amazon.com

Paper or plastic? Cloth or disposable? Regular or organic? Every day, environmentally conscious consumers are faced with the overwhelming catch-22 of a capitalist society--reconciling the harm we do by consuming, while still providing ourselves and our families with the goods and services we need. It's enough to make a city dweller crazy. Fret no more! The Union of Concerned Scientists has put together a well-researched and eminently practical guide to the decisions that matter. The authors hope that the book will help you set priorities, stop worrying about insignificant things, and understand the real environmental impacts of household decisions. For instance, you may be surprised to learn that buying and eating meat and poultry is much more harmful to the environment than the packaging the meat is wrapped in, even if it's Styrofoam. This guide takes on both sides of the consumer-impact argument, goring sacred cows of the environmentalist movement (like the strident emphasis on recycling) and the industrialist perspective (like the relentless message to buy more, more, more). If you're confused and overwhelmed by all the environmental decision-making in the modern world, you'll find new inspiration in this book. --Therese Littleton

Book Description

From one of the most prestigious nonprofit organizations devoted to environmental issues comes a clear, practical, and rational overview of the relationship between consumers and the environment.

Paper or plastic? Bus or car? Old house or new? Cloth diapers or disposables? Some choices have a huge impact on the environment; others are of negligible importance. To those of us who care about our quality of life and what is happening to the earth, this is a vastly important issue. In these pages, the Union of Concerned Scientists help inform consumers about everyday decisions that significantly affect the environment. For example, a few major decisions--such as the choice of a house or vehicle--have such a disproportionately large affect on the environment that minor environmental infractions shrink by comparison.

This book identifies the 4 Most Significant Consumer-Related Environmental Problems, the 7 Most Damaging Spending Categories, 11 Priority Actions, and 7 Rules for Responsible Consumption. Learn what you can do to have a truly significant impact on our world from the people who are at the forefront of scientific research.

Customer Reviews:

EVERYONE should read this book.......2007-09-30

Impeccably researched, well-referenced, and very convincing. This book will convince the shrewdest skeptics. It focuses on high-impact habits, and doesn't harp on the little tiny details that don't make a big difference. A fantastic book; true to its title!

Some good ideas.......2007-08-23

This was purchased as a gift for someone who is very interested in the health of our environment. It is a good book for those who share that interest.

Short and practical .......2007-07-04

This short and practical guide tells us how we can make a difference in protecting our environment...and also tells us what behaviors do not.

It sheds a lot of insight on the topic, while also dispelling lots of myths concerning different options and choices available to today's consumer (paper or plastic?, cloth or disposable?, etc., etc.)

worth reading, but getting dated.......2007-04-24

This book is now a bit dated. The largest impact we make on the environment according to the authors is driving a car. What, in 2007, is the best environmental car choice, a hybrid (what happens when all these batteries die?) or a high mileage diesel that the European car makers are building?
Likewise, in home heating, now that there are tax credits for energy efficient home improvements, what is the most cost effective thing we can do that makes a difference?
I would like to read something a little more up to date on these topics, but this book was a good readable into to making good choices.

restating the obvious.......2007-04-10

Travel less, install more energy efficient appliances and lighting, get better gas mileage in you car, install better insulation in your house, eat less meat. That's most of the book, it does break things down to help you decide what choices make the most difference, but there is no groundbreaking information in here that will change your life. If you want to make an impact on your environmental footprint, you need to make sacrifices in your life, that's what it comes down to. The one thing I did learn was that heating a cup of water in the microwave uses less energy (less wasted heat) that on the stove. But much of the info in this book is interesting statistically, but not really that useful to the average consumer.

Greener Pasture on Your Side of the Fence: Better Farming Voisin Management-Intensive Grazing (4th Edition)

Average customer rating:

Murphy teach us the basics, once again.
Exelente libro para el manejo del pastoreo
Rational vs Rotational - This concept could change your farming life forever...
Greener Pasture on Your Side of the Fence: Better Farming Vo
Has what it takes!

Greener Pasture on Your Side of the Fence: Better Farming Voisin Management-Intensive Grazing (4th Edition)
Bill Murphy
Manufacturer: Arriba Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

All Flesh Is Grass: Pleasures & Promises Of Pasture Farming
Grass Productivity (Conservation Classics)
Salad Bar Beef
Storey's Guide to Raising Beef Cattle: Health/Handling/Breeding
The Contrary Farmer (Real Goods Independent Living Book)

ASIN: 0961780738

Book Description

This book explains in detail why and how to use management intensive grazing, and what to expect from its use for most kinds of livestock. I provide many examples to illustrate fine points, including producing milk, beef, and lamb on pasture alone, nutrient cycling, grounding energizers, recovery periods, economics, and much more. I present everything that I learned during 17 years of using Voisin management on my own farm, and answer all questions that have been asked me during conferences and farm visits with farmers. This book shows a way to increase your farm's profitability and reduce its labor demand -- thereby improving your quality of life -- while properly and responsibly caring for the land and the plants and animals that live on it.

Customer Reviews:

Murphy teach us the basics, once again........2007-01-11

Murphy's book is a comprehensive review of Voisin Grass Productivity book complemented with his own experience in Vermont.
I read it and found it very helpful in my search for milk production productivity and profits in my dairy farm in the Coffee area of Colombia.
I am still looking for books or experiences with Voisin rational grazing in the Tropics, where we use mainly grass to feed our cows outside and have followed feed companies advise on supplementing grains and feedstuffs, without questioning prices of grass, milk, corn silage and supplemental feeds.
If Murphy worked with the Voisin system in Brasil it would be great to have his experience written in a second book for Latin America.

Exelente libro para el manejo del pastoreo.......2007-01-10

Una muy completa y acertada visión del ecosistema pastizal y su profunda relación con una alta y sustentable productividad, contiene mucho conocimiento practico de como son las cosas en el campo.

Rational vs Rotational - This concept could change your farming life forever..........2005-08-28

Challenge your thinking and change your ways. Your pastures will thrive, your animals will be healthier and you'll have more time to lay in the hammock instead of throwing hay bales around. Andre Voisin, a French farmer, biologist and chemist--as well as a teacher at the Institute of Veterinary Medicine in Paris, designed a system that he calls "rational grazing" (as opposed to the generic term "rotational grazing"). Rational grazing takes into account the needs of the animal and plant, rather than the animal alone. The term "rational grazing" can mean two things: the thinking way of grazing management, or a system for rationing out the forage. Interested? Then read the book!

Greener Pasture on Your Side of the Fence: Better Farming Vo.......2002-12-24

Loved this book - although I have only one horse and can not do some of the intensive grazing techniques, I do have a better understanding about maintaining the pastures. This has been very useful and will enable me to get together with the neigbors and do several horses on the pastures in rotation. We will all have more edible forage for the horses.

Has what it takes!.......2001-12-06

I'm reading this book for the third time - there's just too much info to digest in one reading. We are just starting with cattle and are using this book as our bible. It not only explains the many advantages of raising animals using managment intensive grazing (more profit, environmentally friendly, humane, better nutrition, ease of animal handling), it goes into great detail on HOW to do it. My husband used the chapter on fencing to select products that have received many positive comments from visitors to the farm. I especially enjoyed reading about pasture plant diversity and how cattle "harvest" it. Our cattle look (and taste) great, much to the shock of long-time cattle farmers in our community who are surprised that two greenhorns like us can do so well. We attribute our success to this book and highly recommend it.

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