Book Description
Worldchanging is poised to be the Whole Earth Catalog for this millennium. Written by leading new thinkers who believe that the means for building a better future lie all around us, Worldchanging is packed with the information, resources, reviews, and ideas that give readers the tools they need to make a difference. Brought together by Alex Steffen, co-founder of the popular and award-winning web site Worldchanging.com, this team of top-notch writers includes Cameron Sinclair, founder of Architecture for Humanity, Geekcorps founder Ethan Zuckerman, sustainable food expert Anna Lappé, and many others. Renowned designer Stefan Sagmeister brings his extraordinary talents to Worldchanging, resulting in a book that will challenge readers to personally redefine the conversation about the future.
Each chapter offers readers new answers to key questions, such as:
Why does buying locally produced food make sense?
What steps can I take to influence my workplace toward sustainability?
How do I volunteer, advocate, and give more effectively?
From eco-building to responsible shopping, political action to humanitarian relief, Worldchanging
puts the power to solve problems into the readerÂ's hands.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting but not what I expected.......2007-09-14
This is more like an encyclopedia than "a users guide for the 21st century". The hefty volume includes hundreds of short topical articles on lots of different things but doesn't go into a lot of detail on any. I was hoping for more practical examples of things I could do to survive in a changing world but was disappointed. For example, there is a section on Green Rooftops. You would think that a "users guide" might give you practical advice on creating one. Instead it talks about how they are great for saving energy and creating gardens. Okay... I get that and I agree but maybe a little more info please?
All and all the writing is good and it does cover a lot of topics I just think that the description when buying it leads one to believe there is a bit more depth than there actually is.
This book could change your world.......2007-08-29
This publication is worth it's weight in something quite valuable. It provides a mass of information on all sorts of subjects relating to changing your outlook and how to live within the planets available resources. It has some surprisingly useful tips on things like how to make a small apartment look and feel big by using great space saving ideas; how to use less of the planets scarce resources in many ways.
My only beef is that it looks like a self published volume and so lacks gravitas somehow. For example it does not have any information on the inner fly page about the book, such as year of publication, publisher, ISBN Number, and other essential info. Another problem I found was actually finding some of the reference works in the text. Not enough info to enable the reader to trace sources adequately.
I found it very difficult for example to find the publisher of one work I was interested in. Google hadn't even heard of the publisher. I did find them and the book eventually but had to try very hard and boy, was it obscure.
Even though the jacket and outer are quite attractive, they reek of self-publishing. This is not good for the image of a book on such an important subject.
Sorry chaps, only 6 out of 10 from me.
Good reference.......2007-07-15
Some info is out of date and biased, ie article on Vancouver (my home town). Lots is covered, not in much depth but there are lots of references for further reading. Would be a great addition to everyone's reference section.
brilliant!.......2007-07-12
For a "users guide" I actually expected something more "portable"... its brilliant in its content and design!!
A smart and inclusive book, really recommendable! .......2007-07-03
The book contains small articles about everything between heaven and earth all within the envionmental scope of interest. You find your self reading it, flipping through the pages wanting more info...A fun concept between an excellent encyclopedia, interesting facts book and a nice coffee table book. Only con might be the size, making it a bit bulky to read for more than a short while...
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 field— 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.
Book Description
Wangari Muta Maathai was born in Nyeri, Kenya in 1940. In 1960, she won a Kennedy scholarship to study in America and earned a master's degree in biology from the University of Pittsburgh and became the first woman in East Africa to earn a Ph.D.
Returning to Kenya in 1966, Wangari Maathai was shocked at the degradation of the forests and the farmland caused by deforestation. Heavy rains had washed away much of the topsoil, silt was clogging the rivers, and fertilizers were depriving the soil of nutrients. Wangari decided to solve the problem by planting trees.
Under the auspices of the National Council of Women of Kenya, of which she was chairwoman from 1981 to 1987, she introduced the idea of planting trees through citizen foresters in 1976, and called this new organization the Green Belt Movement (GBM). She continued to develop GBM into broad-based, grassroots organization whose focus was women's groups planting of trees in order to conserve the environment and improve their quality of life. Through the Green Belt Movement, Wangari Maathai has assisted women in planting more than 20 million trees on their farms and on schools and church compounds in Kenya and all over East Africa.
In Africa, as in many parts of the world, women are responsible for meals and collecting firewood. Increasing deforestation has not only meant increasing desertification, but it has also meant that women have had to travel further and further afield in order to collect the firewood. This in turn has led to women spending less time around the home, tending to crops, and looking after their children. By staying closer to home, earning income from sustainably harvesting the fruit and timber from trees, women not only can be more productive, they can provide stability in the home. They can also create time for education opportunities—whether for themselves or their children.
This virtuous circle of empowerment through conservation is serving as a model throughout the world, where women both individually and collectively are entrusted with money and material to invest it in ways that make a difference to their daily lives. Wangari Maathai's Green Belt Movement is a great example of how one person can turn around the lives of thousands, if not millions of others, by empowering others to change their situation.
Wangari's road to success was by no means easy. During the 1970s and 1980s, she came under increasing scrutiny from the government of Daniel arap Moi. She was frequently the target of vilification from the government, as well as subject to outright attacks and imprisonment. She refused to compromise her belief that the people were best trusted to look after their natural resources, as opposed to the corrupt cronies of the government, who were given whole swathes of public land, which they then despoiled.
In January 2003, Wangari Maathai was elected by an overwhelming margin to Parliament, where she is the Assistant Secretary for Environnment, Wildlife, and Natural Resources in the democratically elected Kibaki government. Even though she is now being protected by the very same soldiers who once arrested her, her voice on behalf of the environment is still strong and determined.
In The Green Belt Movement, founder Wangari Maathai tells its story: why it started, how it operates, and where it is going. She includes the philosophy behind it, its challenges and objectives, and the specific steps involved in starting a similar grassroots environmental and social justice organization. The Green Belt Movement is the inspiring story of people working at the grassroots level to improve their environment and their country. Their story offers ideas about a new and hopeful future for Africa and the rest of the world.
Customer Reviews:
nobel quality.......2007-10-11
this is a historic epistle written by the nobel prize laureate of Kenya regarding her all round approach to promoting ecological sustainability as the key to expanding social justice. An essential book to possess and share. bill bronston, MD
Absolutely fascinating work.......2005-02-07
This book took me into the grassroots level work of the newest Nobel Peace Prize winner. I was glad to get a glimpse into what the world is just recognizing as the new frontier - the hope that comes from action at the local level which makes real course changes in our world as a whole. I enjoyed the very practical outline of this movement's accomplishments and connections to the growing consciousness for earth's slow, steady salvation.
GREEN BELT MOVEMENT.......2005-02-07
I found this book to be an enlightening and educating account of the background and work of the current Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Wangari Maathai. THE GREEN BELT MOVEMENT is currently the only volume that provides as much insight on this topic.
This book aptly illustrates the practical effect a visionary can have towards the cause of unifying and balancing the degraded social, cultural and biological environment that we inhabit, by it's ample portrayal of the life, philosophy and focus of Prof. Maathai.
I highly recommend this book.
Depressed about the environment? Read this book!!.......2005-02-05
The Green Belt Movement by Wangari Maathai is a wonderful, informative and user-friendly book that gives a good sense of the movement's history and the person behind it. Just as Maathai in her work likes to keep her hands in the dirt planting trees, in her book she cuts directly to the meat and bones of what the Green Belt Movement is about and how it functions practically on the ground.
The book illustrates both the work of the Green Belt Movement and the philosophical motivations behind it, making it a useful and applicable guide to any person or organization interested or involved in a grassroots, holistic, and sustainable approach to changing the environmental and social threads of our world.
Throughout the text Maathai's directness, integrity and humor shines through, revealing the dynamic and rich personality behind this inspirational movement.
"I assumed that all people working in public service loved the people they served, were accountable and transparent, and had integrity. That was part of the culture that had been inculcated in me by my parents and teachers. It was part of my personality, character and conscience. I have since learned that such assumptions are shared by few." This statement is vital to an understanding of who Wangari Maathai is and is one of the reasons she won the Nobel Peace Prize. She has always had great integrity and she has never been willing to compromise it.
Throughout the book there are passages that let the reader know that this person who is writing is brilliant, funny and also deeply modest. Wangari Maathai is an extraordinary person and this book provides a good sense of the hard work that went into creating the Green Belt Movement. I recommend it.
Green Belt Movement inspiring!.......2005-02-04
Wangari Maathai represents the possibility that all of us can make a difference, if we only make a commitment. THE GREEN BELT MOVEMENT is an important introduction to her work. She has inspired thousands and I am one who looks to her example - especially when we environmentalists feel despair in the current U.S. political climate.
Book Description
"A masterful combination of emerging theory and empirical comparison of one of the most intriguing areas of transnational politics. Keck and Sikkink access a broad range of theory from social movements, international relations, and comparative politics research to glean from a wealth of their own research findings solid and thought-provoking conclusions about the most interesting and least well-understood area of contentious politics in the world today."--Sidney Tarrow, Cornell University (Government)
"Activists beyond Borders is a searching exploration of advocacy networks, providing compelling accounts in areas such as human rights and environmental protection and an intriguing glimpse into the transnational politics of the twenty-first century."--Robert O. Keohane, Duke University
Margaret E. Keck and Kathryn Sikkink examine a type of pressure group that has been largely ignored by political analysts: networks of activists that coalesce and operate across national frontiers. Their targets may be international organizations or the policies of particular states. Historical examples of such transborder alliances include anti-slavery and woman suffrage campaigns. In the past two decades, transnational activism has had a significant impact in human rights, especially in Latin America, and advocacy networks have strongly influenced environmental politics as well. The authors also examine the emergence of an international campaign around violence against women.
Customer Reviews:
A voice beyond the mainstream IR theories.......2002-04-14
Who are the most relevant actors in international relations? The answer is states for both neorealists and neoliberals though the latter also consider some non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations (MNC) as remarkable units in international politics. Constructivists, on the other hand, pay considerable attention to non-state actors while they also keep states as central actors. Margaret E. Keck and, Kathryn Sikkink present us a well-designed discussion about the significance of non-state actors of world politics in Activist Beyond Borders. First of all, they classify transnational actors into three groups; MNC and international banks that have instrumental goals, epistemic communities that insist on causal ideas and transnational advocacy networks (TAN) that carry principal ideas.Then, they analyze the significance of TAN in international politics by searching for how do TAN work and how do they change conceptions of national interest and principles of policies organizations? Keck and Sikkink mention four fundamental strategies of TAN; information politics, symbolic politics, leverage politics, and accountability politics. They generate information, use symbolic elements, put pressure on states and international organizations, and follow their accountability to international norms. Their effectiveness, however, depend on the issue and actor characteristics that they are targeting. What they do? They cause to reformulation of national interests and they eventually change behavior of states. The principled ideas are the key for TAN and they also lead ideas to transformation of states interests and policies. Activist Beyond Borders has three case studies in the area of TAN; human rights, environment, and violence against women. In these cases, transnational human rights advocacy networks changed authoritarian Latin American governments' notions and policies of human rights. TAN in environment shifted the World Bank's funding policies in corresponding to the protection of environment. TAN in women's rights lead to change state policies in two areas. One of the most significant arguments for IR theory that Keck and Sikkink state is that TAN lead to changes in state understandings of sovereignty. Then states begin to accommodate to re-conceptualized sovereignty at the expense of realist notion of absolute sovereignty. In this sense, they question the realist premises of state interests. They also emphasizes that TAN are important source of new ideas, norms and identities that make repercussions over behavior of states and international organizations. They carry transformative and mobilizing ideas into international system and finally shape fundamentally policies of both state and non-sate actors in world politics. In addition, the authors stress upon the importance of domestic actors for TAN to be successful. Overall, Activists Beyond Borders asserts that TAN endeavor to transform the terms and nature of the debate on fundamentals of international politics.
Destined to become a classic.......2001-10-10
Margaret Keck and Kathryn Sikink's "Activists Beyond Borders" is almost certainly the most significant book yet to have appeared on the role of activist networks in shaping global politics. It's a joy to read, theoretically rich but never overly dense, and it's also inspiring -- probably why it received the prestigious Grawemeyer World Order Award. The introduction, on "Transnational Advocacy Networks in International Politics," would make an excellent reading for a graduate course on International Relations theory. But the same could be said for almost every chapter in the book. The case-studies build upon the prior research of both authors to present fascinating overviews of the evolution of activist networks in the fields of human rights, the environment, and violence against women. In each instance, the authors are careful to include examples of networks that did *not* crystallize in certain issue-areas, and to explain why some endeavours succeeded while others failed (or were less successful). While the book will be of considerable interest to I.R. scholars, it should also be read by activists, who will learn a great deal about how to maximize their reach and influence.
A good introduction to international politics.......2001-03-24
This book provides an excellent introduction to the world of international politics. It has several very detailed chapters exploring such issues as timber logging, for example, and then goes into detail describing how various groups influence the industry.
The focus of their book is how "advocacy networks", as opposed to the traditional government agencies, effect change. These advocacy networks work alongside and often against governments in often non-traditional methods to achieve a desired result. In the case of timber harvesting, for example, advocacy networks were unsuccessful in persuading governments to alter their poicies so the organizations within that network focused on the consumers of timber. They successfully exposed the objectionable timber harvesting practices of various companies and enabled consumers to exert pressure on timber harvesting companies to change their practices.
Customer Reviews:
Rethinking is the right word.......2004-09-22
Being an environmentalist isn't just about enjoying the outdoors or recycling. This is an in depth study of the complex interactions between humans and our world and an examination of our historical and cultural relationship with our environment. In particular, I found the discussion of our meaning for the word and our concept of nature to be particularly enlightening. There is simply no place in the world that isn't touched by human impact and noone on the planet who isn't touched by our environment and what we do to it. A MUST for anyone serious about the study of environmental study.
the result of a year-long project in critical thinking.......1998-12-26
Cronan has done it again! This volume of essays critically examines the concept of wilderness, nature, and humanity's role in the modern world. Though the individual essays are somewhat uneven, the main theme of the book is clearly communicated, especially in Cronan's introductory piece. That is, that the concept of wilderness needs careful rethinking, particularly with our world nearing 10 billion persons.
Book Description
Rachel Carson's Silent Spring antagonized some of the most powerful interests in the nation--including the farm block and the agricultural chemical industry--and helped launch the modern environmental movement. In The Gentle Subversive, Mark Hamilton Lytle offers a compact life of Carson, illuminating the road that led to this vastly influential book. Lytle explores the evolution of Carson's ideas about nature, her love for the sea, her career as a biologist, and above all her emergence as a writer of extraordinary moral and ecological vision. We follow Carson from her childhood on a farm outside Pittsburgh, where she first developed her love of nature (and where, at age eleven, she published her first piece in a children's magazine), to her graduate work at Johns Hopkins and her career with the Fish and Wildlife Service. Lytle describes the genesis of her first book, Under a Sea Wind, the incredible success of The Sea Around Us (a New York Times Bestseller for over a year), and her determination to risk her fame in order to write her "poison book": Silent Spring. The author contends that despite Carson's demure, lady-like demeanor, she was subversive in her thinking and aggressive in her campaign against pesticides. Carson became the spokeswoman for a network of conservationists, scientists, and concerned citizens who had come to fear the mounting dangers of the human assault on nature. What makes this story particularly compelling is that Carson took up this cause at the very moment when she herself faced a losing battle against cancer. Succinct and engaging, The Gentle Subversive is a story of success, celebrity, controversy, and vindication. It will inspire anyone interested in protecting the natural world or in women's struggle to find a voice in society.
Customer Reviews:
A sensitive subject indeed.......2007-06-25
Rachel Carson's careless criticism of DDT killed millions of people, mostly poor children, a point that deserved better coverage in this book. Even today, decades later, there is still no good alternative to DDT for fighting malaria.
Carson was correct to point out that DDT has very bad side effects, but as it turns out, banning DDT has had much worse side effects. Science eventually determined that very small amounts of DDT would have been effective against malaria-carrying mosquitos and safe for the environment-- but Carson's rush to judgement prevented the scientific facts from being adequately investigated and considered.
She and her followers in the environmentalist movement refused to consider the full consequences of their actions, and millions of people have paid the price for that refusal.
. png
A Beautiful Tribute to the Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson.......2007-03-08
Mark Lytle does fine justice to the legacy of Rachel Carson in this well researched summary of her early life, upbringing, education, professional experiences, evolution of her writing and publishing culminating with the struggles to write and publish her most potent and last book, "Silent Spring", a dire warning of how deadly pesticide and herbicide assaults were damaging the health of ecosystems and non-targeted life forms including humans and which many proffer, launched the modern age of environmentalism.
Lytle continues Carson's beautiful legacy in his "Epilogue" and "Afterword".
Packed with an abundance of notes, citations and bibliography, this little book gives one a huge sense of awe and admiration for Carson's perseverance and dedication to educate the world about the interconnectedness and beauty of Nature and to cultivate a sense of responsibility and good stewardship.
Book Description
"They assess the effectiveness of the organizing tactics employed, casting particular scrutiny on the courts as agents of social change...The authors have presented concrete examples, all the while making clear that there are no road maps for successful organizing."
— New York Law Journal
"This is an important and unusual bookÂ….It is an academic book on an important issue
—the environmental justice movement
—that is timely and relevant."
—Argumentation and Advocacy
When Bill Clinton signed an Executive Order on Environmental Justice in 1994, the phenomenon of environmental racism--the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards, particularly toxic waste dumps and polluting factories, on people of color and low-income communities--gained unprecedented recognition. Behind the President's signature, however, lies a remarkable tale of grassroots activism and political mobilization. Today, thousands of activists in hundreds of locales are fighting for their children, their communities, their quality of life, and their health.
From the Ground Up critically examines one of the fastest growing social movements in the United States, the movement for environmental justice. Tracing the movement's roots, Luke Cole and Sheila Foster combine long-time activism with powerful storytelling to provide gripping case studies of communities across the U.S--towns like Kettleman City, California; Chester, Pennsylvania; and Dilkon, Arizona--and their struggles against corporate polluters. The authors effectively use social, economic and legal analysis to illustrate the historical and contemporary causes for environmental racism. Environmental justice struggles, they demonstrate, transform individuals, communities, institutions and even the nation as a whole.
Customer Reviews:
Enviromental justice and grassroots advocacy.......2001-05-26
Anyone interested in community organizing, legal advocacy on behalf of community groups, and environmental justice work will benefit from this book's in-depth analysis of the struggles and achievements of neighborhood groups battling environmental injustice, and its valuable insights into community organizing strategies and the role of lawyers and the legal system in promoting social change. Although the authors fully acknowledge the prevalence of racism in our society and the lack of easy fixes to the problems faced by disadvantaged communities, they nevertheless convey an inspiring sense of idealism and optimism about the future possibilities for "the movement".
Environmental Justice.......2001-03-17
The story tells about history and environment racism. It has a very good idea of racism. It also talks about environmental justice. People would like this book. Two thumbs and eight fingers up!
Understanding Environmental Justice.......2001-03-17
For those people who want a wide-ranging introduction to the environmental justice movement and its legal arm, this is the place to turn. Written by a movement lawyer activist and a legal academic, this book captures the social and legal evolution of the environmental justice movement in a way that highlights the work of the communities themselves. Vigorously written, the book would be worth the price just for the chapter on transformative politics and its comprehensive annotated bibliography. A must have.
Book Description
The Harvard Business Review Paperback Series brings managers and professionals the fundamental information they need to stay competitive in a fast-moving world. Gathered in a highly accessible format are the leading minds and landmark ideas that have established the Harvard Business Review as required reading for forward-thinking businesspeople worldwide.
With concern for environmental issues growing, defining the controversial relationship between business and the environment has become even more essential.
Harvard Business Review on Business and the Environment brings together the latest management thinking on the role of the environment in business, and offers a general management perspective that will help outline the critical environmental issues your organization may face. A Harvard Business Review Paperback.
Book Description
Includes essays by Nobel Laureate Dr. Norman E. Borlaug and other noted scientists and scholars
The modern environmental movement began with the publication of three seminal works, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, Paul Ehrlich's The Population Bomb, and the Club of Rome's The Limits to Growth. These books' dismal visions of a poisoned, over-populated, resource-depleted world spiraling down toward environmental collapse are today's conventional wisdom. And every year we hear about new "conclusive" reports from special interest groups claiming that our atmosphere's temperatures are soaring, our air and water are more polluted, our cities are more crowded, and our global food supply is more precarious than ever before. However, according to a number of leading scientists from around the world, members of the environmental movement are guilty of twisting—sometimes manufacturing—the facts in an effort to frighten people into joining their cause.
In this eye-opening book, some of the most respected researchers in the country explode the myths behind much of the doom and gloom of today's environmental movement. You will discover how the hysteria about global warming, overpopulation, mass extinctions, imminent famines, biotechnology, energy shortages, and more are grounded not in reason but in false science and a fear of progress. When placed beside the overwhelming facts, some of the most pervasive eco-myths crumble, including:
Myth:
Antarctica is melting due to global warming—threatening to raise ocean levels
Fact:
Antarctica has been cooling—and its glaciers thickening—for the past 30 years
Myth:
The global population is growing faster than our ability to produce food
Fact:
Global fertility rates are falling dramatically, and with advanced technology, farmers are producing more food using fewer resources than ever before
Myth:
Solar- and wind-powered generators are a renewable, efficient, and less intrusive alternative to gas-, oil-, and coal-burning generators
Fact:
Global fossil fuel supplies are in no near-term danger of being depleted, and a single 555-megawatt natural gas power plant produces more electricity than 13,000 windmills
Myth:
Modern pesticides and fertilizers are increasing the rates of cancer in humans
Fact:
No study has ever shown that anyone has developed cancer from the legal application of pesticides, and environmental pollution accounts for at most 2 percent of all cancer cases versus 30 percent caused by tobacco use
And many more
Ultimately, this book shows that uniting much of the environmental movement is an agenda that is not so much anti-pollution as it is anti-human. Global Warming and Other Eco-Myths lays out the true state of the planet, which, as you'll discover, is more healthy, vibrant, and clean than ideologically motivated environmentalists want you to believe.
Customer Reviews:
Great source of facts to understand global warming issue.......2007-07-22
This is an esssential book to uncover the facts behind the validity of the Global warming concerns and possible impact of humans on this possible effect. It is an essential if you care about the facts.
This is not a book for those who embrace the religion of Secular Humanism, as they will not want to encounter any facts that might conflict with their pre-determined religious beliefs.
If you want your concerns and sacrifices to be aligned with any sort of fact and reality, you must read this to round out your education, and off-set the distortions of a media that have decided, with no scientific knowledge, that this religion is true and must be defended against all facts.
Read it and decide for yourself, if you can think independently.
Discredited by its own Editor.......2007-07-17
The book's editor, Ronald Bailey, came out on Sept 22, 2006 in ReasonOnline to explain that the global warming conclusions in his own book are false. According to Mr. Bailey:
"In 2002 came Global Warming and Other Eco-Myths (Prima Publishing). The global warming contributor was University of Alabama at Huntsville climatologist John Christy.... In August 2005, Science magazine published [findings] that Christy and Spencer had failed to take proper account of satellite drift, which produced a spurious cooling trend to their dataset....
"On the day that the studies were released I wrote a column for Reason in which I declared that my skepticism of man-made global warming was at an end."
Rather than debunking eco-myths, this book perpetuates them. Ouch.
Thanks for guaranteeing that this is a GREAT book!!!.......2007-06-12
Marek Zalewski, L. Barker, Linda Wilson, Green Guy, Fox in a Bo Regis P. Digiacomo "Engineer", heavy-duty reader "SRK", "snowfox89", and others who never read the book, and know less than nothing about the subject matter, THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! From the bottom of my heart, I THANK YOU, for encouraging me to buy this excellent book, through your name calling, ignorance, and spite.
A job well done!!
Honest Discussion.......2007-06-01
Since I cannot respond to all the reviewers pretending to be "climatologists" or engineers using the same tired intimidation techniques of anyone who questions global warming is a shill for the oil co.s or desperate and trasparent arguments from authority, I will respond here.
Shell and BP (rechristened "Beyond Petroleum") are among the biggest contributors to global warming activism! It gives them an edge over unrepentent companies like Exxon for one! Environmentalism is now a huge industry itself, $4 biliion a year in the US and $8 billion yearly world wide. Moreover this industrial Gorilla is not beholden to things that "evil corporations" are, like accountability and tranparency.
Another "Scientist" Bankrolled by the Oil Companies.......2007-02-22
Stating that: "Fact: Antarctica has been cooling - and its glaciers thickening - for the past 30 years" is so totally ridiculous that I won't even waste my time to go into details of this sudo-scientific work of fiction.
Average customer rating:
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Green Development
W. M. Adams
Manufacturer: Routledge
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ASIN: 0415147662 |
Book Description
Now in paperback,
Green Development analyzes the evolution of the concept of "sustainable development," and assesses how this can be applied in the real world. William Adams questions the established understanding of the problems of environment and development, stressing the inadequacy of a narrow view of environmental impacts and a limited response based on traditional conservation measures. He bridges the gap between environmentalism and development studies and argues that the central focus of "green development" should be on the needs of the poor, and their capacity for control, power, and self-determination.
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