Choose one of the following texts to read this year:
A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr; 1995. Covers the battle between parents whose children have afflicted with leukemia as a result, presumably, of industry dumping of solvents into local waters. (ãããã, n=4)
A Sand Country Almanac by Aldo Leopold, 1949. This seminal work relates the beauty of the seasons in middle America and the shares Leopold’s awe of nature.
Beyond Malthus by Lester Brown, 1999. Brown, as president of World Watch Institute, presents the burden that overpopulation has on Earth’s resources and its ability to sustain that population.
Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water by Marc Reisner, 1986. This author presents the history of water development in California – the real story that was partially presented in the film “Chinatown”.
Coal River by Michael Shnayerson, 2008. Covers the last 10 years of battling mountain-top removal coal mining in Appalachia and the brave individuals willing to stand up for their beloved mountains. (ãããà, n =2)
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond, 2005. Diamond examines why ancient societies, including the Anasazi of the American Southwest and the Viking colonies of Greenland, as well as modern ones such as Rwanda, have fallen apart, sometimes due to disregard for their environment.
Cradle-to-Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things by William McDonough and Michael Braumgart, 2002. These authors present a new way to make products. Rather than the cradle-to-grave mentality where things end up in landfills, we need to rethink and develop new ways so that out-dated products are used for new things. (ãããà, n=2)
Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. 2005. This is a harsh indictment of what Kennedy sees as the Bush administration’s assault on the environment and democracy in general. (ãããã, n=6)
Death in the Marsh by Tom Harris, 1991. This is an expose of California’s San Joaquin Valley farmers dumping selenium-tainted runoff into the Kesterton National Wildlife Refuge, causing a startling number of malformations and deaths among the waterfowl.
Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect by David Orr, 2004. Much of what has gone wrong with the world, according Orr, is the result of inadequate and misdirected education that: alienates us from life in the name of human domination; causes students to worry about how to make a living before they know who they are; overemphasizes success and careers; separates feeling from intellect and the practical from the theoretical; deadens the sense of wonder for the created world. (ãããã, n=1)
Earth in the Balance by Al Gore, 1992. This book he first describes the plagues hoisted onto our environment; the second looks at how we got ourselves into this mess; and the final chapters present ways out
The Story of B by Daniel Quinn. This is a sequel to Ishmael, and the second book in Daniel Quinn's series.
Let the Mountains Talk, Let the Rivers Run: A Call to Save the Earth by David Brower, Amory Lovins, and Steve Chapple, 2007. Brower, as Sierra Club executive director in the 50’s and 60’s, recounts personal events and his call to protect the earth.
Life in Balance: Humanity and the Biodiversity Crisis by Niles Eldredge, 1998. Eldredge maintains that the human conquest of nature is resulting in the sixth mass extinction of life on earth. But he also shows just how difficult it is to make holistic judgments in the face of individual need.
Our Stolen Future: Are We Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence, and Survival?-A Scientific Detective Story, by Theo Colborn, Dianne Dumanoski, and John Peterson Myers, 1996. As an extension of Silent Spring (below) these authors offers evidence that synthetic chemicals may have upset our normal reproductive and developmental processes.
Silent Snow: The Slow Poisoning of the Arctic by Marla Cone, 2006. This book looks at how arctic people and mammals are being poisoning by air pollutants like mercury and pesticides as they are carried by air currents from developed regions of the world.
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, 1962. This important book was instrumental in starting the modern environmental movement in Carson’s disclosure of the harm done by pesticides on our natural environment.
Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered by E.F. Schumacher, 1989.
The Burning Season by Andrew Revkin, 1994. Revkin writes of Chico Mendes’ fight to help protect the Amazon forest that his family has depended upon for their livelihood.
The Hydrogen Economy by Jeremy Rifkin, 2003. In order to wean ourselves off of foreign oil, we need to develop hydrogen fuel to create a cleaner, safer, and more sustainable world.
The Future of Life by E.O. Wilson, 2003. Wilson combines lyrical descriptions with dire warnings and remarkable stories of flora and fauna on the edge of extinction with hard economics.
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Taking a naturalist’s point of view, Pollan follows the journey of four meals from farm to table: the corn-addicted path of McDonald's take-out, a home-cooked dinner of Whole Foods organics, a sustainably grown supper "off the grid" and a modern hunter-gatherer's feast.
The World Without Us by Alan Weisman, 2008. A look at what would happen to Earth if humans ceased to exist. Not only does Weisman examine human made structures but he also is perversely optimistic about the remaining lifeforms without human intervention.
Walden by Henry David Thoreau. A book about ecology, human nature, and the natural world as seen through the eyes and mind of a Conservationist.
Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble by Lester Brown, 2006. Our natural resources are being used at an unsustainable pace. Technologies are available, however, to solve our problems.
A Sand Country Almanac by Aldo Leopold, 1949. This seminal work relates the beauty of the seasons in middle America and the shares Leopold’s awe of nature.
Beyond Malthus by Lester Brown, 1999. Brown, as president of World Watch Institute, presents the burden that overpopulation has on Earth’s resources and its ability to sustain that population.
Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water by Marc Reisner, 1986. This author presents the history of water development in California – the real story that was partially presented in the film “Chinatown”.
Coal River by Michael Shnayerson, 2008. Covers the last 10 years of battling mountain-top removal coal mining in Appalachia and the brave individuals willing to stand up for their beloved mountains. (ãããà, n =2)
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond, 2005. Diamond examines why ancient societies, including the Anasazi of the American Southwest and the Viking colonies of Greenland, as well as modern ones such as Rwanda, have fallen apart, sometimes due to disregard for their environment.
Cradle-to-Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things by William McDonough and Michael Braumgart, 2002. These authors present a new way to make products. Rather than the cradle-to-grave mentality where things end up in landfills, we need to rethink and develop new ways so that out-dated products are used for new things. (ãããà, n=2)
Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. 2005. This is a harsh indictment of what Kennedy sees as the Bush administration’s assault on the environment and democracy in general. (ãããã, n=6)
Death in the Marsh by Tom Harris, 1991. This is an expose of California’s San Joaquin Valley farmers dumping selenium-tainted runoff into the Kesterton National Wildlife Refuge, causing a startling number of malformations and deaths among the waterfowl.
Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect by David Orr, 2004. Much of what has gone wrong with the world, according Orr, is the result of inadequate and misdirected education that: alienates us from life in the name of human domination; causes students to worry about how to make a living before they know who they are; overemphasizes success and careers; separates feeling from intellect and the practical from the theoretical; deadens the sense of wonder for the created world. (ãããã, n=1)
Earth in the Balance by Al Gore, 1992. This book he first describes the plagues hoisted onto our environment; the second looks at how we got ourselves into this mess; and the final chapters present ways out
The Story of B by Daniel Quinn. This is a sequel to Ishmael, and the second book in Daniel Quinn's series.
Let the Mountains Talk, Let the Rivers Run: A Call to Save the Earth by David Brower, Amory Lovins, and Steve Chapple, 2007. Brower, as Sierra Club executive director in the 50’s and 60’s, recounts personal events and his call to protect the earth.
Life in Balance: Humanity and the Biodiversity Crisis by Niles Eldredge, 1998. Eldredge maintains that the human conquest of nature is resulting in the sixth mass extinction of life on earth. But he also shows just how difficult it is to make holistic judgments in the face of individual need.
Our Stolen Future: Are We Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence, and Survival?-A Scientific Detective Story, by Theo Colborn, Dianne Dumanoski, and John Peterson Myers, 1996. As an extension of Silent Spring (below) these authors offers evidence that synthetic chemicals may have upset our normal reproductive and developmental processes.
Silent Snow: The Slow Poisoning of the Arctic by Marla Cone, 2006. This book looks at how arctic people and mammals are being poisoning by air pollutants like mercury and pesticides as they are carried by air currents from developed regions of the world.
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, 1962. This important book was instrumental in starting the modern environmental movement in Carson’s disclosure of the harm done by pesticides on our natural environment.
Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered by E.F. Schumacher, 1989.
The Burning Season by Andrew Revkin, 1994. Revkin writes of Chico Mendes’ fight to help protect the Amazon forest that his family has depended upon for their livelihood.
The Hydrogen Economy by Jeremy Rifkin, 2003. In order to wean ourselves off of foreign oil, we need to develop hydrogen fuel to create a cleaner, safer, and more sustainable world.
The Future of Life by E.O. Wilson, 2003. Wilson combines lyrical descriptions with dire warnings and remarkable stories of flora and fauna on the edge of extinction with hard economics.
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Taking a naturalist’s point of view, Pollan follows the journey of four meals from farm to table: the corn-addicted path of McDonald's take-out, a home-cooked dinner of Whole Foods organics, a sustainably grown supper "off the grid" and a modern hunter-gatherer's feast.
The World Without Us by Alan Weisman, 2008. A look at what would happen to Earth if humans ceased to exist. Not only does Weisman examine human made structures but he also is perversely optimistic about the remaining lifeforms without human intervention.
Walden by Henry David Thoreau. A book about ecology, human nature, and the natural world as seen through the eyes and mind of a Conservationist.
Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble by Lester Brown, 2006. Our natural resources are being used at an unsustainable pace. Technologies are available, however, to solve our problems.