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Literature by topic

Water
>>A River No More - This is a definitive history of the development of the Colorado River and the claims made upon it from its source in the Wyoming Rockies to the Gulf of California, where it evaporates in the sand.

>>Cadillac Desert - The definitive history of water resources in the American West, and a very illuminating lesson in the political economy of limited resources anywhere. Via amazon.com.

>>Food Not Lawns - combines practical wisdom on ecological design and community-building with a fresh, green perspective on an age-old subject. Activist and urban gardener Heather Flores shares her nine-step permaculture design to help farmsteaders and city dwellers alike build fertile soil, promote biodiversity, and increase natural habitat in their own "paradise gardens." Via chelseagreen.com.

>>Food Revolution - John Robbins exposes the dangers behind many of today's foods and reveals the extraordinary benefits of healthy alternatives. The Food Revolution will show you how to extend your life, increase your vibrancy and vitality, and take a stand for a more compassionate and sustainable world. Via foodrevolution.org.

>>Gila: The Life and Death of an American River - Follows the ecologic history of the Gila River from its source in New Mexico, through its confluence with the Colorado River and into Arizona. Today, half of the Gila is dead, due to overgrazing, damming, and other practices.

>>Last Oasis: Facing Water Scarcity - The worldwide water crisis, according to this book, is due to its ready availability, low cost, people's overuse, and lack of respect for this life-sustaining resource. Solutions are giving for restoring and sustaining this essential lifeline.

Energy

>>Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis by Al Gore - This book is about the solutions to the climate crisis. During the three and a half years since the publication and release of An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore organized and moderated more than 30 lengthy and intensive “Solutions Summits” where leading experts from around the world have come to discuss and share their knowledge of and experience in subjects relevant to the construction of a plan to solve this crisis. Our Choice is the result of the groundbreaking insights offered by the participants in this multiyear dialogue.

>>An Inconvenient Truth - Gore’s follow-up to the bestselling Earth in the Balance. Both the book and film were inspired by a series of multimedia presentations on global warming that Gore created and delivers to groups around the world.

>>Boiling Point - Gelbspan, a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, offers no less than a call to arms in this treatise on how global warming is a threat and how it can be avoided.

>>The Heat is On - Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ross Gelbspan exposes the machinations of oil and coal companies and conservative politicians to undermine the public confidence in science and thereby defer action against global warming. This riveting expose is a spirited call to action against the corporate disinformation campaign that threatens us all.

>>Power Down - If the US continues with its current policies, the next decades will be marked by war, economic collapse, and environmental catastrophe. Resource depletion and population pressures are about to catch up with us, and no one is prepared. The alternative is "Powerdown," a strategy that will require tremendous effort and economic sacrifice in order to reduce per-capita resource usage in wealthy countries, develop alternative energy sources, distribute resources more equitably, and reduce the human population humanely but systematically over time.

Waste
>>Cradle to Cradle - William McDonough's book, written with his colleague, the German chemist Michael Braungart, is a manifesto calling for the transformation of human industry through ecologically intelligent design.

>>Natural Capitalism - Chapter 3 Waste Not - excerpt outlining all the resources that go into manufacturing a can of soda. p. 49-50.

>>Paper or Plastic - by Daniel Imhoff. "About one-third of America's municipal solid waste is packaging - at least 300 pounds per person each year - and the "upstream" costs in energy and resources used to make packaging are even more alarming." This book also has some amazing photography.

>>Teaming With Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web - by Jeff Lowenfels and W. Lewis. A popular book among gardeners and composters, this book provides an interesting and in-depth look at how to create healthy soil without the use of fertilizers and other chemicals.

>>Worms Eat My Garbage - by Mary Appelhof. How to set up and maintain a worm composting system.

Chemicals
>>Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American Power by Mark Schapiro - about the book from Center for Investigative Reporting.

>>Not Just a Pretty Face by Stacy Malkan - Do your favorite products contain hazardous chemicals?

>>Silent Sprint by Rachel Carson - released in 1962, offered the first shattering look at widespread ecological degradation and touched off an environmental awareness that still exists. Rachel Carson's book focused on the poisons from insecticides, weed killers, and other common products as well as the use of sprays in agriculture, a practice that led to dangerous chemicals to the food source.

Transportation
>>Biodiesel America: How to Achieve Energy Security, Free America from Middle-east Oil Dependence And Make Money Growing Fuel - by Josh Tickell. "Oil: In the time that it takes Earth to travel around the sun once, humanity extracts 30 billion barrels of it from the crust of this planet."

>>Plug In Hybrids - by Sherry Boschert. "Includes the most comprehensive analysis of Well to Wheels emissions Alternative Fuel comparisons."

Shopping & Food
>>The Sharing Solution - Written by Janelle Orsi and Emily Doskow, The Sharing Solution guides you, in plain English, through the steps you’ll need to take to create and maintain successful sharing arrangements. From housing to childcare, cars to lawnmowers, gardens to bike repair, The Sharing Solution gives you the tips and tools to share your resources, while addressing commonly held questions about liability and individual security with compassion.



>>Deep Economy - Bill McKibben's book about a sustainable economy and the wealth that is created when we build strong and resilient communities. A manifesto on moving beyond 'growth' as the measure of economic prosperity.







>>Food Politics - "In the U.S., we're bombarded with nutritional advice--the work, we assume, of reliable authorities with our best interests at heart. Far from it, says Marion Nestle, whose Food Politics absorbingly details how the food industry--through lobbying, advertising, and the co-opting of experts--influences our dietary choices to our detriment. Central to her argument is the American "paradox of plenty," the recognition that our food abundance (we've enough calories to meet every citizen's needs twice over) leads profit-fixated food producers to do everything possible to broaden their market portion, thus swaying us to eat more when we should do the opposite. The result is compromised health: epidemic obesity to start, and increased vulnerability to heart and lung disease, cancer, and stroke--reversible if the constantly suppressed "eat less, move more" message that most nutritionists shout could be heard."

>>Food Revolution - The bestselling book for the environmental impacts of food. I highly recommend it for learning more about how food effects the health of both us and the planet.




>>In Defense of Food - "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." "That's it. That is the short answer to the supposedly incredibly complicated and confusing question of what we humans should eat in order to be maximally healthy. The implication of Pollan's advice, however, is that what we're eating now isn't food."





>>Omnivores Dilemma - "Michael Pollan examines what he calls "our national eating disorder" (the Atkins craze, the precipitous rise in obesity) in this remarkably clearheaded book. It's a fascinating journey up and down the food chain, one that might change the way you read the label on a frozen dinner, dig into a steak or decide whether to buy organic eggs. You'll certainly never look at a Chicken McNugget the same way again."