Books
Change and Ozone
and Streetscapes
Economic Development
and Education
Sustainability |
Bibliography of Books on Sustainable Communities from The Center for Sustainable Communities
Abstracts of Books on Sustainable Communities from The
Center for Sustainable Communities
EarthDance:
Living Systems in Evolution by Elisabet Sahtouris -- a complete
book available online
From the foreword by scientist James Lovelock:
“As the title of a recent article in Science put it,
"No Longer Willful, Gaia Becomes Respectable." This means that Gaia scientists
will be constrained by bureaucratic forces, by the pressures of tenure, and by the
tribal divisions and rules of scientific disciplines. That, in turn, means we will
need some antidote to the inevitable separations and constraints. We will need independent
synthesizers and visionaries who can make sense of the data produced by the scientific
stablishment and present it to us in ways that make our living planet real to us
within the Gaian context and thus give meaning to our own lives and those of our
children and grandchildren.
This is what Elisabet Sahtouris's work means to me, for she comfortably
integrates the traditionally separated domains of biology, geology, and atmospheric
science to show us the evolution of our living planet and our own roots within it.
She then inspires us on ethical grounds to learn from this planetary organism of
which we are part, showing us how we can mature as a species well integrated into
the larger dance of life.”
A
Brief Reading List On Urban Sustainability from the web site of Urban
Ecology
“We are often asked by those new to the subject to recommend
some initial readings on urban sustainability. Following is a brief listing of some
recent works. Many of these books have been reviewed in past issues of The Urban
Ecologist, and several are available through the UE office.”
Bioregion |
This
Place on Earth: Home and the Practice of Permanence, by Alan
Thein Durning, Reviewed by Patrick Mazza
“This Place on Earth is really two books juxtaposed with
each other. One is Durning's very personal story of re-rooting in his native soil
-- working his way through self-doubts about abandoning a national career track,
taking his family out to rediscover a salmon stream of his youth, building community
in the neighborhood by putting up a basketball hoop.
The other book is a series of reports on progress toward a sustainable
society in the Pacific Northwest. If that sounds Worldwatch-ish, it certainly is.
Durning details numerous practical examples of ideas long advocated by Worldwatch
growing on Northwest ground. And a rich turf it
is.”
Sense
of Place
A large bibliography of books relating to a sense of place, part of a large collection
of environmental bibliographies called Resources for Teaching and Researching Northwest
Environmental History
Air Quality |
Biodiversity |
Energy, Climate Change, and Ozone Depletion |
Food and Agriculture |
Hazardous Materials |
Our Stolen Future
“Our Stolen Future is a scientific detective story that explores the emerging science
of endocrine disruption: how some synthetic chemicals interfere with the ways that
hormones work in humans and wildlife.
The interference caused by hormone disruptors can have profound
impacts. Their most troubling effects take place when a mother passes contamination
to the growing fetus and when the contaminant interferes with the hormonal signals
used by the fetus to direct its growth. When this happens, the impact can last a
lifetime. Indeed sometimes the effects won't be visible until the fetus has grown
and become an adult. Some of the documented impacts include: ...”
Human Health |
Parks, Open Spaces and Streetscapes |
Solid Waste |
Useful Guide to Understanding Where All That
Stuff Comes From by Donella Meadows
Thoughts about Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things, by John Ryan and Alan
Durning
“The authors of Stuff do not intend to send us on guilt
trips instead of shopping trips. They don’t expect us to unplug our computers or
bury our cars or “bite into some hot, salty fries and think about farmworkers’ children
with blue bay syndrome.” They just want us to understand our world, and to use its
products thoughtfully.”
Transportation |
Water and Wastewater |
Protecting Watersheds
"Protecting Watersheds Can Save Billions In Water Treatment Costs
-- A New Study By The Trust For Public Land
Uncontrolled Watershed Development Threatens Drinking Water Supplies and Safety"
Economy and Economic Development |
Home
Economics by Wendell Berry
North Point Press, 1995, $11.00, paperback, 192 pp.
“The essays in Home Economics present a clearly reasoned, strongly worded indictment
of our present economic system and the foolish squandering of resources that it fosters.”
It’s Time For A
New Economic Paradigm an essay by Joe Kresse, about two books:
When Corporations Rule the World, by David Korten, and
The New Business of Business, edited by Willis Harman and Maya Porter
“Why has our economic system become so destructive? Why does the
gap between the rich and the poor continue to widen even in wealthy countries? Are
such concepts as NAFTA and GATT helpful in the overall well-being of the system,
or harmful? What changes in underlying principles and processes need to be made?
Even though I have a degree in economics and spent a quarter of
a century working in the financial world, these are questions I find hard to answer.
So I was pleased recently to come across two books which help to
organize and clarify the problems and possibilities in the field of economics and
business.”
Environmental Justice |
Municipal Expenditures |
Public Information and Education |
Risk Management |