Resource Library for Compassionate Living

GENERAL OVERVIEWS

This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate By Naomi Klein (2014)

“Forget everything you think you know about global warming. The really inconvenient truth is that it’s not about carbon—it’s about capitalism. The convenient truth is that we can seize this existential crisis to transform our failed economic system and build something radically better.In her most provocative book yet, Naomi Klein, author of the global bestsellers The Shock Doctrine and No Logo, tackles the most profound threat humanity has ever faced: the war our economic model is waging against life on earth.”

Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution - and How It Can Renew America, Release 2.0 By Thomas Friedman (2009)

“Pulitzer Prize-winning author Thomas L. Friedman speaks to America's urgent need for national renewal and explains how a green revolution can bring about both a sustainable environment and a sustainable America. Friedman explains how global warming, rapidly growing populations, and the expansion of the world's middle class through globalization have produced a dangerously unstable planet--one that is "hot, flat, and crowded." In this Release 2.0 edition, he also shows how the very habits that led us to ravage the natural world led to the meltdown of the financial markets and the Great Recession.”

Natural Capitalism By Paul Hawken, Amory B. Lovins and L. Hunter Lovins (1999)

“In Natural Capitalism the authors describe the global economy as being dependent on natural resources and ecosystem services that nature provides. Natural Capitalism is a critique of traditional "Industrial Capitalism", saying that the traditional system of capitalism "does not fully conform to its own accounting principles. It liquidates its capital and calls it income. It neglects to assign any value to the largest stocks of capital it employs – the natural resources and living systems, as well as the social and cultural systems that are the basis of human capital."

An Inconvenient Truth By Al Gore (2006)

“Director Davis Guggenheim eloquently weaves the science of global warming with former Vice President Al Gore’s personal history and lifelong commitment to reversing the effects of global climate change in the most talked-about documentary of the year. An audience and critical favorite, An Inconvenient Truth makes the compelling case that global warming is real, man-made, and its effects will be cataclysmic if we don’t act now.” 

Staying Alive By Vandana Shiva (1989)

Women, Ecology and Development. Janet Reibstein's mother and two aunts grew up in New Jersey amid a close-knit, extended Jewish family set apart only by a genetic propensity for breast cancer. Over fifty years, the disease claims Janet's two aunts, then her mother, then a cousin. Finally Janet must face the far-reaching decision of whether to undergo a preemptive mastectomy herself. A history of the disease in America as well as a story of sisters, mothers and daughters, and the men who love them.

RESOURCE BOOKS

Sustainable Living for Dummies By Michael Grosvenor (2007)

“Find out how to run your home more efficiently and be kinder to the environment.Overwhelmed by climate change but unsure how you can make a real impact? Looking for practical, simple methods to do your bit for the planet, and ways to improve your family's wellbeing? Look no further. Sustainable Living For Dummies is jam-packed with helpful no-nonsense advice."

Green Living: The E Magazine Handbook for Living Lightly on Earth By the Editors of E: The Environmental Magazine (2005)

Green Living, from the award-winning editors of E: The Environmental Magazine, offers a thorough, step-by-step plan for every making aspect of your life earth-friendly. With advice on everything from planet-friendly cosmetics to home-based renewable energy, and straight talk on hemp, hybrids and hair dye, Green Living is the ideal reference for both the neophyte and the experienced environmentalist. Topics include - Maintaining a healthy home, going organic and avoiding genetically modified food, finding a planet-friendly car, making socially responsible investments, using personal-care products free of damaging chemicals etc.

The Consumer’s Guide to Effective Environmental Choices: Practical Advice from the Union of Concerned Scientists  By Michael Brower & Warren Leon (1999)

Note: Attempts to use data to weight recommendations on specific choices according to their impact.

VISIONARY SOLUTIONS

Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet By Bill McKibben (2011)

"Twenty years ago with The End of Nature Bill McKibben offered one of the earliest warnings about global warming. Those warnings went mostly unheeded; now he insists we need to acknowledge that we've waited too long and that massive change is not only unavoidable but already under way. Our old familiar globe is suddenly melting drying acidifying flooding and burning in ways that no human has ever seen. We've created in very short order a new planet still recognizable but fundamentally different. We may as well call it Eaarth.That new planet is filled with new binds and traps”

Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth By R. Buckminster Fuller (1969)

“Initially published in 1969, and one of Fuller’s most popular works, Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth is a brilliant synthesis of his world view. In this very accessible volume, Fuller investigates the great challenges facing humanity, and the principles for avoiding extinction and “exercising our option to make it.” How will humanity survive? How does automation influence individualization? How can we utilize our resources more effectively to realize our potential to end poverty in this generation? He questions the concept of specialization, calls for a design revolution of innovation, and offers advice on how to guide “spaceship earth” toward a sustainable future.”

Sowing Seeds in the Desert: Natural Farming, Global Restoration, and Ultimate Food Security By Masanobu Fukuoka, Larry Korn (2013)

“The earth is in great peril, due to the corporatization of agriculture, the rising climate crisis, and the ever-increasing levels of global poverty, starvation, and desertification on a massive scale. This present condition of global trauma is not "natural," but a result of humanity's destructive actions. And, according to Masanobu Fukuoka, it is reversible. We need to change not only our methods of earth stewardship, but also the very way we think about the relationship between human beings and nature.”

Biomimicry By Janine M. Benyus (1997)

“In Biomimicry, Janine names an emerging discipline that emulates nature’s designs and processes (e.g., solar cells that mimic leaves) to create a healthier, more sustainable planet. Since the book’s 1997 release, Janine has evolved the practice of biomimicry, speaking around the world about what we can learn from the genius that surrounds us.”

Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual By Bill Mollison (1988)

“This is the definitive Permaculture design manual in print since 1988. It is the textbook and curriculum for the 72-hour Certificate course in Permaculture Design. Written for teachers, students and designers, it follows on and greatly enlarges on the initial introductory texts, Permaculture One (1978) and Permaculture Two (1979) both of which are still in demand over twenty years after publication. Very little of the material found in this book is reproduced from the former texts. It covers design methodologies and strategies for both urban and rural applications, describing property design and natural farming techniques.”

Small Is Beautiful By E.F. Schumacher (1973)

“A collection of essays by German-born British economist E. F. Schumacher. The phrase "Small Is Beautiful" came from a principle espoused by Schumacher's teacher Leopold Kohr. The concept is often used to champion small, appropriate technologies or polities that are believed to empower people more, in contrast with phrases such as "bigger is better".

Down to Earth - An award-winning film taking viewers on a journey to visit the Earth Keepers, the native wisdom teachers around the world who hold the keys to a regenerative future. Free viewing direct from website.

Cradle to Cradle By William McDonough and Michael Braungart (2002)

“Architect William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart presents an integration of design and science that provides enduring benefits for society from safe materials, water and energy in circular economies and eliminates the concept of waste.The book put forward a design framework characterized by three principles derived from nature".

Factor Four By Ernst von Weizsäcker, Amory B. Lovins and L. Hunter Lovins (1998)

"Since the industrial revolution, progress has meant an increase in labour productivity. Factor Four describes a new form of progress, resource productivity, a form which meets the overriding imperative for the future (sustainability). It shows how at least four times as much wealth can be extracted from the resources we use. As the authors put it, the book is about doing more with less, but this is not the same as doing less, doing worse or doing without”. 

NATURE & ECOLOGY

The End of Nature By Bill McKibben (1989)

 "More than simply a handbook for survival or a doomsday catalog of scientific prediction, this classic, soulful lament on Nature is required reading for nature enthusiasts, activists, and concerned citizens alike. This impassioned plea for radical and life-renewing change is today still considered a groundbreaking work in environmental studies.”

Biomimicry By Janine M. Benyus (1997)

“In Biomimicry, Janine names an emerging discipline that emulates nature’s designs and processes (e.g., solar cells that mimic leaves) to create a healthier, more sustainable planet. Since the book’s 1997 release, Janine has evolved the practice of biomimicry, speaking around the world about what we can learn from the genius that surrounds us.”

FOOD

The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World By John Robbins (2010)

Making conscious food choices and the value of a plant-based diet. It is obvious to us that what we eat affects our own bodies, but what we may not realize is that what we eat also affects our world. In fact, most of the foods that are bad for us (think: genetically modified products) also negatively impact our environment. By approaching our eating habits with intentionality, we benefit our own health and that of the world we live in.Robbins’ arguments for a plant-based diet are compelling and backed by over 20 years of work focused on the subject of conscious eating.

Healing with Whole Foods By Paul Pitchford (3rd edition 2002)

Used as a reference by students of acupuncture, this is a hefty, truly comprehensive guide to the theory and healing power of Chinese medicine. It's also a primer on nutrition—including facts about green foods, such as spirulina and blue-green algae, and the "regeneration diets" used by cancer patients and arthritics—along with an inspiring cookbook with more than 300 mostly vegetarian, nutrient-packed recipes.

Sowing Seeds in the Desert: Natural Farming, Global Restoration, and Ultimate Food Security By Masanobu Fukuoka, Larry Korn (2013)

“The earth is in great peril, due to the corporatization of agriculture, the rising climate crisis, and the ever-increasing levels of global poverty, starvation, and desertification on a massive scale. This present condition of global trauma is not "natural," but a result of humanity's destructive actions. And, according to Masanobu Fukuoka, it is reversible. We need to change not only our methods of earth stewardship, but also the very way we think about the relationship between human beings and nature.”

Fast Food Nation By Eric Schlosser (2001)

"Fast Food Nation was published to critical acclaim and became an international bestseller. Eric Schlosser’s exposé revealed how the fast food industry has altered the landscape of America, widened the gap between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic of obesity, and transformed food production throughout the world. The book changed the way millions of people think about what they eat and helped to launch today’s food movement".

How to Grow More Vegetables (Full title: How to Grow More Vegetables (and Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops) Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine) By John Jeavons (8th Edition 2012)

“Decades before the terms “eco-friendly” and “sustainable growing” entered the vernacular, How to Grow More Vegetables demonstrated that small-scale, high-yield, all-organic gardening methods could yield bountiful crops over multiple growing cycles using minimal resources in a suburban environment. The concept that John Jeavons and the team at Ecology Action launched more than 40 years ago has been embraced by the mainstream and continues to gather momentum. Today, How to Grow More Vegetables, now in its fully revised and updated 8th edition, is the go-to reference for food growers at every level: from home gardeners dedicated to nurturing their backyard edibles in maximum harmony with nature’s cycles, to small-scale commercial producers interested in optimizing soil fertility and increasing plant productivity.” 

The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming By Masanobu Fukuoka and Larry Korn (1978)

“Call it “Zen and the Art of Farming” or a “Little Green Book,” Masanobu Fukuoka’s manifesto presents a radical challenge to the global systems we rely on for our food. At the same time, it is a spiritual memoir of a man whose innovative system of cultivating the earth reflects a deep faith in the wholeness and balance of the natural world. As Wendell Berry writes in his preface, the book “is valuable to us because it is at once practical and philosophical. It is an inspiring, necessary book about agriculture because it is not just about agriculture.”
Trained as a scientist, Fukuoka rejected both modern agribusiness and centuries of agricultural practice, deciding instead that the best forms of cultivation mirror nature’s own laws. Over the next three decades he perfected his so-called “do-nothing” technique: commonsense, sustainable practices that all but eliminate the use of pesticides, fertilizer, tillage, and perhaps most significantly, wasteful effort.”

Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, 2nd Edition, By Toby Hemenway (2009)

“Many people mistakenly think that ecological gardening—which involves growing a wide range of edible and other useful plants—can take place only on a large, multiacre scale. As Hemenway demonstrates, it’s fun and easy to create a “backyard ecosystem” by assembling communities of plants that can work cooperatively and perform a variety of functions. This revised and updated edition also features a new chapter on urban permaculture, designed especially for people in cities and suburbs who have very limited growing space.”

GLOBALIZATION AND SUSTAINABLE ECONOMICS

This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate By Naomi Klein (2014)

“Forget everything you think you know about global warming. The really inconvenient truth is that it’s not about carbon—it’s about capitalism. The convenient truth is that we can seize this existential crisis to transform our failed economic system and build something radically better.In her most provocative book yet, Naomi Klein, author of the global bestsellers The Shock Doctrine and No Logo, tackles the most profound threat humanity has ever faced: the war our economic model is waging against life on earth.”

The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century By Thomas Friedman (2007)

"The World Is Flat 3.0 is an essential update on globalization, its opportunities for individual empowerment, its achievements at lifting millions out of poverty, and its drawbacks--environmental, social, and political, powerfully illuminated by the Pulitzer Prize--winning author of The Lexus and the Olive Tree.”

Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future By Bill McKibben (2008)

"The bestselling author of The End of Nature issues an impassioned call to arms for an economy that creates community and ennobles our lives.In this powerful and provocative manifesto, Bill McKibben offers the biggest challenge in a generation to the prevailing view of our economy. For the first time in human history, he observes, "more" is no longer synonymous with "better"—indeed, for many of us, they have become almost opposites. McKibben puts forward a new way to think about the things we buy, the food we eat, the energy we use, and the money that pays for it all. Our purchases, he says, need not be at odds with the things we truly value.’

The End of Poverty By Jeffrey D. Sachs (2005)

“The landmark exploration of economic prosperity and how the world can escape from extreme poverty for the world's poorest citizens, from one  of the world's most renowned economists.Hailed by Time as one of the world's hundred most influential people, Jeffrey D. Sachs is renowned for his work around the globe advising economies in crisis. Now a classic of its genre, The End of Poverty distills more than thirty years of experience to offer a uniquely informed vision of the steps that can transform impoverished countries into prosperous ones. Marrying vivid storytelling with rigorous analysis, Sachs lays out a clear conceptual map of the world economy.”

Globalization and Its Discontents By Joseph Stiglitz (2002)

Renowned economist and Nobel Prize winner Joseph E. Stiglitz had a ringside seat for most of the major economic events of the last decade, including stints as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and chief economist at the World Bank. Particularly concerned with the plight of the developing nations, he became increasingly disillusioned as he saw the International Monetary Fund and other major institutions put the interests of Wall Street and the financial community ahead of the poorer nations. Those seeking to understand why globalization has engendered the hostility of protesters in Seattle and Genoa will find the reasons here. 

The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization By Thomas Friedman (1999)

"As foreign affairs columnist for The New York Times, Thomas L. Friedman crisscrosses the globe talking with the world's economic and political leaders, and reporting, as only he can, on what he sees. Now he has used his years of experience as a reporter and columnist to produce a pithy, trenchant, riveting look at the worldwide market forces that are driving today's economies and how they are playing out both internationally and locally.”

The Crisis of Global Capitalism By George Soros (1998)

“Offering brilliant solutions to the global meltdown, based on years of Soros's own experience as a financier and philanthropist, this is essential reading for anyone involved with the new economy—that is, all of us."

When Corporations Rule the World By David C. Korten (1995)

"When Corporations Rule the World explains how economic globalization has concentrated the power to govern in global corporations and financial markets and detached them from accountability to the human interest. It documents the devastating human and environmental consequences of the successful efforts of these corporations to reconstruct values and institutions everywhere on the planet to serve their own narrow ends. It also reveals why and how millions of people are acting to reclaim their political and economic power from these elitist forces and presents a policy agenda for restoring democracy and rooting economic power in people and communities."

The Ecology of Commerce By Paul Hawken (1993)

The Ecology of Commerce presents a compelling vision of the restorative (rather than destructive) economy we must create, centered on these imperatives 1) Reduce energy carbon emissions 80 percent by 2030 and total natural resource usage 80 percent by 2050. 2) Provide secure, stable, and meaningful employment to people everywhere. 3) Be self-organizing rather than regulated or morally mandated. 4) Honor market principles. 5) Restore habitats, ecosystems, and societies to their optimum. 6) Rely on current income. 7) Be fun and engaging, and strive for an aesthetic outcome.

A Fate Worse Than Debt By Susan George (1988)

A Fate Worse Than Debt exposes the human cost of the world financial crises, establishing a direct link between the Third World's trillion-dollar debt, its spiral of poverty and environmental destruction, and economic stagnation in the lender nations. 

Small Is Beautiful By E.F. Schumacher (1973)

“A collection of essays by German-born British economist E. F. Schumacher. The phrase "Small Is Beautiful" came from a principle espoused by Schumacher's teacher Leopold Kohr. The concept is often used to champion small, appropriate technologies or polities that are believed to empower people more, in contrast with phrases such as "bigger is better".

WATER

Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution and Profit By Vandana Shiva

In Water Wars, Shiva uses her remarkable knowledge of science and society to outline the emergence of corporate culture and the historical erosion of communal water rights. Using the international water trade and industrial activities such as damming, mining, and aquafarming as her lens, Shiva exposes the destruction of the earth and the disenfranchisement of the world's poor as they are stripped of rights to a precious common good.

Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World’s Water By Maude Barlow

In this book Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke, two of the most active opponents to the privatization of water show how. Our most basic resource may one day be limited: our consumption doubles every twenty years—twice the rate of population increase. At the same time, increasingly transnational corporations are plotting to control the world's dwindling water supply. In England and France, where water has already been privatized, rates have soared, and water shortages have been severe. The major bottled-water producers are part of one of the fastest-growing and least-regulated industries, buying up freshwater rights and drying up crucial supplies.