You either are a green closet geek, or you know one.
Heather and I are definitely green closet geeks. I sent her a copy of Natural Capitalism (aka: Nat Cap) once as a present and she couldn't put it down. I think I saw highlighter marks too.
Anyway tonight I had the honor of speaking at the Bioneers conference. It was at Bioneers six years ago where I "discovered" Paul Hawken. He was berating a dude from Dupont for essentially greenwashing. It was such a turn on.
Tonight I listened to his closing speech and was just so amazed. He too has evolved. He spoke about having no enemies in this environmental mission. And that of course resonated, as we don't believe in finger shaking at Ideal Bite, but clearly he is talking about race, about religion, about life. He has now become the peaceful warrior. He did a visionary bit on "imagine if"... and then went into a world based upon Salmon Nation. He asked to be Undersecretary of the Owls. Such a hoot.
Anyway, it's true. I do have an eco-crush on Paul. He is so stupendously smart, and he puts it to good use, and never yields or settles. But beautifully evolves. Like nature. ahhhh.
Off to dream of Paul. - JB
Great tip but if you’re going to order books, might as well do it through a local bookstore. Check out the booksense website for the location of an independent bookstore or to order online through one of these bookstores.
You forgot a very special kind of “green” book club - Paperbackswap.com. The service allows members to post books that they are done with and request books from others on a credit basis. You get a credit for every book that arrives safely at its destination from you and you can redeem them for the books you want.
It combines all kinds of good things.
more on books..
I’m halfway through “The End of Food” by Thomas Pawlick. it’s a very interesting look at what effects the corporatized food industry is having on world systems.
if you ever need more inspiration to buy local, organic, free-range, etc.. READ THIS BOOK!
The founders of the Rocky Mountain Institute and probably the smartest “resource analysts” out there today are classified only as Paul Hawken’s “friends”? Whoa…
If you don’t have the funds to buy all these fabulous books (even used), some are available as PDFs for the downloading.
Natural Capitalism
http://www.natcap.org/sitepages/pid20.php
Plan B 2.0, and Lester Brown’s other recent books are available at Earth Policy Institute:
http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/PB2/Contents.htm
Others may be available too.
Did you really just say “Such a hoot” after writing “He asked to be Undersecretary of the Owls”?
You didn’t, did you?
Jen wins the corny pun award for the day!!! (Little do you Biters know - Jen wins the corny pun award internally here on most days). Best part is that she totally admits it.
Toasts to both the Undersecretary of Owls and Queen of Puns! - the world needs more people like you two.
-H
Have to add another book that should be on the Biter list: Let My People Go Surfing by Patagonia’s Yvon Chouinard. An easy read that documents the greening of a company and highlights Patagonia’s dedication to the environment and social responsibility. Enjoy!
I can’t believe I forgot one of my favorite books of all times: Biomimicry. Janine, babes, I heart you - don’t take it personally. (Please call me so we can have some tea.. it is getting cold in these here parts!)
I know that any time someone puts up a list of ANYTHING, there are always people who pipe up with “I can’t believe you forgot...”
But uh, can I add my reccomendation?
The book that got me more seriously thinking about “green” things was Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver. It doesn’t deal entirely with green-related things, but a large majority of it does and she’s a fantastic writer.
Back to the original post on Paul Hawken for a sec. I was one of the lucky ones to see part 1 of his Bioneers presentation, over here in Massachusetts. Sounds like he saved enuf energy to dazzle the west coast as well.
Along with Natural Capitalism I’d have to put David Suzuki’s The Sacred Balance, as my two most influential books so far. But I emphasize ‘so far’, because the volume of real good and inspiring reads is simply amazing.
Cheers, and happy reading…
Larry Grob
theunlikelyactivist.com
Years ago when I had fast growing
tumours I learned to not eat
lettuce. It isn’t that much of
a nutrient anyway. There are other
ways to get salads which are just
as good and very good for you.
Cucumbers (peeled of course) thawed
green peas with tiny pearl onions and a good dressing, fresh fruit salads, cantaloupe and whatever
will go with it, there are just too
many to mention that are so much
better than lettuce with the plus
of not having to eat bug spray.
Donna Jones Flood, author
HOW TO KEEP UP WITH THE JONESES
http://www.booksamillion.com/ncom/books?pid=1413732887&ad=FGLBKS
What’s a “salmon nation”? Never heard of such a thing. Who’s Paul Hawkins?
At the risk of shameless self-promotion, may I suggest for your book club a green story that won’t leave you so depressed you want to crawl under the bed and hide. Title: Electric Dreams. It’s the true story of a group of high school students and teachers in rural North Carolina who get involved in an electric-car competition. Moral of the story: we all have the power to make difference. Optioned for film by Participant Productions ("An Inconvenient Truth,” among other films). And as Kirkus Reviews noted, “Effectively poses the question: if kids from a hard-scrabble school district can turn out a roadworthy alternate fuel vehicle in a matter of months, what’s wrong with our big car makers?”
To add to the call for buying at a local bookstore or using the wonderful paperbackswap.com--if ordering is the only option, please do not use Amazon.com. Their ongoing anti-labor practices, as well as
their monetary donations to conservative lawmakers fly in the face of the ideals explicated by Ideal bite, as well all of the recommended authors.
Please consider alternative sites like Powells.com or Booksense.com.
For more about Amazon’s practices, see
http://www.buyblue.org/node/66/view/summary
I can’t help but say… Did you hear that the final Harry Potter has an edition that will be entirely printed on recycled paper? And that the regu;ar edition has something like 40% recycled paper? Also, if you have a child who loves both reading and the environment, there’s a wonderful book called FIRST LIGHT by Rebecca Stead coming out in June that is fiction, but has an incredibly strong element of global warming awareness in it. It’s also an amazing book…
Please don’t forget Jane Goodall’s Harvest for Hope. I’m truly shocked that it was omitted from the biters list of books.
Posted by: Nicole | October 23, 2006 at 05:17 AM