New Books - December 2009

This month we are highlighting a few of the books that generous donors have added to the library collection in the past few months covering a variety of topics including climate change, multicultural history, green design, Web 2.0, genetic engineering, industrial agriculture, and the distribution of wealth. Join us at the Thoreau Center Craft Fair on Wednesday, December 9 from 11:30 to 1:30. Purchase a delicious homemade brownie and your donation will help us provide more library resources to serve your interests. And, if you have books sitting around your office or at home that you’d like to donate to the library, please do. The library can help circulate and share such resources with our Thoreau Center community.

Orrin H. Pilkey & Rob Young. The Rising Sea. (2009)

Geologists Orrin H. Pilkey and Rob Young examine the causes and effects of vanishing glaciers, melting ice sheets, rising sea levels, and retreating shorelines worldwide. While not immediately perceptible to all today, global warming is currently altering coastal environments and their human and biological communities, and scientists anticipate that its impacts on our densely developed shorelines will only become more catastrophic in the decades to come. The authors make the case for taking a long-term view and making the hard choices now needed to shape development in a direction more in harmony with nature.

Ronald Takaki. A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America (Revised Edition). (2008)

The revised edition of Ronald Takaki's landmark study of the making of multicultural America, recounting the economic and political history of non-Anglo peoples of the United States: African Americans, Asian Americans, Irish Americans, Jewish Americans, Mexican Americans, Muslim Americans, and Native Americans. A complex and sobering examination of ethnic identity and the question of what it means to be an American, Takaki also brings to life the words, stories, and feelings of ordinary people through the use their folk songs, poetry, letters, and memoirs.

George M. Woodwell. The Nature of a House: Building a World that Works. (2009)

George M. Woodwell, founder and director of the Woods Hole Research Center, recounts the challenges faced by that organization as they transformed a nineteenth century mansion and its nine acres into their new office building and campus while staying true to their ecological principles by using "state-of-the-shelf" green building techniques and materials. For Woods Hole, it was the opportunity to demonstrate the transitions that need to be made in our thinking about how we design, reuse, and live in the built environment in response to the challenges of climate change and environmental degradation.

Claire Hope Cummings. Uncertain Peril: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Seeds. (2008)

Focusing on the plight of seeds as the common heritage of all humanity, Cummings condemns the use of biotechnology in agriculture, arguing that the development of patented and genetically altered seeds perpetuates the ills of today's industrialized food system and undermines the autonomy of farmers, all within an inadequate regulatory framework that does little to ensure the safety of genetically engineered foods for the consumer. As the alternative, she presents the stories of local communities that are using organic farming and other methods to produce food and fuel sustainably while preserving and restoring the integrity of both natural and cultural systems.

David Bollier. Viral Spiral: How the Commoners Built a Digital Republic of Their Own. (2008)

David Bollier is a journalist, activist, and public policy analyst as well as Editor of Onthecommons.org and cofounder of Public Knowledge. In this book, he has written a narrative history of the emergence over the past decade of the electronic "free culture" movement, an eclectic and global collection of techies, lawyers, artists, musicians, scientists, and businesspeople building a digital commons committed to freedom and innovation. In resistance to centalized control, hierarchies of credentialed experts, and draconian intellectual property rights, this movement has worked to create a radically different order based on open access, decentralized creativity, collaborative intelligence, and cheap and easy sharing.

Gar Alperovitz & Lew Daly. Unjust Deserts: How the Rich are Taking our Common Inheritance. (2008)

The distribution of income and wealth in the United States is more unequal today than at any time since the 1920s. In this examination of wealth creation, the authors argue that research demonstrates that much of the success of the wealthiest individuals in fact results from the unjust appropriation of inherited knowledge owned by society at large. They articulate a new political case for the redistribution of wealth, based on the understanding that the source of that wealth is society itself.

Subject Guide: Nature Writing

Henry David Thoreau is probably best known for his work as a nature writer and for the intense commitment to the wild he displayed in his work, a radical view which influenced generations of writers to come. Nature writing has a long history in American literature, and this list presents some books about the genre and some major works that are in the library collection. It represents a small slice of the diversity of the genre, as nature writers have been inspired by countless different places and things in highly individual ways. Combining observation, scientific insight, and imaginative interpretation, at its heart nature writing is about enriching our experiences of the world by opening our perceptions to an ecological and holistic way of seeing and by forcing us to consider the ethical implications of our relationship with the land and wildlife. For more books, visit the catalog online at library.thoreau.org.

Thomas J. Lyon, ed. This Incomperable Lande: A Book of American Nature Writing. (1989)

An analytical history and comprehensive anthology of American nature writing from the sixteenth-century to the modern day, highlighting the diversity of responses, perspectives, and forms within the genre. Twenty-two authors are represented, including Thomas Nuttall, Thoreau, John Burroughs, Joseph Wood Krutch, Edward Abbey, Barry Lopez, and John Hay.

Corey Lee Lewis. Reading the Trail: Exploring the Literature and Natural History of the California Crest. (2005)

Lewis offers new ways of exploring the intersection of ecology and literature in this survey of the works of John Muir, Mary Austin, and Gary Snyder, three authors whose writings have been significant in shaping America's environmental consciousness and which are deeply connected to particular ecological regions of California along the Pacific Crest Trail. By combining literary analysis with field studies of the places they wrote about, he delivers new insights and demonstrates the continued relevance of their ideas to today's discussion of ecological values.

John Muir. The Mountains of California. (1894)

Published two years after he founded the Sierra Club, this is the first collection of essays by John Muir, a pioneer in the field of literary natural history and one of the country's leading environmental activists. His energetic and precise writings celebrate the wildness and complexity of the Sierra Nevada mountains he dedicated his life to saving, and have shown to generations of readers the necessity of experiencing and preserving our natural heritage.

Aldo Leopold. A Sand County Almanac, and Sketches Here and There. (1949)

Forester, wildlife ecologist, environmental philosopher, and educator, Leopold articulated ideas in this writing that have come to be at the core of environmental ethics and aesthetics today. Building from insightfully written accounts of his own encounters with the wild in Sand County, Wisconsin as well as from experiences earlier in his life, it is a call for a fundamental reform in humankind's relationship to the land, one that extends our ethical sensibilities to encompass the whole of nature.

Rachel Carson. The Sea Around Us. (1950, rev. ed. 1961)

Combining a rigorous scientific perspective with rich and lyrical language, Carson's book is a guide to the world's oceans and the life in them. Hers is a holisitc view, concentrating on relationships and linkages, describing vast and complex natural systems, and dramatically illustrating how powerful natural forces continue to shape the rhythms of life on our planet: "a water world, a planet dominated by its covering mantle of ocean, in which the continents are but transient intrusions of land above the surface of the all-encircling sea."

Annie Dillard. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. (1974)

Over the course of a year, the author walks alone through the land surrounding Tinker Creek, located in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Roanoke, Virginia. Observing closely the changing of the seasons and the effects on the plants and animals there, her reflections on the nature of the world open into profound themes of life, death, meaning, identity, and the spiritual complexity of the universe. It is a testament to the challenge of experiencing the world in all its variety.

Wendell Berry. Recollected Essays, 1965-1980. (1981)

A pioneer on the subjects of sustainable agriculture and slow food, novelist, poet, essayist, and farmer, Wendell Berry here revisits some of his earlier writings in these eleven essays collected from The Long-Legged House, The Hidden Wound, A Continuous Harmony, The Unforseen Wilderness, and The Unsettling of America. Largely based on his life on his farm in rural Kentucky, he presents insights into humankind's relationship with the natural world, arguing for the need to learn from the complex patterns of nature and to pay attention particularly to local ways and wisdom as an alternative to the extractive and destructive practices of large scale agribusiness and of contemporary American culture.

David Mas Masumoto. Letters to the Valley: A Harvest of Memories. (2004)

David Mas Masumoto grows organic peaches and grapes on his farm in Del Rey, in the San Joaquin Valley of California. The essays in this collection originally appeared as a column in the Fresno Bee and take the form of letters to his family, friends, neighbors, and others. In them he writes about his experiences of the connections between food, work, family and place, experiences that illustrate the values needed to realize a sustainable society and to preserve a way of life in the rapidly changing context for family farms.

Nov 19 - Thoreau Center Film Screening: Prom Night in Mississippi

Thursday, November 19, 12:30p

Pacific Room at Tides

An official selection at the Sundance Film Festival, Prom Night in Mississippi tells the story of senior students of Charleston High who rally in preparation for the school’s first-ever integrated prom. In 1997, Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman made an historic offer to the high school in his hometown of Charleston, Mississippi: He would foot the bill for the school’s senior prom—on condition that both black and white students be allowed to attend. Even though the students shared classes and every other aspect of school life, they had a tradition of holding two proms—one white, one black. Freeman’s offer was ignored. In 2008, he made it again. This time, the school accepted and history was made, but not without significant opposition.

Brown Bag: Equality Now Mobilizes to End Injustice to Women

Brown Bag: Equality Now Mobilizes to End Injustice to Women
Thursday, November 5, 12:30PM to 1:30PM
Pacific Room at Tides

Equality Now works to end violence and discrimination against women and girls around the world through the mobilization of public pressure. Thoreau Center and the New Field Foundation will host four Equality Now activists who will highlight their recent successes and talk about Equality Now’s new exciting project. The presenters include Agnes Pareyio, a Maasai activist working to end FGM and early marriage in Kenya, Kadidia Sidibe, a women's rights champion in Mali, West Africa for over three decades, Fanta Camara, and a young Malian FGM survivor-turned-activist Taina Bien-Aimé, ex-oficio, Equality Now Board of Directors (USA).

Art Opening: "Dog Play" and "Photographs in the Fog"

Art Opening Reception
Thoreau Gallery and The Seed Gallery of Photographic Art
Thoreau Center for Sustainability, SF
Thursday, November 5, 5:00PM to 7:00 PM
Artists: Elizabeth Ennis + Steven Hight



Observing dogs unleashed, painter Elizabeth Ennis captures their fierce joy in their pure state of being in her exhibit Dog Play. Photographer Steven Hight uses vintage effects to engage us in his San Francisco landscapes display Photographs in the Fog.

The exhibits run from November 5 through January 8, 2010.

Oct 29: Thoreau Center Workshop - Powerful Communication

When: Thursday, October 29, 2009 12:30 PM-1:30 PM

Where: Pacific Room at Tides

Free Workshop: Powerful Communication

Presenter: Nikki Anderson, Co-founder of ThinkFeelKnow


Join us for this free workshop on powerful communication. This workshop will try to demonstrate how we can more clearly communicate with each other by understanding different communication styles. You will learn specific listening skills and how to choose how to respond. The way we communicate is fundamental as it can make or break our relationships with others. The more we understand our own communication style, the greater chance we have of choosing how we communicate with others and creating connection and understanding.


Nikki Anderson is the CEO, a founding partner and a coach within Think Feel Know, USA. Her specialty is working with women leaders and entrepreneurs within small businesses who are ready to grow to the next level. She is skilled at coaching individuals and groups; facilitating workshops, trainings and meetings to elicit connection, unity and clarity, resulting in forward action and bottom-line results. Nikki has been coaching, counseling, mentoring and consulting for the past decade. She received a Masters in Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies, a Bachelor's degree from Cal Poly in Nutrition and Psychology and is a certified coach from The Coaches Training Institute. She also served on the board for SF Coaches as the Program Director for over two years and is a current member of The Professional Coaches and Mentors Association. Nikki has run her own business for the past six years - focusing initially on one-to-one coaching and later focusing more specifically on group facilitation and speaking. Concurrent to running her own coaching and consulting practice, she was also the primary life coach for Optimum Health, a preventative healthcare business founded by Western Athletic Health Clubs.

Thoreau Center Film Screening: Amreeka

When: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 12:30 PM-1:30 PM


Where: Pacific Room at Tides



The Thoreau Center is hosting a screening of the recently released film Amreeka. This film chronicles the adventures of Muna, a single mother who leaves the West Bank with Fadi, her teenage son, with dreams of an exciting future in the promised land of small town Illinois. In America, as her son navigates high school hallways the way he used to move through military checkpoints, the indomitable Muna scrambles together a new life cooking up falafel burgers as well as hamburgers at the local White Castle.


By writer-director Cherien Dabis in her feature film debut, Amreeka is a universal journey into the lives of a family of immigrants and first-generation teenagers caught between their heritage and the new world in which they now live and the bittersweet search for a place to call home.


National Geographic Entertainment will release Amreeka in September 2009. Amreeka is a First Generation Films-Alcina Pictures-Buffalo Gal Pictures/Eagle Vision Media Group Production, presented by E1 Entertainment in association with Levantine Entertainment, Rotana Studios and Showtime Arabia.


Amreeka made its world premiere in dramatic competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, and played as Opening Night of New Directors/New Films, a co-presentation of The Museum of Modern Art and The Film Society of Lincoln Center. Amreeka made its debut internationally in Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

Book Discussion: A Sand County Almanac

Book Discussion:


A Sand County Almanac
and Sketches Here and There

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

In the library

12:30p to 1:30p




“A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”

Come join your friends and co-workers and share your thoughts about Aldo Leopold's classic and influential work of nature writing, A Sand County Almanac. Forester, wildlife ecologist, environmental philosopher, and educator, Leopold articulated ideas in this writing that have come to be at the core of conservation ethics today. A call for a fundamental reform in humankind's relationship to the land, it is a beautifully and forcefully written account of his own encounters with wild nature and a celebration of its richness.

Please let us know at library@thoreau.org if you are interested in attending and/or if you need help finding a copy.

(And yes, since we are doing this at lunch time, you will be allowed to eat in the library - just be careful around the couch)

Film Screening: Money-Driven Medicine

When: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 12:30 PM-1:30 PM.

Location: Pacific Room at Tides





Join the center for a film screening of Money-Driven Medicine. This film provides the essential introduction Americans need if they are to become knowledgeable participants in healthcare reform.

Produced by Academy Award winner Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side; Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) and based on Maggie Mahar's acclaimed book, Money Driven Medicine: The Real Reason Health Care Costs So Much, the film offers a behind-the-scenes look at the $2.6 trillion U.S. healthcare system, how it went so terribly wrong and what it will take to fix it.

Banned Books Week

Banned books week is over. Thanks to everybody who stopped by last week to celebrate intellectual freedom and write on our wall. Some pictures:

Celebrate Banned Books Week, Sept. 26 - Oct. 3

The Catcher in the Rye . . . I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings . . . Captain Underpants . . .

What do these books have in common? They have all been the targets of efforts to have them banned from libraries. While you might have heard recently about popular controversies over the Harry Potter series, you might not know the full extent to which such challenges continue to occur in America today. Or that And Tango Makes Three, the heartwarming tale of two male penguins in the Central Park Zoo who start a family together, has been the most challenged book in the country for three years running. These challenges come from individuals, groups, and public authorities who work to remove or limit access to reading materials, to censor content in schools, to label views “controversial” and books “objectionable”, and to purge libraries of materials reflecting the diversity of society. Since 1990, the American Library Association's (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has recorded more than 10,000 book challenges, including 513 in 2008. A challenge is a formal, written complaint requesting a book be removed from library shelves or school curriculum. About three out of four of all challenges are to material in schools or school libraries, and one in four are to material in public libraries. OIF estimates that less than one-quarter of challenges are reported and recorded. While some books have been restricted, in most cases the efforts of librarians, teachers, parents, students, and other members of the community have ensured that the works remain fully accessible.

Banned Books Week, September 26 to October 3, is an annual celebration of the freedom to read freely and the freedom to express one's opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular, and it stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. It commemorates that most basic right of a democratic society, the right of intellectual freedom, and reminds us not take this freedom for granted. The Whole Earth Library is joining thousands of libraries and bookstores around the country in recognition of the week with a special display. Do you have a favorite book? Chances are that someone has tried to ban it somewhere. We are setting up a banned book wall in front of the library and encouraging you to stop by all week and write a quote on it from a banned or challenged book. Find out what books have been challenged by visiting the ALA's Frequently Challenged Books page and its list of Banned and Challenged Classics. Or try the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression Banned and Challenged Book List. Also be sure to visit the Book Bans and Challenges, 2007-2009 Map for a striking visual display of the problem. If you don't have a copy of your favorite banned book at hand consider visiting the Project Gutenberg site for free ebooks or The Open Library can help you track down other online copies as well as physical ones. On Friday, October 2, we will also be providing some snacks by the book swap area so you can mingle and share your banned books experiences. So come on by! And if you haven’t yet, sign up to become a member of the library. It’s FREE.

Book Launch Party - Growing Resilience

Growing Resilience
Community Resilience Toolkit Launch Party!

WHEN: Wednesday, September 16, 6-8:30 pm

WHERE: Women's Building, 3543 18th St., SF (Only blocks from the 16th St. BART station)





In response to worsening energy, climate, and economic crises, Bay Localize is equipping organizers in our region with the tools they'll need to build strong communities. Join them for "Growing Resilience," a launch event for their long-awaited Community Resilience Toolkit!

The Toolkit is a workshop facilitation guide for leading groups to think holistically about how to build ecological, economic, and social resilience in their communities while decreasing reliance on fossil fuels. It offers Bay Area-specific fact sheets, resources, and actions in six key sectors: food, water, energy, transportation, jobs, and civic services.

Come hear dynamic speakers, see live performances, dance to eclectic selections, take part in interactive Toolkit sessions, and enjoy tantalizing local food and drink! For more information and to RSVP please visit the Bay Localize web site.

Growing Resilience is cosponsored by Movement Generation and Transition US. Thanks to Atlas Cafe, Bi-Rite, City Slicker Farms, Kaia Foods, Produce to the People, Rainbow Grocery, Straus Family Creamery, Valencia Whole Foods, and the Women's Building for their generous contributions.

Sustainably Speaking: Energy in California

Sustainably Speaking: Energy in California, Challenges and Solutions, Locally and Globally

Presenter: Journalist Peter Asmus, author of Introduction to Energy in California, U.C. Press

Thursday, September 17, 12:30PM to 1:30PM

Pacific Room at Tides, in the Thoreau Center

Join us as Peter gives us an introduction to California’s energy resources, challenges and solutions, locally and globally.

Peter will sum up the history of California energy development, then outline key challenges, and then go into solutions, focusing on the potential of ocean energy (he recently authored a 100 page plus report on the topic) and the evolution of the "locavolt" movement taking root in his own backyard in Marin County.

Peter Asmus has been covering energy issues for over 20 years. Previous books include Reaping the Wind and Reinventing Electric Utilities, both published by Island Press. His articles on energy have been published in leading newspapers such as the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and San Francisco Chronicle. He has served as a consultant to the California Energy Commission and California Air Resources Board.

Art + Environment -- A Conceptual View

Art Opening Reception
Thoreau Gallery and The Seed Gallery of Photographic Art
Artists: Mardi Brayton + Kevin Twomey
September 10, 5:00PM to 7:00PM

Please join the Thoreau Center in celebration of its new exhibitions. In “View From an Open Mind,” Mardi Burnham expresses her affection for the natural world by collecting natural materials and juxtaposing them against the reality of ongoing environmental degradation, posing questions about larger social and environmental issues. Kevin Twomey’s “Bottanic” pays homage to the botanical illustrators of the past, capturing his objects in crisp detail before they are recycled back into the earth.

The Art Run, Fun Run benefiting ArtSeed

What: The Art Run, Fun Run benefiting ArtSeed.
A fun run/walk through the Marina, Russian Hill and North Beach neighborhoods followed by a fundraiser party for donating participants.

When: Thursday, September 3
6:00PM for Runners/Walkers
7:00PM for The Celebration

Where: Fleet Feet Sports – SF
2076 Chestnut Street (at Steiner)
San Francisco, CA 94123 map

About the event:

Creativity and Fitness all in one evening! This event celebrates the winner of ArtSeed's T-shirt design contest. For a $10 donation, participants will receive an Adidas T-shirt printed with the winning design. We will raffle off prizes from Adidas Fleet Feet and various other local businesses. All the proceeds will benefit ArtSeed, an arts-education non-profit located in the Presidio of San Francisco.

At 6pm participants will register to run a scenic 3-mile loop from the Marina through Russian Hill and North Beach. After the run, everyone is invited to the celebration. For those donating participants that just want to attend the party, festivities will start at 7pm. Participants can enjoy delicious food and beverages.

Just because the design contest is over, it doesn't mean that we can't be creative. We will offer a cupcake decorating station so everyone can show off their creativity. Single Serving Sweets will provide gluten-free baked goods for decorating.

Creatively designed desserts should also be washed down with creatively designed beer! ArtSeed board member James Joves will provide home-crafted beer for those participants that enjoy a cool beverage after their run.

Fleet Feet San Francisco and Marathon Matt have put together many successful half marathon training programs over the last few years. Consequently, each program offered a different t-shirt design. All of those t-shirts will also be displayed for everyone to see. Shoe store? Art Gallery? Art Studio? Fleet Feet San Francisco does it all!


About the design:

Sydney Van Bueren, Design Winner: She is a talented 12 year old student currently attending Presidio Middle School. Sydney hopes to attend High School at School of the Arts. As the winner of our design contest, Sydney toured Astro Studios and saw her design come to life.

Bill Webb, Graphic Artist: Bill Webb, Creative Director, at Astro Studios translated Sydney's design into an electronic format for printing. Aside from being an amazing graphic artist, Bill is also a runner.

Fleet Feet San Francisco: www.fleetfeetsanfrancisco.com
ArtSeed: www.artseed.org
Astro Studios: www.astrostudios.com

Book Discussion: In the Eye of the Storm

In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

12:30p to 1:30p

Come join your friends and co-workers and share your thoughts about In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God by Gene Robinson, the Ninth Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire and the first openly gay, non-celibate priest to be ordained a bishop in a major Christian denomination. In this book, he reflects on the controversy surrounding his election and what it has meant for the Episcopal Church, while also illuminating the faith that has animated his life and his work helping the poor, the marginalized and the disenfranchised. Bishop Robinson will also be presenting on obstacles to opportunity and prosperity in America at Momentum 2009, Tides’ annual gathering of forward-thinking activists, philanthropists, and social entrepreneurs. Learn more at www.momentumconference.org.

Please let John know at library@thoreau.org if you are interested in attending and/or if you need help finding a copy.

Note: You may bring your lunch to the discussion. Just be careful not to spill. Thanks.

Subject Guide: Momentum 2009

With Tides' Momentum 2009 conference around the corner (September 7-9), here are some books related to this year's plenary themes: Power, Capital, Carbon, Work, Rights, Conflict, and Connections. Filled with innovative ideas, inspiration, and trenchant analysis, they are just the thing to help you prepare for the conference or to help you stay informed on policy, progressive politics, and social justice.

Piven, Frances Fox, Lorraine Carol Minnite, and Margaret Groarke. Keeping Down the Black Vote: Race and the Demobilization of American Voters. New York: New Press, 2009.

The authors of this book examine the history of the powerful tendencies toward voter suppression in America's two-party political system, focusing on Republican Party and conservative movement efforts over the past twenty-five years to counter the mobilization of black voters. Where the obstacles to voting used to be obvious, today they are more subtle, using tactics such as felon disenfranchisement statues, burdensome voter identification laws, and tough rules on voter registration drives, all in the name of “election reform.” Finding such suppression alive and well in the 2008 election, they demonstrate the need today for an electoral process that is fair, simple, and transparent.

McKibben, Bill. Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future. New York: Times Books, 2007.

Are you local? The familiar, prevailing economic model that has held growth to be the primary goal is currently leading to increased inequality, insecurity, environmental degradation, unhappiness, and social isolation. McKibben presents the stories of pioneers pursuing alternatives based on local interdependence and the sustainable use of resources. It is an argument for a more humane economic approach based on rebuilding and reinvigorating local communities, thereby directly connecting people to other people and to the consequences of their actions.

Goodell, Jeff. Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future. Boston: Mariner Book, Houghton Mifflin Co, 2007.

Roughly half of the electricity in America comes from coal, with the average American being responsible for consuming twenty pounds of the stuff a day, yet many are unaware of its centrality to our existence or the enormous influence the coal industry has on our politics and economy. Goodell traces the life cycle of this cheap, dirty, and carbon-intensive fossil fuel from deep underground, into the power grids, through the halls of government, and out into the atmosphere, revealing the costs and consequences of this addiction to the environment and to the health of individuals, families and communities.

Nahmias, Rick. The Migrant Project: Contemporary California Farm Workers. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2008.

Poor, exploited, and marginalized, migrant farm workers are a vital part of California's and the country's agriculture economy. Rick Nahmias' photography documents the lives of these workers, showing the harsh conditions in which they are forced to live and work, but also reflecting their essential human dignity. In combination with oral histories and analytic essays, this collection tells the story of the struggle for respect and justice, and puts a human face on the hidden costs of feeding America.

Levy, Barry S., and Victor W. Sidel. Social Injustice and Public Health. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.

This wide-ranging collection represents a comprehensive approach to understanding the adverse impacts of social injustice on public health, examining its effects on different population groups and in different areas of health including infectious diseases, mental health, nutrition, and assaultive violence. It is also a call to action, presenting ways to respond to the root causes of social injustice and to ensure that all people have the increased opportunity to meet their basic human needs through access to medical knowledge, tools, and resources.

Glenny, Misha. McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld. New York: Knopf Books, 2008.

The chaos left behind by the collapse of the Soviet Union in conjunction with the opportunistic deregulation of international financial markets brought with them the dramatic growth of transnational organized crime and the global shadow economy, which now accounts for an estimated twenty percent of world GDP. Chronicling the rise and activities of this globalized underworld, including the Russian mafia, Colombian drug cartels, Japanese yakuza, and Chinese labor smugglers, Glenny presents a detailed picture of how they feed off of the vulnerability of the poor to satisfy the material demands of the affluent in the West, creating a breeding ground for violence and insecurity.

Hamm, Theodore. The New Blue Media: How Michael Moore, MoveOn.Org, Jon Stewart and Company Are Transforming Progressive Politics. New York: New Press, 2008.

Including the Onion, Air America, Michael Moore, MoveOn, Daily Kos and the Blogosphere, The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report, this book chronicles the history of today's progressive media in America with a particular focus on their growth during the Bush years. Examining their use of satire, didactics, activism, and new technologies, Hamm argues that despite a mixed record of success they have changed the presentation and direction of contemporary progressive politics, with Stephen Colbert providing “the most sophisticated critique mustered by the New Blue Media.”

Subject Guide: California

Defined as much by its mythology as by its geography, California is a place of rich human variety, spectacular natural beauty, historical extremes, and complex political contradictions. Learn more about your home state, its history, and the difficult issues it faces today with the books in this subject guide, which represent just a few of the ones about California available in the library's collection. Visit the catalog at library.thoreau.org to find more, and remember that we will having a discussion in the library about one of the books on this list - Rand Richard's Mud, Blood, and Gold - next Wednesday, July 22, from 12:30pm to 1:30pm.


Kevin Starr. California: A History. (2005)

Author of the sweeping eight volume historical study, California and the American Dream, and former state librarian, Kevin Starr in thirteen chapters chronicles California's history from the arrival of Europeans in the sixteenth century to 2005. Surveying the full sweep of geological, economic, political, cultural, and technological forces that have shaped the state, he emphasizes key themes of diversity, mythmaking, and innovation. It is also an examination of the paradoxical relationship between the state's veneration of nature and its rapacious consumption of it, how California became such a representative American place, and the question "Is California governable?"

John McPhee. Assembling California. (1993)

Rivaling the diversity of its population, the geology of California is a uniquely complex story of shifting geometries in continual motion. Part science, part biography, part travel narrative, McPhee explores the state with geologist Eldridge Moors while explaining the geological dynamics that have pieced together the state and shaped its familiar features for hundreds of millions of years. Illustrating how these forces have directly affected human development, he also discusses the gold rush, vinicultural diversity, and the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

Brian Fagan. Before California: An Archeologist Looks at Our Earliest Inhabitants. (2003).

Long before there was a state called California, the land it occupies was home to a diverse array of societies and cultures, including some of the highest linguistic diversity every recorded on the planet. Written for a general audience, this book is a survey of the lives of these native peoples from the earliest human settlement over 13,000 years ago to the arrival of Europeans, as based on interpretations of the archaeological record. Acknowledging that many questions remain to be answered, Fagan addresses a wide range of topics, including human travel and migration patterns, the changing availability of different food resources, the effects of alterations in the ecology of the coast and inland regions, and detailed explorations of specific geographic regions.

Peter Asmus. Introduction to Energy in California. (2009)

From the University of California Press' California Natural History Guides series, this book is a comprehensive and accessible reference guide to all aspects of energy in the state, with over a hundred photographs, illustrations, and maps. Beginning with an historical overview of energy development in California, it also examines the pros and cons of all existing energy sources, including alternative and renewable ones, and describes the numerous challenges facing the state today in this sector along with some potential solutions for a more sustainable future. With an afterword by Arthur O' Donnell, executive director of the Center for Resource Solutions.

Linda & Wayne Bonnett. Taber: A Photographic Legacy, 1870-1900. (2004)

This survey features over 200 photographs of California and San Francisco taken by Isaiah West Taber (1830-1912), one of the most famous, talented, and prolific photographers of the state in his day, with a genius for self-promotion needed to thrive in the competitive world of nineteenth century portraiture. Documenting views of a world now lost, it includes images of Chinatown, the mansions of Nob Hill, Sutro Heights, the 1894 Midwinter Fair, Yosemite Valley, and individual portraits of famous Californians. It also presents the story of West himself, from his arrival during the gold rush to the 1906 earthquake when all of his glass negatives were lost.

Rand Richards. Mud, Blood, and Gold: San Francisco in 1849. (2009)

By the author of Historic San Francisco (also in the library collection), this work presents a detailed account of San Francisco in the year when its population exploded as tens of thousands of people from around the world poured through on their way to get rich in the newly discovered gold fields of California. From eyewitness accounts of that tumultuous year, Richards creates a vivid picture of daily life filled with drinking, gambling, prostitution, violence, real estate speculation, government corruption, and boundless ambition. Strained to the breaking point, the town was transformed into a city in ways that echo to today.

Brown Bag: Clean Energy Advancement & Global Warming Reversal

Brown Bag: Clean Energy Advancement + Global Warming Reversal
Presenter: Center for Resource Solutions Policy Director Chris Busch
Thursday, July 16, 12:30PM to 1:30PM
Atlantic Room at Tides

This presentation will provide insights into the current climate and energy policy landscape. We will look in some detail at the American Climate and Energy Security Act, which has been advancing in the House of Representatives. The bill, crafted by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Henry Waxman and his Environmental Subcommittee Chair Ed Markey, includes an array of policy initiatives. Chris will touch on some of the specifics to the energy-sector and will seek to demystify the multi-sector cap-and-trade program that is intended to ensure declining greenhouse gas emissions for the economy as a whole. The presentation will also touch on other recent federal policy developments, as well as regional and state action.

Some New Books

A brief look at some of the new additions to the collection:

Donald Kennedy, ed. & the editors of Science magazine. Science Magazine's State of the Planet 2008-2009. (2008)

Collecting articles dedicated to energy, climate, and sustainability.

Gary Paul Nabhan. Where Our Food Comes From: Retracing Nikolay Vavilov's Quest to End Famine. (2009)

Examining the links between climate change, free trade, genetic engineering, loss of traditional knowledge, and threats to our food supply.

Martha Honey. Ecotourism and Sustainable Development. (2008)

A comprehensive overview of ecotourism around the world today.

Richard L. Knight & Courtney White. Conservation for a New Generation. (2009)

A study of alternative, community-based approaches to land conservation.

Book Discussion - Mud, Blood, and Gold

Wednesday, July 22
12:30 to 1:30
In the library



Come join your friends and co-workers and share your thoughts about Mud, Blood, and Gold: San Francisco in 1849 by local historian Rand Richards. In 1849, the population of the small port town of San Francisco exploded as tens of thousands of people from around the world poured through it on their way to get rich in the recently discovered gold fields of California. Some succeeded, many failed. From eyewitness accounts of that tumultuous year, Richards creates a vivid picture of daily life filled with drinking, gambling, prostitution, violence, real estate speculation, and government corruption. Strained to the breaking point, the city was transformed in ways that echo to today.


Please let us know at library@thoreau.org if you are interested in attending and/or if you need help finding a copy.


(And yes, since we are doing this at lunch time, you will be allowed to eat in the library - just be careful around the couch)


From the publisher:

San Francisco in 1849 was a time and place like no other in American history. As word of the discovery of gold in California spread, people from all over the world descended on San Francisco--ground zero for the avalanche of humanity and goods pouring into the fabled El Dorado. There have been many books on the Gold Rush, but Mud, Blood, and Gold is the first to focus solely on San Francisco as it was at the peak of the gold frenzy. With a 'you are there' immediacy author Rand Richards vividly brings to life what San Francisco was like during the landmark year of 1849. Based on eyewitness accounts and previously overlooked official records, Richards chronicles the explosive growth of a wide-open town rife with violence, gambling, and prostitution, all of it fueled by unbridled greed.

This Thursday: Art + Wine + Song

Elemental
Emily Clawson, Jenny E. Balisle, and Mari Andrews

Opening Reception:

Thursday, June 18, 5:00PM to 7:00PM

Thoreau Gallery




Elemental, presenting artwork by Emily Clawson, Jenny E. Balisle, and Mari Andrews - three Bay Area artists whose work is inspired, in part, by simplicity and nature. With drawings, paintings and sculpture these artists have planned an exhibition hoping to engage your mind and tickle your fancy. It runs from June 18 to August 14.

Special musical performance by Erica Dreisbach of Social Venture Network. Hear Erica's music:
http://www.myspace.com/ericadreisbach

Subject Guide: Sustainability

While the term sustainability has become popular, its precise definition remains subject to debate and it will carry different senses of meaning for different people in different contexts. Probably the most widely known definition is the one presented in Our Common Future, the 1987 report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Building on that basic idea, many have worked to elaborate its details and practical implications, in the process bringing together aspects of economics, ecology, public policy, sociology, resource management, and more. Faced with increasing evidence every day that humanity is on an unsustainable trajectory, the need to develop a fuller understanding of the intertwined social and ecological contexts of human activity takes on a new urgency. The books in this list are useful introductions to the discussion of sustainability and its complexities, and it includes broad surveys of major themes as well as seminal works on particular topics such as economics and design.

Andres R. Edwards. The Sustainability Revolution: Portrait of a Paradigm Shift. (2005)

Edwards presents a guide to what he terms the "Sustainability Movement" - a large and diverse collection of groups and individuals around the world addressing a wide variety of issues yet which share certain common values and objectives. His portrait summarizes the many dimensions of sustainability through its presentation of the guiding principles of a number of leading groups and efforts organized into five sectors: community, commerce, natural resources, ecological design, and the biosphere. A general introduction to the idea of sustainability, it also briefly traces the roots and history of the idea and includes a guide to other resources online and in print.

Donella Meadows, Jorgen Randers, & Dennis Meadows. Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update. (2004)

This update revisits the work of the influential and bestselling 1972 book which warned of the consequences of the unrestrained pursuit of growth in a finite world and which triggered widespread debate over environmental and economic issues. Whereas in 1972 the authors found that humanity's population and economic activity were at such a level within the planet's carrying capacity that there was time to continue existing patterns of growth safely while considering long-term change, the evidence of the intervening three decades lead them to conclude that humanity has already overshot the limits of that capacity in a number of areas and has moved into unsustainable territory with increasingly limited options. Presenting a clear picture of the situation today, the authors propose tools to help global society move toward a more sustainable state, including technological innovation, personal change, and longer planning horizons, while presenting a sobering assessment of the political and societal challenges which need to be confronted in order to avoid the path toward catastrophe.

Herman E. Daly. Steady-State Economics. (1991)

Originally published in 1977, this book is a pioneering work in the field of sustainable economics detailing many ideas now recognized as key to sustainable development. Daly maintains that the ecosystem with its finite limits must be understood to contain the economy, rather than the other way around as the abstract models of neoclassical economics would have it. A steady-state economy operates within these ecological boundaries, allowing for genuine qualitative human development as an alternative to the aggregate quantitative growth that is overburdening the environment. To maintain this desirable state, he proposes a collection of economic institutions and government action that combines strong regulation with free market devices. This revised edition includes related essays and book reviews on issues of growth and sustainability.

Worldwatch Institute. State of the World 2008: Innovations for a Sustainable Economy. (2008)

Since 1984, the Worldwatch Institute has published the annual book series State of the World, which presents current developments in the research on global environmental challenges and solutions. This twenty-fifth anniversary edition focuses on the reforms needed to guide investment away from destructive activities and toward a new generation of environmentally sustainable industries. Surveying innovations across sectors and in such areas of activity as renewable energy, carbon markets, trade policy, finance, and economic indicators, the authors highlight the ways people are challenging existing economic assumptions and business practices.

Paul Hawken. The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability. (1993)

This fourth book by environmentalist, entrepreneur, and journalist Paul Hawken concentrates on how to change the existing relationship between business and the environment. He argues that any substantial progress in protecting the planet will have to come from a business leadership that has learned to reject short-sighted commercial gain in favor of the longer view. Using practical examples and guidelines, Hawken suggests how commerce can be transformed to an activity that restores ecosystems and protects the environment while still operating in a context of free enterprise. The Ecology of Commerce was voted in 1998 as the top college text on business and the environment by professors in 67 business schools.

Jonathan M. Harris, Timothy A. Wise, Kevin P. Gallagher, & Neva R. Goodwin, eds. A Survey of Sustainable Development: Social and Economic Dimensions. (2001)

A Survey of Sustainable Development is the sixth and final volume in the Frontier Issues of Economic Thought series produced by the Global Development And Environment Institute at Tufts University. The editors have assembled summaries of 66 articles reflecting diverse points of view and interdisciplinary approaches to the subject of sustainable human and economic development. Comprehensive review essays also synthesize major themes of the literature in such areas as renewable resources, corporate responsibility, democracy, population growth, biodiversity, and globalization.

Sim Van der Ryn & Stuart Cowan. Ecological Design: Tenth Anniversary Edition. (1996)
As a professor of architecture at the University of California Berkeley, California State Architect in the 1970s, and founder of the Ecological Design Institute in Marin, Sim Van der Ryn has been at the forefront of sustainable architecture for decades. Building on this experience, he has developed a philosophy based on the integration of physical and social ecology with design, emphasizing the need for ongoing collaboration of all parties involved as a crucial part of the process. This book details his principles and is a call to design in a way that honors the complexity of nature to all of those involved in the shaping of the physical details of daily existence - architects, landscape architects, city planners, farmers, chemical engineers, industrial designers, interior decorators, and others.

--John Bertland
Librarian

Film Presentation: Legacy of Torture: The War Against the Black Liberation Movement

Legacy of Torture: The War Against the Black Liberation Movement"
Presenter: Filmmaker Claude Marks
Friday, June 12, 12:30pm to 1:30pm
Atlantic Room

“The same people who tried to kill me in 1973 are the same people who are here today, trying to destroy me. I mean it literally. I mean there were people from the forces of the San Francisco Police Department who participated in harassment, torture and my interrogation in 1973 ... none of these people have ever been brought to trial. None of these people have ever been charged with anything. None of these people have ever been questioned about that.” -- John Bowman, former Black Panther

In 2005 several former members of the Black Panther were held in contempt and jailed for refusing to testify before a San Francisco Grand Jury investigating a police shooting that took place in 1971. The government alleged that Black radical groups were involved in the 34-year old case in which two men armed with shotguns attacked the Ingleside Police Station resulting in the death of a police sergeant and the injuring of a civilian clerk.

In 1973, thirteen alleged "Black militants" were arrested in New Orleans, purportedly in connection with the San Francisco events. Some of them were tortured for several days by law enforcement authorities, in striking similarity to the horrors visited upon detainees in Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib.

In 1975, a Federal Court in San Francisco threw out all of the evidence obtained in New Orleans. The two lead San Francisco Police Department investigators from over 30 years ago, along with FBI agents, have re-opened the case. Rather than submit to proceedings they felt were abusive of the law and the Constitution, five men chose to stand in contempt of court and were sent to jail. They were released when the Grand Jury term expired, but have been told by prosecutors that "it isn't over yet."

Library Closed 5/18 & 5/20

The library will be closed next Monday and Wednesday, May 18 and May 20 for the NonprofitCenters Network and Tides 2009 Building Opportunities Conference.

This biannual conference will again bring together leaders from the philanthropic, nonprofit, private and public sectors to share successful models and best practices for creating and operating shared workspace and services. Your members may be especially interested in the Funders’ Networking Session on May 18th, where they can talk to peers who have created successful shared space and services projects across North America.

As nonprofit organizations search for strategies to weather difficult economic times, the 2009 Building Opportunities Conference will offer proven models to reduce costs, gain greater efficiencies, and enhance community programs through shared space and services. Join leaders from the nonprofit, philanthropic, private, and public sectors who have created successful multi-tenant nonprofit centers, shared staffing and technology, and pooled purchasing. Presented by The NonprofitCenters Network and Tides. For more information visit http://www.nonprofitcentersnetwork.org/events.

Bike to Work Day

Forwarding some information from the Thoreau Center. And if you want some helpful advice for your urban biking, we do have a copy of Urban bikers' tricks & tips: low-tech & no-tech ways to find, ride, & keep a bicycle by Dave Glowacz.

Ways to Help with Bike to Work Day in the Presidio, May 14^th 2009

The Bay Area's biggest bicycling celebration, Bike to Work Day is tomorrow, May 14^th, and the Presidio Trust & SFBC need your help to make this day a big success!

§ Join us. Ride Your Bike To Work at The Presidio Thu. May 14^th & Win. Sports Basement & Honest Tea are giving away new bicycles this year to Presidio Bike To Work Day Participants! That’s two bikes this year. Stop by our Energizer Station at Lincoln & Halleck between 6:30AM & 9AM for free coffee & bagels and sign in for your raffle ticket. While you are at it get a quick tune up courtesy of Sports Basement mechanics. Enter to win a bike from SFBC too, visit: btwd.bayareabikes.org/register.

§ Come to the Bike To Work BBQ Thu. May 14^th 12-2 in the Courtyard at Thoreau Center (1014 Torney) to see if you won the raffle. Free lunch and prizes such as Two new bicycles, meal passes from Presidio Social Club & Asqew grill, Exploratorium passes, Bowling passes for Presidio Bowl, Free Golf Game for four people with a cart at Presidio Golf Club, Sports Basement Gift Certificates, Framed artwork from Crissy Field Center.

§ Come to the Bike Away From Work Party Thu., May. 14 | 6-10pm, The Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell St. You're invited to the SF Bicycle Coalition's fun and fabulous Bike Away from Work Party! Stop by Rickshaw Stop on your commute home and unwind (FREE valet bike parking provided). Learn the city's biking secrets from fellow bicyclists and bask in the glow of a successful Bike to Work Day! Free for SFBC members, $10 for non-members or join at the door and get in free!

§ Nominate a Bicyclist you admire as Bike Commuter of the Year.

§ Take part in the Team Bike Challenge: Register your team and compete with other Bay Area commuters to win great prizes for bike commuting in May. Go to btwd.bayareabikes.org/tbc for more info.

§ SFBC Bike Movie Night Mon., May 4, 8pm The Independent, 628 Divisadero St.(at Grove)
A screening of Macaframa, a film by Colin Arlen and Colby Elrick of track bike riding on the streets of San Francisco. Free!

Bicycling Facts & Figures

§ There is great potential to increase the number of bicycle commuters in the U.S., which would help reduce the number of trips made by automobile. Forty percent of all trips in the U.S. are made within two miles of the home and 50% of the working population commutes five miles or less to work.

§ The average commuter who bikes to work for a year will save $1,825 in auto-related costs, reduce carbon emissions by 128 pounds, conserve 145 gallons of gasoline, avoid 50 hours of gridlock traffic, burn 90,000 calories, reduce their risk of heart attack and stroke by 50%, and enjoy 14% less claims on their health insurance. (Numbers based on June 2006 gas prices and a 10 mile round trip commute)

Every trip converted to bicycle brings us closer to our ultimate goals of air quality enhancement, congestion reduction, better health and slowing global warming.

Bruce DeMartini

Program Manager, Tides

Tides Shared Spaces

[t] 415.561.7823 [f] 415.561.6401

www.tidessharedspaces.org

www.thoreau.org

"Faces of Prop 8" Opening Reception & Exhibition

Photography Exhibition: “Faces of Prop 8”

Photojournalist Craig Winsor

Opening reception: Wednesday, May 6, 5:00PM to 7:00PM

May 6 through July 3, 2009

Thoreau Center for Sustainability

The Corridor in front of the Library in the back of Building 1016

On March 5, 2009 the California Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the validity of Proposition 8, which banned the once legal right for same-sex marriages in the state of California. The oral argument was televised in the San Francisco Civic Center and many people attended demonstrating their views on the proposition.

Photographer Craig Winsor stood outside the courtroom photographing images expressing both sides of the debate.