Reading List: Parks and Recreation

How much can we use the natural environment without spoiling it? National parks and wilderness areas are an important part of America's natural and cultural heritage, preserving natural beauty and playing a critical role in environmental conservation. Around the world, protected areas and ecosystems are growing as destinations in people's travel plans through the expansion of the ecotourism industry. The extent to which human activity should be limited or encouraged in such areas is a complex debate reflecting a society's priorities and the trade-offs it is willing to make as it attempts to balance recreation, heritage, nature, and wilderness. The books in this reading list examine some of the latest thinking in these debates while also providing some guides with suggestions and inspirations for your own travel and recreational goals (some of them quite local).

Jerome Pohlen. (2008). Progressive Nation: A Travel Guide with 400+ Inspiring Landmarks and Left Turns.

Looking to try new travel destinations that will expand your knowledge of American history and politics? This guide covers over four-hundred museums, landmarks, organizations, and other historic sites that mark the individuals, events, and accomplishments of the progressive movement. Including such locations as: Henry David Thoreau's jail cell in Concord, Harvey Milk's camera shop, the Rachel Carson Homestead, Johnny Appleseed's first nursery, the site of the Haymarket Riot in Chicago, and the courthouse where Susan B. Anthony went on trial for attempting to vote.

Jean Rusmore. (1995). The Bay Area Ridge Trail: Ridgetop Adventures Above San Francisco Bay.

Published in cooperation with the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council, this is a guide to completed segments of the Bay Area Ridge Trail, an unparalleled opportunity for hikers, equestrians, and bicyclists to experience magnificent views, visit important cultural heritage sites, and explore firsthand our area's diverse ecosystems. Over 325 miles of the trail are open and protected for future generations, and the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council and its volunteers and supporters are working hard to fill in the gaps to complete the 550+ mile loop overlooking San Francisco Bay. Look for updates on their website.

Martha Honey. (2008). Ecotourism and Sustainable Development: Who Owns Paradise?

By the co-founder and Co-Director of the Center for Responsible Travel, this book is a comprehensive survey of the past and present of the ecotourism industry. Marketed aggressively as a panacea promoting development in poor countries while protecting ecosystems and promoting environmental awareness, “green” travel is in reality a complex endeavor presenting unique challenges in different places and communities around the world. Honey's analysis shows that with care, it can support natural and cultural conservation, social and economic development, and local empowerment. See also Ecotourism and Certification: Setting Standards in Practice, edited by Martha Honey.

Hal K. Rothman. (2004). The New Urban Park: Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Civic Environmentalism.

When it was established in 1972, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) embodied a new vision of what parkland in America should be. Whereas the traditional goal had been protecting large scenic natural areas, the National Park Service was transitioning to managing urban parks that combined conservation with recreational access and responded to a broad range of interests in a rapidly changing public. Rothman traces the history of the GGNRA from its creation, through its expansion and changing identity over the years, to the highly political struggle over obtaining the Presidio and converting it into a park, detailing how the National Park Service has worked to respond to its different constituencies while navigating the tension between use and preservation.

David N. Cole & Laurie Yung, eds. (2010). Beyond Naturalness: Rethinking Park and Wilderness Stewardship in an Era of Rapid Change.

Historically, in the United States, the guiding principle for the management of park and wilderness areas has been the concept of naturalness, that is, preserving “natural” conditions by protecting land from development and exploitation. But park goals and purposes have diversified over time in response to changing values and the range of new challenges facing protected areas including climate change, invasive species, and habitat fragmentation. This collection argues that naturalness as a goal is inadequate to today's challenges because of its inherent ambiguity, and it offers alternative concepts and innovative management strategies that represent the latest in ecological thought.

Robert E. Manning (2007). Parks and Carrying Capacity: Commons Without Tragedy.

Since the early 1990s, Professor Robert E. Manning of the University of Vermont has been working with the National Park Service to address the issue of carrying capacity: how much and what kind of use could be accommodated in the national parks without spoiling what we find valuable about them? This work presents findings from this program of natural and social science research, describing approaches for defining and measuring carrying capacity and analyzing the effectiveness of options for managing carrying capacity. It includes a series of case studies from eight diverse units of the U.S. National Park System, and an additional case study that explores how the conceptual foundations of carrying capacity are being applied in an increasing number of fields to address the growing urgency of sustainability.

Dave Glowacz (Mr. Bike). (2004). Urban Biker's Tricks & Trips: Low-Tech & No-Tech Ways to Find, Ride, & Keep a Bicycle.

Is bicycling your recreation of choice? This guide presents tips on cycling in the urban environment from Mr. Bike, a bike instructor with the League of American Bicyclists and frequent contributor to Bicycling magazine. Learn what to do about a sore butt, how to keep your helmet from messing up your hair, and how to keep your bike from ever getting stolen. With pictures.

Subject Guide: Sustainable Cities

For the first time in history, over half of humanity lives in cities, and they continue to grow globally at two percent a year. They only cover two percent of the Earth's surface, but their impact extends well beyond their borders as they consume 75 percent of the planet's energy and resources, and emit 80 percent of its greenhouse gases. Generally speaking, as cities function today on a global scale they are driving widespread ecological destruction that imperils the planet, while on a local scale many urban neighborhoods are plagued by social inequality, economic insecurity, violence, pollution, and crumbling infrastructure. Not all hope is lost, however, as over the last few decades there has been a growing literature arguing for possible solutions to these pathologies from a new perspective based on sustainability. The books from the library collection below offer a selection of mostly recent entries into the debate over what urban sustainability should like like and how it could be achieved. While no single city has yet to come to grips with all of the issues surrounding environmental degradation and threats to the quality of life, these works illustrate many imaginative and innovative programs and policies in place today working to regenerate cities into healthy communities integrated into sustainable ecosystems.

And a reminder that next week (April 11-17) is once again National Library Week, as all healthy communities of course depend on healthy libraries. You can download the official America Library Association PSA with a picture of author Neil Gaiman reading a book here.


Kent E. Portney. Taking Sustainable Cities Seriously: Economic Development, the Environment, and Quality of Life in American Cities. (2003)

Moving beyond descriptive accounts of community sustainability actions and attempts to derive lessons learned from them, this book is a comparative analysis of such efforts that examines the reasons why some cities pursue sustainability and the factors that shape the operation and effectiveness of their programs. It looks at initiatives in two dozen American cities that have pursued a diverse array of initiatives operating on the basis of sometimes very different conceptions of sustainability, asking among other things whether a program needs to incorporate livability and environmental justice concerns in order to be considered a serious effort.


Peter Newman & Isabella Jennings. Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems: Principles and Practices. (2008)

Newman and Jennings detail a model for viewing urban dynamics and redevelopment based on the patterns and processes of natural and sustainable ecosystems, including such qualities as health, zero waste, interconnectedness, self-regulation, resilience, and flexibility. With case studies from several different countries, they illustrate their ideas of how cities can better integrate themselves into their local bioregional environment as a path to sustainability.


Peter Newman, Timothy Beatley & Heather Boyer. Resilient Cities: Responding to Peak Oil and Climate Change. (2009)

Do the impending crises surrounding climate change and peak oil spell doom and collapse for cities around the world? Drawing on "resilience thinking" from the field of ecosystem management, the authors argue and illustrate with examples from around the world that there are ways for cities to scale down their ecological footprints, reduce their oil dependence, improve their quality of life, and better fit themselves within the capacities of local, regional, and global ecosystems.


Warren Karlenzig with Frank Marquadt, Paula White, Rachel Yaseen & Richard Young. How Green is Your City? The SustainLane US City Rankings. (2007)

From the SustainLane internet media company (which includes websites www.SustainLane.com and www.SustainLane.us) comes this first effort to benchmark the performance of the fifty largest U.S. cities with respect to sustainability. Find out why they think San Francisco ranks at number two and Oakland at number five. See where they place your favorite large American city online at their latest rankings from 2008.


Patrick M. Condon. Design Charrettes for Sustainable Communities. (2008)

Drawing on his extensive professional experience, professor Patrick M. Condon of the University of British Columbia's School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture has written a practical, step-by-step guide to the design charrette process. Increasingly popular in North America since the late 1980's, the design charrette is a time constrained process that brings together citizens, public officials, developers, architects, engineers, and other stakeholders to collaboratively plan and design new and redeveloped sustainable communities. It is a new paradigm for design decisions that minimizes confrontation while building pubic support.


Richard Register. Ecocity Berkeley: Building Cities for a Healthy Future. (1987)

This pioneering and influential book by Richard Register, founder and President of Ecocity Builders, proposes a set of sweeping changes to give Berkeley, California a sustainable future. Incorporating existing patterns of development and natural features of the landscape, it envisions residential centers becoming increasingly compact and the surrounding land reclaimed by open space, forests, agriculture, and wildlife habitat to the benefit of people, quality of life, and the environment. Extensively illustrated by the author, it shows how a sustainable built environment can be exciting, imaginative, and inspirational.


Harry Wiland, Dale Bell, and Joseph D'Agnese. Edens Lost & Found: How Ordinary Citizens are Restoring Our Great Cities. (2006)

This book profiles the trailblazing individuals and groups in Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Los Angeles who are working to encourage the development of green spaces in their cities and neighborhoods as an alternative to ecological and social breakdown. From roof gardens to urban farms, citizen activism and leadership are working with nature, restoring communities, and transforming American cities through the creation of sustainable urban ecosystems.

Subject Guide: Biodiversity

The United Nations has declared 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity: “a celebration of life on earth and of the value of biodiversity for our lives.” Its goal is to raise global awareness of the rich variety of life on Earth, the complex relations among living things and their environments, and the role biodiversity plays in sustaining the systems upon which all life, including humanity, depends. Biodiversity plays a crucial role in services including purifying air and water, detoxifying waste, stabilizing climate, moderating floods, renewing soil fertility, and ensuring that life has the ability to adapt to change. This complex combination of life forms and their interactions with each other and the environment makes Earth a uniquely habitable place. But human activity, especially the destruction of habitats resulting from the expansion of populations and development, is causing diversity to be lost at an accelerated rate. Estimates are that species are becoming extinct at a thousand times the natural rate, and once gone, such losses are irreversible. The International Year of Biodiversity is an opportunity to highlight the achievements that have been made in conserving biodiversity and to focus on the urgency of the problem.

Part of the challenge is that biodiversity is a complex, scientific subject. Different definitions exist, and new knowledge is added to our understanding of the concept every day. People are also constantly testing new strategies to conserve diversity. Here are some books from the library collection that are useful introductions, and we have others if you really want to dig into the science and the practices of conservation. While complex, at heart, biodiversity is about the amazing and sometimes surprising connections between you and the world around you.

E.O. Wilson. The Future of Life. (2002)
Harvard biologist and Pulitzer Prize winner Edward Wilson draws on two decades of research on biological diversity to describe vividly the richness of our biosphere and the damage humankind has caused and increasingly continues to cause to it. Emphasizing the need to understand fully the biodiversity of our planet and the value of the ecosystem services it supports, as well as making the case to adopt a global land ethic, he proposes a variety of strategies that seek common ground between economic progress and conservation. Although the challenges are large, he is ultimately optimistic that Earth's living history can be preserved.

Yvonne Baskin. The Work of Nature: How the Diversity of Life Sustains Us. (1997)
“How many species can be lost before the ecological systems that nurture life begin to break down?” While not always readily obvious, the complex relationships of biodiversity are crucial to maintaining the basic life support systems of our planet in the ways they provide clean air, pure water, and fertile soils, among other things. Science journalist Yvonne Basking surveys the work of leading ecologists and explains clearly the practical consequences of biodiversity loss for the health, stability, and functioning of ecosystems, as well as the extraordinary challenges involved in ecological restoration.

Niles Eldredge. Life in the Balance: Humanity and the Biodiversity Crisis. (1998)
Paleontologist and Curator in the Department of Invertebrates at the American Museum of Natural History, Niles Eldredge brings an evolutionary perspective to the present-day biodiversity crisis in which the yearly loss of species is approaching the scale of the mass global extinctions of the distant past. Written for a general audience, he focuses on four questions: “What is biodiversity?”, “Why should we care about biodiversity?”, “What threatens biodiversity?”, and “What can we do?” An appendix listing animal species that have become extinct since 1600 is a sobering indicator of how human activity had radically transformed the ecosystems of the planet.

E.O. Wilson & Frances M. Peter, eds. Biodiversity. (1988)
This book collects papers from the National Forum on BioDiverstiy, held in Washington, D.C., on September 21-24, 1986, under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences and Smithsonian Institution. The forum featured over 60 leading biologists, economists, agricultural experts, philosophers, representatives of assistance and lending agencies, and other professionals, and it did much to popularize the concept. It is a comprehensive overview of the science, still relevant today, and an urgent warning about the rapid alteration and destruction of the environments that have fostered the diversity of life forms on the planet for more than a billion years.

Bruce A. Stein, Lynn S. Kutner, & Jonathan S. Adams, eds. Precious Heritage: The Status of Biodiversity in the United States. (2000)
This work is a joint project of The Nature Conservancy, the Association for Biodiversity Information, and natural heritage programs in all fifty states, collecting together for the first time ever over twenty-five years of research and information gathered by state biodiversity inventories. With over 200,000 species of animals, plants, and microbes, the United States is biologically rich and has the most diverse flora and fauna of any largely temperate zone nation. However, up to one-third of these species are at risk and more than 500 have already disappeared, largely as a result of habitat destruction. To address these threats, the authors review the fundamental strategies underlying most biodiversity conservation efforts and suggest a blueprint for the future.

Jack Ahearn, Elizabeth Leduc, and Mary Lee York. Biodiversity Planning and Design: Sustainable Practices. (2006)
This work explores the role of landscape architects and planners in influencing land use decisions for the promotion of biodiversity conservation, particularly with regard to minimizing habitat loss and degradation. Drawing on a wide range of case studies from around the United States, the authors examine the issues, concepts, and methods involved, and illustrate how an interdisciplinary approach led by planners and designers working with conservation biologists, restoration ecologists, and natural and social scientists can advance sustainable practices.

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.

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.

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

Subject Guide: Gardening

"What shall I learn of beans or beans of me? I cherish them. I hoe them, early and late I have an eye to them; and this is my day's work. It is a fine broad leaf to look on. My auxiliaries are the dews and rains which water this dry soil, and what fertility is in the soil itself, which for the most part is lean and effete. My enemies are worms, cool days, and most of all woodchucks. The last have nibbled for me a quarter of an acre clean. But what right had I to oust johnswort and the rest, and break up their ancient herb garden? Soon, however, the remaining beans will be too tough for them, and go forward to meet new foes."

-Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Here are a variety of books this month to provide you with information and inspiration for your Spring gardening pursuits.

Harry Wiland, Dale Bell, and Joseph D'Agnese. Edens Lost & Found: How Ordinary Citizens are Restoring Our Great Cities. (2006)

Learn how to use your garden and your horticultural skills to make your city more livable. This book profiles the individuals and groups in Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Los Angeles who are working to encourage the development of green spaces there. From roof gardens to urban farms, citizen activism and leadership are restoring communities through the creation of sustainable urban ecosystems.

Christopher Brickell, ed. & John Eisley, horticultural consultant. The American Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Garden Plants. (1989)

Are you looking for a large shrub that has pink flowers in summer? Do you need a tree that won't grow too large for a particular corner of your garden? This book can help. Created by a team of forty horticultural experts, photographers, and consultants, it is a clear and comprehensive guide to over 8,000 plants that can be cultivated in a diverse range of climates. Articles also include advice on cultivation, propagation, pruning, landscaping, and cautions about pests and diseases.

Kathleen Norris Benzel, ed. Sunset Western Gardening Book. (2001)

A no-nonsense garden guide to gardening in the Western U.S., it includes climate zone maps, over 8,000 plant listings, 30 plant selection guides, and hundreds of how-to tips and techniques.

Roger B. Yepsen, Jr., ed. Organic Plant Protection: A Comprehensive Reference on Controlling Insects and Diseases in the Garden, Orchard and Yard without Using Chemicals. (1976)

From the editors of Organic Gardening and Farming magazine, this is a guide to tending your patch of earth without "protective jackets of poison." The first part of the book explains step-by-step approaches to strategies for creating and maintaining the delicate balance of nature in your garden, while the second part is a quick reference to more than a thousand bugs and diseases that could be effecting your vegetables, fruits, berries, and trees.

Ellen Sandbeck. Slug Bread and Beheaded Thistles: Amusing and Useful Techniques for Nontoxic Housekeeping and Gardening. (2000)

Ellen Sandbeck shows that using all-natural alternatives to toxic chemicals in your home and garden is not only healthier but also more fun. Learn how to explode cockroaches with baking soda and sugar, how to deflate a cow, why caffeine is effective against mosquito larvae, and what happens when you wound sorghum.

Peter Bernhardt. The Rose's Kiss: A Natural History of Flowers. (1999)

Get to know the inner workings of your flowering plants, as well as the many hidden interactions they have with their surroundings and the other living organisms upon which they depend for survival. An accessible introduction to botanical science and the daily lives of these biological factories, this book also looks at the cultural roles of flowers in history, folklore, and mythology.

Karan Davis Cutler, ed. Starting from Seed: The Natural Gardener's Guide to Propagating Plants. (1998)

Growing seeds is one way to help the survival of threatened plants and protect biodiversity. From the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's 21st-Century Gardening Series, this is an illustrated guide to collecting, storing, and growing seeds. Filled with advice on hundreds of different vegetables, ornamental plants, and wildflowers, it will help you create a garden that is both beautiful and ecologically sensible.

Douglas Kent. A New Era of Gardening: A Book on Gardening for Oxygen and a Healthier Atmospher. (2001)

A controversial look at composting that asks: is your garden contributing to global warming? It might be if you are using too much energy to sustain it and composting too much greenwaste. The goal of the author is to help gardeners create sustainable landscapes that ultimately produce more oxygen than they do carbon dioxide, largely by burying biomass.

Susan J. Tweit. The Rocky Mountain Garden Survival Guide. (2004)

From ecologist Susan J. Tweit, this book tackles the challenges of gardening in the difficult conditions of the Rocky Mountains. Filled with tips that could be useful in a variety of places, its essays also illustrates an approach to gardening informed by ecology. The philosophy behind the book is that understanding the physical environment in which your garden is located and the relationships among the organisms there enables you to work with the landscape and its living population instead of trying to fight against it.

Thomas Leo Ogren. Safe Sex in the Garden and other Propositions for an Allergy-Free World. (2003)

Author Thomas Leo Ogren finds "prime examples of out of whack, sexually manipulated, highly allergenic landscapes everywhere I turn." What is the connection between plant sex and allergies? Since female trees produce fruit which is often considered "messy", landscapers plant predominantly male trees, which means lots of excess pollen, which means highly allergenic residential and commercial landscapes. Ogren argues that what you plant in your own yard can make a difference in making communities healthier places.

Deni Brown. The Herb Society of America's Encyclopedia of Herbs and their Uses. (1995)

Written for gardeners, herbalists, and cooks, this encyclopedia covers over 1000 herbs grown worldwide for their culinary, aromatic, medicinal, and economic uses, as well as for their decorative qualities in the garden. It includes identification photographs and detailed botanical descriptions, as well as complete garden designs and planting plans for your own herb gardens, both formal and informal.

Subject Guide: Oceans

In conjunction with the San Francisco Ocean Film Festival running this week from February 19^th to the 22^nd, this month's subject guide looks at some of the variety of books in our library on the history, study, exploration, exploitation, and conservation of the world's oceans. While the seas might seem so vast as to be impervious to human activity, in actuality centuries of exploitation and misuse have seriously degraded their condition through the wholesale removal of marine life and the obliteration of ecosystems. Public awareness about the state of our oceans and the possibilities of their restoration is growing thanks to groups like the San Francisco Ocean Film Festival and other organizations and individuals discussed below. The film festival is a unique opportunity to learn about the environmental, social, and cultural importance of marine resources, as well as to be entertained and inspired by the wonder of the seas. It includes over 35 documentary, fictional, and animated films from around the world, and each program is followed by in-depth discussions with filmmakers and content experts. Be sure to check out the festival schedule at www.oceanfilmfest.org, and find even more books about the oceans in our library catalog at library.thoreau.org. See you there. I'm probably going Sunday.

Callum Roberts. The Unnatural History of the Sea (2007)

From its beginnings in the eleventh century to the giant fishing industries of today, marine conservation biologist Callum Roberts looks at the history of intensive and uncontrolled commercial exploitation of ocean resources and its destructive effects. What emerges is a portrait of dangerously degraded marine ecosystems that stand in sharp contrast to the richer and more productive oceans of the past filled with their abundance of varied life. It is not “a requiem of the sea," however, as Roberts writes optimistically about the possibility of restoring the seas' splendor through international networks of protected reserves, fishing reforms, and simple human constraint.

Dallas Murphy. To Follow the Water: Exploring the Ocean to Discover Climate, From the Gulf Stream to the Blue Beyond (2007)

The many ocean currents transporting heat around the world play a significant role in stabilizing and moderating climate. Emphasizing how the ocean's internal mechanisms and their complex interactions with the atmosphere are vital for any understanding of climate change, Dallas Murphy writes about the history of ocean exploration and the scientific efforts to understand these currents. The book is also a portrait of the lives of the scientists involved in trying to understand ocean dynamics today as Murphy travels with them and observes their work in waters around the globe.

H. Bruce Franklin. The Most Important Fish in the Sea: Menhaden and America (2007)

Few people have heard of the menhaden - an oily, foul smelling, tiny-boned, nearly inedible little fish. But they have always been an integral part of America's agricultural and industrial history, and the tonnage of them caught along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts exceeds that of all other species combined. They also play an integral ecological role as a major component of the diet of many other marine animals and as a natural filter keeping inshore waters clear of algal blooms. Presenting a detailed case study of marine exploitation, this book examines the factors that have led today to the needless overfishing of the menhaden and the brink of ecological catastrophe.

David Helvarg. 50 Ways to Save the Ocean (2006)

Written by David Helvarg, environmental journalist and president of the Blue Frontier Campaign (www.bluefront.org), and illustrated by Jim Toomey, the cartoonist of Sherman's Lagoon, 50 Ways is a practical guide to simple everyday actions and choices you can make to enjoy and to help restore and protect our imperilled oceans. Making the connections between everyday habits and the health of the seas, it includes guidance on such issues as: the fish you should and shouldn't eat; using less plastic; joining in a coastal cleanup; conserving water; how and where to vacation; storm drains and driveway run-off; protecting local water tables; proper diving, surfing, and tidepool etiquette; and supporting local marine education.

David Helvarg. The Ocean and Coastal Conservation Guide: The Blue Movement Directory(2005)

A guide to the over 2,000 local, regional, national, and international groups that make up the growing “Blue Movement,” defined as those “organizations and institutions that are working to understand, protect, and restore our ocean and coastal areas.” It provides a convenient way to find out what organizations are active on what issues in a particular part of the country, while also listing governmental agencies involved in coastal and marine oversight, major marine schools and science centers, and national ocean sanctuaries and marine parks.

John Pernetta. Firefly Guide to the Oceans (2004)

Written by the Project Director for the Global Environment Facility of the United Nations Environment Programme, this is a concise and richly illustrated guide to all aspects of the world's oceans and seas. Learn about their formation, geology, history, exploration, life, resources, and more. It includes an atlas of maps of the ocean basins, ocean currents, and other physical features, as well as an encyclopedia of marine fauna and flaura.

John G. Field, Gotthilf Hempel, & Colin P. Summerhayes. Oceans 2020: Science, Trends, and the Challenge of Sustainability (2002)

Sponsored by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research, and the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment, this book presents a comprehensive assessement of the most important scientific and societal issues that are likely to arise in ocean management in the next two decades. Outlining a path to rational ocean governance, scientists and researchers analyze the state of marine science and technology, identify issues for sustainable development, and evaluate the capability of scientists, governments, and private-sector stakeholders to respond to these issues. A useful source of information for policymakers, government officials, resource managers, scientists, the media, and all those concerned with the current and future health of the oceans.

Subject Guide: Polar Regions

Largely on the periphery of human concerns, most of the world has long thought of the polar regions as remote, barren, and fatally inhospitable. Human populations have adapted to live and thrive there, however, and two centuries of exploration, scientific and otherwise, have begun to unlock the regions' secrets. For the past century, the growing human presence has also meant a growth in the exploitation of natural resources and increased direct pressure on their fragile ecologies and native cultures. Indirectly, distant human activity threatens the regions with pollution and climate change. Average winter temperatures in the interior of Alaska have risen seven degrees Fahrenheit since the 1950s, a change that has seen shrinking glaciers, earlier springs, increasing precipitation, animal populations under stress, and entire villages relocated because of rising water levels. The amount of summer ice at the North Pole has steadily declined since 1979 and recent scientific studies show that the Arctic Ocean is losing sea ice up to thirty years ahead of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predictions. New predictions now hold that summer sea ice could completely disappear between 2013 and 2040 – something that has not occurred in more than a million years. WWF research shows also that levels of global warming predicted over the next forty years will lead to winter sea-ice coverage around Antarctica declining by up to thirty per cent in some key areas. These changes endanger the populations adapted to live there and raise new political and commercial issues as countries scramble for newly opened up Arctic mineral riches, the possibility opens up for oil drilling in Antarctica, and the Northwest Passage begins to develop into a major shipping route. These books look at the nature, history, and cultures of the polar regions as they face this uncertain future.

Kieran Mulvaney. At the Ends of the Earth: A History of the Polar Regions. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2001.

This book presents a comprehensive overview of the natural and human history of the Arctic and Antarctic, the two similar yet very distinct polar regions. Following cycles of exploration and exploitation, it covers human interaction with the areas from the earliest legends of prehistory, through eighteenth and nineteenth century European exploration, to more recent issues of oil and gas drilling, commercial whaling and sealing, pollution, tourism, ozone depletion, and global warming. Seemingly remote, Mulvaney shows how they have been affected and shaped directly by human activity as well as indirectly by events and trends thousands of miles away.

Charles Wohlforth. The Whale and the Supercomputer: On the Northern Front of Climate Change. New York: North Point Press, 2004.

Alaskan journalist Charles Wohlforth focuses on how two cultures are responding to the dramatic changes brought by global warming to the Arctic: the Inupiat Eskimos who live and hunt on the Arctic Ocean coast and the Western scientists who have come to conduct climate and ecological research. Both a portrait of life in an isolated part of the world and a clearly written account of ongoing scientific endeavor, it illuminates two different ways of seeing and comprehending the natural world. Finding points of interaction between the two groups,Wohlforth demonstrates some unexpected commonalities and suggests that elements of both ways of knowing about the environment will be needed to understand and deal with climate change.

Marla Cone. Silent Snow: The Slow Poisoning of the Arctic. New York: Grove Press, 2005.

While the Arctic is widely thought to be isolated and the last great unspoiled territory on Earth, it is in reality the location of some of the most contaminated people and animals on the planet as chemicals and pesticides from thousands of miles away in North America, Europe, and Asia travel there by wind and water and are concentrated through the food web. Awarded a grant to conduct an exhaustive study of its deteriorating environment by the Pew Charitable Trusts, Los Angeles Times environmental journalist Marla Cone traveled across the region, from Greenland to the Aleutian Islands, interacting with scientists and the native peoples. She reports on the implications of this foreign pollution for the survival of entire species and cultures.

Sebastian Copeland. Antarctica: The Global Warning. San Rafael, CA: Earth Aware, 2007.

Temperatures in the Antarctic Peninsula over the last sixty years have increased by a rate of up to five times the global average. Sebastian Copeland, an award-winning photographer and environmental activist, journeyed to Antarctica on the icebreaker The Ice Lady Patagonia in 2006 and 2007 for Global Green USA and Green Cross International to document the peninsula's changing landscape and threatened wildlife. His collection of over a hundred color photographs is accompanied by scientific data and personal insights about climate change including the question of why the polar regions are melting at an increasingly rapid pace.

Kieran Mulvaney. The Whaling Season: An Inside Account of the Struggle to Stop Commercial Whaling. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2003.

Founding director of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, science and environmental writer Kieran Mulvaney recounts his involvement leading four expeditions in Greenpeace's campaign to end commercial whaling in the waters surrounding Antarctica. An examination of how the unpopular activity of whaling manages to survive today, Mulvaney places the expeditions in the context of the history of whaling, Antarctic exploration, Greenpeace, and scientific and political efforts at marine conservation.

Terrie M. Williams. The Hunter's Breath: On Expedition with the Weddell Seals of the Antarctic. New York: M. Evans and Co., 2004.

The Weddell seal is the only mammal able to survive year-round in the harsh Antarctic environment, and it is capable of venturing to deep ice caves beyond the reach of human divers. Biologist Terrie Williams and seven other scientists spent six years studying these mysterious creatures, and her account reveals their discoveries and provides a vivid portrait of the challenges and excitement of conducting research in the coldest, driest, and windiest continent on the planet.

Richard E. Byrd. Alone. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2003.

Famed for having made the first flights over the North and South Poles and for his exploration of the Antarctic, Richard Byrd led his second expedition of the polar continent in 1934. As part of that effort, he spent five winter months isolated and alone operating the Bolling Advance Weather Base and almost failed to survive the ordeal after suffering carbon monoxide poisoning from a defective stove. A bestseller first published in 1938, this book is his personal account of his struggle and rescue.

Subject Guide: Personal Action

Concerned that you might have daily habits that you don't even know are devastating the ecosphere? This month we focus on books in our collection that provide practical advice for personal actions that people can take to help preserve the environment and to create a more sustainable path through life. These books are all designed to supply simple ideas and small choices you can make in your everyday routine - while you're working, exercising, eating, shopping, sleeping, etc. - even at this busy time of year. They might even help you save money. For those who want to do more, they also explore in greater detail the thinking behind these recommendations and provide pointers to additional resources, including organizations active in the field. Whether you are looking for a place to begin, for new ideas for your current action plan, or for suggestions you can share with your family and friends, these books would be a helpful place to start.


John, Sophie, & Jesse Javna. 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth. New York: Hyperion, 2008.

For this updated edition of the 1990 bestseller, the authors worked with a cross-section of fifty environmental groups, asking them to each pick one issue they wanted to share with readers and develop a presentation and an action plan. At 50simplethings.com there are links to these and other groups, as well as a copy of the original book.

Eric Sorenson & the staff of Sightline Institute. Seven Wonders for a Cool Planet. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 2008.

Seven simple, everyday devices you probably already own or use that are and always have been friends of the climate, including the library book, which helps reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, energy consumption, and resource waste. Sharing books saves trees.

Natalia Marshall. Live an Eco-Friendly Life: Smart Ways to Get Green and Stay that Way. New York: Perigree, 2008.

From the UK, this book emphasizes the value of being part of a community in making positive changes and growing personal happiness. Learn how to have an eco-friendly party and reduce your pet's carbon paw-print.

David De Rothschild. The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook: 77 Essential Skills to Stop Climate Change - or Live Through it. New York: Rodale, 2007.

The offical companion to the Live Earth concerts, in addition to helpful advice it offers ten ways to survive on an overheated planet if all else fails. It includes the alarming fact that by 2100, nearly all of California's wine regions may be unusable.

Katharine Wroth. Wake Up and Smell the Planet: the non-pompous, non-preachy grist guide to greening your day. Seattle: Skipstone, 2007.

This book is from the editors of Grist.org - a green news and humor site - and is informed by questions they've received from readers over the years. It is organized around your daily routine from when you wake up in the morning - whether to have a shower or bath - to when you go to bed at night - what kinds of sheets to use.

Ingrid Newkirk. Making Kind Choices: Everday Ways to Enhance Your Life Through Earth- and Animal-Friendly Living. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2005.

Ingrid Newkirk is the cofounder and president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. In addition to exploring environmentally friendly behavior, she details how to incorporate cruelty-free behavior into your everday routines.

David Gershon. Low Carbon Diet: A 30 Day Program to Lose 5000 Pounds. Woodstock, NY: Empowerment Institute, 2006.

David Gershon. Water Stewardship: A 30 Day Program to Protect and Conserve our Water Resources. Woodstock, NY: Empowerment Institute, 2008.

From the Empowerment Institute, these two books provide step-by-step programs to dramatically reduce your carbon dioxide output and your impact on your local watershed. They are also guides to motivating others and helping your communities reduce their impacts as well. Help the planet and make new friends.

Subject Guide: Food

And now this month's library collection subject guide about food:

"Man does not live by what he eats, but by what he digests." - Alexandre Dumas

With the fall harvests and the upcoming holidays, it is that time of year when people find themselves thinking about food perhaps more than usual. As the books in this list demonstrate, the food choices people make have profound consequences for their health and the health of the environment. They suggest that many of society's challenges today could benefit from a better understanding of our food habits - how we select food, grow it, distribute it, eat it, as well as how we assign meaning to it. People do seem to be becoming more conscious of where their food comes from, and it is a consciousness that can require them to make some difficult decisions. These works present some views on those decisions while showing that it is still possible, and perhaps even vital, to enjoy our food and to celebrate with food while consuming it responsibly.


Michael Pollan. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York: Penguin, 2006.

Pollan undertakes a personal journey to explore what he calls "our national eating disorder" and to discover why Americans consume what we do in the twenty-first century. He traces the stories of three food chains - industrial farming, organic farming both large and small, and personal hunting and gathering - from their sources through to a final meal. Along the way, he shows how our eating choices have profound political, economic, and moral implications. We are shaped by what we eat, but what we choose to eat also shapes the world and will determine the health of the environment that sustains us and all life on earth.


Ann Vileisis. Kitchen Literacy: How We Lost Knowledge of Where Food Comes From and Why We Need to Get it Back. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2008.

How did American food habits get to where they are today? There have been significant changes over the past two centuries in how Americans have shopped, cooked, and thought about their food and diet. From actively participating in the growing of food, over time we have come to know less and less about where our foods come from and what went into making them. Where we once trusted our neighbors as a source of food knowledge, we now trust labels on boxes and cans. Ann Vileisis tracks these developments in people's thinking about food as their experience of eating changed, arguing that what we know about food has played a central role in how we perceive ourselves in the broader context of the natural world.

Fritz Allhoff and Dave Monroe, eds. Food & Philosophy: Eat, Think, and be Merry. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2007.

As Epicurus showed us, the discussion of food can also be a window to important philosophical concerns. These essays from philosophers, chefs, food critics, and humorists covers a wide range of issues including aesthetics, the relationship between food and sensuality, the use of genetically modified organisms, eating disorders, fast food, indigenous food ways, and the ethical implications of our food choices. Sometimes scholarly, somtimes humorous, all of the authors share a love of food, and this thoughtful collection holds out hope for the possibility of celebrating food while learning to eat in a way that allows the planet to thrive.

Nelson Foster and Linda S. Cordell, eds. Chilies to Chocolate: Food the Americas Gave the World. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1992.

From corn to potatoes to chocolate, a significant amount of the food consumed regularly worldwide today was unknown outside the Americas when the Europeans arrived. This collection examines the biological and cultural history of a number of crops indigenous to the Americas, from their domestication by the native population to their status today. Some of them have gone global, while others, like oca and arracacha have languished in obscurity. Forgotten, perhaps, but not irrelevant as these essays argue for the significance of biodiversity to a healthy food supply.


Colin Spencer. The Heretic's Feast: A History of Vegetarianism. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1995.

What do Leonardo da Vinci, Hitler, Gandhi, and Percy Shelley have in common? They were all vegetarians, of course, and they are just a small part of this comprehensive social and cultural history that shows that vegetarianism has never been simply a diet without meat. Beginning with such acts as the refusal to partake of a sacrificial ox, vegetarianism has been linked to social dissent and the criticism of dominant norms. Whether it is a choice based on philosophy, conscience, or superstition, it is a choice bound up in a complex web of philosophical, religious, and social values. Vegetarian or meat eater, what people do eat is a symbol of what they believe.


Gary Paul Nabhan. Why Some Like it Hot: Food, Genes, and Cultural Diversity. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2004.

Ethnobiologist Gary Paul Nabhan has studied nutritional ecology for the past three decades. In this work, he travels the world to explore the complex interactions between cuisine, culture, and human evolution. He argues that traditional cuisines have evolved to fit the inhabitants of a particular place. Food sensitivities, instead of being a form of genetic malady, are adaptations different ethnic groups evolved in response to different dietary choices over millennia in particular landscapes. The later separation of ethnic populations from their traditional diets has led to epidemic rises in diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and allergies, among other maladies, and roughly 3 to 4 billion people now suffer some form of nutritionally related diseases. This genetic diversity means there are no simple, single dietary solutions, but rather a need to understand our personal food histories and to preserve our cultural and culinary diversity.

Nina L. Etkin. Edible Medicines: An Ethnopharmacology of Food. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2006.

Aztecs applied chile pepper for toothache, sore throat, and asthma. The tonic properties of coffee have been recorded in Islamic pharmacopoeia since the eleventh century. Nina Etkin investigates the role of food in health maintenance across cultures and through time, revealing the pharmacologic potential of foods in the specific cultural contexts in which they are used. Incorporating co-evolution and a biocultural perspective, she shows that food choice has been more closely linked to health than is widely thought, blurring the distinction between food and medicine in the context of real-life circumstances.

John Irving, et al., eds. Terra Madre: 1,600 Food Communities. Bra, Italy: Slow Food Editore, 2006.

Produced for the 2006 Terra Madre cofnerence, this book describes in detail 1,600 food communities in 150 countries - communities embodying a new idea of agriculture based on taste quality, sustainability, and social justice. Working for fertile soil, clean water, and the free circulation of information, these groups seek to protect biodiversity, the dignity of the rural world, and traditional knowledge.