by Danielle Rippingale
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” –Margaret Mead
In Tokyo, the commute by train offers the perfect opportunity to read the books you’ve been wanting to, but can’t seem to find the time otherwise. ‘Green reads’ deal with environmental issues that are often complex and controversial,but also undoubtedly inspire and remind us that we heal ourselves by healing the earth. This list of highly recommended books are written by scientists, journalists and novelists, and provide information that is not only fascinating, but also essential if we want to live healthy and well. Drawing upon new and old publications for both budding and well-versed environmentalists, they all have the ability to go to the heart of the matter, whether they’re grappling with global warming, pollution, agriculture, energy or extinction. Before you purchase a paper book, ask your friends what green reads they have, visit your ward library (you never know), or purchase as an electronic or audio book.
This list of highly recommended books are written by scientists, journalists and novelists, and provide information that is not only fascinating, but also essential if we want to live healthy and well. Drawing upon new and old publications for both budding and well-versed environmentalists, they all have the ability to go to the heart of the matter, whether they’re grappling with global warming, pollution, agriculture, energy or extinction. Before you purchase a paper book, ask your friends what green reads they have, visit your ward library (you never know), or purchase as an electronic or audio book.
Popular must-reads for the budding ‘greenie’:
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, by Barbara Kingsolver
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, by
William McDonough and Michael Braungart
Worldchanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century, by
Alex Steffen, Al Gore, and Stephan Sagmeister
The Lazy Environmentalist: Your Guide to Easy,
Stylish, Green Living, by Josh Dorfman
The Secret History of the War on Cancer, by Devra Davis
Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet, by Mark Lynas
An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global
Warming and What We Can Do About It, by Al Gore
The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan
Slow Death by Rubber Duck, by Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie
Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet, by Jeffrey Sachs
In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan
Climate Solutions: A Citizen’s Guide, by Peter Barnes
Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the
World Food System, by Raj Patel
ECO FACT
While much of the world is buzzing about the upcoming
release of the latest e-book device, Apple’s iPad, your daily
train commute will quickly attest that cell phones (and good
ol’ paper books) are still king in Japan. Despite the Japanese
love affair with electronic gadgets, it is likely that the
failure here to embrace e-books is because e-readers like
Kindle fail to support the Japanese language, and Japanese
publishers aren’t releasing their books on e-readers.
Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood, by Taras Grescoe
End of the Line, by Charles Clover
Walden, by Henry David Thoreau
Greasy Rider: Two Dudes, One Fry-Oil-Powered Car, and a Cross-Country Search for a Greener Future, by Greg Melville
Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution—and How It Can Renew America, by Thomas L. Friedman
Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet, by Mark Lynas
Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist’s Guide to
Global Warming, by Bjørn Lomborg
The Unnatural History of the Sea, by Callum Roberts
Field Notes from a Catastrophe, by Elizabeth Kolbert
Garbage Land, by Elizabeth Royte
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, by Jared Diamond
The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and
What It Means for Life on Earth, by Tim Flannery
Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honeybee and the
Coming Agricultural Crisis, by Rowan Jacobsen
Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser
The Skeptical Environmentalist, by Bjorn Lomborg
Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial
Revolution, by Paul Hawken et al.
…and more serious reading for the seasoned’ greenie’:
Design Like You Give a Damn: Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crises, by Kate Stohr (Architecture for Humanity)
The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty- First Century, by James Howard Kunstler
Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble, by Lester R. Brown
American Earth: Environmental Writing since Thoreau, edited by Bill McKibben
Trespass: Living at the Edge of the Promised Land, by Amy Irvine
Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming, by Paul Hawken.
Terra: Our 100-Million-Year-Old Ecosystem and the Threats That Now Put It at Risk, by Michael Novacek
Uncertain Peril: Genetic Engineering and the Future
of Seeds, by Claire Hope Cummings
External Link:
Green Reading Blog
