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NEW!
A Nation of Farmers:
Defeating the Food Crisis
on American Soil
By Sharon
Astyk and Aaron Newton
368pp,
2009, $20
Once
we could fill our grocery
carts with cheap and plentiful
food, but not anymore.
Cheap food has gone the
way of cheap oil. Climate
change is already reducing
crop yields worldwide.
The cost of flying in
food from far away and
shipping it across the
country in refrigerated
trucks is rapidly becoming
unviable. Cars and cows
increasingly devour grain
harvests, sending prices
skyrocketing. More Americans
than ever before require
food stamps and food pantries
just to get by, and a
worldwide food crisis
is unfolding, overseas
and in our kitchens.
We
can keep hunger from stalking
our families, but doing
so will require a fundamental
shift in our approach
to field and table. A
Nation of Farmers examines
the limits and dangers
of the globalized food
system and how returning
to basics is our best
hope. The book includes
in-depth guidelines for:
* Creating resilient local
food systems
* Growing, cooking and
eating sustainably and
naturally
* Becoming part of the
solution to the food crisis.
The
book argues that we need
to make self-provisioning,
once the most ordinary
of human activities, central
to our lives. The results
will be better food, better
health, better security
and freedom from corporations
that don't have our interests
at heart.
Critical
reading for anyone who
eats and cares about high-quality
food.
NEW!
Future Scenarios: How
Communities Can Adapt
to Peak Oil and Climate
Change by David Holmgren 144pp, 2009, $12.00
In
Future Scenarios, permaculture
co-originator and leading
sustainability innovator
David Holmgren outlines
four scenarios that bring
to life the likely cultural,
political, agricultural,
and economic implications
of peak oil and climate
change, and the generations-long
era of “energy descent”
that faces us.
“Scenario
planning,” Holmgren
explains, “allows
us to use stories about
the future as a reference
point for imagining how
particular strategies
and structures might thrive,
fail, or be transformed.”
Future
Scenarios depicts four
very different futures.
Each is a permutation
of mild or destructive
climate change, combined
with either slow or severe
energy declines. Probable
futures, explains Holmgren,
range from the relatively
benign Green Tech scenario
to the near catastrophic
Lifeboats scenario.
As
Adam Grubb, founder of
the influential Energy
Bulletin Web site, says,
“These aren’t
two-dimensional nightmarish
scenarios designed to
scare people into environmental
action. They are compellingly
fleshed-out visions of
quite plausible alternative
futures, which delve into
energy, politics, agriculture,
social, and even spiritual
trends. What they do help
make clear are the best
strategies for preparing
for and adapting to these
possible futures.”
Future
Scenarios provides brilliant
and balanced consideration
of the world’s options
and will prove to be one
of the most important
books of the year.
Life,
Money & Illusion –
Living on Earth as if we want
to stay
by
Mike Nickerson $23, 448pp.
"Life"
refers to the biological processes
by which living things maintain
themselves over time, "Money"
to the present economic ideology
that says that as long as the
volume of money changing hands
increases, all will be well.
"Illusion" refers
to the fact that these two perspectives
are directly opposed in terms
of how they would solve current
problems.
Life,
Money & Illusion tracks
how economic patterns change
as the communities they serve
grow from extended families,
through local populations and
nations, to global civilization.
While there are advantages to
large-scale production, the
potential for participants to
be alienated from each other
and from the natural environment
grows with the size of the system.
With alienation come opportunities
for unfortunate advantages to
be taken.
NEW!
The
Transition Handbook:
From Oil Dependency to
Local Resilience
by Rob
Hopkins 240pp, 2008, $25
This
book by the visionary
permaculturist / architect
of the Transition
Town movement is a
must-read labelled, immediate
. Growing numbers with
their microscopes trained
on peak oil are convinced
that we have very little
time to engineer resilience
into our communities before
the last energy crisis
descends. This issue should
be of urgent concern to
every person who cares
about their children,
and all who hope there
is a viable future for
human civilisation post-petroleum.
--Jeremy Leggett, founder
of Solarcentury and SolarAid.
The
Transition concept is one
of the big ideas of our
time. Peak oil and climate
change can so often leave
one feeling depressed and
disempowered. What I love
about the Transition approach
is that it is inspirational,
harnessing hope instead
of guilt, and optimism instead
of fear. The Transition
Handbook will come to be
seen as one of the seminal
books which emerged at the
end of the Oil Age and which
offered a gentle helping
hand in the transition to
a more local, more human
and ultimately more nourishing
future. --Patrick Holden,
director of the Soil Association
Rob Hopkins is the Gentle
Giant of the green movement,
and his timely and hugely
important book reveals
a fresh and empowering
approach that will help
us transition into a materially
leaner but inwardly richer
human experience. Full
of reliable, readable,
far-reaching scholarship,
and warm-hearted practical
advice on how to instigate
transition culture wherever
you are, this book will
energise and regenerate
your commitment to place,
community and simple living.
There is no better call
to action than this book,
and no better guide to
the hands-on creation
of a liveable future.
--Dr Stephan Harding,
co-ordinator of the MSc
in Holistic Science at
Schumacher College and
author of Animate Earth:
Science, Intuition and
Gaia
NEW!
Toolbox for Sustainable
City Living:
A do-it-Ourselves Guide
by Scott Kellogg &
Stacy Pettigrew, illustrated
by Juan Martinez
242pp, 2008, $16.00
The
tools you need to create
self-sufficient, ecologically
sustainable cities
“A surprisingly
effective model for connecting
people with dreams to
the resources they need.”
—Austin Chronicle
With
more than half the world’s
population now residing—and
struggling to survive—in
cities, we can no longer
afford to think of sustainability
as something that applies
only to forests and fields.
We need sustainable living
right where so many of
us are: in urban neighborhoods.
But how do we do it?
That’s
where Toolbox for Sustainable
City Living comes in.
In 2000 the dynamic Rhizome
Collective transformed
an abandoned warehouse
in Austin, Texas, into
a sustainability training
center. Here, with their
first book, Scott and
Stacy, two of Rhizome’s
founders, provide city
dwellers—those who
have never foraged or
gardened along with those
who dumpster-dive and
belong to CSAs—with
step-by- step instructions
for producing our own
food, collecting water,
managing waste, reclaiming
land, and generating energy.
With
vibrant illustrations
created by Juan Martinez
of the Beehive Collective
and descriptive text based
on years of experimentation,
Stacy and Scott explain
how to build and grow
with cheap, salvaged,
and recycled materials.
More than a how-to manual,
Toolbox is packed with
accessible and relevant
tools to help move our
communities from envisioning
a sustainable future toward
living it.
New!
Post
Carbon Cities: Planning
for Energy and Climate Uncertainty:
A Guidebook on Peak Oil
and Global Warming for Local
Governments
by Daniel Lerch2007, 113pp,
$28
Post
Carbon Cities: Planning
for Energy and Climate
Uncertainty is a guidebook
on peak oil and global
warming for people who
work with and for local
governments in the United
States and Canada. It
provides a sober look
at how these phenomena
are quickly creating new
uncertainties and vulnerabilities
for cities of all sizes,
and explains what local
decision-makers can do
to address these challenges.
Post Carbon Cities fills
an important gap in the
resources currently available
to local government decision-makers
on planning for the changing
global energy and climate
context of the 21st century.
"How
will we cope with a future
of energy scarcity? As
a policy maker I look
to other communities for
inspiration and ideas,
but there's been a lack
of information on what
local governments are
doing to adapt to Peak
Oil. Post Carbon Cities
fills this gap: herein
lies the roadmap plotted
by the cities that are
leading the way. Enthusiastically
recommended!" Dave
Rollo, City Council President,
Blooomington, Indiana
"Post
Carbon Cities is an exceptionally
clear and comprehensive
call-to-action to those
who actually work in the
trenches of city governance.
We don't have any more
time to waste getting
ready for an energy-scarcer
future, and for those
who remain dazed and confused,
this book is an excellent
place to start."
--James Howard Kunstler,
author of The Long Emergency
and The Geography of Nowhere
NEW!
EcoCities:
Rebuilding Cities in Balance
with Nature (Revised)
By Richard Register
366pp, 2006, $28
Most
of the world's population
now lives in cities. So
if we are to address the
problems of environmental
deterioration and peak
oil adequately, the city
has to be a major focus
of attention. "Ecocities"
is about re-building cities
and towns based on ecological
principles for the long
term sustainability, cultural
vitality and health of
the Earth's biosphere.
Unique in the literature
is the book's insight
that the form of the city
really matters -- and
that it is within our
ability to change it,
and crucial that we do.
Further,
that the ecocity within
its bio-region is comprehensible
and do-able, and can produce
a healthy and potentially
happy future. The book describes
the place of the city in
evolution, nature and history.
It pays special attention
to the key question of accessibility
and transportation, and
outlines design principles
for the ecocity. The reader
is encouraged to plunge
in to its economics and
politics: the kinds of businesses,
planning and leadership
required. The book then
outlines the tools by which
a gradual transition to
the ecocity could be accomplished.
Throughout, this new edition
is generously illustrated
with the author's own inspired
visions of what such rebuilt
cities might actually look
like.
NEW!Small
is Possible: Life in a Local
Economy
By Lyle Estill, 240pp, 2008,
$18
In
an era when incomprehensibly
complex issues like Peak
Oil and Climate Change
dominate headlines, practical
solutions at a local level
can seem somehow inadequate.
In
response, Lyle Estill's
Small is Possible introduces
us to "hometown security,"
with this chronicle of
a community-powered response
to resource depletion
in a fickle global economy.
True stories, springing
from the soils of Chatham
County, North Carolina,
offer a positive counter
balance to the bleakness
of our age.
This
is the story of how one
small southern US town
found actual solutions
to actual problems. Unwilling
to rely on government
and wary of large corporations,
these residents discovered
it is possible for a community
to feed itself, fuel itself,
heal itself and govern
itself.
This
book is filled with newspaper
columns, blog entries,
letters and essays that
have appeared on the margins
of small town economies.
Tough subjects are handled
with humor and finesse.
Compelling stories of
successful small businesses
from the grocery co-op
to the biodiesel co-op
describe a town and its
people on a genuine quest
for sustainability.
Everyone
interested in sustainability,
local economy, small business,
and whole foods will be
inspired by the success
stories in this book.
Lyle
Estill is VP of Stuff
at Piedmont Biofuels,
and has won numerous awards
for his work in the biodiesel
business. He is the author
of Biodiesel Power and
lives in Moncure, North
Carolina.
Ecovillages:
A Practical Guide to Sustainable
Communities by
Jan Martin Bang
2005, 288 pages, $25
Explores
the background & the
history of the Ecovillage
movement, & provides
a comprehensive manual
for planning, establishing,
& maintaining a sustainable
community in both urban
& rural environments.
Includes discussions on
design, conflict management,
food production, energy,
economics, & more.
Creating
a Life Together: Practical
Tools to Grow Ecovillages
and Intentional Communities
by
Diana Leafe Christian
previously editor of Communities
Magazine
foreword
by Patch Adams.2003
New Society Publishers,
272 pp. $28.
Creating
a Life Together is
an overview of the process
of forming new ecovillages
and intentional communities,
gleaned from founders
of dozens of successful
communities in North America
formed since the early
'90s. This is what they
did, and what you can
do, to create your community
dream.
It
attempts to distill their
hard experience into solid
advice on getting started
as a group, creating vision
documents, decision-making
and governance, agreements
and policies, buying and
financing land, communication
and process, and selecting
people to join you. It's
what works, what doesn't
work, and how not to reinvent
the wheel. This information
is not only for people
forming new communities
- whether or not you already
own your land. It can
also be valuable for those
of you thinking about
joining community one
day - since you, too,
will need to know what
works. And it's also for
those of you already living
in community, since you
can only benefit from
knowing what others have
done in similar circumstances.
"Wow!
The newest, most comprehensive
bible for builders of
intentional communities.
Covers every aspect with
vital information and
hundreds of examples of
how successful communities
faced the challenges and
created their shared lives
out of their visions.
The cautionary tales of
sadder experiences and
how communities fail,
will help in avoiding
the pitfalls. Not since
I wrote the Foreword to
Ingrid Komar's Living
the Dream (1983),
which documented the Twin
Oaks community, have I
seen a more useful and
inspiring book."
--Hazel
Henderson, author,
Creating Alternative
Futures, and Politics
of the Solar Age.
"A great deal of research
and trial-and-error has
been assembled here, and
every potential ecovillager
should read it. This book
will be an essential guide
and msanual for the many
Permaculture graduates
who live in communities
or design for them." --Bill
Mollison, co-originator
of the Permaculture concept,
author of The Permaculture
Designers Manual, Ferment
and Human Nutrition.
"A
really valuable resource
for anyone thinking about
intentional community.
I wish I had it years
ago." -- Starhawk,
author of Webs of Power,
The Spiral Dance,
and The Fifth Sacred
Thing -- and committed
communitarian.
NEW!
Depletion and Abundance:
Life on the New Home Front
by Sharon Astyk
2008, 288pp, $19
OK,
quick check: everyone
who is concerned about
the economic crisis turning
into a depression and
causing food and fuel
prices to rise and pockets
to empty - whether for
yourself, your parents,
your children, your neighbors,
your friends, or anyone
- raise your hand. That
covers just about everyone,
doesn't it?
Almost
every conversation I've
had recently with different
people lately has touched
on the economy and people's
fears about what this
situation means. Astyk
knows she's covering a
lot of territory to bring
many people up to speed
on the various causes
behind our current crisis.
Her research and thoughtful
insight in discussing
peak oil, climate change,
and the economy are on
target too.We may be headed
into difficult times -
and heaven knows, if you
read only Astyk's first
chapter, you might find
yourself too depressed
to go on --but ultimately
we still retain the ability
to choose a certain aount
of independence. We can
invest our time and our
work in the sustenance
of our selves, our families,
and our communities, and
we can begin to build
a more sustainable economy.
Sharon Astyk's book gives
us the hope and the inspiration
needed to take that step.
Reviewed by Jennifer M,
The Ethicurean
Climate
change, peak oil, and
economic instability aren’t
just future social problems—they
jeopardize our homes and
families right now. Our
once-abundant food supply
is being threatened by
toxic chemical agriculture,
rising food prices, and
crop shortages brought
on by climate change.
Funding for education
and health care is strained
to the limit, and safe
and affordable housing
is disappearing.
Depletion
and Abundance explains
how we are living beyond
our means with or without
a peak oil/climate change
crisis, and that, either
way, we must learn to
place our families and
local communities at the
center of our thinking
once again. The author
presents strategies to
create stronger homes,
better health, and a richer
family life and to:
* live comfortably with
an uncertain energy
supply
* prepare children for
a hotter, lower energy,
less secure world
* survive and thrive
in an economy in crisis
* maintain a kitchen
garden to supply basic
food needs
Most
importantly, readers will
discover that depletion
can lead to abundance,
and the anxiety of these
uncertain times can be
turned into a gift of
hope and action.
Sharon
Astyk is a former academic
who farms in upstate New
York with her husband
and four children. She
also raises livestock,
grows vegetables, and
writes about food and
peak oil. (Check out her
blog—www.sharonastyk.com.)
Sharon's
introduction is pricelss
in its succinct, dead-on
analysis of collapse,
and is reason enough to
buy and send this book
to everyone you know who
is partially or completely
clueless about where we're
headed. "When I realized
that everything was going
to change, I was at first
afraid. Because I thought,
if my government or public
policy or other choices
weren't going to fix everything,
what could I possibly
do? What hope was there,
if I had to take care
of myself, if my community
had to take care of itself?
But when I began looking
for solutions that could
be applied on the level
of ordinary human lives,
that involved changes
in perspectives and pulling
together, the reclamation
of abandoned ideas and
the restoration of strong
communitites, I began
to feel hopeful, even
excited. Because I realized
that when large institutions
cease to be powerful,
sometimes that means that
people start being powerful
again."
Depletion and Abundance
is not a feel-good book,
but it is intensely human,
compassionate, supportive,
pracitcal, alarming, enlivening,
and astonishingly accurate.
Reviewed by Carolyn Baker,
Carolynbaker.net
Ripples
from the Zambezi:
Passion, Entrepreneurship
and the Rebirth of Local
Economies
by Ernesto
Soleri.
1999, 151 pp. $15
In
the same way that you
can't lead a horse to
water, you can't force
economic development on
people who don't want
to be 'developed'. Leads
the reader through the
fascinating story of development
failures and successes
that led eventually to
this technique that has
been successful in over
250 communities in four
countries. Inspiring,
amusing, and easy to read,
will appeal to a wide
range of people interested
in a new approach to revitalizing
our communities.
Money:
Understanding and Creating
Alternatives to Legal
Tender
by Thomas
H. Greco, Jr.,
2001, 295pp., $25
This
is an eye-popping , fundamental
look at money, both the
"legal tender"
and the innovative forms
that have been developed
to promote local economies
in communities around
the nation and the world.
Money explains
the mysteries mad realities
of currency, interest,
barter, and much more
in clear and accessible
prose, revealing the alarming
fragility of our existing
financial system. More
than simply a radical
critique, it is also a
practical and inspirational
how-to manual for creating
a vibrant and effective
community currency system.
Superbia!:
31 Ways to Create Sustainable
Neighborhoods by
Dan Chiras and Dave Wann
2003, 240pp., $25
Superbia!
is a book of practical
ideas for creating more
socially, economically,
and environmentally sustainable
neighborhoods. It is about
remaking suburban and
urban neighborhoods to
serve people better and
to reduce human impact
on the environment.
Ideas for the blossoming
of the suburb are described
in order of difficulty,
from easy to boldest,
including:
* the creation of a
neighborhood newsletter
to foster a sense of
neighborhood identity
and cooperation
* regular community
dinners, discussion
groups, and babysitting
co-ops
* the removal of backyard
fences to create park-like
spaces for community
play areas, or gardens
* retrofitting homes
for energy efficiency,
and installing community
energy systems.
Well-illustrated and
reader-friendly, Superbia!
is written primarily for
the millions who live
in urban areas or existing
suburbs. It will also
be of major interest to
environmentalists, planners,
and all who want to create
a more humane and nurturing
lifestyle.
New!
The
Post-Petroleum Survival
Guide and Cookbook: Recipes
for Changing Times
by Albert Bates, 206,
236pp. $20
Over
the coming years we will
need to move from a global
culture addicted to cheap,
abundant petroleum to
a culture of compelled
conservation, whether
through government directive
or market forces. The
Post-Petroleum Survival
Guide and Cookbook provides
useful practical advice
for preparing your family
and community to make
the transition.
This
book takes a positive,
upbeat, and optimistic
view of "the Great
Change," promoting
the idea that it can be
an opportunity to redeem
our essential interconnectedness
with nature and with each
other. The many rifts
that have grown up since
oil became the world's
prime commodity can be
mended: between cities
and their food sources;
the design of the suburban
built environment and
its car-oriented sprawl;
runaway greenhouse warming,
clearing of forests and
toxification of rivers,
oceans, and land. Topics
covered include:
* Rebuilding civilization
* Changing your needs
* Water and waste disposal
* Energy and transportation
* Equipment and Tools
* Food storage and First
Aid
Also
including light-hearted,
playful recipes -- some
using basic, wholesome
foods, some illustrating
food growing or preservation,
and all emphasizing organic,
flavorful and locally
grown produce that readily
substitute one for another
-- this book is about
having your catastrophe
and eating it too.
Heat:
How to Stop the Planet
from Burning by George
Monbiot, 2003, 278pp.,
$22 Hardcover
Heat:
How to Stop the Planet
From Burning marks an
important moment in our
civilization's thinking
about global warming.
The question is no longer
Is climate change actually
happening? but What do
we do about it? George
Monbiot offers an ambitious
and far-reaching program
to cut our carbon dioxide
emissions to the point
where the environmental
scales start tipping back-away
from catastrophe.
Though
writing with a "spirit
of optimism," Monbiot
does not pretend it will
be easy. The only way
to avoid further devastation,
he argues, is a 90% cut
in CO2 emissions in the
rich nations of the world
by 2030. In other words,
our response will have
to be immediate, and it
will have to be decisive.
In
every case he supports his
proposals with a rigorous
investigation into what
works, what doesn't, how
much it costs, and what
the problems might be. He
wages war on bad ideas as
energetically as he promotes
good ones. And he is not
afraid to attack anyone-friend
or foe-whose claims are
false or whose figures have
been fudged.
After all, there is no time
to waste. As Monbiot has
said himself, "we are
the last generation that
can make this happen, and
this is the last possible
moment at which we can make
it happen."
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