Book Recommendations

See also Film and Writing, which are pieces chosen for literary merit. Note: these are not part of Core course, just books that will be of interest to anyone concerned with the environment.

New Books

The Global Warming Reader, edited by Bill McKibben, pulls together seminal texts of the climate change debate with the goal of creating a complete picture. Selections range from a 19th-century treatise to images from Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, and include a few unexpected gems like Senate floor statements from climate change denier James Inhofe (R-Okla.).

Orion Magazine picks include About a Mountain on nuclear storage, Tiger: A True story of Vengeance and Survival and Deep Blue Home about oceans.

Juliet Eilperin's brand new book Demon Fish: Travels Through the Hidden World of Sharks (audio interview and excerpt) says that in reality, it's the sharks that should be afraid of human predators.

Tim Flannery's Here on Earth is his first major book since The Weather Makers. In it, he takes a big-picture look at where we are as a species, and what we need to do in order to survive into the future. Flannery draws on Darwin, Wallace and Lovelock to discuss evolution, co-evolution and the issue of sustainability, in the broadest sense. And, as he tells the National Press Club, it's ultimately a message of hope. (video).

Green Book Festival 2011 winners include Twelve by Twelve and Burning Rivers.

Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth Excerpt by Mark Hertsgaard. Radio interview 3/11. Here's an hour-long talk. Mark spoke here at College 8 for a number of years when his Earth Odyssey was required reading.

Hertsgaard recommends Cracking the Carbon Code: The Key to Sustainable Profits in the New Economy by Terry Tamminen, who was former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s top environmental adviser, instrumental to the many important steps Governor Schwarzenegger took to fight climate change.

David Victor's new book, Global Warming Gridlock: Creating More Effective Strategies for Saving the Planet. (review/response)

Green is the New Red:An Insider's Account of a Social Movement Under Siege by Will Potter. Animal rights activists are prosecuted as terrorists.

Force of Nature: The Unlikely Story of Wal-Mart's Green Revolution. also by Edward Humes Eco Barons: The New Heroes of Environmental Activism.

"The Coming Famine: The Global Food Crisis and What We Can Do To Avoid It," by Julian Cribb. NYT review.

Moby Duck (short article/audio) and longer interview with text excerpt. In 1992, a cargo ship container tumbled into the North Pacific, dumping 28,000 rubber ducks and other bath toys that were headed from China to the U.S. Currents took them, and news reports said some may have eventually reached Maine and other shores on the Atlantic. Thirteen years later, journalist Donovan Hohn undertook a mission: He wanted to track the movements of the wayward ducks, from the comfort of his own living room. It didn't work out that way, as you can tell from the complete title: Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them.

American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of Its Food (and What We Can Do About It)by Jonathan Bloom.

James Howard Kunstler has done several interesting TEDtalks (video). He wrote The Long Emergency: Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century. A World Made by Hand is his novel of America's post-oil future. recent interview 3/11

Two new books build on many of the ideas in documentary on globalization The Economics of Happiness. First, The Post Carbon Reader: Managing the 21st Century's Sustainability Crisis looks at the convergence of population, water, energy, food and climate threats. All That We Share: A Field Guide to the Commons shows how communities are reclaiming shared spaces and resources to better the economy and the environment.

In his new book, World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse, Earth Policy Institute's Lester Brown looks at the state of the world's resources ( a "food bubble"), warning that the outlook does not look good when it comes to feeding the world's population.

In Sacrifice Zones, Steve Lerner tells the stories of twelve communities, from Brooklyn to Pensacola, that rose up to fight the industries and military bases causing disproportionately high levels of chemical pollution. Lerner is the author of Eco-Pioneers: Practical Visionaries Solving Today's Environmental Problems 1998) and Diamond: A Struggle for Environmental Justice in Louisiana's Chemical Corridor (2005), both published by the MIT Press. video

David Suzuki has a new book (audio interview) "a, brief, astonishingly readable and uplifting book called The Legacy: An Elder's Vision for our Sustainable Future."

American-style consumer capitalism is simply unsustainable, warns former White House adviser James Gustave Speth in his new book, The Bridge at the Edge of the World. (video interview at UC Berzerkely) (another video on economy vs ecology). A co-founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Speth has been an environmentalist for more than three decades. Speth is dean and professor in the practice of environmental policy at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. audio interview

Doubt is Their Product: How Industry's Assault on Science Threatens Your Health 2008 Oxford by David Michaels.

Drowning in Oil: BP & the Reckless Pursuit of Profit by Loren C. Steffy

Peak Everything

The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love Kimball chucked life as a Manhattan journalist to start a cooperative farm in upstate New York with a self-taught New Paltz farmer she had interviewed for a story and later married. The Harvard-educated author, in her 30s, and Mark, also college educated and resolved to "live outside of the river of consumption," eventually found an arable 500-acre farm on Lake Champlain, first to lease then to buy. In this poignant, candid chronicle by season, Kimball writes how she and Mark infused new life into Essex Farm, and lost their hearts to it.

Prescription for the Planet: The Painless Remedy for Our Energy & Environmental Crises by Tom Blees, provides a roadmap to the post-scarcity era.

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (Guardian review) was a Grist Book Club selection, and he participated in a video interview More. He visited UCSC in 2007 Link.

Farm City is about urban gardening in Oakland.

Running Out of Water: The Looming Crisis and Solutions to Conserve Our Most Precious Resource by Peter Rogers, Susan Leal, and Congressman Edward Markey

One With Nineveh: Politics, Consumption, and the Human Future Paul R. Ehrlich, Anne H. Ehrlich

Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things -- Professor Gail Steketee, Professor Randy Frost

The Coke Machine is "A disturbing portrait drawn from an award-winning journalist's in-depth research, is the first comprehensive probe of the company....COKE is a registered trademark of The Coca-Cola Company. This book is not authorized by or endorsed by The Coca-Cola Company. video review

Uprisings for the Earth: Reconnecting Culture with Nature

John Adams is a longtime member of Natural Resources Defense Council and the co-author of "A Force for Nature: The Story of NRDC and the Fight to Save our Planet." text and audio interview

In Green Gone Wrong "environmental writer Heather Rogers blasts through the marketing buzz of big corporations and asks a simple question: Do today’s much-touted "green" products—carbon offsets, organic food, biofuels, and eco-friendly cars and homes—really work? Implicit in efforts to go green is the promise that global warming can be stopped by swapping out dirty goods for "clean" ones. But can earth-friendly products really save the planet? This far-reaching, riveting narrative explores how the most readily available solutions to environmental crisis may be disastrously off the mark." Grist link/review

Bill McKibben's first book, The End of Nature was one of the earliest to introduce global warming into popular culture. His latest book is Eaarth: Making a Life on a Hot New Planet Review and excerpt

The New Frugality by Chris Farrell, argues "sustainable lifestyle isn't just one that's good for the planet — it's one that is based around core values and one that sustains your bank balance as well."

The Climate War by Eric Pooley, deputy editor of Bloomberg Businessweek, profiles heavyweights in this saga -- including two members of the Nicholas Institute Board of Advisers, EDF President Fred Krupp, and Duke Energy Chairman and CEO Jim Rogers, among other leaders in the now years-long campaign to bring climate policy to Washington. FAQ, also Ch 1, NYT review and Grist review audio interview 30 min. another interview by Climate Desk.

Peter Gleick, a freshwater expert, is the author of Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water link to book and npr audio interview. Here's another interview 6/10, with an industry representative. The book is published by an UC alum who runs Island Press. KQED interview

Also from Island Press, John Terborgh and James Estes (Go Slugs!) explore importance of predators in Trophic Cascades: Predators, Prey, and the Changing Dynamics of Nature. They explain how top predators play an essential role in maintaining ecosystem well-being, and how this natural regulatory system is often drastically disrupted by human interventions-when wolves and cougars are removed, for example, populations of deer and beaver become destructive. Author and conservation biologist Cristina Eisenberg offers her perspective in The Wolf's Tooth, sharing accounts from her fieldwork to bring to life the relationships among keystone predators, trophic cascades, and biodiversity.

Sound is the subject of three new books Zero Decibels 30 min interview. also The Unwanted Sound of Everything We Want by Garret Keizer, and In Pursuit of Silence.

Infrastructure in the United States is under-funded and woefully outdated. NPR's Living on Earth’s Steve Curwood hears two different views on how to reform our ailing grid. Nick Rosen, author of “Off the Grid,” suggests decentralizing utilities, while Scott Huler, who wrote “On the Grid,” wants to stay plugged in and work to improve the system. audio and text

The Rebirth of Environmentalism: Grassroots Activism from the Spotted Owl to the Polar Bear -- Douglas Bevington

In the Empire of Ice: Encounters in a Changing Landscape by Gretel Ehrlich. "In this gripping circumnavigation of the Arctic Circle, Gretel Ehrlich paints a vivid portrait of the indigenous cultures that inhabit the starkly beautiful boreal landscape surrounding the Arctic Ocean..."More

Three new novels feature climate change, Mark Nykanen’s Primitive and Far North by Marcel Theroux (as does an older one, Friend of the Earth by TC Boyle Link. Ian McEwan's new comic novel, Solar

Not So New

Utne Reader lists of 150 works (including film and music)that fire the imagination Part 1 and Part 2has quite a few influential green thinkers.

Adams, Douglas. Best known for the amazing Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, he also wrote Last Chance to See about endangered animals. Intro Ch. 1 password required. Author reading about Komodo dragon encounter. Warning, some animals were harmed in the production of this book ;) NEW! at UC talk based on Last Chance experiences. The BBC has done a new series in which Stephen Frye retraces the original journey. Here are some of the original radio dispatches.

Soul of a Citizen by Paul Loeb tells many stories of activism. The first excerpt here is on the powerful journey of evangelical global climate change activist Rich Cizik. The second is on Gandhi, King and the traps of the perfect standard. The third is how a self-described party girl became a global warming activist. See also his anthology The Impossible Will Take a While. Audio and video interviews (Realplayer) Here's a sort of Overview.

The Empathic Civilization: The Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis By Jeremy Rifkin. Intro/ Excerpt Video overview TEDtalk

Steward Brand, the center hub of the human network, has a new book, Whole Earth Discipline. He's putting the whole book online for free, with annotations and a reading list link. He makes some stands that are heretical to mainstream greens (pro-nuke and GMO). Those who heard Fred Turner's plenary talk last year will have some sense of how important Brand has been and continues to be.

Reviews of The Vanishing Face of Gaia: A Final Warning by James Lovelock, video of talk. 9/10 [1]. radio interview In Search of Gaia by John Gribbin and Mary Gribbin The Medea Hypothesis: Is Life on Earth Ultimately Self-Destructive? by Peter Ward.

Douglas Abrams, Eye of the Whale an eco-thriller video interview. [audio interviews] “A new novel, “The Eye of the Whale,” tells the story of a marine biologist who studies the songs of humpback whales. Her research leads to a breakthrough discovery of how pollution is harming them and humans. While the story is fiction, the science is not.

Starved for Science: how biotechnology is being kept out of Africa By Robert L. Paarlberg Review

Starbucked: A Double Tall Tale of Caffeine, Commerce, and Culture by Taylor Clark

Coal River by Michael Shnayerson

The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America by Timothy Egan

Atomic Americaby Todd Tucker. On January 3, 1961, nuclear reactor SL-1 exploded in rural Idaho, spreading radioactive contamination over thousands of acres and killing three men: John Byrnes, Richard McKinley, and Richard Legg. The Army blamed "human error" and a sordid love triangle. Though it has been overshadowed by the accident at Three Mile Island, SL-1 is the only fatal nuclear reactor incident in American history, and it holds serious lessons for a nation poised to embrace nuclear energy once again.

Unquenchable: America's Water Crisis and What To Do About It by Robert Glennon

Summer Books

Grist Magazine's 15 picks

Lonely Planet Code Green Experiences

The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey

Diary of an Eco-Outlaw} is by and [http://www.chelseagreen.com/2006/items/unreasonablewomanpa An Unreasonable Womanis about Diane Wilson, a fourth-generation fisherwoman, leads a one-woman crusade against Dow and other petrochemical plants, which create 17% of America’s pollution from her Texas town of 1,352. These factories have turned Seadrift from a traditional fishing port into a massive chemical cocktail that poisons the surrounding air, earth and waters, sardonically dubbed Texas Gold, video excerpt. From Texas to Wall Street to the front lawn of former Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson's multi-million dollar mansion on Long Island -- all the while chased by Texas Rangers charged with bringing her to justice -- Diane pursues a reckless industry with a soft drawl, dogged determination and her own special brand of Southern bad-ass fisherwoman humor. In the 16 years since she began her fight, Diane has received death threats and suffered intimidation tactics; shots were fired at her house from a helicopter and her dog was poisoned.Democracy Now interview

Zodiac by Neal Stephenson (Author of Snow Crash etc). Set in Boston, hero Sangamon Taylor (S. T.) ironically describes his hilarious exploits in the first person, sometimes resorting to profanity. S. T. is a modern superhero, a self-proclaimed Toxic Spiderman. With stealth, spunk, and the backing of GEE (a non-profit environmental group) as his weapons, S. T. chases down the bad guys with James Bond-like Zen.

Other Books

Al Gore's new book Our Choices

In Soul and Soil, Alastair McIntosh tells how he helped the beleaguered residents of the Isle of Eigg to become the first Scottish community ever to clear their laird (the landed proprietor) from his own estate. He recounts how plans to turn a majestic Hebridean mountain into a super-quarry were overturned after he persuaded a Native American warrior chief to testify at a government inquiry. Weaving together theology, mythology, economics, ecology, history, poetics, and politics, this is an extraordinary case study of a radical new philosophy of community, spirit, and place. Alastair McIntosh is a Scottish academic and activist. A fellow of the Centre for Human Ecology, he lectures worldwide on new economics, community, and nonviolent strategies.

Greasy Rider: Two Dudes, One Fast Food Fueled Car, and a Cross-Country Search for a Greener Future "Is it possible to drive coast-to-coast without stopping at a single gas pump? Journalist Greg Melville is determined to try. With his college buddy Iggy riding shotgun, he sets out on an enlightening road trip. The quest: to be the first people to drive cross-country in a french-fry car."CNN video interview

Hot, Flat, and Crowded. Thomas L. Freidman, author of The Lexus and the Olive Tree, and The World Is Flat, explains how America can lead the green revolution in the 21st century (audio and video too). Interview based on his new book Hot, Flat and Crowded excerpt/intro 09/08

Elizabeth Royte's new book Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It (includes audio interview). Another interview, text. (See also our own former Provost Szasz's book Excerpt. Her previous book Garbage Land is a good read.

The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. google book, grew out of two questions, he said. One was, "How can I write a best-seller about the environment?" The answer to that was the second question: "How would the rest of nature behave without the constant pressure we put on it?" Longnow.org talk

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, by Michael Pollan (Penguin Press, 2006). Our meal choices matter—a trip through America's food chain. First chapter free online.

Ten Ways to Change the World in Your Twenties We need someone to write a review of this book.

Great Jobs for Environmental Studies Majors - by Julie DeGalan link

Outside Magazine's picks

Bill McKibben's recent review in the NY Times recommends The End of Oil link and others

Mark Hertsgaard's Picks:

1. Earth Under Fire, by Gary Braasch (University of California Press), is the best book on global warming I’ve read this year. Braasch is an intrepid and accomplished photographer who has spent years traveling to all parts of the world to document, in stunning images and well-researched accompanying text, how global warming is changing our planet NOW. Even global warming experts can learn from this book, but it’s perfect for newcomers to the topic too. Plus, it looks great on a coffee table.

2. Fight Global Warming Now, by Bill McKibben and the Step It Up Team, (Holt), is the essential handbook for the essential task now facing us: taking organized political action to achieve major cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. As Bill points out in the book, many people know global warming must be fought, but they don’t know what to do or how to go about it. This book tells you, in very accessible, non-intimidating and even, dare I say, fun ways. Go get ‘em!

3. Exposed, by Mark Schapiro (Chelsea Green) is an environmental scoop that sends a message not only to American consumers but businesses: U.S. law allows all kinds of nasty toxic chemicals in the most common daily products (toys, cosmetics, etc.) that are banned in Europe; and because Europe is taking the environmental high road, it is gaining, not losing, global market share. (Disclosure: I offered a blurb to this book but, dammit, receive no royalties.)

4. The Informant, by Kurt Eichenwald (Broadway Books) is the true but almost unbelievable inside story of the rampant price-fixing and other ... conduct undertaken by Archer Daniels Midland, the agri-business giant .... Told by a New York Times reporter who clearly had amazing access to all parties involved.... A great read, too.

5. A Long Way Down, by Nick Hornsby (Penguin) is well-timed for the holiday season. The opening chapter, set on New Year’s Eve, portrays four very different individuals who find themselves, to their collective surprise, atop the same London rooftop with the same purpose in mind: jumping off and ending it all. Somehow, Hornsby manages to turn this into a brilliant, insightful, hilarious but never easy or sentimental meditation on what makes all of us tick, and how to keep going despite the despair that occasionally tempts each of us.

Send your suggestions to mailto:pmmckerc@ucsc.edu