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Product Details
Hardcover: 600 pages
Publisher: Harry N. Abrams; First Edition edition (November 1, 2006)
Updated June 18/07 to add one more star (up from 2 to 3) simply for listing so many ideas. Also added a little qualification to my list of further references at the end.
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The primary challenge, I think, of those who seek to change the world is to figure out a way of garnering a critical mass of like-minded individuals and then implementing the change on a large enough scale to make a difference.
It seems a bit of a watershed was reached this past summer, vis-a-vis environmental awareness, with the cinematic release of Al Gore's doc "An Inconvenient Truth (AIT)" and various reports on climate change out of the EU and the UN. The book Worldchanging fits in well as a follow-up to AIT for people who are only now realizing that biosphere-threatening problems exist in the world - ecological, social, economic and cultural. As a pre-emptive strike against the masses being overwhelmed and simply escaping into their Starbucks addiction (or perhaps as simply a shot in the arm), the folks at the Worldchanging blog site have compiled a large collection of specific ideas and initiatives garnered from around the world .
The idea is great and for the purposes of an introduction to a host of topics which could fall under the slippery rubric of "sustainable development" in a manner accessible to the general public, this book is probably a good choice. I haven't come across any other book which so captures the variety of topics in an intellectually accessible way. It's a bit like a (non-comprehensive and very brief) encyclopedia which could capture the imagination of teens and adults seeking exposure to local/global issues and cultures who haven't had the opportunity to gather information from sources other then mainstream press.Read more ›
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I found this to be among the most inspiring books that I have read this year. It is not a narrative but a vast collection of small essays and notes covering topics related to changing our environment for the better. Some stories are inspirational accounts of what others have done, others are calls to action for what can be done. They focus on six categories - stuff, shelter, cities, community, business, politics and planet. There is bound to be one or two categories that matches up with your interests. As a civil engineer I found a wealth of information and resources in the stuff, shelter and cities sections.
The books most valuable aspect is that it is an amazing compilation of resources for whatever areas that you decided you want to explore further. Over the course of reading this book I probably added over fifty books to my reading list.
While parts of this books are meant to alarm you into action, the overall message of the book is a positive one: envision a better world and figure out what you can do to move it in that direction. By making people aware of all of the micro projects that are being tested, one cannot help but be inspired to think of the direction that he or she will take with their life.
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33 of 48 people found the following review helpful
this book was just plain unreadable. As someone with a scientific mind I wanted something a bit more substantial, ie how can we really change things. Instead, all this book contains is a bunch of random commands "We must do x" with about 0 arguments to back them up and no real suggestions on how to do x. Furthermore, they seem to make all sorts of interesting claims, but don't ever actually research them or tell us how they arrived at these claims. This thing is just slapdash job of a bunch of essays that seem to be written by high schoolers and the rest is filled with pretentiousness. If you really want to help the environment, skip this book. It's huge which wastes paper and moving it to your house wastes fuel.
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It's pretentious and too hip to touch anyone's heart, which is the organ that moves us to make real change.
Its organization is strange and uneven. The whole matter of food, which is one of the two areas most at the front of visible sustainability efforts (the other being green construction), is tossed into the middle of the section called "Stuff." Go figure.
Besides that, I have trouble with a book that purports to be about living more sustainably and uses so many resources in its making. The book must weigh ten pounds. It would have been better if the people who created this had just stuck to their website.
(And by the way, I'm VERY green, have edited many books on sustainability, and would like to see our species evolve.)
I would recommend Sarah Susanka's *The Not So Big Life* as a much better way in to thinking about sustainability, which truly begins at home. We can only change ourselves, and Susanka's book helps with that.
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If you're wondering how you can "leave a smaller footprint" while living your life, this book is for you. The book is massive and, I have to admit, I haven't finished reading it. It's the type of book you read in bits and pieces. Full of references, follow ups and suggestions. It's well written and logically laid out under a different chapter for each topic. The book also features some wonderful photography.
I am concerned for the future of this planet and of the Human Race. I have been wondering about what I could personally do about it. This book has been helping me find the answers. I would highly suggest this book as a present or if you are like me, wanting to leave the world a better place.
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