Treehuggers Message Board

Mainly because of the apparently small amount of overlap in our libraries.

Rather odd that with 15 memembers there's no more than a few books that even overlap three times. Why don't we each recommend a book that we feel is a good read in this area, but that we do not see in our shared library. A quick note on why the text is important would be helpful, too.

I'll start.

Ok, I've got two: Ishmael and My Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. These books really helped me wrap my head around ideas I had floating around in my head but couldn't really formulate the way Quinn had. I enjoyed his approaches to the various subjects of education, tribalism, sustainable living, "givers" and "takers", and more. I plan on reading The Story of B and re-reading the two Ishmael books because I didn't take any notes the first time around and I'd like to have some notes of the ideas I have while reading those texts.

Great idea, manofredearth!

A quick online search located Ishmael at my library branch and the other two Quinn books at other branches in the city system, but Science and Poetry is nowhere to be found.

I read This Organic Life a few months ago, and it is a gem. It's a gardening journal, home-remodeling memoir, and an appeal to sustainable-living all in one. I took issue with one of her conclusions, but that's minor in light of the book's worth. (It also happens to be a very enjoyable read.)

Laura - I should clarify that the sustainable living plea focuses exclusively on food production. The house renovation (because it was ancient and falling apart) was just a backdrop for her gardening and buy-local talk. With the exception of grains, everything she and her husband ate was from their organic garden (they even managed to grow saffron!). She started out doing it many years ago as an experiment to see if it was possible in this day and age to eat exclusively from what she grew herself. She spends a good deal of time discussing the environmental impact (fossil fuel expenditure for one) of food shipped across states or continents. You know what? She got me to quit buying bananas; my toddler wasn't happy about that for a few weeks, but then she got distracted by all the local summer fruit. I don't have a real garden of my own (just a narrow strip of dirt along the patio), but I switched to buying most of my produce from an organic farm just a few miles up the road. It really changed the way I eat and shop. When I was at the ("yuppie" natural foods) supermarket last week, I did a double-take to see hothouse tomatoes from Canada! Just days ago, I had bought all sorts of organic heritage tomatoes from the local farm. It just doesn't make sense to import tomatoes when Southern California is bursting with them.

I agree that may people do care once their eyes are opened to an issue. I'm still learning.

Tennant's book is at my library branch. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions.

chanale, you're getting tomatoes from Canada? All of the tomatoes at my stores (in Canada) are from California. Clearly something's wrong here!

To carry on with books that aren't in the shared list, I'm currently reading Natural Capitalism. It's already a bit outdated, but it's an inspiring read. I've recently finished Collapse by Jared Diamond, which was good but seemed aimed more at those who aren't already treehuggers.

Thanks to perodicticus for the invitation to this group - I didn't even know such things existed on LiberryThang. :-)

A couple from my list that I have read lately: Forcing the Spring is a fascinating history of the US environmental movement(s) across the 20th Century -- highly, highly recommended. I also enjoyed Citizens, Experts, and the Environment for its exploration of the interplay between traditional and postpositivist epistemics in determining public policy. And Green Empire, while not strictly an environmental work, is a fascinating read about a powerful corporation deeply intertwined with growth and marketing of Florida's "last frontier" (northwest Florida).

Much of what's on my list under the enviro tag is specifically about "environmental communication", which is my putative research area....

Cradle to Cradle by McDonough and Braumgart is an amazing follow-up read to Natural Capitalism. Both are balms for weary environmentalists tired of bashing up against an economic system that doesn't yet reward green innovation. I want my compostable sofa!

I just finished Cradle to Cradle. It was wonderful. I really loved the optimistic tone of the book. It advocates a "work smarter, not harder" approach to resource usage. It promotes the idea that with thought given to the entire lifespan of products, the resources that went into them can be recovered and reused. It was hopeful in that it promoted an idea of there being "enough" for people all over the world to use what the earth has to offer. Unlike many other books I have read about the environmental costs of consumerism, it offered solutions other than "use less stuff." (In fact, there's a book with that title that I read also!) I would really recommend Cradle to Cradle to anyone who is interested in the environment and who would like to hear hopeful solutions offered.