John Thackara has spent a lifetime roving the globe in search of design that serves human needs in a sustainable way. He believes that in our eagerness to find technological solutions to the big challenges faced by the human race, we have all too often ignored the astonishing creativity generated when people work together and in harmony with the world around them.Drawing on an inspiring range of examples, from a temple-led water management system in Bali that dates back hundreds of...

A visionary yet practical guide to building a more sustainable future, by one of the most important voices in environmentally aware designAre there practical solutions to the many global challenges—climate change, poverty, insufficient healthcare—that threaten our way of life? Author John Thackara has spent a lifetime roving the globe in search of design that serves human needs. In this clear-eyed but ultimately optimistic book, he argues that, in our eagerness to ...

How to design a world in which we rely less on stuff, and more on people.We're filling up the world with technology and devices, but we've lost sight of an important question: What is this stuff for? What value does it add to our lives? So asks author John Thackara in his new book, In the Bubble: Designing for a Complex World. These are tough questions for the pushers of technology to answer. Our economic system is centered on technology, so it would be no...

Everyone knows that the planet is in trouble, but is there a solution? This timely book identifies the most effective ways individuals can be more green in four key areas: home, travel, food, and consumerism. It also describes how citizens can ensure that governments take the actions necessary to make sustainable lifestyles the norm instead of the exception. Environmental lawyer David Boyd and celebrated ecologist David Suzuki provide vital tips for choosi...

An expose on the fashion industry written by the Observer's 'Ethical Living' columnist, examining the inhumane and environmentally devastating story behind the clothes we so casually buy and wear.Coming at a time when the global financial crisis and contracting of consumer spending is ushering in a new epoch for the fashion industry, To Die For offers a very plausible vision of how green could really be the new black.Taking particular issue with our current mania for both b...

In EcoMind, Frances Moore Lapp' -- a giant of the environmental movement -- confronts accepted wisdom of environmentalism. Drawing on the latest research from anthropology to neuroscience and her own field experience, she argues that the biggest challenge to human survival isn't our fossil fuel dependency, melting glaciers, or other calamities. Rather, it's our faulty way of thinking about these environmental crises that robs us of power. Lapp' dismantles seven common "thought tra...

With a foreword by Carolyn Steel of Hungry City, Wayne Roberts' new book will do for for city-food connections what Raj Patel's Stuffed and Starved did to link hunger and obesity, what Marion Nestle's Food Politics did to tie together government agencies and food monopolies and what Michael Pollan did to connect corn and porkbarrel politics. "The most original, thought-provoking contribution to local food policy in more than a decade." Michael Shuman, The Small-Mart Revolution You don't ha...

We all know the bad news. Every day, along with all the bulletins on social upheavals and terrorist attacks, we read reports of another animal species on the brink of extinction, of how our ocean fisheries are collapsing, and of the damage industrial development is wreaking on our soil, air and water. We drive bigger cars, eat pesticide-sprayed, genetically altered foods and consume so much energy that even rich, industrialized countries suffer power outages. We seem intent on continuing t...

Corporate capitalism has ravaged the planet the way HIV ravages the human body, triggering a Critical Mass of cascading environmental, economic, social and political crises. Economic and climate instability, collapsing ecosystems, peak fossil fuels and devastating resource wars-if Earth were a patient, her condition would be critical. Life Rules offers a comprehensive analysis of our present circumstances combined with a holistic treatment protocol for restoring health to vulner...

Every fifteen seconds on our Earth, a child dies from waterborne disease. Three times an hour, another species becomes extinct. Each day we consume eighty-five million barrels of oil and pump twenty-three million tons of carbon dioxide into an already warming atmosphere. But against this bleak backdrop, beacons of hope shine from thousands of large and small initiatives taking place everywhere from isolated villages to major urban centers.Thriving Beyond Sustainability dra...

The definitive guide for people wanting to make a positive difference in the world.Specifically designed to reach people who normally would not consider themselves activists, The Better World Handbook is directed toward those who care about creating a more just, sustainable, and socially responsible world but don’t know where to begin. Substantially updated, this revised bestseller now contains more recent information on global problems, more effective a...

Written by the chair of the LEED-Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) initiative, Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design with Nature is both an urgent call to action and a comprehensive introduction to "sustainable urbanism"--the emerging and growing design reform movement that combines the creation and enhancement of walkable and diverse places with the need to build high-performance infrastructure and buildings.Providing a historic perspective on the standards and regulations ...