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Post up your current book list!

Discussion in 'Environmental Discussion' started by F8L, Nov 10, 2006.

  1. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    So I'd like to see everyones current book list. Most of us that read have about 2-4 books in line waiting to be read so please list them and a description of each if you like. I'd really like to know what you are all into.

    My newest books: (yes I will read all of them in the next 2 months or so depending on how my classes flow.)

    Vital Signs - World Watch Institute: This report tracks and analyzes 44 trends that are shaping our future, and includes graphs and charts to provide a visual comparison over time. Categories of trends include: Food, Agricultural Resources, Energy and Climate, Global Economy, Resource Economics, Environment, War and Conflict, Communications and Transportation, Population and Society, and Health and Disease.

    Static - Amy Goodman and David Goodman: In Static, the bestselling brother-sister team of Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, and investigative journalist David Goodman takes on government liars, corporate profiteers, and the media that have acted as their cheerleaders. The authors cut through the offical static to show the truth about war, torture, and governemnt control of the media. Static breaks the sound barrier to present voices of dissidents, activists, and others who are too frozen out of official debate. Read Static. Become informed. Fight Back. Defend Democracy.


    The Revenge of GAIA - James Lovelock: Now, propelled by global warming, Lovelock says, a tipping point has almost been reached beyond which the Earth will not recover sufficiently to sustain human life comfortably. Lovelock dismisses biomass fuels, wind farms, solar energy and fuel cell innovations as technologies unlikely to mitigate greenhouse gases in time to save the planet. Instead he sees nuclear energy as the only energy source that can meet our needs in time to prevent catastrophe. Chernobyl was a calamity, he notes, but nuclear power's danger is "insignificant compared with the real threat of intolerable and lethal heatwaves" and rising sea levels that could "threaten every coastal city of the world." Lovelock's pro-nuke enthusiasm, unexpected from one of the mid-20th century's most ardent environmental thinkers, is the well-reasoned core of this urgent call for braking at the brink of global catastrophe.

    The Hidden Connections: A Science for Sustainable Living - Fritjof Capra: Fritjof Capra, bestselling author of The Tao of Physics and The Web of Life, here explores another frontier in the human significance of scientific ideas - applying complexity theory to large-scale social interaction. In the 1980s, complexity theory emerged as a powerful alternative to classic, linear thought. A forerunner of that revolution, Fritjof Capra now continues to expand the scope of that theory by establishing a framework in which we can understand and solve some of the most important issues of our time. Capra posits that in order to sustain life, the principles underlying our social institutions must be consistent with the broader organization of nature. Discussing pertinent contemporary issues ranging from the controversial practices of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to the Human Genome Project, he concludes with an authoritative, often provocative plan for designing ecologically sustainable communities and technologies as alternatives to the current economic globalization.

    Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect - David W. Orr:In Earth in Mind, noted environmental educator David W. Orr focuses not on problems in education, but on the problem of education.

    Much of what has gone wrong with the world, he argues, is the result of inadequate and misdirected education that: alienates us from life in the name of human domination; causes students to worry about how to make a living before they know who they are; overemphasizes success and careers; separates feeling from intellect and the practical from the theoretical; deadens the sense of wonder for the created world.

    The crisis we face, Orr explains, is one of mind, perception, and values. It is, first and foremost, an educational challenge.

    The author begins by establishing the grounds for a debate about education and knowledge. He describes the problems of education from an ecological perspective, and challenges the "terrible simplifiers" who wish to substitute numbers for values. He follows with a presentation of principles for re-creating education in the broadest way possible, discussing topics such as biophilia, the disciplinary structure of knowledge, the architecture of educational buildings, and the idea of ecological intelligence. Orr concludes by presenting concrete proposals for reorganizing the curriculum to draw out our affinity for life.