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RESOURCES

Readings

  • The Northeast Report - Report on the climate of the northeast.
  • "Field Notes from a Catastrophe" by Elizabeth Kolbert. Everyone should read this book on climate change. Elizabeth Kolbert has definitely brought it all together. By talking with various climate researchers and pulling all of it together for the average individual, she presents a truly urgent portrait of the future of our planet and its inhabitants.
  • National Geographic has numerous articles about climate change and its impact; of note are the June 2004, September 2004, and August 2006 issues, available in Neilson library.
  • "Cradle to Cradle:Remaking the Way We Make Things" by McDonough and Braungart, the book that sparked a design movement, is available at Neilson Library, AC, MH, and Hampshire College.
  • "Winning the Oil End Game: Innovation for Profits, Jobs, and Security" by Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute. A result of a Pentagon-funded study, this roadmap for business and military leaders shows how to get the United States completely, attractively, and profitably off oil by 2050. Available for purchase and/or free download at http://www.oilendgame.com/.
  • "Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World" by Richard Heinberg. Alarmist nonsense? The sky is falling? Some say so. The energy well is bottomless, some say. For Heinberg the writing is on the wall and it is past time to respond. He lays out four possible responses: 1) Resource wars, 2) Global self-limitation, 3) Denial, 4) Small-scale sustainable communities. Option one is the destructive path our current political leaders are pursuing. Option two will simply marginalize self-limiters unless there is global cooperation (tragedy of the commons). Option three is a non-starter. "Our real problem is that we are trapped in a perpetual growth machine." We are degrading the long-term carrying capacity of the environment, so more cheap energy (if it could be found) would only delay, and exacerbate the inevitable. Option four is the prudent choice those who have the will to work toward a local community that can preserve our highest human values and ideals.
  • "Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology" by Eric Brende. The perfect antidote to "Power Down". Living off the grid for a year and a half, Eric Brende discovers that living with less technology is not as hard as you’d think and has unexpected rewards.
  • "The Weather Makers: How Man is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth" by Tim Flannery. The Weather Makers is a very intense book. I've read three or four books on the subject of global warming and climate change, and this is the one that makes it all real. Author Tim Flannery covers the usual ground of research and findings and of the evolving field of geoclimate. It is amazing how many disciplines the field includes, practitioners of which are all concerned as their various finding begin to merge and an alarming picture of the future of the planet begins to emerge.

RESOURCES

Movies