1. I have heard nothing but good things about “Cradle to Cradle” and it is on my short list for books to read.

3. Excellent point about different people probably needing different books. And really it’s a silly question after all because no single book has all of the answers. I have not read “Green to Gold” yet, but I have read some of Esty’s other stuff.

4. “The Lorax.” That’s great. I have shown that movie to undergraduates in one of my classes. “Everyone needs a thneed!”

6. “Natural Capitalism.” Good choice. Like the Lovins’ and Hawken’s other works, very well done and thorough. If you haven’t already, read Amory Lovins’”Soft Energy Paths”, I highly recommend it.

7. I agree, Lisa. (see #4 above)

8. “Ominovore’s Dilemma.” Excellent choice. I just “read” it this summer while weeding in my garden and while driving through Montana. Okay, I actually listened to it. Either way, I am down with Michael Pollan. Good Stuff.

9. Yogahz, yours is the only book I am not familiar with. But I will be sure to become familiar with it, based upon your recommendation.

In case you are curious, and even though I think no single could book can fully capture our environmental predicament or the social, economic and political realities of addressing those predicaments, my choice would be Hermann Scheer’s “Energy Autonomy”. Scheer is a German Parliamentarian who is a tireless advocate for renewable energy and distributed generation. Scheer is one of the primary reasons that Germany is leading the world in renewable energy development.

The book itself is decent. It is full of sentences that are too long and meandering, but I would expect nothing less from a politician. Ask me this question again in 6 months and I will probably have a different answer.

With that said, I am now drawing a number from the hat….
…and the winner is…
…number 6 – Eric Boyd.

Thanks everyone, that was fun. I’m sure I will do it again some time. Eric, I will be contacting you shortly.

-Tim

This is the book that convinced my husband and me to become vegetarians. The research into the business of food – resources required, pharmaceuticals used, and treatment of the animals – provide compelling facts showing that the American diet is harmful to the land and the people that eat it.

The Lorax is good too

There are a lot of good options for “green” (still an odd term for me as I grew up with sustainable being the norm) books, but I would probably say:

The Omnivore’s Dilemma (Amazon)

Why would this be important. Really the nation needs to look at its food production. Especially since every candidate has proclaimed the wonders of corn ethanol, but few consider the drawbacks. This can lead to a destructive program that can eventually destroy our farm lands (thus no longer being sustainable) while wasting even more fuel on poor fertilizers such as Urea and production methods. While this book doesn’t state that problem directly, it gives enough of a view of the issue for them to consider the health of the nation as a whole.

The book doesn’t have all the answers, but it may help the next ‘ruler’ actually look at the problem as a whole instead of trying to treat the “symptoms” as most of our current sustainable farm bills are treating.

More importantly, if we can address agricultural issues and their false dependences on oil / chemicals, it will be a major step in the right direction.