Straight Up: America's Fiercest Climate Blogger Takes on the Status Quo Media, Politicians, and Clean Energy Solutions
Joseph J. Romm

In 2009, Rolling Stone named Joe Romm to its list of "100 People Who Are Changing America." Romm is a climate expert, physicist, energy consultant, and former official in the Department of Energy. But it's his influential blog, one of the "Top Fifteen Green Websites" according to Time magazine, that's caught national attention. Climate change is far more urgent than people understand, Romm says, and traditional media, scientists, and politicians are missing the story. Straight Up draws...

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Straight Up: America's Fiercest Climate Blogger Takes on the Status Quo Media, Politicians, and Clean Energy Solutions
Joseph J. Romm

In 2009, Rolling Stone named Joe Romm to its list of "100 People Who Are Changing America." Romm is a climate expert, physicist, energy consultant, and former official in the Department of Energy. But it's his influential blog, one of the "Top Fifteen Green Websites" according to Time magazine, that's caught national attention. Climate change is far more urgent than people understand, Romm says, and traditional media, scientists, and politicians are missing the story. Straight Up draws on Romm's most important posts to explain the dangers of and solutions to climate change that you won't find in newspapers, in journals, or on T.V. Compared to coverage of Jay-Z or the latest philandering politician, climate change makes up a pathetically small share of news reports. And when journalists do try to tackle this complex issue, they often lack the background to tell the full story. Despite the dearth of reporting, polls show that two in five Americans think the press is actually exaggerating the threat of climate change. That gives Big Oil, and others with a vested interest in the status quo, a huge opportunity to mislead the public. Romm cuts through the misinformation and presents the truth about humanity's most dire threat. His analysis is based on sophisticated knowledge of renewable technologies, climate impacts, and government policy, written in a style everyone can understand. Romm shows how a 20 percent reduction in global emissions over the next quarter century could improve the economy; how we can replace most coal and with what technologies; why Sarah Palin wears a polar bear pin; and why controversial, emerging technologies like biochar have to be part of the solution. The ultimate solution, Romm argues, is bigger than any individual technology: it's citizen action. Without public pressure, Washington and industry don't budge. With it, our grandkids might just have a habitable place to live.

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Off the Grid: Inside the Movement for More Space, Less Government, and True Independence in Modern America
Nick Rosen

Inside the subculture of off-grid living

Written by a leading authority on living off the grid, this is a fascinating and timely look at one of the fastest growing movements in America. In researching the stories that would become Off the Grid, Nick Rosen traveled from one end of the United States to the other, spending time with all kinds of individuals and families striving to live their lives the way they want to-free from dependence on municipal power and amenities...

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Off the Grid: Inside the Movement for More Space, Less Government, and True Independence in Modern America
Nick Rosen

Inside the subculture of off-grid living

Written by a leading authority on living off the grid, this is a fascinating and timely look at one of the fastest growing movements in America. In researching the stories that would become Off the Grid, Nick Rosen traveled from one end of the United States to the other, spending time with all kinds of individuals and families striving to live their lives the way they want to-free from dependence on municipal power and amenities, and free from the inherent dependence on the government and its far-reaching arms. While the people profiled may not have a lot in common in terms of their daily lives or their personal background, what they do share is an understanding of how unique their lives are, and how much effort and determination is required to maintain the lifestyle in the face of modern America's push toward connectivity and development.

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No More Dirty Looks: The Truth about Your Beauty Products--and the Ultimate Guide to Safe and Clean Cosmetics
Siobhan O'Connor

It started with a harmless quest for perfect wash-and-go hair. Every girl wants it, and Siobhan O’Connor and Alexandra Spunt finally found it in a fancy salon treatment. They were thrilled—until they discovered that the magic ingredient was formaldehyde.

Shocked, O’Connor and Spunt left no bottle unturned. If it went on their body (and thus, was absorbed into their skin and bloodstream), they researched it. As it turns out, many of those unpronounceable ingredients in your self-tanner ...

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No More Dirty Looks: The Truth about Your Beauty Products--and the Ultimate Guide to Safe and Clean Cosmetics
Siobhan O'Connor

It started with a harmless quest for perfect wash-and-go hair. Every girl wants it, and Siobhan O’Connor and Alexandra Spunt finally found it in a fancy salon treatment. They were thrilled—until they discovered that the magic ingredient was formaldehyde.

Shocked, O’Connor and Spunt left no bottle unturned. If it went on their body (and thus, was absorbed into their skin and bloodstream), they researched it. As it turns out, many of those unpronounceable ingredients in your self-tanner and leave-in conditioner are not regulated and the “natural” on your face wash doesn’t mean what you think it does.

Now, with the help of top scientists, dermatologists, and makeup artists, the authors share their compelling findings and the easy way to detoxify your beauty regimen. No More Dirty Looks also reveals the safest, most effective products on the market and time-tested home recipes. Finally, you don’t need to sacrifice health for beauty—because coming clean is the best look yet.

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No Rain in the Amazon: How South America's Climate Change Affects the Entire Planet (MacSci)
Nikolas Kozloff

Acting as the planet’s air conditioner, the rainforest sucks up millions of tons of greenhouse gases and stores them safely out of the atmosphere. South America's deforestation threatens to unleash a kind of “carbon bomb” that will add to our already deteriorating climate difficulties. As he travels across Peru and Brazil, recognized South America expert Nikolas Kozloff talks to locals, scientists and activists about the rainforest and what should be done to avert its collapse.  Drawi...

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No Rain in the Amazon: How South America's Climate Change Affects the Entire Planet (MacSci)
Nikolas Kozloff

Acting as the planet’s air conditioner, the rainforest sucks up millions of tons of greenhouse gases and stores them safely out of the atmosphere. South America's deforestation threatens to unleash a kind of “carbon bomb” that will add to our already deteriorating climate difficulties. As he travels across Peru and Brazil, recognized South America expert Nikolas Kozloff talks to locals, scientists and activists about the rainforest and what should be done to avert its collapse.  Drawing on his expertise of South American politics, Kozloff argues that cooperation between the world's countries is essential in turning back the tide of climate change and that the fate of the planet depends on our response to environmental problems within the southern hemisphere.

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The Eco Chick Guide to Life: How to Be Fabulously Green
Starre Vartan

SAVE THE WORLD IN STYLE!

Lower your carbon footprint—in your favorite pair of stilettos—with THE ECO CHICK GUIDE TO LIFE. Here you’ll find hundreds of ideas on how to be ecologically smart and still be stylish and trend-setting. You don’t have to sacrifice to go green—you can eat well, dress well, and live well once you learn how to:

Learn where to shop for  vintage and recycled jewelry (mining practices for gold and silver are notoriously pollutin...

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The Eco Chick Guide to Life: How to Be Fabulously Green
Starre Vartan

SAVE THE WORLD IN STYLE!

Lower your carbon footprint—in your favorite pair of stilettos—with THE ECO CHICK GUIDE TO LIFE. Here you’ll find hundreds of ideas on how to be ecologically smart and still be stylish and trend-setting. You don’t have to sacrifice to go green—you can eat well, dress well, and live well once you learn how to:

Learn where to shop for  vintage and recycled jewelry (mining practices for gold and silver are notoriously polluting).

Wear sustainable threads—organic cotton, peace silk, bamboo—or look for funky reconstructed designs made from vintage fabrics.Find shoes made from naturally tanned and dyed leather, hemp, or made from recycled materials...that still look incredibly chic.Party it up- with the planet in mind! Make your next fiesta fabulous with organic beverages, seasonal food from the farmer's market, and more.

Pretty-up with organic, biodegradable hair products, body washes, moisturizers, and make-up—better for you and the planet’s water supplies! We'll explain why and what to look for.How to earn points while convincing your boss to go green in your office.

Travel green and still see the world in style!Save cash with some Earth-loving swaps around your apartment, dorm or house.

…and more. Let these and other easy-to-follow, fun and fashionable tips help you to feel great while doing good. You and Mother Nature will look fabulous!

This book is printed on recycled paper.

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Science as a Contact Sport: Inside the Battle to Save Earth's Climate
Stephen H. Schneider

It’s been nearly four decades since scientists first realized that global warming posed a potential threat to our planet. Why, if we knew of the threats way back in the Carter Administration, can’t we act decisively to limit greenhouse gases, deforestation, and catastrophic warming trends? Why are we still addicted to fossil fuels? Have we all just been fiddling for 40 years as the world burns around us?

Schneider, part of the Nobel Prize–winning team that shared the accolade wit...

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Science as a Contact Sport: Inside the Battle to Save Earth's Climate
Stephen H. Schneider

It’s been nearly four decades since scientists first realized that global warming posed a potential threat to our planet. Why, if we knew of the threats way back in the Carter Administration, can’t we act decisively to limit greenhouse gases, deforestation, and catastrophic warming trends? Why are we still addicted to fossil fuels? Have we all just been fiddling for 40 years as the world burns around us?

Schneider, part of the Nobel Prize–winning team that shared the accolade with Al Gore in 2007, had a front-row seat at this unfolding environmental meltdown. Piecing together events like a detective story, Schneider reveals that as expert consensus grew, well-informed activists warned of dangerous changes no one knew how to predict precisely—and special interests seized on that very uncertainty to block any effective response. He persuasively outlines a plan to avert the building threat and develop a positive, practical policy that will bring climate change back under our control, help the economy with a new generation of green energy jobs and productivity, and reduce the dependence on unreliable exporters of oil—and thus ensure a future for ourselves and our planet that’s as rich with promise as our past.

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On the Grid: A Plot of Land, An Average Neighborhood, and the Systems that Make Our World Work
Scott Huler

A lively, captivating investigation into the infrastructure that makes society possible
In our daily lives, we’re surrounded by wires, pipes, utility poles, cell phone towers, and a myriad of other infrastructure that facilitate almost everything we do. Even though these systems are essential, when was the last time you gave them much thought? Not only is infrastructure shrouded in mystery, much of it is woefully out of date—bridges are falling, public transportation is overcrowded, a...

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On the Grid: A Plot of Land, An Average Neighborhood, and the Systems that Make Our World Work
Scott Huler

A lively, captivating investigation into the infrastructure that makes society possible
In our daily lives, we’re surrounded by wires, pipes, utility poles, cell phone towers, and a myriad of other infrastructure that facilitate almost everything we do. Even though these systems are essential, when was the last time you gave them much thought? Not only is infrastructure shrouded in mystery, much of it is woefully out of date—bridges are falling, public transportation is overcrowded, and most roads haven’t been updated since the 1950s. In On the Grid, Scott Huler sets out to understand all of the systems that shape our society—from transportation, water, and garbage to the Internet coming through our cable lines.
He begins his entertaining, fascinating journey at his house in Raleigh, North Carolina, and travels everywhere from the inside of a storm water pipe to the sewers of ancient Rome. Each chapter follows one element of infrastructure back to its source. Huler visits power plants, watches new asphalt pavement being laid, and traces a drop of water backward from his faucet to the Gulf of Mexico. He reaches out to guides along the way, both the workers who operate these systems and the people who plan them.
A mesmerizing and hilarious narrative, On the Grid is filled with amazing insights, interviews, and stories that bring an overlooked but indispensable subject to life. You’ll never look at your day the same way again.
Scott Huler is the author of six books including Defining the Wind and No-Man’s Lands. Widely published in newspapers nationwide, he has also won awards for his work on NPR. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. In our daily lives, we’re surrounded by wires, pipes, utility poles, cell phone towers, and a myriad of other infrastructure that facilitate almost everything we do. Even though these systems are essential, many Americans don't give them much thought. Not only is infrastructure shrouded in mystery, much of it is woefully out of date—bridges are falling, public transportation is overcrowded, and most roads haven’t been updated since the 1950s. In On the Grid, Scott Huler sets out to understand all of the systems that shape our society—from transportation, water, and garbage to the Internet coming through our cable lines.
Huler begins his journey at his house in Raleigh, North Carolina, and travels everywhere from the inside of a storm water pipe to the sewers of ancient Rome. Each chapter follows one element of infrastructure back to its source. Huler visits power plants, watches new asphalt pavement being laid, and traces a drop of water backward from his faucet to the Gulf of Mexico. He reaches out to guides along the way, both the workers who operate these systems and the people who plan them.
On the Grid is filled with insights, interviews, and stories that bring an overlooked but indispensable subject to life. "The first and most important step to living a sustainable life is understanding where you are and what is going on to keep you fed, worked and watered while being there. Scott Huler's fascinating account of his trips through the mesmerizingly crafted infrastructure that sustains our modern American lives gets us toward an understanding of a system that ought to be celebrated. Rather than make you try to get off the grid, On the Grid makes you want to cherish it, and maybe even pay for it, and you understand that to go off it is probably not possible at all."—Robert Sullivan, author of The Thoreau You Don't Know

Praise for Defining the Wind "[An] enchanting stroll through maritime and science history . . . [Huler is] a charming guide."—The New York Times Book Review

"Huler writes with self-deprecating wit, and . . . he captures the Beaufort scale’s 'open-hearted intellectual decency.'" —The New Yorker

"[A] reminder of why we read science books. . . . Read Huler and you’ll pay more attention to the air moving through your backyard, fluttering leaves, rattling windows . . . compelling, powerful."—The Boston Globe

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A Groom of One's Own
Maya Rodale

Iss Harlow's marriage in high life
London, 1823

A handsome duke. His beautiful soon-to-be duchess. A whirlwind courtship. It is this author's privilege to report on the event all of London is talking about: the upcoming wedding of the Duke of Hamilton and Brandon to the only daughter of the Duke of Richmond. Every detail of the "Wedding of the Year" will be reported in these pages as a London Weekly exclusive.

But I, Miss Sophie Harlow, must confess to a secret infa...

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A Groom of One's Own
Maya Rodale

Iss Harlow's marriage in high life
London, 1823

A handsome duke. His beautiful soon-to-be duchess. A whirlwind courtship. It is this author's privilege to report on the event all of London is talking about: the upcoming wedding of the Duke of Hamilton and Brandon to the only daughter of the Duke of Richmond. Every detail of the "Wedding of the Year" will be reported in these pages as a London Weekly exclusive.

But I, Miss Sophie Harlow, must confess to a secret infatuation with this "double duke" that can only lead to trouble. It is impossible that this notoriously upstanding gentleman would ever jilt his bride for a scandalous female newspaper writer. And yet . . . the arrival of a foreign prince, the discovery of a shocking secret, and one passionate kiss could change everything. Will this perfect duke risk the scandal of the year to marry the woman his heart desires?

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Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy
Matthew R. Simmons

Twilight in the Desert reveals a Saudi oil and production industry that could soon approach a serious, irreversible decline. In this exhaustively researched book, veteran oil industry analyst Matthew Simmons draws on his three-plus decades of insider experience and more than 200 independently produced reports about Saudi petroleum resources and production operations. He uncovers a story about Saudi Arabia’s troubled oil industry, not to mention its political and societal instability, w...

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Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy
Matthew R. Simmons

Twilight in the Desert reveals a Saudi oil and production industry that could soon approach a serious, irreversible decline. In this exhaustively researched book, veteran oil industry analyst Matthew Simmons draws on his three-plus decades of insider experience and more than 200 independently produced reports about Saudi petroleum resources and production operations. He uncovers a story about Saudi Arabia’s troubled oil industry, not to mention its political and societal instability, which differs sharply from the globally accepted Saudi version. It’s a story that is provocative and disturbing, based on undeniable facts, but until now never told in its entirety. Twilight in the Desert answers all readers’ questions about Saudi oil and production industries with keen examination instead of unsubstantiated posturing, and takes its place as one of the most important books of this still-young century.

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The Coming Population Crash: and Our Planet's Surprising Future
Fred Pearce

Demography is destiny. It underlies many of the issues that shake the world, from war and economics to immigration. No wonder, then, that fears of overpopulation flared regularly over the last century, a century that saw the world’s population quadruple. Even today, baby booms are blamed for genocide and terrorism, and overpopulation is regularly cited as the primary factor driving global warming and other environmental issues.

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The Coming Population Crash: and Our Planet's Surprising Future
Fred Pearce

Demography is destiny. It underlies many of the issues that shake the world, from war and economics to immigration. No wonder, then, that fears of overpopulation flared regularly over the last century, a century that saw the world’s population quadruple. Even today, baby booms are blamed for genocide and terrorism, and overpopulation is regularly cited as the primary factor driving global warming and other environmental issues.

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Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food
Paul Greenberg

Our relationship with the ocean is undergoing a profound transformation. Whereas just three decades ago nearly everything we ate from the sea was wild, rampant overfishing combined with an unprecedented bio-tech revolution has brought us to a point where wild and farmed fish occupy equal parts of a complex and confusing marketplace. We stand at the edge of a cataclysm; there is a distinct possibility that our children's children will never eat a wild fish that has swum freely in the sea. In ...

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Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food
Paul Greenberg

Our relationship with the ocean is undergoing a profound transformation. Whereas just three decades ago nearly everything we ate from the sea was wild, rampant overfishing combined with an unprecedented bio-tech revolution has brought us to a point where wild and farmed fish occupy equal parts of a complex and confusing marketplace. We stand at the edge of a cataclysm; there is a distinct possibility that our children's children will never eat a wild fish that has swum freely in the sea. In Four Fish, award-winning writer and lifelong fisherman Paul Greenberg takes us on a culinary journey, exploring the history of the fish that dominate our menus---salmon, sea bass, cod and tuna-and examining where each stands at this critical moment in time. He visits Norwegian mega farms that use genetic techniques once pioneered on sheep to grow millions of pounds of salmon a year. He travels to the ancestral river of the Yupik Eskimos to see the only Fair Trade certified fishing company in the world. He investigates the way PCBs and mercury find their way into seafood; discovers how Mediterranean sea bass went global; Challenges the author of Cod to taste the difference between a farmed and a wild cod; and almost sinks to the bottom of the South Pacific while searching for an alternative to endangered bluefin tuna. Fish, Greenberg reveals, are the last truly wild food - for now. By examining the forces that get fish to our dinner tables, he shows how we can start to heal the oceans and fight for a world where healthy and sustainable seafood is the rule rather than the exception.

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Revolution!: South America and the Rise of the New Left
Nikolas Kozloff

The highly-regarded author of the first biography of Hugo Chavez brings his considerable expertise to assess the left-leaning regimes in South America. In this insightful and timely examination, Nikolas Kozloff discusses the hot-button issues of energy integration, free trade agendas, culture wars and South America's emerging role as a new political bloc, and how these tectonic political shifts will affect the United States. As Venezuela opposes U.S. militarization in the Andes and Bolivia fi...

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Revolution!: South America and the Rise of the New Left
Nikolas Kozloff

The highly-regarded author of the first biography of Hugo Chavez brings his considerable expertise to assess the left-leaning regimes in South America. In this insightful and timely examination, Nikolas Kozloff discusses the hot-button issues of energy integration, free trade agendas, culture wars and South America's emerging role as a new political bloc, and how these tectonic political shifts will affect the United States. As Venezuela opposes U.S. militarization in the Andes and Bolivia fights a U.S.-fueled drug war, Kozloff looks to the future and what the U.S. must do to maintain these vital economic and political allies.

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The Miner'S Guide, Being a Description and Illustration of a Chart of Sections of the Prinipal Mines of Coal and Ironstone in th
Thomas Smith

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understandin...

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The Miner'S Guide, Being a Description and Illustration of a Chart of Sections of the Prinipal Mines of Coal and Ironstone in th
Thomas Smith

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

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Morgan Freeman and Friends: Caribbean Cooking for a Cause
Wendy Wilkinson

Academy Award®-winning actor Morgan Freeman and a star-studded group of celebrities contribute exotic recipes and personal island tales in a splendid cookbook created to help rebuild the hurricane-devastated island of Grenada.

In September 2004, Hurricane Ivan ravaged the small Caribbean island of Grenada, destroying homes and changing lives forever. Longtime island-lover Morgan Freeman established the Grenada Relief Fund in 2005. Now comes this beautiful cookbook, bringing together a ...

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Morgan Freeman and Friends: Caribbean Cooking for a Cause
Wendy Wilkinson

Academy Award®-winning actor Morgan Freeman and a star-studded group of celebrities contribute exotic recipes and personal island tales in a splendid cookbook created to help rebuild the hurricane-devastated island of Grenada.

In September 2004, Hurricane Ivan ravaged the small Caribbean island of Grenada, destroying homes and changing lives forever. Longtime island-lover Morgan Freeman established the Grenada Relief Fund in 2005. Now comes this beautiful cookbook, bringing together a bevy of celebrities to benefit this island in need.

This star-studded cookbook features:

• more than 15 celebrities—including Michael Douglas, Kenny Chesney, Katie Couric, Tom Hanks, Hilary Swank, and Alicia Keys—appearing in gorgeous full-color photographs, sharing their favorite Caribbean recipes, and telling heartwarming stories of what the islands mean to them

• dozens of delicious recipes, such as Grilled Swordfish Steak with Lemon Caperberry Butter from Morgan Freeman, and Kenny Chesney’s favorite Key Lime Pie with photographs of Mr. Chesney baking it himself in the kitchen of his home on St. John

• renowned chefs from Caribbean hideaways of the stars and top-rated resorts, revealing some of their most coveted Caribbean recipes
Morgan Freeman is donating all of his proceeds to the Grenada Relief Fund

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Twelve by Twelve: A One-Room Cabin Off the Grid and Beyond the American Dream
William Powers

Why would a successful American physician choose to live in a twelve-foot-by-twelve-foot cabin without running water or electricity? To find out, writer and activist William Powers visited Dr. Jackie Benton in rural North Carolina. No Name Creek gurgled through Benton’s permaculture farm, and she stroked honeybees’ wings as she shared her wildcrafter philosophy of living on a planet in crisis. Powers, just back from a decade of international aid work, then accepted Benton’s offer to stay at t...

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Twelve by Twelve: A One-Room Cabin Off the Grid and Beyond the American Dream
William Powers

Why would a successful American physician choose to live in a twelve-foot-by-twelve-foot cabin without running water or electricity? To find out, writer and activist William Powers visited Dr. Jackie Benton in rural North Carolina. No Name Creek gurgled through Benton’s permaculture farm, and she stroked honeybees’ wings as she shared her wildcrafter philosophy of living on a planet in crisis. Powers, just back from a decade of international aid work, then accepted Benton’s offer to stay at the cabin for a season while she traveled. There, he befriended her eclectic neighbors — organic farmers, biofuel brewers, eco-developers — and discovered a sustainable but imperiled way of life.

In these pages, Powers not only explores this small patch of community but draws on his international experiences with other pockets of resistance. This engrossing tale of Powers’s struggle for a meaningful life with a smaller footprint proposes a paradigm shift to an elusive “Soft World” with clues to personal happiness and global healing.

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The American Way of War: How Bush's Wars Became Obama's
Tom Engelhardt

Tom Engelhardt, creator of the vital website TomDispatch.com, takes a scalpel to the American urge to dominate the globe. Tracing developments from 9/11 to late last night, this is an unforgettable anatomy of a disaster that is yet to end.

Since 2001, Tom Engelhardt has written regular reports for his popular site TomDispatch that have provided badly-needed insight into U.S. militarism and its effects, both at home and abroad. When others were celebrating the invasions of Afghanistan and Ir...

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The American Way of War: How Bush's Wars Became Obama's
Tom Engelhardt

Tom Engelhardt, creator of the vital website TomDispatch.com, takes a scalpel to the American urge to dominate the globe. Tracing developments from 9/11 to late last night, this is an unforgettable anatomy of a disaster that is yet to end.

Since 2001, Tom Engelhardt has written regular reports for his popular site TomDispatch that have provided badly-needed insight into U.S. militarism and its effects, both at home and abroad. When others were celebrating the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, he warned of the enormous dangers of both occupations.

In The American Way of War, Engelhardt documents Washington’s ongoing commitment to military bases to preserve—and extend—its empire; reveals damning information about the American reliance on airpower, at great cost to civilians in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan; and shows that the US empire has deep historical roots that precede the Bush administration—and continue today into the presidency of Barack Obama.

"Tom Engelhardt provides a clear-eyed examination of U.S. foreign policy in the Bush and Obama years, and details unsparingly how Obama has inherited -- and in many cases exacerbated -- the ills of the Bush era.... an important book for anyone hoping to understand how the U.S. arrived at its current predicament during the Bush years, and how it remains in this predicament despite Obama's best efforts -- or perhaps because of them."
—Daniel Luban, Inter-Press Service

“Tom Engelhardt is among our most trenchant critics of American perpetual war. Like I. F. Stone in the 1960s, he has an uncanny ability to ferret out and see clearly the ugly truths hidden in government reports and statistics. No cynic, he always measures the sordid reality against a bright vision of an America that lives up to its highest ideals.”
—Juan R. Cole, Professor of History at the University of Michigan

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Curse of the Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in The Niger Delta

Curse of the Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta takes a graphic look at the profound cost of oil exploitation in West Africa. Featuring images by world-renowned photojournalist Ed Kashi and text by Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, prominent Nigerian journalists, human rights activists, and University of California at Berkeley professor Michael Watts, this book traces the 50-year history of Nigeria’s oil interests and the resulting environmental degradation and community conflict...

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Curse of the Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in The Niger Delta

Curse of the Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta takes a graphic look at the profound cost of oil exploitation in West Africa. Featuring images by world-renowned photojournalist Ed Kashi and text by Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, prominent Nigerian journalists, human rights activists, and University of California at Berkeley professor Michael Watts, this book traces the 50-year history of Nigeria’s oil interests and the resulting environmental degradation and community conflicts that have plagued the region.
Now one of the major suppliers of U.S. oil, Nigeria is the sixth largest producer of oil in the world. Set against a backdrop of what has been called the scramble for African oil, Curse of the Black Gold is the first book to document the consequences of a half-century of oil exploration and production in one of the world’s foremost centers of biodiversity. This book exposes the reality of oil’s impact and the absence of sustainable development in its wake, providing a compelling pictorial history of one of the world’s great deltaic areas. Accompanied by powerful writing by some of the most prominent public intellectuals and critics in contemporary Nigeria, Kashi’s photographs capture local leaders, armed militants, oil workers, and nameless villagers, all of whose fates are inextricably linked. His exclusive coverage bears witness to the ongoing struggles of local communities, illustrating the paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty.
The publication of Curse of the Black Gold occurs at a moment of worldwide concern over dependency on petroleum, dubbed by New York Times journalist Thomas Friedman as "the resource curse." Much has been written about the drama of the search for oil—Daniel Yergin’s The Prize and Ryszard Kapus´cin´ski’s Shah of Shahs are two of the most widely lauded—but there has been no serious examination of the relations between oil, environment, and community in a particular oil-producing region. Curse of the Black Gold is a landmark work of historic significance.

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Quantum Politics: Applying Quantum Theory to Political Phenomena

Quantum physics, according to Becker, provides the means for replacing 18th century political and economic philosophies with a new paradigm more consistent with our current understanding of physical reality. Through contributions by a number of political scientists, this book argues that a Newtonian world view can no longer explain political phenomena. Newtonian theory is related to classic, liberal democratic thought and thereby to indirect, representative democracy. Quantum theory, on the o...

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Quantum Politics: Applying Quantum Theory to Political Phenomena

Quantum physics, according to Becker, provides the means for replacing 18th century political and economic philosophies with a new paradigm more consistent with our current understanding of physical reality. Through contributions by a number of political scientists, this book argues that a Newtonian world view can no longer explain political phenomena. Newtonian theory is related to classic, liberal democratic thought and thereby to indirect, representative democracy. Quantum theory, on the other hand, is linked with participatory democratic thinking--a more direct and purer form of democracy.

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Energy Transitions: History, Requirements, Prospects
Vaclav Smil

Energy transitions are fundamental processes behind the evolution of human societies: they both drive and are driven by technical, economic, and social changes. In a bold and provocative argument, Energy Transitions: History, Requirements, Prospects describes the history of modern society's dependence on fossil fuels and the prospects for the transition to a nonfossil world. Vaclav Smil, who has published more on various aspects of energy than any working scientist, makes it clear t...

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Energy Transitions: History, Requirements, Prospects
Vaclav Smil

Energy transitions are fundamental processes behind the evolution of human societies: they both drive and are driven by technical, economic, and social changes. In a bold and provocative argument, Energy Transitions: History, Requirements, Prospects describes the history of modern society's dependence on fossil fuels and the prospects for the transition to a nonfossil world. Vaclav Smil, who has published more on various aspects of energy than any working scientist, makes it clear that this transition will not be accomplished easily, and that it cannot be accomplished within the timetables established by the Obama administration.

The book begins with a survey of the basic properties of modern energy systems. It then offers detailed explanations of universal patterns of energy transitions, the peculiarities of changing energy use in the world's leading economies, and the coming shifts from fossil fuels to renewable conversions. Specific cases of these transitions are analyzed for eight of the world's leading energy consumers. The author closes with perspectives on the nature and pace of the coming energy transition to renewable conversions.

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the Original Green [Unlocking the Mystery of True Sustainability]
Stephen A. Mouzon

The Original Green is the sustainability our ancestors knew by heart. Originally (before the Thermostat Age) they had no choice but to build green, otherwise people would not survive very long. The Original Green aggregates and distributes the wisdom of sustainability through the operating system of living traditions, producing sustainable places in which it is meaningful to build sustainable buildings. Original Green sustainability is common-sense and plain-spoken, meaning "keeping things go...

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the Original Green [Unlocking the Mystery of True Sustainability]
Stephen A. Mouzon

The Original Green is the sustainability our ancestors knew by heart. Originally (before the Thermostat Age) they had no choice but to build green, otherwise people would not survive very long. The Original Green aggregates and distributes the wisdom of sustainability through the operating system of living traditions, producing sustainable places in which it is meaningful to build sustainable buildings. Original Green sustainability is common-sense and plain-spoken, meaning "keeping things going in a healthy way long into an uncertain future." Sustainable places should be nourishable because if you cannot eat there, you cannot live there. They should be accessible because we need many ways to get around, especially walking and biking because those methods do not require fuel. They should be serviceable because we need to be able to get the basic services of life within walking distance. We also should be able to make a living where we are living if we choose to. They should be securable against rough spots in the uncertain future because if there is too much fear, the people will leave. Sustainable buildings should be lovable because if they cannot be loved, they will not last. They should be durable because if they cannot endure, they are not sustainable. The should be flexible because if they endure, they will need to be used for many uses over the centuries. They should be frugal because energy and resource hogs cannot be sustained in a healthy way long into an uncertain future.

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