Hide 

Mycelium Running is a manual for the mycological rescue of the planet. That’s right: growing more mushrooms may be the best thing we can do to save the environment, and in this groundbreaking text from mushroom expert Paul Stamets, you’ll find out how.

The basic science goes like this: Microscopic cells called “mycelium”--the fruit of which are mushrooms--recycle carbon, nitrogen, and other essential elements as they break down plant and animal debris in the creation of rich new soil. What Stamets has discovered is that we can capitalize on mycelium’s digestive power and target it to decompose toxic wastes and pollutants (mycoremediation), catch and reduce silt from streambeds and pathogens from agricultural watersheds (mycofiltration), control insect populations (mycopesticides), and generally enhance the health of our forests and gardens (mycoforestry and myco-gardening).

In this comprehensive guide, you’ll find chapters detailing each of these four exciting branches of what Stamets has coined “mycorestoration,” as well as chapters on the medicinal and nutritional properties of mushrooms, inoculation methods, log and stump culture, and species selection for various environmental purposes. Heavily referenced and beautifully illustrated, this book is destined to be a classic reference for bemushroomed generations to come.

Hide 

Dysfunctional cities, catastrophic climate change, ever-deepening distance from nature - today we see environmental disaster everywhere we look. In Mobilizing the Green Imagination, philosophical provocateur Anthony Weston urges us to move beyond ever more desperate attempts to "green" the status quo, toward entirely different and far more inviting ecological visions:

• Life after transportation - decentralized work, inventive infill and self-sufficient micro-communities to facilitate life in place
• Adaptation with attitude - cities that welcome the rising waters
• A Great Second Chance - moving beyond exploitation of the whole natural world
• A cosmic ecology - why not a green space program?

Hide 

The chemical pollution that irrevocably damages today's environment is, although many would like us to believe otherwise, the legacy of conscious choices made long ago. During the years before and just after World War II, discoveries like leaded gasoline and DDT came to market, creating new hazards even as the expansion and mechanization of industry exacerbated old ones. Dangers still felt today--smog, pesticides, lead, chromium, chlorinated solvents, asbestos, even global warming--were already recognized by chemists, engineers, doctors, and business managers of that era. A few courageous individuals spoke out without compromise, but still more ignored scientific truth in pursuit of money and prestige.

The Polluters reveals at last the crucial decisions that allowed environmental issues to be trumped by political agendas. It spotlights the leaders of the chemical industry and describes how they applied their economic and political power to prevent the creation of an effective system of environmental regulation. Research was slanted, unwelcome discoveries were suppressed, and friendly experts were placed in positions of influence, as science was subverted to serve the interests of business. The story of The Polluters is one that needs to be told, an unflinching depiction of the onslaught of chemical pollution and the chemical industry's unwillingness to face up to its devastating effects.

Features

• Traces back the roots of current environmental problems and shows they were understood far earlier than most people believe and industry will admit
• Demonstrates that many crucial decisions that allowed pollution were not caused by lack of knowledge or mistakes, but were the outcome of political conflicts in which economic interests prevailed
• Reveals new documents showing that industries knew of toxic hazards long before the public

Hide 

Mountaintop removal (MTR) does exactly what it says: A mountaintop is stripped of trees, blown to bits with explosives, then pushed aside by giant equipment … all to expose a layer of coal to be mined. Hundreds of thousands of acres of ancient forested mountains have been ''removed'' this way and will never again support the biologically rich and diverse forest and stream communities that evolved there over millions of years. Instead, they've been sacrificed to support a flawed national energy policy. Mountain Justice tells a terrific set of firsthand stories about living with MTR and offers on-the-scene (and behind-the-scenes) reporting of what people are doing to try to stop it. Tricia Shapiro lets the victims of mountaintop removal and their allies tell their own stories, allowing moments of quiet dignity and righteous indignation to share center stage. This book includes coverage of the sharp escalation of anti-MTR civil disobedience, with more than 130 arrests in West Virginia alone during the first year of the Obama administration. This is an international issue, with campaigns against this massively damaging method of mining taking place in the United Kingdom, India, Canada, New Zealand and Burma. The proposed destruction of a number of habitats, from mountaintops to heath land to jungle, is a loss for us all.

Hide 

In this urgent time, World on the Edge calls out the pivotal environmental issues and how to solve them now. We are in a race between political and natural tipping points. Can we close coal-fired power plants fast enough to save the Greenland ice sheet and avoid catastrophic sea level rise? Can we raise water productivity fast enough to halt the depletion of aquifers and avoid water-driven food shortages? Can we cope with peak water and peak oil at the same time? These are some of the issues Lester R. Brown skillfully distils in World on the Edge. Bringing decades of research and analysis into play, he provides the responses needed to reclaim our future.

Hide 

Sepp Holzer is known around the world for bringing deserted landscapes back to life using his unique methods of creating water-retention basins. In Desert or Paradise, he applies his core philosophy - for increasing food production, promoting the earth's health and reconnecting mankind with nature - to reforestation and water conservation across the world. He urges us to look beyond failed solutions to drought by learning from his lengthy catalog of successes in arid, rainfall-dependent regions such as Greece, Turkey, Spain and Portugal.

You'll find here a wealth of information for the gardener, homesteader, permaculture designer and sustainable farmer. Yet the book's greatest value lies in the attitudes it teaches - and in its demonstration that the simple principles found in nature and used to create Holzer's productive systems can be applied anywhere.

Holzer also outlines his 10 points of sustainable self-reliance and how these methods can help feed the world. They include recognizing the need to:

• Regulate water usage
• Eliminate factory livestock farming
• Bring more fallow or unused land into production
• Enlarge crop areas by using terracing and Holzer-style raised beds
• Engage in community building
• … And much more

Hide 

People can live without SUVs, jet travel and many other luxuries. But no life, human or otherwise, can survive without our most precious natural resource: water.

Do-It-Yourself Sustainable Water Projects offers a basis for understanding the importance of conserving water, explains how the lack of it affects different regions around the world, and provides practical information on how to collect, store, purify and drill for this magical substance.

In this easy-to-follow guide, master mechanic Paul Dempsey provides cost-effective ways we can reduce or eliminate our dependence on public water supplies. Everything you need to know to create 10 inexpensive water projects is here, from collecting rainwater and air conditioner condensate to properly drilling and constructing pump systems. These projects are accompanied by step-by-step instructions, drawings, photos and even sources for inexpensive parts - so you can do it yourself.

Whether you're interested in becoming knowledgeable about insufficient global water supplies or you just want to conserve water, this book is an effective way to help save our most critical resource. With it in hand, you can tackle everything from creating a composting toilet to building a rainwater harvesting system.

Do-it-Yourself Sustainable Water Projects includes information on:

• 10 inexpensive water projects
• How to adjust behavior to conserve water
• List of resources, including web sites, published texts and vendors
• Calculating your "water footprint"
• Pumps and related components
• Easy-to-follow ways to drill for water
• Getting water from air
• Water vulnerability