Groxie

The slight chill in the air and the diverse pumpkin ale offerings combine to create the perfect curl-up-with-a-book setting. I’ve been plowing through a few that have been on my reading list, and I want to share with you some of the best ones so far. The list is far from controversial, but maybe it will convince to pick up one of these must—reads you might have forgotten about.

Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment
A great introduction to global climate change from an insider. Speth has been working with global warming since the 70’s, and what he has to say will make you even more fuming mad at our government’s ineptitude. He also lays out some interesting solutions and refuses to give up hope entirely. It’s a more engaging read than most other global warming texts; it goes by quickly and leaves you with a much clearer understanding of how we got here and how we should remedy it.

Our Stolen Future: How We Are Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence, and Survival - A Scientific Detective Story
Another great scientific text chock—full of absolutely horrifying information. I think this book should be mandatory reading for everyone, especially parents and educators. It was first published in 1997, and while the scary parts are still very accurate, we now have the science to address at least some of the concerns they bring up. We just need an engaged populace to demand change.

Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
If you haven’t already heard this phrase, you will soon. Basically right now we mine valuable resources, combine them with all sorts of chemical and other substances to create products, use up the products until we throw them away or recycle (downcycle) them, and eventually everything ends up getting buried in the ground never to be used again, resources wasted. It’s an ill—conceived cycle, but McDonough and Braungart insist it doesn’t have to be that way. Solutions are oriented towards architects, designers, engineers, and businesses in general, but the information is presented in simple terms for everyone.

Omnivore’s Dilemma
I know I’ve already gone on and on about this one, but I can’t resist mentioning it again. It continues to influence my decisions.

Next on the list:

I haven’t read these yet, but they’re on the shelf. These are also environmentally oriented with one fiction interlude.

• The End of Nature - Another well received tome on global warming.
• The Known World - Pulitzer Prize winning fictional account of slavery hardships in Virginia. You can get this one as an e—book also.
• Living Downstream: A Scientist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment - The author, a cancer survivor and scientist, explores communities with high environmental toxin concentrations.