Top environment books that changed the world10 July 2012
What are the world's top environment books? Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring' must be one of them.
'Silent Spring' caused a sensation when it exposed the dangers of pesticides in 1962, and it's widely seen as the start of the environment movement.
So as 'Silent Spring' celebrates its fiftieth birthday, environmental writer Nicola Baird suggests some classic books to read before you die.
1. Small is Beautiful - E. F. Schumacher, 1973
What other economic manifesto has been read by millions or turned its author into an eco-superstar? Schumacher, the British economist (who worked with Galbraith and Keynes) ends his book asking readers to think 'what can I do'?
No surprise then that Friends of the Earth, 'Resurgence' magazine, the slow food movement, time banks, Transition Towns and micro-credit have all drawn on this 'study of economics as if people mattered'.
2. The Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency - John Seymour, 1976
The tongue-in-cheek TV show of suburban self-sufficiency, 'The Good Life' (1975), brought yet more converts to John Seymour's pig-on- a-plot vision where nothing was wasted.
Fast forward to 'Blueprint for a Green Planet '(1987), jointly written with Herbert Girardet, detailing practical ways 'to fight pollution', which earned Seymour the title of ultimate back- to-the-land guru.
3. The Earth from the Air - Yann Arthus-Bertrand, 2003
The heart-shaped island, camel shadows in the desert, flamingos and people are just some of the mesmerising photos in this volume. The book and street exhibitions helped us fall back in love with our crowded planet, offering an echo of the loved-up feeling snapped by the Apollo 8 astronauts of Earthrise in 1968.
The film offers a darker director's cut.
4. No Logo - Naomi Klein, 1999
Canadian-born Klein lays into brands. She asks why shoppers rate global corporations which don't care if they treat workers badly or trash the planet. In this cultural critique she also looks at how faceless brands can be resisted, using examples from the McLibel trial and Reclaim the Streets.
Even if time has shown it's hard to beat the ad men, what self-improving reading list is complete without No Logo?
5. Cod: a biography of the fish that changed the world - Mark Kurlansky, 1999
Once it was said you could walk on the cod, so numerous were they on the Grand Banks fishing grounds off Newfoundland. How times change. Ought to be far better known, and read by the world's fish-eaters.
6. Food for Free - Richard Mabey, 1972
Put weeds back on the menu. Includes rhymes, traditional names and wonderful chance discoveries, showing how nature inspires and nurtures.
7.Collapse: how societies choose to fail or succeed - Jared Diamond, 2005
The enormous stone heads of Easter Island are all that's left of a once advanced civilisation. Diamond's question, 'who cut the last tree down' is one we're meant to ask ourselves.
The idea has an amazing reach - expect to hear an Easter Island example quoted in any discussion on sustainable futures.
8. The Animals of Farthing Wood Colin Dann, 1979
When this book was turned into an animated film in 1993, it helped (along with campaigning by Friends of the Earth and others) convince DIY store B&Q to stop purchasing any old timber.
Apparently, after customers and their children watched the cute animals on TV, they began to ask questions about where their wood actually came from.
9. The Ages of Gaia - James Lovelock, 1988
Gaia (the Greek word for Earth) is the theory that the Earth keeps herself healthy, first established in the 1960s by Lovelock. While environmentalists love the theory, scientists still argue over it. Meanwhile actor Emma Thompson chose Gaia as her daughter's name.
Lovelock, now a venerable CBE, said that 'Lord of the Flies' novelist William Golding suggested the name. Gaia is much quoted, often wrongly. Lovelock's pro-nuclear stance has added to the book's emotional impact.
10. Living Downstream - Sandra Steingraber, 1997
This ecologist writes with astonishing clarity about the most complex science, and always about what she knows - cancer, being pregnant and raising children. In 'Living Downstream' she argues that ecological contamination leads to more people getting cancer.
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