UNITED
ECO-ACTION FUND
in
association with AMAZON BOOKS presents:
where
readers become contributing editors who select and review their own choices
To purchase books from The
Bookstore, click on title
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ALPHABETICAL
BY SUBJECT
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| ENVIRONMENT | POETRY | SOCIAL | ||
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Bury
My Heart at Wounded Knee is Dee Brown's eloquent, fully documented
account of the systematic destruction of the American Indian during
the second half of the 19th Century. When it was first published
in 1971, both reviewers and the reading public responded first with
shock, then a deep sense of shame, calling it "shattering"
(Washington Post), and "heartbreaking" (The New York Times).
It went on to sell over a million copies in hardcover and four million
copies in paperback, and was translated into 15 languages around
the world. This book should be requirement in every school in America.
Once started, you cannot put this book down. Click here for additional
review. To purchase, click >> Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown |
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| CHILDREN | ||
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Bring
Back the Deer is the story of an Indian boy who hunts a deer
for food. It is a story of faith, love, and mystery and describes
the boy's rite of passage, which brings him understanding of his
identity and inner strength. Simply and movingly written and beautifully
illustrated by Neil Waldman. To purchase, click >> Bring Back the Deer by Jeffrey Prusski |
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Children
Just Like Me, published to coincide with UNICEF's fiftieth anniversary,
is a celebration of children around the world based upon interviews
with young people from all walks of life, diverse cultural backgrounds,
and universal similarities. Sensitive and stimulating for parents
and children, this exceptional book of excellent photography and
educational text is wonderful to read with your children over and
over again. An effortless way to learn about geography. Forward
by Harry Belafonte, UNICEF's Goodwill Ambassador. To purchase, click >> Children Just Like Me by Barnabas and Anabel Kindersley |
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Trees
and Forests--From algae to sequoias: the history, life, and richness
of forests is a visual and sensory experience for young readers,
a book about trees which features seven kinds of tree bark to touch,
acetate pages to observe seasonal changes, lift-up flaps to reveal
secrets of rain forest creatures, and much more. An interactive
work featuring spectacular art. A fun, unforgettable way for children
to learn about trees. To purchase, click >>Trees and Forests by Scholastic Books |
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A
Fierce Green Fire: Tracing the roots of U.S. environmental history,
former veteran New York Times correspondent proves that the environmental
movement has permanently altered the national consciousness. Shabecoff
takes us on a journey back to America the Beautiful, before European
settlement here. He artfully describes personalities, events, and
ideas that shaped the American environmental ethos, from Columbus
to Edward Abbey by way of Jefferson, Thoreau, Marsh, Grinnell, Muir,
T. Roosevelt, Pinchot, Leopold, Times Beach, Love Canal, Three Mile
Island, and Earth Day, offering outstanding quotes and details of
events that influenced the lives of our greatest environmentalists.
In his final chapter, "Rebuilding the House," Shabecoff
outlines positive methods that will bring about needed changes to
recreate not only a cleaner, safer, more pleasant environment, but
a sustainable economy and a more just and democratic society. To purchase, click >> A Fierce Green Fire by Philip Shabecoff |
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Betrayal
of Science and Reason: Revisionists would have us believe that
population growth does not cause environmental damage, that there
is no extinction crisis, that global warming, acid rain, and toxic
substances are not serious threats to humanity. In this hard-hitting
and timely book, two world-renowned scientists speak out against
what they call "brown lash," a deliberate misstatement
of scientific findings designed to support an anti-environmental
world view. Click here for additional
review. To purchase, click >> Betrayal of Science and Reason: How Anti-Environmental Rhetoric Threatens our Future by Paul R. Ehrlich, Anne H. Ehrlich |
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Blue Gold:
Fresh water is rapidly becoming big business, and a preserve of
the wealthy. The world’s most fundamental and indispensable
resource-water-is becoming scarcer, fast. In fact, a global shortage
of water is looming as one of the most threatening ecological,
economic, and political crises of the 21st century. Worse, the
"solutions"proposed are only making the problems more
severe. The privatization of water, often on the instructions
of the World Bank or other lenders, provides ready monopolies
for business-and makes access a function of ability to pay, rather
than need or entitlement. As a result, more and more of the world’s
water resources are being directed away from the ecosystems and
communities that depend on them, while the demand from industry,
agriculture, and a growing population, rises inexorably. Blue
Gold tells the frightening story of the commodification
of water and its consequences. It illuminates the issues and starkly
identifies the choice we have to make: to become responsible custodians,
managing and distributing water in the public interest. |
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The
Diversity of Life: Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson has become
one of the foremost international spokesman for environmental protection.
"Diversity of Life" not only documents the extent of current
environmental devastation and the urgency of this generation's making
wise decisions to insure future biological diversity, it also offers
practical economic solutions for worldwide natural resource protection.
"Proponents of the New Environmentalism ... recognize that
only new ways of drawing income from land already cleared, or from
intact wildlands themselves, will save biodiversity from the mill
of human poverty. The race is on to develop methods, to draw more
income from the wildlands without killing them, and so to give the
invisible hand of free-market economics a green thumb ... In theory
at least, the minimization of extinction rates and the minimization
of economic costs are compatible: the more that other forms of life
are used and saved, the more productive and secure will our own
species be." Dr. Wilson also stresses the philosophical underpinnings
to preservation of wilderness: "There is an implicit principle
of human behavior important to conservation: the better an ecosystem
is known, the less likely it will be destroyed. As the Senegalese
conservationist Baba Dioum has said, 'In the end, we will conserve
only what we love, we will love only what we understand, we will
understand only what we are taught.'" An essential book for
every responsible human being. To purchase, click >> The Diversity of Life by Edward O. Wilson |
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The
Dying of the Trees: Veteran environmentalist and journalist
Charles E. Little chronicles wholesale dieback of trees in every
part of the United States in this century. Visit the Appalachians
and see red spruce in decline, the Rockies where Douglas-fir is
being attacked by bark beetles and spruce bud worm, or California's
Lake Tahoe basin where the ponderosa pines are dying. Human-created
causes include acid rain, ozone, ultraviolet rays, and clear-cutting;
and responses or lack of responses from scientists, government,
and citizens. What emerges is a sobering account of the implications
for the future of our planet. What must be done? Reduce fossil fuel
use, stop clear-cutting, end the release of CFCs, control population.
These changes do not happen overnight. Little sounds the alarm that
our forests may be well be beyond remedial action. To purchase, click >> The Dying of the Trees: The Pandemic in America's Forests by Charles E. Little |
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Earth
in the Balance: A passionate defender of the environment, Vice
President of the United States Al Gore demonstrates how modern civilization
has brought us to the brink of catastrophe. In this compelling work
he shows that only a radical rethinking of our relationship with
nature can save the earth for future generations. Here is an author
who will not soften the warning for political expediency. His honesty
reveals a true statesman and his analysis makes him a remarkable
mind in our times of half measures and sophistry. This best-selling
work about our planet's environmental crisis gives a shocking account
of just how serious ecological problems have become. New foreword
by the author. Illustrations and photos can be found in the paperback
edition of this title. Click
here for additional review. To purchase, click >> Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit by Al Gore |
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Factor
Four: This book shows that resource productivity can and should
grow fourfold and that most of the technological solutions to our
problems are there for the taking right now. Thus we can live twice
as well yet use half as much. The message of this book is novel
because it heralds a new direction for technological progress, simple
because it offers a straightforward quantitative formula for it,
and exciting because it is profitable. The message is also radical
because it can change the future. As the authors put it, the book
is about doing more with less, but this is not the same as doing
less, doing worse or doing without. To purchase, click >> Factor Four: Doubling Wealth, Halving Resource Use |
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GEO-3
- United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) - the flagship
report of the world's leading environment organization, was launched
in London on 22nd May. Based on information supplied by a global
network of research institutions, it is a uniquely authoritative
and accurate assessment of the state of the global environment.
It will provide the benchmark environmental input to the 2002 World
Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), in August in Johannesburg,
South Africa, and for environmental policy and research worldwide.
A FREE CD-ROM is included, containing the full text of the report
and a compendium of the data used in preparing it. Read
the entire report in PDF format and reviews. To purchase, click >> Global Environmental Outlook 3: Past, Present and Future Perspectives |
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Living
Downstream: In 1964, two senior scientists at the National Cancer
Institute, Wilhelm Hueper and W.C. Conway, described the steadily
progressing cancer epidemic in the United States. They wrote that
in 1950, 25 percent of adults in the United States could expect
to get cancer during their lifetimes; today about 40 percent of
us (38.3 percent of women, 48.2 percent of men) can expect to get
cancer. Omitting lung cancer from the statistics, the incidence
(occurrence) of cancer increased 35 percent in the United States
between 1950 and 1991. If we include lung cancers, then cancer incidence
increased 49.3 percent between 1950 and 1991. Sandra Steingraber,
a biologist and author of "Living Downstream," combines
gripping personal narrative with a scientific analysis of the evidence
linking rising cancer rates to synthetic chemicals in the environment
and explores the extent to which toxins have trespassed into air,
water, soil, and food. Her story focuses on the people of Illinois,
who face a torrent of industrial and agricultural poisons everyday,
and tells of her own cancer and those of her friends and family. To purchase, click >> Living Downstream by Sandra Steingraber |
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One
Earth: If there is one book on the environment where "seeing
is believing," One Earth is that book. And if you've ever wondered
if environmental degradation is really "all that bad,"
this book will once and for all prove to you that it is worse than
you ever imagined. Pictures from internationally acclaimed photographers
show destruction of rain forest, primeval temperate forests, desertization,
pollution of the air, water, land, animals, and human beings. This
book is a powerful call to everyone everywhere to take immediate
action to reverse the life-threatening trends of modern civilization.
Beautifully written by Kenneth Brower, author of books on Alaska,
Micronesia, Sierra Club and Friends of the Earth photographic volumes.
Because of this book's popularity, receiving it after placing an
order may take some time. Be patient. It's worth the wait. In the
meantime, view these illusion-destroying photographs at your public
library. To purchase, click >> One Earth written by Kenneth Brower |
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| The
Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California, is an extensive
(1400 pp) reference to California flora published by University
of California Press. Table of contents includes: Philosophy and
History of The Jepson Manual Project; Conventions Used in The Jepson
Manual; Pronunciation of Scientific Names; Glossary; Abbreviations
and Symbols; Commonness and Rarity; Horticultural Information in
The Jepson Manual; Geographic Subdivisions of California; California's
Geological History and Changing Landscapes; California's Changing
Climates and Flora; Key to California Plant Families; Taxonomic
Treatments; Pteridophytes; Gymnosperms; Dicots; Monocots; Appendices--Floristic
Summary, Classification of California Plant Families, Name Changes
from Recent References. To purchase, click >> The Jepson Manual by James C. Hickman (Editor) |
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When
you read Silent Spring you will know why Justice William
O. Douglas called it "The most important chronicle of this
century for the human race," why the New York Herald Tribune
claimed it to be, "A smashing indictment that faces up to the
disastrous consequences, for both nature and man, of the chemical
mass-warfare that is being waged today indiscriminately against
insects, weeds and fungi," and why the The Boston Herald wrote:
"The thing to remember is that the author is not an alarmist
but a trained, meticulously scrupulous scientist, who shuns publicity
and controversy but whose findings were too catastrophic to keep
to herself." Click here for additional
review. Click here for Introduction by Vice President AL GORE To purchase, click >> Silent Spring by Rachel Carson |
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The Solar Economy: Shows how political, economic and technological challenges can be met using indigenous, renewable and universally available resources. "This
book is of the greatest importance for the future of mankind" Excerpt from
Foreword: "Fossil resources brought the industrialized countries
their prosperity. Yet now that their cost outweighs their benefits,
fossil resources may bring those self-same countries to their
knees. It is the principal thesisof this book that renewable energy,
by contrast, brings greater social benefits the more widely it
is used, to the point where it fully replaces all fossil energy.
There can be no sound reason for making this revolution of our
resource base contingent on obligations agreed under international
treaties." |
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West
Wind: Mary Oliver has won the Pulitzer Prize as well as the
National Book Award for her evocative and startling poetry. In lines
from "West Wind" pulled taut by the tension between the
silent beauty of nature and the poet's longing for words, she provides
readers with themes for contemplation. Consider "Stars":
"How can I hope to be friends / with the hard white stars /
whose flaring and hissing are not speech / but a pure radiance?
/ How can I hope to be friends / with the yawning spaces between
them / where nothing, ever, is spoken?" Oliver strikes up a
friendship between nature's inexpressible beauty and the necessity
and solace of language. She writes vividly of each, noting the way
"the sunlight and shadows are chasing each other," ("The
Dog Has Run Off Again"), in one instance, while elsewhere describing
the excitement of writing poems: "little curls little shafts
/ of letters words / little flames leaping" ("Forty Years").
Oliver is one of the most honored poets now writing in the English
language and an important part of the revival of contemporary pastoral
poetry. To purchase, click >> West Wind by Mary Oliver |
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Dumbing
Us Down is a nonsectarian book dedicated to opening the eyes
of parents to the damage compulsory public education inflicts on
our children. New York State "Teacher of the Year " reveals
the deadening heart a of compulsory state schooling that teaches
confusion, class position, indifference, emotional and intellectual
dependency, provisional self-esteem, and fear that one can't hide.
Mr. Gatto, a 26-year veteran instructor in the public schools, writes:
"[Television and schooling] reduce the real world of wisdom,
fortitude, temperance, and justice to a never-ending, nonstop abstraction.
In centuries past, the time of childhood and adolescence would have
been occupied in real work, real charity, real adventures, and the
realistic search for mentors who might teach what you really wanted
to learn." He illustrates how parents today are losing control
over their children to television and schooling. We need less school,
not more. Mr. Gatto, who presently teaches at Albany Free School
and travels the country promoting a fundamental transformation in
state schooling, explains the vital difference between establishing
communities and creating superficial networks that destroy a child's
natural creativity and desire for learning. To purchase, click >> Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto |
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Eyes
of the Heart explains that the austerity programs championed
by the IMF and World Bank offer "a choice between death and
death" in poor countries. For instance: "Haiti, under
intense pressure from the international lending institutions, stopped
protecting its domestic agriculture while subsidies to the U.S.
rice industry increased. A hungry nation became hungrier."
On a planet with half of the population -- 3 billion people -- living
on less than two dollars a day, Aristide writes, "the statistics
that describe the accumulation of wealth in the world are mind-boggling...Behind
this crisis of dollars there is a human crisis: among the poor,
immeasurable human suffering; among the others, the powerful, the
policy makers, a poverty of spirit which has made a religion of
the market and its invisible hand. A crisis of imagination so profound
that the only measure of value is profit, the only measure of human
progress is economic growth." To purchase, click >> Eyes of the Heart: Seeking a Path for the Poor in the Age of Globalization by Jean-Bertrand Aristide |
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Gangs of America discusses how corporations are the dominant force in modern life, surpassing even church and state. The largest are richer than entire nations, and courts have given these entities more rights than people. To many Americans, corporate power seems out of control. According to a Business Week/Harris poll released in September 2000, 82 percent of those surveyed agreed that “business has too much power over too many aspects of our lives.” And the recent revelations of corporate scandal and political influence have only added to such concerns. Where did this powerful institution come from? How did it get so much power? In Gangs of America: The Rise of Corporate Power and the Disabling of Democracy, author Ted Nace probes the roots of corporate power, finding answers in surprising places. To purchase, click >> Gangs of America |
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Joined
at the Heart explores the cultural shifts and economic pressures
that have profoundly affected every family in America over the
past two generations: balancing work and family now poses a bigger
challenge than ever before, day-care and after-school child care
programs are too often dangerously inadequate, and new technological
advancements have dramatically changed the ways we communicate.
Combining personal insight and expert opinions, historical and
global perspectives, the Gores share their own experiences and
those of a dozen other families to demonstrate that, in the face
of unprecedented change, the inherent need for family is stronger
than ever.
To purchase, click >> Joined at the Heart by Al and Tipper Gore |
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The
Spirit of Family follows the evolution of the American family
through 260 black-and-white and color images from many of the country's
most acclaimed photographers - - including Tina Barney, Mitch Epstein,
Lee Friedlander, Sally Mann, Mary Ellen Mark, Nicholas Nixon - -
and from rising stars such as Gerald Cyrus, Arlene Gottfried, and
Jennette Williams. This powerful collection of photographs offers
an insightful vision of our most essential relationships. To purchase, click >> The Spirit of the Family by Al and Tipper Gore |
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Tyranny
of Kindness is a literary masterpiece of our times that reads
like a modern "Les Miserables" and teaches us how to end
the war against the poor in America. This book is a truly shocking
revelation of the tyranny of the welfare system and the cruelties
it performs daily against the poor. Theresa Funiciello shows how
most of the increases in billions for the welfare system went into
fattening an abusive bureaucracy while the poor received less and
less. This is a must for all who generalize about the poor and homeless
without the facts. More than one million children are going hungry
in the richest country on earth while billions is being doled out
to corporate welfare, including the deadly tobacco growing industry.
The solutions offered are so stunningly clear and simple they will
compel you want to go to Washington to raise hell for having been
so badly deceived by politicians. To purchase, click >> Tyranny of Kindness by Theresa Funiciello |
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