Green book review for Earth Day - State of the World 2013: Is Sustainability Still Possible?

Happy Earth Day!! Just in time for this special day we have a review of a book that not only provides us an update on the state of the world in 2013, but also tries to tackle some of the most urgent issues brought up on this day, including one that we might not like to ask but definitely have to - is sustainably still possible?

Our book for today is:  

State of the World 2013: Is Sustainability Still Possible? by the Worldwatch Institute (publisher: Island Press)

What this book is about?
Every day, we are presented with a range of “sustainable” products and activities—from “green” cleaning supplies to carbon offsets—but with so much labeled as “sustainable,” the term has become essentially sustainababble, at best indicating a practice or product slightly less damaging than the conventional alternative. Is it time to abandon the concept altogether, or can we find an accurate way to measure sustainability? If so, how can we achieve it? And if not, how can we best prepare for the coming ecological decline?

In the latest edition of Worldwatch Institute’s State of the World series, scientists, policy experts, and thought leaders tackle these questions, attempting to restore meaning to sustainability as more than just a marketing tool. In State of the World 2013: Is Sustainability Still Possible?, experts define clear sustainability metrics and examine various policies and perspectives, including geoengineering, corporate transformation, and changes in agricultural policy, that could put us on the path to prosperity without diminishing the well-being of future generations. If these approaches fall short, the final chapters explore ways to prepare for drastic environmental change and resource depletion, such as strengthening democracy and societal resilience, protecting cultural heritage, and dealing with increased conflict and migration flows.

State of the World 2013 cuts through the rhetoric surrounding sustainability, offering a broad and realistic look at how close we are to fulfilling it today and which practices and policies will steer us in the right direction. This book will be especially useful for policymakers, environmental nonprofits, and students of environmental studies, sustainability, or economics.

About the author:
Founded in 1974 by farmer and economist Lester Brown, Worldwatch was the first independent research institute devoted to the analysis of global environmental concerns. Worldwatch quickly became recognized by opinion leaders around the world for its accessible, fact-based analysis of critical global issues. Now under the leadership of population expert and author Robert Engelman, Worldwatch develops innovative solutions to intractable problems, emphasizing a blend of government leadership, private sector enterprise, and citizen action that can make a sustainable future a reality.

Our review:

This was a huge collaboration between authors, with 50+ contributors, idea people, and editors involved in getting it put together. Quite the project let me tell you.

So, what is sustainability? In laymen’s terms it’s simply the capacity to endure. As to ecology it’s how biological systems can remain diverse and productive over time. As to us humans, it is the potential for long-term maintenance of well-being, which has several dimensions, to wit: ecological, economic, political and cultural. Pretty simple right? Wrong. Oh it could be a simple matter, but thanks to humans and our very nature, sustainability is very complicated.

In this 2013 edition of Worldwatch Institute’s State of the World series, the collaborating authors (scientists, policy experts, and more) explain sustainability and how we can make it work and thrive in this world we live in today. There is a huge amount of information provided. Some good, some a little hinky, but lots of great information to get you thinking.

One simple idea was on how we should be protecting the Sanctity of Native Foods (Chapter 18). Something as easy as getting back to the basics and cooking the real food, not the processed fake food we can easily purchase and quickly prepare. Real food, cooked in its natural way with spice and flare. This chapter was so informative and interesting. The author, Melissa K. Nelson, does a fantastic job of keeping you excited about the concept. She gives not just the heritage information but also the health benefits, the origins, and history of the foods as well.

Another section I enjoyed was in Chapter 5, Sustaining Freshwater and Its Dependents, written by Sandra Postel. The basic lessons of the amount of water on the earth for consumption I found to be very informative. This chapter really hit the mark regarding some of the water issues of the world today. You think of Earth, the planet of water, and it’s so easy to forget that only so much of it is actually drinkable and usable. Oceans after all are salty. As the author says: Water in finite. Without it, there is no water to drink, there is no food to grow, which then means there is no society, and how long do we last without food and water and society? Makes all the garbage and toxins and simple CO2 that we put into the water, seem a bit more criminal now. Very good chapter. Very good writing by the author.

Some of the chapters will hit home more depending on the person reading and what matters most them, but there is definitely something in this book for everyone. Easy to read, and understand, all the authors did a fantastic job in that regard. Plenty of information and sources to back it up, and the best part, an index!

You can purchase the book on Amazon.com (both e-book and hardcover formats are available).

Happy Earth Day!

Raz @ Eco-Libris
Plant a tree for every book you read!

Green Options - STATE OF THE WORLD Book Series Pivotal to Understanding our Paths to Sustainability

As part of Eco-Libris' ongoing content partnership with Green Options Media, we feature a post that was originally published by John Ivanko on April 22 on Sustainablog. Today's post is about a book that can change your life and the good part is that you get a new version of it published every year.

People often ask me: “So what set you on your present course of operating a sustainable business, growing most of your own food organically, working from home, and powering your entire farm and business with renewable energy?” People ask me about that definitive moment where it became obvious that I needed to live and work a different way, a better way that didn’t involve never-ending growth, consumption, and earn-and-spend.

There was no such moment, or crisis, that transformed my life of power suits, lattes, or gotta-have-it-all-now mindset. Instead, my sustainable journey (which very much continues to this day as an evolving journey) resulted from a growing understanding about the issues facing the planet and its inhabitants, both through personal experience and by learning of these changes from other organizations or individuals.

One such organization that serves as a compass for my endeavors is the Worldwatch Institute, a nonprofit organization that produces the authoritative State of the World book series as well as numerous other books and resources to build an ecologically sustainable society that meets human needs. Each year, a new State of the World book is not only jam-packed with interdisciplinary research and analysis that a non-scientific mind (like mine) could comprehend, but organized in such a way to make it both practical and powerful for anyone searching for ways to express a vision for how to live on a planet without destroying it or exploiting its inhabitants.

Each year, the State of the World book series focuses on a particular theme which might address energy, community, food and agriculture, population, health, trade policies and natural resource use, just to name a few. For 2008, their State of the World: Innovations for a Sustainable Economy provides both a timely analysis of how our “free trade” global economy has gone astray and insights into the powerful movements afoot, including localization, a triple bottom line approach to business, microfinance, and the low-carbon economy.

“In response to the grim realities of climate change, resource depletion, collapsing ecosystems, economic vulnerability, and other converging crisis of the twenty-first century, a consensus is emerging among scientists, governments, and civil society about the need for a rapid but manageable transition to an economic system where progress is measured by improvements in well-being rather than by expansion of the scale and scope of market economic activity,” writes John Talberth in his chapter "A New Bottom Line for Progress." I only can hope that a copy of State of the World 2008 is on President Obama’s desk since it’s unlikely that Americans can consume our way out of the present financial crisis. Even if we did, Talberth argues that such consumption will not likely lead to furthering our happiness, but rather to further degradation of the planet.

State of the World is one of those books that helped me change course and better comprehend what is happening to the planet. State of the World 1992 -- which I read in preparation for my self-imposed sabbatical and exit from corporate America -- served as my launch pad for discovering what was happening to the planet and what I could do about it. Life is not a spectator sport for those who want to champion change. The State of the World books provide the global insights from leading thinkers, academics, professionals and analysts who dive into the social, environmental and governmental aspects of how our world functions, revealing ways in which we could, once again, thrive more sustainably.

The State of the World books are not End of the World books; they’re revealing and sobering at times, but they provide numerous pathways to achieve greater sustainability within our culture, society, economy and community.

Not surprisingly, their latest release, State of the World 2009: Into a Warming World, is devoted to the technological and institutional developments most likely to help humanity weather the storm of global warming. Most scientists agree that we have only a few years to reverse the rise in greenhouse gas emissions and help avoid abrupt and catastrophic climate change. As the world governmental leaders come together to negotiate a new climate agreement in Copenhagen in December 2009, State of the World: Into a Warming World can guide our understanding of how a warming planet threatens everyone and everything on Earth -- and what we could do about it.

“A sustainable world is not an impoverished world but one that is prosperous in different ways,” writes Tim Jackson in the chapter “The challenges of Sustainable Lifestyles” from the 2008 State of the World. “The challenge for the twenty-first century is to create that world.”

So, how are you creating that sustainable world?

At Inn Serendipity, my family and I are creating it with renewable energy, local food, and living below our means.