Books

"Cradle to Cradle: waste = food" is a must have for everyone who is concerned with product development. William McDonough and Michael Braungart call for a new industrial revolution! The authors, an architect and a chemist, want to go beyond sustainable development, meeting our needs and those of future generations. Both authors find that the current environmental policy is too comparable to debt management, where the consumer must attempt to lower his impact (which is never 100% possible). McDonough and Braungart assume a positive approach, where people need to learn to produce products that have an modified, positive effect on the world. The waste from a certain cycle must become the food for the next cycle (waste equals food).

McDonough and Braungart present several fascinating examples of companies that are successfully combining business and environment. This is the manual for innovation in the 21st century. The original book is available in English under the title "Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things".

Based on the book’s philosophy, the authors have founded a company that awards "Cradle to Cradle certification". In our shop, the Aeron and Mirra desk chairs by Herman Miller have received this illustrious award.

Alastair Fuad-Luke is the author of "The Eco-design Handbook: A Complete Sourcebook for the Home and Office". With this book he has written a manual to discover ecological and consumer friendly furnishings and objects. Designers and consumers can find over 400 of the most innovative green products available to everyone who wants to purchase ecological furniture, appliances or objects for their home or office.

"Our Choice" is a 2009 book written by former US Vice President Al Gore. Originally titled, "The Path to Survival" it follows "An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It", a companion book to the film "An Inconvenient Truth". All profits of the book (printed on 100% recycled paper) will go to the Alliance for Climate Protection, which Gore founded in 2006. Whereas "An Inconvenient Truth" framed the crisis that climate negotiations are tackling, this follow-up spells out what needs to be done. It aims to gather in one place all of the most effective solutions that are available today. Gore naturally focuses on energy, the source of most anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, and discusses many underappreciated strategies such as concentrated solar thermal power and cogeneration. He also devotes a full chapter to soil, a major carbon sink that is gradually degrading. Farming strategies for restoring soil carbon are described, including bio char, a porous charcoal that can potentially enhance the soil sink while providing a source of low-carbon power.... "Our Choice" is replete with lush photos and simple but powerful charts. This a must-read book for those who want a primer on all the key solutions countries will be considering at Copenhagen.

The search for safe and sustainable energy is one of the most significant challenges of our time. But how much energy do we really need and how can we retrieve this from renewable sources? David MacKay searches for answers by numeric analysis of what we consume and what we can produce. His conclusions show the difficult choices that will have to be taken. ‘Sustainable Energy’ counts 380 pages and is freely available on the net.

We live in an oil-dependent world, and have got to this level of dependency in a very short space of time, using vast reserves of oil in the process – without planning for when the supply is not so plentiful. Most of us avoid thinking about what happens when oil runs out (or becomes prohibitively expensive), but ‘The Transition Handbook’ shows how the inevitable and profound changes ahead can have a positive outcome. These changes can lead to the rebirth of local communities, which will grow more of their own food, generate their own power, and build their own houses using local materials.
The Author: Rob Hopkins, founder of the Transition Network has long been aware of the implications of our oil-dependent status, and has been energetically campaigning to increase awareness of its impact. The "Transition Handbook" is freely available on the net as PDF file.