Mikhaela's bookshelf: environment en-US Mon, 31 Jul 2023 21:00:15 -0700 60 Mikhaela's bookshelf: environment 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us]]> 15797397
In Salt Sugar Fat, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Michael Moss shows how this happened. Featuring examples from some of the most recognizable (and profitable) companies and brands of the last half century--including Kraft, Coca-Cola, Lunchables, Kellogg, Nestlé, Oreos, Cargill, Capri Sun, and many more--

Moss’s explosive, empowering narrative is grounded in meticulous, often eye-opening research. He goes inside the labs where food scientists use cutting-edge technology to calculate the "bliss point" of sugary beverages or enhance the "mouth feel" of fat by manipulating its chemical structure. He unearths marketing techniques taken straight from tobacco company playbooks to redirect concerns about the health risks of products. He talks to concerned executives who explain that they could never produce truly healthy alternatives to their products even if serious regulation became a reality.

Simply put: the industry itself would cease to exist without salt, sugar, and fat.]]> 480 Michael Moss 1400069807 Mikhaela 4 3.99 2013 Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us
author: Michael Moss
name: Mikhaela
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2014/01/31
date added: 2023/07/31
shelves: environment, food, nonfiction, nonfiction-depressing-but-great
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The World According to Monsanto: Pollution, Corruption, and the Control of the World's Food Supply]]> 6582114 The World According to Monsanto tells the little-known yet shocking story of this agribusiness giant--the world's leading producer of GMOs (genetically modified organisms)--and how its new "green" face is no less troubling than its PCB (and Agent Orange) -soaked past.

Robin reports that, following its long history of manufacturing hazardous chemicals and lethal herbicides, Monsanto is now marketing itself as a "life sciences" company, seemingly convinced about the virtues of sustainable development. However, Monsanto now controls the majority of the yield of the world's genetically modified corn and soy, ingredients found in more than 95 percent of American households, and its alarming legal and political tactics to maintain this monopoly are the subject of worldwide concern.

Released to great acclaim and controversy in France, throughout Europe, and in Latin America, The World According to Monsanto is sure to change the way we think about food safety and the corporate control of our food supply.]]> 352 Marie-Monique Robin 1595584269 Mikhaela 4 environment, nonfiction 4.20 2009 The World According to Monsanto: Pollution, Corruption, and the Control of the World's Food Supply
author: Marie-Monique Robin
name: Mikhaela
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2012/10/27
date added: 2023/07/31
shelves: environment, nonfiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists Are Changing American Cities]]> 6070098
“A growing number of Americans, mounted on their bicycles like some new kind of urban cowboy, are mixing it up with swift, two-ton motor vehicles as they create a new society on the streets. They’re finding physical fitness, low-cost transportation, environmental purity—and, still all too often, Wild West risks of sudden death or injury.� —from the introduction]]> 288 Jeff Mapes 0870714198 Mikhaela 4 environment, nonfiction 3.90 2009 Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists Are Changing American Cities
author: Jeff Mapes
name: Mikhaela
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2013/10/08
date added: 2023/07/31
shelves: environment, nonfiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fur, Feather, Fin―All of Us Are Kin]]> 36373607
There are so many wild and wonderful animals in our world. Some have fur, some have feathers, some have fins, but all are connected. This fact-filled rhyming exploration of the diversity of the animal kingdom celebrates mammals, birds, insects, fish, reptiles, amphibians, and more! It’s a perfect match for budding naturalists and animal enthusiasts everywhere.]]> 48 Diane Lang 1481447092 Mikhaela 5 4.27 Fur, Feather, Fin―All of Us Are Kin
author: Diane Lang
name: Mikhaela
average rating: 4.27
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2021/11/28
date added: 2021/11/26
shelves: children-s-books, environment, herpetology, nonfiction, picture-books, science
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Great Natives for Tough Places]]> 7316843 120 Niall Dunne 1889538485 Mikhaela 4 4.18 2009 Great Natives for Tough Places
author: Niall Dunne
name: Mikhaela
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2021/07/11
date added: 2021/07/11
shelves: environment, gardening, how-to
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Animal Book: A Visual Encyclopedia of Life on Earth (Smithsonian)]]> 18232959 The wonders of the natural world come to life in full colour in the ultimate book on animals and insects

The Animal Book is the complete guide to the natural world for curious children and budding naturalists. From the tiny toadstool to the giant oak, the smallest spider to the largest elephant, the wonders of life are here to see in stunning photo galleries. With over 1,500 species of animals and plants to learn about, The Animal Book is perfect for school projects and homework.

The 'Tree of Life' at the start of the book will show you how species are connected, as well as guiding you through everything from microscopic life to fish, birds, reptiles and mammals. Ever wondered how a polar bear looks when trying to catch fish? Amazing full page pictures show you animals in their natural habitats, going about their lives. Fact boxes and amazing galleries take you on a complete learning journey.

The Animal Book really is the ultimate book on the natural world, from A(moeba) to Z(ebra).

]]> 304 David Burnie 1465414576 Mikhaela 5 4.63 2013 The Animal Book: A Visual Encyclopedia of Life on Earth (Smithsonian)
author: David Burnie
name: Mikhaela
average rating: 4.63
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2019/09/07
date added: 2019/09/06
shelves: children-s-books, environment, nonfiction, picture-books, science
review:

]]> Bicycle Diaries 6477815 297 David Byrne 0670021148 Mikhaela 4 nonfiction, environment 3.50 2008 Bicycle Diaries
author: David Byrne
name: Mikhaela
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2013/10/02
date added: 2013/10/02
shelves: nonfiction, environment
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Plenitude: The New Economics of True Wealth]]> 7258237
In Plenitude economist and bestselling author Juliet B. Schor offers a groundbreaking intellectual statement about the economics and sociology of ecological decline, suggesting a radical change in how we think about consumer goods, value, and ways to live.

Humans are degrading the planet far faster than they are regenerating it. As we travel along this shutdown path, food, energy, transport, and consumer goods are becoming increasingly expensive. The economic downturn that has accompanied the ecological crisis has led to another type of incomes, jobs, and credit are also in short supply. Our usual way back to growth-a debt-financed consumer boom- is no longer an option our households, or planet, can afford.

Responding to our current moment, Plenitude puts sustainability at its core, but it is not a paradigm of sacrifice. Instead, it's an argument that through a major shift to new sources of wealth, green technologies, and different ways of living, individuals and the country as a whole can actually be better off and more economically secure. And as Schor observes, Plenitude is already emerging. In pockets around the country and the world, people are busy creating lifestyles that offer a way out of the work and spend cycle. These pioneers' lives are scarce in conventional consumer goods and rich in the newly abundant resources of time, information, creativity, and community. Urban farmers, do-it-yourself renovators, Craigslist users-all are spreading their risk and establishing novel sources of income and outlets for procuring consumer goods. Taken together, these trends represent a movement away from the conventional market and offer a way toward an efficient, rewarding life in an era of high prices and traditional resource scarcity.

Based on recent developments in economic theory, social analysis, and ecological design as well as evidence from the cutting-edge people and places putting these ideas into practice, Plenitude is a road map for the next two decades. In encouraging us to value our gifts- nature, community, intelligence, and time-Schor offers the opportunity to participate in creating a world of wealth and well-being.]]> 272 Juliet B. Schor 1594202540 Mikhaela 4 environment, personal-finance 3.58 2010 Plenitude: The New Economics of True Wealth
author: Juliet B. Schor
name: Mikhaela
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2013/09/03
date added: 2013/09/03
shelves: environment, personal-finance
review:

]]> No Impact Man 6483075
A guilty liberal finally snaps, swears off plastic, goes organic, becomes a bicycle nut, turns off his power, and generally becomes a tree-hugging lunatic who tries to save the polar bears and the rest of the planet from environmental catastrophe while dragging his baby daughter and Prada-wearing, Four Seasons–loving wife along for the ride. And that’s just the beginning. Bill McKibben meets Bill Bryson in this seriously engaging look at one man’s decision to put his money where his mouth is and go off the grid for one year—while still living in New York City—to see if it’s possible to make no net impact on the environment. In other words, no trash, no toxins in the water, no elevators, no subway, no products in packaging, no air-conditioning, no television . . .

What would it be like to try to live a no-impact lifestyle? Is it possible? Could it catch on? Is living this way more satisfying or less satisfying? Harder or easier? Is it worthwhile or senseless? Are we all doomed or can our culture reduce the barriers to sustainable living so it becomes as easy as falling off a log? These are the questions at the heart of this whole mad endeavor, via which Colin Beavan hopes to explain to the rest of us how we can realistically live a more “eco-effective� and by turns more content life in an age of inconvenient truths.
]]> 288 Colin Beavan 0374222886 Mikhaela 4 environment 3.78 2009 No Impact Man
author: Colin Beavan
name: Mikhaela
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2012/07/26
date added: 2012/07/27
shelves: environment
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things]]> 5571
Waste equals food.

Guided by this principle, McDonough and Braungart explain how products can be designed from the outset so that, after their useful lives, they will provide nourishment for something new. They can be conceived as "biological nutrients" that will easily reenter the water or soil without depositing synthetic materials and toxins. Or they can be "technical nutrients" that will continually circulate as pure and valuable materials within closed-loop industrial cycles, rather than being "recycled" -- really, downcycled -- into low-grade materials and uses. Drawing on their experience in (re)designing everything from carpeting to corporate campuses, McDonough and Braungart make an exciting and viable case for putting eco-effectiveness into practice, and show how anyone involved with making anything can begin to do as well.]]> 193 William McDonough 0865475873 Mikhaela 4 environment 4.10 2002 Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
author: William McDonough
name: Mikhaela
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 2012/07/24
date added: 2012/07/24
shelves: environment
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and our Health—and a Vision for Change]]> 6936019 An Inconvenient Truth and Silent Spring, The Story of Stuff expands on the celebrated documentary exploring the threat of overconsumption on the environment, economy, and our health. Leonard examines the “stuff� we use everyday, offering a galvanizing critique and steps for a changed planet.

The Story of Stuff was received with widespread enthusiasm in hardcover, by everyone from Stephen Colbert to Tavis Smiley to George Stephanopolous on Good Morning America, as well as far-reaching print and blog coverage. Uncovering and communicating a critically important idea—that there is an intentional system behind our patterns of consumption and disposal—Annie Leonard transforms how we think about our lives and our relationship to the planet.

From sneaking into factories and dumps around the world to visiting textile workers in Haiti and children mining coltan for cell phones in the Congo, Leonard, named one of Time magazine’s 100 environmental heroes of 2009, highlights each step of the materials economy and its actual effect on the earth and the people who live near sites like these.

With curiosity, compassion, and humor, Leonard shares concrete steps for taking action at the individual and political level that will bring about sustainability, community health, and economic justice. Embraced by teachers, parents, churches, community centers, activists, and everyday readers, The Story of Stuff will be a long-lived classic.]]> 352 Annie Leonard 143912566X Mikhaela 5
Instead of the obnoxious and ineffective "personal green lifestyle purity" approach--where we're all supposed to just personally and voluntarily recycle and do research and buy "better" products, etc--Annie wants to fix the whole broken system itself, and put responsibility for the environmental and human rights and health disaster that is our current consumption-driven paradigm where it truly belongs. Which isn't to say she lets individuals off the hook--she encourages us to act as citizens, and not consumers, to agitate to take apart our broken systems and create a new sustainable future--before it's too late. Super inspiring, an easy read, and even entertaining, if terrifying, at times--I recommend this book to EVERYONE.]]> 4.07 2010 The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and our Health—and a Vision for Change
author: Annie Leonard
name: Mikhaela
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2012/07/14
date added: 2012/07/16
shelves: environment, nonfiction, how-to
review:
Ah, yes--THIS is the book I've been waiting to read forever--I wish this had been around when I had taken Juliet Schor's "Shop Til You Drop: Gender and Class in Consumer Culture" course back in college. A smart, clear activist breakdown of our toxic materials economy and the massive and devastating environmental impact of consumption on the health of workers, the planet, consumers, communities, animals, etc... and what we can do about it.

Instead of the obnoxious and ineffective "personal green lifestyle purity" approach--where we're all supposed to just personally and voluntarily recycle and do research and buy "better" products, etc--Annie wants to fix the whole broken system itself, and put responsibility for the environmental and human rights and health disaster that is our current consumption-driven paradigm where it truly belongs. Which isn't to say she lets individuals off the hook--she encourages us to act as citizens, and not consumers, to agitate to take apart our broken systems and create a new sustainable future--before it's too late. Super inspiring, an easy read, and even entertaining, if terrifying, at times--I recommend this book to EVERYONE.
]]> <![CDATA[Plastic-Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too]]> 13274446 Terry includes handy lists and charts for easy reference, ways to get involved in larger community actions, and profiles of individuals--Plastic-Free Heroes who have gone beyond personal solutions to create a change on a larger scale. Plastic-Free also includes chapters on letting go of eco-guilt, strategies for coping with overwhelming problems, and ways to relate to other people who aren't as far along on the plastic-free path. Both a practical guide and the story of a personal journey from helplessness to empowerment, Plastic-Free is a must-read for anyone concerned about the ongoing health and happiness of themselves, their children, and the planet.

]]> 352 Beth Terry 1616086246 Mikhaela 4
Beth Terry does a great job of chronicling the way plastic has insinuated itself into every nook and cranny of our lives at massive and unsustainable environmental and health cost via her own journey to live as plastic-free as possible. And she provides exhaustive lists of tips and resources for eliminating or reducing or reusing--and sometimes just recycling--plastics in every aspect of domestic American life possible. (Though one of the lessons of the book is, sometimes avoiding plastic means giving up modern conveniences--like frozen foods--that just aren't available in wood or cloth or stainless steel).

And I've already taken her advice to watch the bottled water industry exposé Tapped, and have decided to replace all my toddler's plastic dishes (apparently BPA-free plastics are a dangerous untested crock! crap!) with stainless steel ones from Life Without Plastic... among many other changes. And I like that she encourages reuse and buying second-hand or just NOT buying as much as possible and really thinking about the life-cycle of all our stuff...

BUT! In the end I have fundamental problems with the idea that these kind of changes should be focused on the personal or even community level, or that our power comes from our status as consumers. Not that Terry isn't politically active--and she does briefly delve into the toxic afterlife of American plastics and electronics in the developing world, but ... as I read on I just started to get frustrated with her narrow focus on individual Americans making changes in their own lives...

...because I just can't get all that excited about the Chlorox company deciding to accept plastic Brita filters for recycling. I want to see big, bold dramatic agitation and outrage and change, with corporations and manufacturers and politicians and the military and governments--not just consumers--all held accountable for the massive destruction they wreak worldwide.

But that's probably more than one little book like this can do. Still highly recommended if you're trying to live a less toxic life.]]> 4.00 2012 Plastic-Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too
author: Beth Terry
name: Mikhaela
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2012/07/06
date added: 2012/07/06
shelves: how-to, nonfiction, environment
review:
I found this book a half-inspiring, half-annoying read--but excellent for what it promises to do.

Beth Terry does a great job of chronicling the way plastic has insinuated itself into every nook and cranny of our lives at massive and unsustainable environmental and health cost via her own journey to live as plastic-free as possible. And she provides exhaustive lists of tips and resources for eliminating or reducing or reusing--and sometimes just recycling--plastics in every aspect of domestic American life possible. (Though one of the lessons of the book is, sometimes avoiding plastic means giving up modern conveniences--like frozen foods--that just aren't available in wood or cloth or stainless steel).

And I've already taken her advice to watch the bottled water industry exposé Tapped, and have decided to replace all my toddler's plastic dishes (apparently BPA-free plastics are a dangerous untested crock! crap!) with stainless steel ones from Life Without Plastic... among many other changes. And I like that she encourages reuse and buying second-hand or just NOT buying as much as possible and really thinking about the life-cycle of all our stuff...

BUT! In the end I have fundamental problems with the idea that these kind of changes should be focused on the personal or even community level, or that our power comes from our status as consumers. Not that Terry isn't politically active--and she does briefly delve into the toxic afterlife of American plastics and electronics in the developing world, but ... as I read on I just started to get frustrated with her narrow focus on individual Americans making changes in their own lives...

...because I just can't get all that excited about the Chlorox company deciding to accept plastic Brita filters for recycling. I want to see big, bold dramatic agitation and outrage and change, with corporations and manufacturers and politicians and the military and governments--not just consumers--all held accountable for the massive destruction they wreak worldwide.

But that's probably more than one little book like this can do. Still highly recommended if you're trying to live a less toxic life.
]]>