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Glendale Green Living Book Club
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With all the competing messages about the environment that are being thrown at us from the TV, from our friends, from just about anyone we meet, sometimes the best place to get the most accurate information is from ourselves. Crack a book open occasionally and you might learn something. Every week or so I will try and recommend a "green" book that will give the reader something to think about.
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This week, we are going to start with a couple of books I've read recently. The first is The Green Book by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas M. Kostigen. It's small and printed on 100% recycled paper. You could probably read through the book in a night. It's full of common sense advice on small things we can change in our day-to-day lives to reduce our carbon footprint. Believe me, it's not the deepest book and is really aimed at the lowest common denominator among readers but it's a good starting point. You don't want to get too serious out of the gate.
The second book is not specifically an "environmental" book. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond is an exhaustive examination of the collapse of different societies throughout history from many causes, including societal, population and war pressures. But also environmental ones. The analysis of the failure of civilizations in isolation such as Easter Island is a lot more relevant than you would think. With our global trade and culture, we are not as independent as we wish we were. Environmental collapse in any part of the world will ultimately affect us. An excerpt:
"A ... objection is that Easter Islanders surely wouldn't have been so foolish as to cut down all their trees, when the consequences would have been so obvious to them ... "What did the Easter Islander who cut down the last palm tree say while he was doing it?" Like modern loggers,did he shout "Jobs, not trees!"? Or: "Technology will solve our problems, never fear, we'll find a substitute for wood"? Or: "We don't have proof that there aren't palms somewhere else on Easter, we need more research, your proposed ban on logging is premature and drive by fear-mongering"? Similar questions arise for every society that has inadvertently damaged its environment ..."
Collapse is not as light of reading as The Green Book but is a lot more substantial book and gives some fantastic perspective on interdependence of societies and the environment. I highly recommend it.
And in the spirit of the environmental movement, don't feel compelled to go buy these books new at your local chain book store. I love those places too and spend more than enough money there. And reading books, regardless of the source, is always better than the alternatives (watching TV, playing a video game, petty crime, etc.). But there are plenty of other sources for used books. My local favorites:
Bent Cover Books - a used book store near I-17 and Cactus in Phoenix. I've been going to this place for years. Great selection and frequent sales. We just went today.
Bookmans - near 19th Ave. & Northern in Phoenix. Arizona based used book and other media store. Several locations but this is the one I go to the most. Also has music, movies, posters, etc.
And, as always, don't forget garage sales and thrift stores.
Let me know what you think of these books and if you have any other recommendations.
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