Lending Library
Our library will be expanding. You can checkout books during the Center’s hours (as posted on the Home page). All you need is your BruinCard ID.
UCLA Campus |
Winter 2008 Hours Tuesday 3-4pm Wednesday 11am-3pm Thursday 3-4pm
|
Location
The latest additions to our library:
Sustainable Planet: Solutions for the 21st Century
Juliet Schor (Editor), Betsy Taylor (Editor)
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Americans work longer, with less vacation time, than the citizens of any other industrialized nation. And they consume more: recent scientific estimates indicate that at least four additional planets would be needed to support the earth's population if each of the planet's 6 billion inhabitants consumed at the level of the average American. It's a lifestyle that's hard on both people and the environment.
In Sustainable Planet, some of the best known writers on sustainable living—Juliet Schor, Bill McKibben, Mary Pipher, Herman Daly, Vicki Robin, and William McDonough—write about how we might change the way we live. Looking at issues as diverse as consumerism, overwork, lack of spirituality, loss of community, alienation from nature, and unsustainable development, the authors dissect the problems plaguing our society and offer practical advice about how to change the way we live.
This anthology comes out of the work of the Center for a New American Dream, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping Americans change the way they consume to improve quality.
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
William McDonough, Michael Braungart
FROM THE PUBLISHER
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 so as well.
Cities in the Wilderness: A New Vision of Land Use in America
Bruce E. Babbitt
FROM THE PUBLISHER
In this brilliant, gracefully written, and important new book, former Secretary of the Interior and Governor of Arizona Bruce Babbitt brings fresh thought to questions of how we can build a future we want to live in. We've all experienced America's changing natural landscape as the integrity of our forests, seacoasts, and river valleys succumbs to strip malls, new roads, and subdivisions. Too often, we assume that when land is developed it is forever lost to the natural world--or hope that a patchwork of local conservation strategies can somehow hold up against further large-scale development. In Cities in the Wilderness, Bruce Babbitt makes the case for why we need a national vision of land use. We may have a space program, he points out, but here at home we don't have an open-space policy that can balance the needs for human settlement and community with those for preservation of the natural world upon which life depends. Yet such a balance, the author demonstrates, is as remarkably achievable as it is necessary. This is no call for developing a new federal bureaucracy; Babbitt shows instead how much can be--and has been--done by making thoughtful and beneficial use of laws and institutions already in place. Babbitt draws on his extensive experience to take us behind the scenes negotiating the Florida Everglades restoration project, the largest ever authorized by Congress. In California, we discover how the Endangered Species Act has been employed to restore regional habitat. In the Midwest, we see how new World Trade Organization regulations might be used to help restore Iowa's farmlands and rivers. As a key architect of many environmental success stories, Babbitt reveals how broad restoration projects have thrived through federal-state partnerships and how their principles can be extended to other parts of the country. In this inspiring and informative book, Babbitt offers a vision of land use as grand as the country's natural heritage.
Real Goods Solar Living SourceBook: The Complete Guide to Renewable Energy Technologies and Sustainable Living
John Schaeffer (Editor)
FROM THE PUBLISHER
This is the book that gives you the how, when, what, and why of solar living. The Real Goods Solar Living Sourcebook is now in its Twelfth Edition, with more than half a million books sold since 1982. Fully updated with brand new sections on finding land, natural building, and sustainable transportation, this book will be your most important tool in turning your dream of energy independence into a delightful daily reality. Inside you will find essential information on creating a self-reliant lifestyle.
Eco-Economy: Building an Economy for the Earth
FROM THE PUBLISHER
In 1543, Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus challenged the view that the Sun revolved around the Earth, arguing instead that the Earth revolved around the Sun. His paper led to a revolution in thinking -- to a new worldview. Eco-Economy discusses the need today for a similar shift in our worldview. The urgent question: Is the environment part of the economy or the economy part of the environment? Lester Brown argues the latter, pointing out that treating the environment as part of the economy has produced an economy that is destroying its natural support systems.
Brown notes that if China were to have a car in every garage, American style, it would need 80 million barrels of oil a day -- more than the world currently produces. If paper consumption per person in China were to reach the U.S. level, China would need more paper than the world produces. There go the world's forests. If the fossil fuel-based, automobile-centered, throwaway economic model will not work for China, it will not work for the other 3 billion people in the developing world -- and it will not work for the rest of the world.
But Brown is optimistic as he describes how to restructure the global economy to make it compatible with the earth's ecosystem so that economic progress can continue. In the new economy, wind farms replace coal mines, hydrogen-powered fuel cells replace internal combustion engines, and cities are designed for people, not cars. Glimpses of the new economy can be seen in the wind farms of Denmark, the solar rooftops of Japan, the bicycle network of the Netherlands, and the reforested mountains of South Korea.
Eco-Economy is a road map of how to get from here to there.
State of the World 2005: Global Security
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Tackles the pressing issue of international security and its ramifications on the health of our planet.
Since September 11, 2001, many governments have reasserted the centrality of traditional, military-focused security. Yet the aftermath of the ensuing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq underlines once more that lasting security is not found in soldiers, bullets, and tanks.
"Security" concerns are only in part about violent conflict, a worst-case outcome that results from a broad range of underlying vulnerabilities. Worldwatch offers a broader perspective on these issues by reaffirming the importance of other, less-publicized threats to global stability and security: the complex interactions between environmental degradation, poverty, and inequity; growing human populations; and the international proliferation of deadly weapons. Emphasizing the opportunities for creating a less vulnerable, more secure world, State of the World 2005 addresses a broad range of needed reforms, including those related to governance, economics, ethics, and education.
With easy-to-read charts and tables, this volume presents a view of our changing world that we, and our leaders, cannot afford to ignore.
Author Biography: The Worldwatch Institute is a Washington, DC-based nonprofit research and publishing organization dedicated to fostering the evolution of an environmentally sustainable society.
GAIA: A New Look at Life on Earth
James Lovelock, J. E. Lovelock
FROM THE PUBLISHER
The Gaia hypothesis, first put forth in the mid-1960s, and published in book form in 1975, explores the idea that the life of earth functions as a single organism which actually defines and maintains conditions necessary for its survival. Disclaiming the conventional belief that living matter reacts passively in the face of threats to its existence, Lovelock argues that the earth's living matter - air, ocean, and land surfaces - forms a complex system which has the capacity to keep our planet a fit place for life. Now reissued with an updated preface which discusses how Lovelock's predictions have already begun to hold true, Gaia has dramatically altered the way scientists view evolution and the environment.
Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water
FROM THE PUBLISHER
The story of the American West is the story of a relentless quest for a precious resource: water. It is a tale of rivers diverted and dammed, of political corruption and intrigue, of billion-dollar battles over water rights, of ecologic and economic disaster. In Cadillac Desert Marc Reisner writes of the earliest settlers, lured by the promise of paradise, and of the ruthless tactics employed by Los Angeles politicians and business interests to ensure the city's growth. He documents the bitter rivalry between two government giants, the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in the competition to transform the West.
Based on more than a decade of research, Cadillac Desert is a stunning expose and a dramatic, intriguing history of the creation of an Eden--and Eden that may be only a mirage.
Good Green Homes: Creating Better Homes for a Healthier Planet
Jennifer Roberts, Linda Svendsen (Photographer)
SYNOPSIS
Green. It conjures images of a meadow in spring for some, and the color of money for others. What does "green" have to do with our homes? In essence, green building-or sustainable building-means being smart about how we use energy, water, and building materials so that we can live well without needlessly damaging the environment. Creating a good green home isn't just about conservation, about using less or saving more-although that's certainly part of it. It's about creating better homes that are easier on the environment, less expensive over the long term, and more delightful to come home to. That's the message Jennifer Roberts wants to share in Good Green Homes, the ultimate new guide for people who want to live in comfortable, healthy, environmentally conscious homes.
With some simple steps outlined in this book, you can save money, and do your part to help save the environment. For instance, using an energy-efficient light bulb saves you money. It also results in less demand for electricity, which in turn results in less pollution from power plants, which may help a child with asthma breathe a little easier.
If you associate green-built housing with the unconventional or the quirky-tree houses, geodesic domes, dwellings constructed of tires or soda bottles-think again. Perfect for homeowners, remodelers, renters (who might be surprised by how much is within their power to change), architects, builders, and interior designers, this book lays out seven fundamental principles of green building, illustrated with more than 150 color and 20 black and white photographs of more than twenty-five homes.
AUTHOR BIO:Jennifer Roberts launched two retail stores in San Francisco specializing in environmentally sensible consumer products, including household goods; and is a freelance writer and editor on topics that include energy-efficient building design and systems.