Education for Sustainability Book List
June 1, 2008
Wynn Calder
Looking for good reads in the area of environmental sustainability? Check out the list below, organized into three sections: general, curriculum, and campus operations; climate change; and for K-12 students. General, Curriculum, and Campus Operations Barlett, Peggy F., and Geoffrey W. Chase (Eds.). Sustainability on Campus: Stories and Strategies for Change. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2004. [General] Bigelow, Bill, and Bob Peterson. 2002. Rethinking Globalization: Teaching for Justice in an Unjust World. Wisconsin: Rethinking Schools Press. [Curriculum] Brown, Lester R. Plan B: Rescuing a Planet under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble. Cohen, Joel E. 1995. How Many People Can the Earth Support?, New York: W.W. Norton. [General] Diamond, Jared. Collapse. Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel. Edwards, Andres. 2005. The Sustainability Revolution, Gabriola Island, B.C., Canada: New Society Publishers. [General] Fear, Frank A., Cheryl L. Rosaen, Richard J. Bawden and Pennie G. Foster-Fishman. 2006. Coming to Critical Engagement: An Autoethnographic Exploration, Lanham, MD: University Press of America. [General] Federico, Carmela M., Jaimie P. Cloud, Jack Byrne, and Keith Wheeler, “Kindergarten Through Twelth-Grade,” in Stumbling Toward Sustainability, John C. Dernbach, Ed., Environmental Law Institute: Washington, DC, 2002. [General] Gardner, John W. 1963. Self-Renewal: The Individual and the Innovative Society, New York: W.W. Norton. [General] Hawken, Paul. The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability. Jacobs, Jane. 2004. Dark Age Ahead, New York: Vintage. [General] Jucker, Rolf. 2002. Our Common Illiteracy: Education as if the Earth and People Mattered. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. [General] Heinberg, Richard. The Party’s Over. Korten, David. The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community. Kunstler, James Howard. 1993. The Geography of Nowhere. Kunstler, James Howard. 2006. The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century. Kurlansky, Mark. Cod. Leggett, Jeremy. The Carbon War. Leopold, Aldo. A Sand County Almanac. Lovins, Amory, L. Hunter Lovins, Paul Hawken. Natural Capitalism. Lyons, Kevin. 2000. Buying for the Future: Contract Management and the Environmental Challenge. Sterling, VA: Pluto Press. [Operations] McDonough, William and Braungart, Michael. Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. McKibben, Bill. 2007. Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future. New York: Times Books. [General] Meadows, Donella H. 1991. The Global Citizen, Washington, D.C.: Island Press. [General – A bit outdated on some of the data, but way ahead of the pack on much of the conceptual thinking and the effort to link knowledge to action.] Merkel, Jim. Radical Simplicity. Milbrath, Lester W. 1996. Learning to Think Environmentally: While There is Still Time. Ithaca, NY: State University of New York Press. [General] Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. 2003. Ecosystems and Human Well-Being, Washington, D.C.: Island Press. [General] Moore-Lappe, Frances and Anna. Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet. Orr, David. 1994. Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect. Washington, DC: Island Press. [General] Orr, David. 1992. Ecological Literacy: Education and the Transition to a Postmodern World. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. [Curriculum] Orr, David. 2004. Last Refuge: Corruption of Patriotism in the Age of Terror, Washington, DC: Island Press. [General] Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Porritt, Jonathan. Capitalism as if the World Matters. Senge, Peter, Nelda Cambron-McCabe, Timothy Lucas, Bryan Smith, Janis Dutton and Art Kleiner. 2000. Schools That Learn: A Fifth Discipline Fieldbook for Educators, Parents, and Everyone Who Cares About Education, New York: Currency/Doubleday. [Curriculum] Owens, Derek. Composition and Sustainability: Teaching for a Threatened Generation. Urbana, IL: National Council Teachers of English, 2001. [Curriculum] Rappaport, Ann and Creighton, Sarah Hammond. 2007. Degrees That Matter: Climate Change and the University. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. [Operations] Smith, Gregory A.; Williams, Dilafruz R. (Eds.) 1999. Ecological Education in Action: On Weaving Education, Culture, and the Environment. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. [Curriculum] Uhl, Chris. 2003. Developing Ecological Consciousness: Path to a Sustainable World. Rowman and Littlefield. [General] Wessels, Tom. 2006. The Myth of Progress: Toward a Sustainable Future. New Hampshire: University of Vermont Press. [General] Wheeler, Benjamin, Gina Wheeler, and Wendy Church. 2005. It’s All Connected: A Comprehensive Guide to Global Issues and Sustainable Solutions. Facing the Future: People and the Planet, Seattle, WA. [Curriculum] Articles Online Climate Change Bowen, Mark, 2005, Thin Ice: Unlocking the Secrets of Climate in the World's Highest Mountains, Henry Holt and Co., New York, 463 pp. [This book is very readable and describes the extraordinary efforts of Lonnie Thompson and his team gathering ice cores form the mountain glaciers of the world.] David, Laurie, 2006, The Solution Is You: An Activist’s Guide, Fulcrum Publishing, Golden, CO., 70 pp. [A practical handbook listing things you can do and resources you can use to get involved.] Emmanuel, Kerry, 2007, What We Know About Climate Change, MIT Press. Flannery, Tim, 2005, The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth. Grove Press, New York, 359 pages. [This book is the call to action from down under.] Gelbspan, Ross, 2005, Boiling Point. Gelbspan, Ross, The Heat Is On. Gore, Al, 2006, An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It, Rodale Press, Emmaus, PA. Henson, Robert, 2006, The Rough Guide to Climate Change, the Symptoms, the Science, the Solutions, Rough Guides Ltd., 341 pp. [This is one of best layperson’s guide to climate change.] Kolbert, Elizabeth, 2006, Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature and Climate Change, Bloomsbury, New York, 225 pp. Malnor, Carol L., 2008, How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate: Lessons, Resources, and Guidelines for Teaching About Global Warming, Dawn Publications. Ruddiman, William F., Earth's Climate, Past, Present and Future. 2002. Freeman and Co., 465 pp. [This is one of the best introductory text books on climate change. Has excellent illustrations and explanations of climate processes designed for the non-specialist.] Steinman, David, 2007, Safe Trip to Eden: Ten Steps to Save Planet Earth from the Global Warming Meltdown, Thunder's Mouth press, New York, 510 pp., [In-depth practical steps one can take.] Weart, Spencer R. 2003. The Discovery of Global Warming, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA., 228 pp. [A very readable review of how we know what we know.] For K-12 Students Nonfiction Abbey, Edward. Desert Solitaire or Fire on the Mountain. Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Nature and Selected Essays. Goodall, Jane. Reason for Hope. Gore, Al. An Inconvenient Truth: the Crisis of Global Warming, adapted for “A New Generation” from the original, 2007. Leopold, Aldo. A Sand County Almanac. McDonough, William and Braungart, Michael. Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. Moore-Lappe, Frances and Anna. Hope’s Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet. Outwater, Alice. Water: A Natural History. Schor, Juliet B. and Betsy Taylor. Sustainable Planet, Solutions for the XXIst Century. Schlosser, E. and C. Wilson. Chew on This. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2006. Suzuki, David and Dressel, Holly. Good News for a Change: How Everyday People Are Helping the Planet. Thoreau, Henry David. On Walden Pond. The Maine Woods. Weisman, Alan. Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World. Wessels, Tom. The Myth of Progress: Toward a Sustainable Future. Williams, Terry Tempest. Refuge. Wilson, E. O. The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth. Wright, Ronald. A Short History of Progress.
Fiction Abbey, Edward. The Monkey Wrench Gang. Atwood, Margaret. Oryx and Crake. Callenbach, Ernest. Ecotopia. Hiaasen, Carl. Flush. Hoot. Jewett, Sarah Orne. The Country of the Pointed Firs. Kingsolver, Barbara. Prodigal Summer. Kingsolver, Barbara. The Poisonwood Bible. Kingsolver, Barbara. Animal Dreams. Matthiessen, Peter. At Play in the Fields of the Lord. Quinn, Daniel. Ishmael. Theroux, Paul. The Mosquito Coast.
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