books

Serena’s cautionary tale

On Oct. 18, 1929, just days before the stock market crash, Thomas Wolfe published his monumental novel, Look Homeward, Angel, unveiling the machinations behind small town life in western North Carolina. It took Wolfe several years to return to his Asheville hometown, and when he finally took his first glimpse of the Blue Ridge in […]

Food should be controlled by farmers, not corporations

Food is an important part of most Holiday celebrations, not just because we need food to live, but food connects us to our culture, our past, and whether we know it or not, our future. Food Is Different: Why the WTO Should Get Out of Agriculture is a great book by Peter Rosset — one […]

Umbra on e-books

Dear Umbra, I have noticed that digital book readers have started to enter the market and wonder if they are more ecologically sound than conventional books. I am interested in buying one but suspect that they are full of metals that damage the environment in their production. Also, they would use up energy when in […]

A review of The Big Necessity

Great non-fiction writing is like great fiction writing: It produces books that are hard to put down, that give you insight into yourself and others, and that change the way you look at the world. A young woman named Rose George has produced a great work of reporting and, for my money, has likely produced […]

Northwest bookstore goes solar, gets compared to candy

Photo: Thomas Hawk Hearing the news that Oregon darling Powell’s Books is getting a crapload of solar panels is akin to learning that Santa recycles or Mother Teresa loved to compost. Yep, Powell’s — especially the block-long location in downtown Portland with color-coded rooms — is that beloved. Construction has already started on a 100-kilowatt […]

Simon, Random at odds over green’s role

A piece in ye olde New York Times today looks at a new line from Simon & Schuster called Little Green Books. Aimed at kiddos, the series promises to “get kids excited about going green!” Whether a book about the journey of a plastic bottle will titillate tots remains to be seen, but check out […]

A review of Joel Makower’s Strategies for the Green Economy

If there were an M.B.A. school for green executives, Joel Makower undoubtedly would be its dean, historian, and booster-in-chief. Joel Makower. During a 20-year career, Makower has chronicled the rise of the green movement in corporate America through books, hundreds of stories, and countless speeches. Along the way, he has carved out a mini green […]

Tom Friedman on The Daily Show

Mustache Q&A

There’s an interesting Q&A with Tom Friedman up on Huffington Post. Check it out. DB: I was just reading the chapter in your book titled "205 Ways To Save The Earth." Do you ever wish that "green" hadn’t become stylish? TF: Yes and no. When something becomes a fad, it has an upside and a […]