books

An interview with author and nutritionist Marion Nestle

The contents of your dog’s bowl — kibble, kibble, more kibble — may not look that interesting, but to nutritionist Marion Nestle, they’re nothing less than a microcosm of the global food system. In her new book Pet Food Politics: The Chihuahua in the Coal Mine, Nestle (pronounced NES-uhl, no relation to the multinational) investigates […]

Physics For Future Presidents twists facts on electric vehicles and nuclear blasts

The following post is by Earl Killian, guest blogger at Climate Progress. —– Part 1 of this book review looked at the (mis)handling of climate science in two books by Professor Richard A. Muller — his textbook and general public book, which, confusingly, are both named Physics for Future Presidents. Here I turn to portions […]

Physics For Future Presidents fails to deliver sound climate science

The following post is by Earl Killian, guest blogger at Climate Progress. —– We all bemoan the low level of scientific discourse in politics. So one might have high hopes for a course, textbook, and book for the general public all titled Physics For Future Presidents as resources that might help educate today’s students and […]

Tom Friedman talks up the need for an ‘energy revolution’ on ‘Meet the Press’

New York Times columnist and author Thomas Friedman was on “Meet the Press” yesterday, discussing the need for an “energy revolution.” The appearance coincided with publication of his new book, Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution — and How It Can Renew America. Said Friedman, “What we need today is an […]

Grist talks to the authors of a parody hailing the end of Bush’s reign

Many people are familiar with the children’s book Goodnight Moon. They might not be familiar with Goodnight Bush, the unauthorized parody hailing the coming end of the Bush presidency. In it, authors Erich Origen and Gan Golan, both of California, ponder the many things the Bush administration’s rule could have said “goodnight” to. “Good night […]

Why Paul Roberts’ End of Food deserves to be digested

In the Middle East, water-poor nations are using petrol profits to buy farmland in economically depressed countries like Pakistan and Sudan. China, with its own farmland under pressure from development and pollution, is using some of its vast export income to snap up land in Africa and Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, Brazil — the globe’s emerging […]

Using the power of business for people and planet

There are two critiques of Blessed Unrest, Paul Hawken's book on the enormous scope of the worldwide grassroots movements for change, that I'm interested in, one being the notion that the fact that there are millions of grassroots groups at work all over the world providing basic services, fighting for justice, and improving the lot of the planet is not necessarily something to celebrate. Rather, it signifies the failure of modern society to pursue the common good. Fair enough, but that's our reality at the moment.

The other critique I've heard is that Hawken celebrates the contributions of the nonprofit and grassroots movements for change to the exclusion of for-profits also doing good.

Eric Roston on Colbert

Eric Roston, author of The Carbon Age: How Life’s Core Element Has Become Civilization’s Greatest Threat, tells Stephen Colbert all about his favorite element:

Author Claire Hope Cummings dishes the dirt on genetically modified food

One of the most encouraging things about the sustainable-food movement is how effortlessly it crosses traditional political-party, religious, ethnic, and other lines. The right to good, clean, and fair food, to borrow Slow Food‘s shorthand, seems to unite people who’d never otherwise find themselves chatting at the same party: Home schoolers and dreadlocked hippies, libertarian […]