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Books to Make You Think
...read and reviewed by David Radcliff...
- Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet by Michael Klare (2008)
- The Bridge at the End of the World by James Speth (2008)
- The Upside of Down by Thomas Homer-Dixon (2007)
- Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (2007)
- Getting a Grip: Clarity, Creativity and Courage in World Gone Mad by Frances Moore Lappe (2007)
- Fugitive Denim by Rachel Louise Snyder (2007)
- The White Man's Burden by William Easterly (2007)
- Over a Barrel: the cost of US foreign oil dependence by John Duffield
- Earth Under Fire by Gary Braasch (2007)
- Blessed Unrest by Paul Hawken (2007)
- Deep Economy: the wealth of communities and the durable future by Bill McKibben (2007)
- The Future of Life by E. O. Wilson (2002)
- Christianity and the Making of the Modern Family by Rosemary Radford Reuther (2000)
- Consumed, by Benjamin Barber (2007)
- The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community, by David Korten (2007)
- Thin Ice, by Mark Bowen (2005)
- Why Entrepreneurs Should Eat Bananas by Simon Tupman (2006)
- State of the World's Children 2007 by UNICEF
- The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices by Union of Concerned Scientists (Three Rivers Press, 1999)
- Applebee's America by Sosnik and Dowd (2006)
- The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs (2005)
- Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment by James Speth (2004)
- State of the World 2004: Consumption by World Watch Institute
- The Way We Eat: Why our Food Choices Matter by Singer and Mason (2006)
- Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond (reprinted 2005)
- The Long Emergency: Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-first Century by James Howard Kunstler
- Crude: The Story of Oil by Sonia Shah (2006)
...read and reviewed by friends of NCP...
- Women Empowered by Phil Borges (reviewed by Elizabeth Keller)
- Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan (reviewed by Todd Steele)
- A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah (reviewed by Elizabeth Keller)
Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet by Michael Klare (2008)
This is the latest offering from one of the most insightful analysts of national and global security issues. In this book, Klare is essentially warning of the impending energy crisis, both related to climate change and to the increasing scarcity of petroleum, and of how both will likely escalate into political and/or military crises. He tells the sordid tale of the unholy alliances the United States has historically entered into to secure access to petroleum, and reveals the dynamics of the current global energy market—who has it, who needs it, the deals being cut to access it, and what the consequences of this arrangement may be. Klare also makes a compelling case for US/Chinese cooperation on things like carbon sequestration for coal-powered power plants to mitigate global warming, since both nations will continue to rely heavily on this dirtiest of fuels. He also makes a strong pitch for a rapid and massive move toward renewable energy sources as a key part of not only securing energy, but securing peace as well.
"Oil will cease to be primarily a traded commodity, but instead the preeminent strategic resource on the planet — with power struggles over energy being the defining characteristic of the new century."
Blessed Unrest, by Paul Hawken (2007)
If you're looking for some encouragement, here's a good read for you. Hawken is a long-time participant in and observer of what is becoming one of the most important realities of our time--the rising up of networks of people concerned enough about the way things are that they're organizing to do something about it. He doesn't particularly like the word "movement" to describe this phenomenon (since movements tend to coalesce around single issues and charismatic leaders), and notes that these groups are not always well-connected to each other or to mainstream media, but nonetheless have the potential for temendous impact on the world. Hawken initially figured there were 100,000 such organizations--now he believes he was off by at least a factor of 10!
According to Hawken's analysis, this movement of movements (to quote Naomi Klein) tends to focus on three areas: care for the environment, social justice and indigenous voices. (I couldn't help but note that these are three core program areas for NCP!). And it is on this planet-wide organic response to the troubles of our times that Hawken pins his hopes for the future.
"If you look at the science that describes what is happening on earth today and aren't pessimistic, you don't have the correct data. If you meet the people in this unnamed movement and aren't optimistic, you don't have a heart."
The Bridge at the End of the World by James Speth (2008)
As Homer-Dixon below, Speth (a one-time science advisor for the Carter Administration)sees us heading for catastrophe in the way we're over-using and over-polluting the earth. He attributes this to an economic system based on little more than constant growth, which in turns requires ever more extraction from the earth; weak or nonexistent government leadership; and an environmental movement that has been less "movement" and more an insider operation that down deep believes a) the government can and will eventually do the right thing and b) there won't be need for drastic redirection of our economic and political systems or serious change in our way of living.
Speth calls for a rediscovery of the true meaning of life (relationships, service, enjoyment of leisure, etc.)--and orienting our economic pursuits around this; a new form of participatory democracy that takes back our country from the corporate-led government we currently "enjoy;" ending over $850 billion in annual global subsidies for "perverse" practices such as overfishing the seas; developing an economic model that incorporates environmental care, human rights and worker well-being at its core; and international treaties with "teeth" to enforce environmental protection of critical habitats and endangered species and ecosystems.
This is a depressing book in that it clearly lays out the challenges facing us; it is hopeful in that it does provide a "bridge" to get us from this world to the next. It's up to us to build it and then be ready to walk over it.
"When the crisis occurs, the actions taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, and to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable."
The Upside of Down by Thomas Homer-Dixon (2006)
If this book were in the Bible, it would be a part of the apocalyptic literature as it has an "end times" tone. But as with Revelation or Daniel, the point here is not to predict an inevitable future or ascribe what's coming to some Divine Plan, but to encourage us to be ready when facing the end of the world as we know it.
Homer-Dixon relates our current condition to that of the Roman Empire at its pinnacle--over-extended and subject to seismic shifts that could and would eventually bring it tumbling down. For Rome, central to the problem was an overextended energy supply chain (the energy being grain--Rome needed an external area the size of France to provide for the motherland). The stressors were enviromental problems, unrest of the populace, loss of local economies to agribusiness (yes, even back then!), outside "terrorist" forces, inside bureaucracy and over-complexity. Any of this sound familiar?
The author makes the point that all complex systems eventually tend to "re-set." Panarchy Theory notes that forests, for instance, go through growth, collapse, regeneration and growth. The trick is to be prepared for the crisis that accompanies such collapse, so that the moment can be maximized rather than bringing catastrophe. To do so, we need to quickly move away from a "growth imperative"--which is cauising much of our problem--to a "resilience imperative." He calls for resilience to be fostered by reducing the force of underlying tectonic stressors (reducing poverty, seeking environmental sustainability, for instance), cultivating readiness for surprises, boosting the resilience of the food system, and making preparations to use breakdown to society's advantage.
"Perhaps before we've exhausted nature and ourselves in a futile attempt to produce meaning from material things, we'll reconsider our values and recognize we can choose another path into the future." And maybe then we can say (with REM): "it's the end of the world as we know it...and I feel fine..."
Deep Economy: the wealth of communities and the durable future, by Bill McKibben (2007)
McKibben in fast becoming the favorite son of faith-based environmental writers. He knows his facts, but also has an ear to the ground to sense the pulses in local communities, both in his home state of Vermont but also around the globe.
In this book, McKibben calls US consumers to look a little deeper (looking beyond excessive consumption for real satisfaction from life), a little smaller (community-based solutions to our problems) and a little closer to home (supporting local economies) as keys to getting us out of the environmental and spiritual mess we're in. He's quite critical of Big Agriculture and Big Business and prevailing economic models, but not of farming and commerce per se. Along with useful statistics, he offers many examples of real communities making real changes to make their lives more managable, their economic choices more just, and the planet a little healthier.
"It's our greatest challenge--the only real question of our time--to see whether we can transform our current economies enough to prevent some damage and to help us cope with what we can't prevent. To see if we can manage to mobilize the wealth of our communities to make the transition tolerable, even sweet, instead of tragic."
Christianity and the Making of the Modern Family, by Rosemary Radford Reuther (2000)
This leading Christian feminist does a very good job tracing the roots--or lack thereof--of the contemporary concept of family. Turns out there never really was a "good ole days," as models of the family have changed considerably over the years. She examines families in Judaism and the Greco-Roman world, then reminds us the way in which the Jesus Movement challenged concepts of family--along with all other human institutions. Reuther follows gender roles, the teachings (and practice) of the church in relation to marriage and family, and societal family arrangements on up through the time of the early church, the Middle Ages, and recent history. She challenges the idea of God-ordained male domination of families, and calls for love, justice and equality to reign.
On Christianity's radical beginnings: "The Jesus Movement was a gathering of mostly marginalized women and men out of families and occupations into a countercultural community."
The Future of Life by E. O. Wilson (2002)
The noted Harvard biologist reveals the complexity of life on earth with a special focus on biodiversity and the magnificent interrelatedness of the ecosystem--and how we still have so much to learn (who would have thought 60 or so new species of flowering plants are discovered in North America annually!). Wilson highlights the impact of human activity (our species appropriates 40 percent of the planet's organic matter produced by plants), catergorizing the primary threats posed by humans under the acronym HIPPO: Habitat destruction, Invasive species, Pollution, Population, and Overharvesting. An insightful and often poetic analysis of the state of the planet, and what we can do to preserve its beauty and integrity.
If we don't change our ways and stop emptying the planet of its biodiversity: "The most memorable heritage of the 21st Century will be the age of loneliness that lies before humanity."
Consumed, by Benjamin Barber (2007)
Our consumer culture is actively working to infantalize adults--molding them into self-absorbed "children" who seek constant gratification, while giving children (from four years on) adult-like powers of consumer decision-making (including global marketing to children in an effort to create one signal globalized consumer market--easier than trying to reach adults, who sometimes are too attached to deeply rooted cultural values to readily submit). The tools of this process include: ubiquity (everywhere); omnipresence (all the time); omni-legitimacy (legitimating cultural structures to overcome opposition to religion, civil involvement, culture or other forces that might challenge consumerism); fast over slow; simple over complex; self-replicating (franchising); addictiveness (obliterate rival interests).
Take note: "Religion may be the one sector with the most potential for resistance from the outside to the infantalist ethos and its consumer culture."
The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community, by David Korten (2007)
If you're going to read one book to get a new perspective on why we have such deeply-embedded problems ecologically and economically--and what it will take to shift our thinking and actions--read this one. I took 14 pages of notes--what can I say... On the one hand, we have the Empire model, characterized by material excess for the ruling class, denying the feminine principle of collaboration and life-affirmation, and worshipping male gods that demand, exclude and rule through anointed representatives. Empire has held sway for more or less the past 5,000 years. Often it has had the religious institutions on its side. Today it is expressed as corporate-led economic globalization that:
- seeks a world-wide market without restrictions or borders
- increases the power of the most powerful players to become even more powerful
- forces communities and the environment to pay the price
- honors the dominating principle of death and violence
- seeks material sufficiency for all
- encourages balance of feminine and masculine principles, honoring love and life
- nurtures full potential of human nature
- worships a god that is an intrinsic omnipresent spirit beyond gender and essentially giving
Korten strongly believes Earth Community is poised to make a come-back, thanks to the tireless efforts of grassroots communities and movements, and the intrinsic truth of its precepts.
According to Korten, the kind of people who rise to leadership in the Empire model see self-interest as the primary good; refuse to take responsibility for their actions or admit errors; craft moral arguments suited to the morals of the people they are trying to persuade; and "so believe their own lies that they are able to lie with great sincerity." Sound familiar?
Thin Ice, by Mark Bowen (2005)
This book was named Best Science Book of 2005 by National Public Radio's Living on Earth. In it, Bowen, a physicist and mountain climber, travels with Lonnie Thompson, the pioneer of high-altitude ice core drilling, from the Andean Altiplano to Tibetan ice sheets to Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya and more. Their mission: to look back in history (via the ice cores) to discover how changes in the earth's atmosphere led to changes in the earth's climate. A side-note: as Thompson returns to mountaintop glaciers he's visited before, he has to hike farther-they're rapidly disappearing.
Thin Ice reads like a cross between a science text book, political thriller, and adventure narrative. In the course of the book, Bowen makes a strong research-based case for the reality of human-induced climate change and the importance of taking action to head it off.
Take note: Every known glacier in the tropics is retreating.
Why Entrepreneurs Should Eat Bananas by Simon Tupman (2006)
Thinking about starting your own business-or faith-based shoestring nonprofit organization? This book offers 101 hints for succeeding, from recognizing that people are looking for someone who is a specialist in their field (and will pay for this) to the value of sometimes giving something away as a way of building loyalty or beginning a relationship (like the owner of the new Italian restaurant on Long Island sending over a free appetizer to our table of eight environmental entrepreneurs on our one-meal-out during a recent retreat) to seeing "personality" as the top quality you're looking for in new hires (only then moving on to skills, knowledge and experience) to marketing in a way that differentiates, not just describes, and that shows how what you have/are will benefit the customer/constituent.
This is a quick read, and if you come away with just one good idea for your endeavor, it was worth the trip to the library to pick it up.
Key learning for NCP director: Organize your space!
State of the World's Children 2007 by UNICEF
These annual reports by this UN agency are basic reading for anyone wanting an unbiased assessment of the well-being of the world's children. A couple of stats to whet your interest: 115 million primary-age children aren't in school around the world; under-five mortality of children falls by half when mothers have a primary education; women do 75% of the world's agricultural work, but only own 10% of the world's land; the Millennium Development Goals for women could be achieved by an additional $20 billion a year rising to $73 billion a year by 2015-coincidentally just about the exact amount the US would be contributing toward aid for the world's poor if we were paying what the UN recommends (we currently contribute just $15 billion). Enough said?
You can read the whole report as a pdf at the UNICEF website.
Good grief: One in sixteen women in sub-Saharan Africa will die of complications during pregnancy and childbirth. That's 250 times the rate as industrialized countries.
The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices by Union of Concerned Scientists (Three Rivers Press, 1999)
A practical myth-debunking guide to making good choices for the earth. Looks behind products to see their real impact; has easy to grasp stats; does a lot with diet (surprisingly big role in our overall enviro impact), including giving comparisons of various foods (meat, pasta, soy) for their true enviro costs; and encourages us to deal with the large issues (water impacts of beef consumption) rather than smaller ones (cutting off the water while brushing). This is one of the books that finally got me off beef completely.
The Union of Concerned Scientists is generally considered a progressive group-out in front on the nuclear issue some years back, and now with enviro research. One thing's for sure-they can't be accused of "bad science"!
One piece of key advice: Living near work is the most important transportation-related environmental decision a U.S. consumer can make.
The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs (2005)
With a foreword by U2's Bono, this book comes with good references. Sachs is a highly-regarded expert on the global economy and more recently on global poverty, having been a main figure in the development of the Millennium Development Goals. Even with a bit much self-congratulation in these pages, Sachs very helpfully lays out the challenges facing the world's poor, and the role of the rest of us in helping these billions of neighbors escape poverty's grasp. He's especially hard on rich-world governments for their stinginess. (He may not do enough to challenge the rest of us on our over-consumptive lifestyles.) His analogy of poverty like a sickness of the human body-where the doctor needs to look at the interrelated systems to find a cure-is a helpful one in showing the broader view we must take in addressing poverty.
A key stat: 8 million people in the world die every year because they are poor.
State of the World 2004: Consumption by World Watch Institute
This special edition of the annual State of the World report focused on the "root of all enviro evil"-our over-consumption. Great job chronicling the massive U.S. consumption habit, right down to how many plastic bags we each toss per day (one). Every year's edition of State of the World is worth the read.
Telling statistic: if we'd cut our beef consumption in half by 2030, we'd save an amount of water equal to the flow of 14 Colorado Rivers.
Applebee's America by Sosnik and Dowd (2006)
This book, co-written by folks on the opposite side of the political spectrum, shows us why some commercial enterprises (like Applebee's Restaurants), religious groups (mega churches) and political campaigns (Clinton's and Bush's) are successful, and why figuring out what " America " is looking for is a critical part of their success.
Among the findings: most of us are turning for guidance in important issues to trusted people around us rather than to media figures, corporate or political types, or even clergy; people today are making choices more by their heart than by their head; and we're using technology to link rather than to isolate (contrary to many predictions that technology would further isolate us). Helpful reading for anyone trying to connect with "the masses."
It-didn't-take-a-rocket-scientist observation: people today are looking for community and authenticity, tired of being manipulated.
The Way We Eat: Why our Food Choices Matter by Singer and Mason (2006)
After reading this book, the next time I went to the store I spent 12 precious minutes stymied in front of the egg case, trying to decide between "free range" eggs-laid by hens allowed to scratch around, establish pecking orders and maybe even tend chicks-vs. "prison eggs"-laid by hens in the solitary confinement of small metal cages. "Precious" minutes because I was on my bike and the light was fading fast; "stymied" because the eggs of the liberated hens were twice the price.
The authors trace the origins and production conditions of foods eaten by four U.S. families, ranging from meat and potatoes diet to vegan/local/organic. They provide loads of insight into the trail (of tears, often) taken by these various foods to get to our tables. The book also is unrelenting in doing its enviro calculations, even when the numbers seem counter-intuitive; e.g. "local is always best." Turns out for San Franciscans, it's more environmentally sound to buy rice shipped from Bangladesh than from the San Joaquin Valley of California, due to the enviro impact of irrigation and chemicals used in growing the U.S. crop. The authors take us on visits to confined and free-to-root hog farms and "prison" and free-range chicken operations-after these tours, you'll know why the caged chicken doesn't sing..
Feather-ruffling stat: recommended living space for a broiler chicken in a confinement operation-8.5 x 11 inches.
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond (reprinted 2005)
When the residents of Easter Island ran out of forest animals, dolphins and then rats, they turned to the one remaining source of fresh meat.
Of course the question is: why did they run out of those other things? Diamond looks at failed civilizations (and the few long-term success stories) to see what factors determine a society's fate. While most declines have to do with environmental overreach, why don't people notice things are going wrong and change their ways? Included in the list of reasons they don't: leaders isolated from the problems confronting common people; failure to learn from the natives; sticking with practices that worked well for a while, but then began to be detrimental.
Frighteningly prescient concerning our predicament today-and we've got the whole world in our hands-not just an island somewhere.
Something to think about from this book: Failing societies often wasted precious resources trying to persuade the gods to bail them out (most gods worth their salt won't fall for that.).
Might as well pick up Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel while you're at it-fascinating study of why Europeans ended up invading and conquering other groups, and not the other way around..and it had nothing to do with smarts or religion.
The Long Emergency: Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-first Century by James Howard Kunstler
It's not going to be pretty when the oil runs out-and takes suburbia and cheap imported products with it. Kunstler takes a hard look at what's coming down the pike-and what it will take for us to make it through. He even rates parts of the country for how he expects them to react to the coming shortages-and isn't kind to my home region of the south (too many individualists, evangelicals, and rifles in pick-up truck windows).
Light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel from this book: Kunstler concludes by calling for a "religion of hope"-challenging us to muster faith in ourselves and in our resurrected local communities as a way of surviving with civility. In the process, he says, we may even find lives more to our liking.
Crude: The Story of Oil by Sonia Shah (2006)
A very readable-and unflattering-history of the petroleum industry by an Asian-American feminist. She notes that in most countries with oil deposits, this fact has typically exacerbated the gap between the rich and poor-rather than having brought wide-spread prosperity. Also a good introduction to the process-and eco-impact-of oil extraction and production.
Shah says: One-sixth of the global economy is dedicated to harvesting oil.
Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment by James Speth (2004)
One of the best treatments of the threats posed by human meddling with the ecosystem, including the impact of global warming. His book is set in the context of the position humanity finds itself for the first time in history-able to dominate the entire planet. This new status calls for new sets of values and new forms of thinking-but can we pull it off? He calls on individuals and grass-roots groups to take the lead.
Speth quote:"Human society is in a radically new ethical position because it is now at the planetary controls."
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver (2007)
What was the Oxford Dictionary's 2007 Word of the Year? Although my spell-check is saying that it's not a word, that would be “locavore,” or someone who strives to eat only foods produced within a certain geographic radius of where they live. People are increasingly making this choice due to: More accountability for how one's food is raised (if the farmer is polluting the stream, the neighbors will know about it), less environmental impact (since the average food item travels 1500 miles to our table), support for local small-scale farmers, and a more direct connection to the land by the consumer, especially when one is raising a good portion of one's own food.
Barbara Kingsolver's family moves from arid Arizona —where everything from water to residents is piped in—to southwest Virginia , which as we all know (especially those of us born there) is about as close to heaven as earth gets. There they restore an old homestead and set about raising as much of their food as they can in their garden and in their hen house, purchasing from local farmers what they can't or don't produce themselves. In the interest of family harmony, they allow one exception per family member (coffee makes the cut). An interesting feature of the book is that the teenage daughter provides regular commentary throughout.
AVM is mostly engaging narrative of the daily challenges and blessings of a self-sustaining lifestyle, but also includes pithy commentary on the dependence of our agriculture system on fossil fuels (400 gallons per person per year—17% of our energy consumption); biodiversity (we now eat less than 1% of the varieties of plants eaten through human history); junk food (one-third of the average US'er's calories); and small v. large farming (smaller farms produce over three times as much produce dollar-wise per acre as larger farms).
“Eaters must understand, how we eat determines how our world is used.”
Getting a Grip: Clarity, Creativity and Courage in World Gone Mad by Frances Moore Lappe (2007)
Lappe, best-known for her Diet for a Small Planet some 30 years back, is at it again—helping us see what we're doing to ourselves and how we can find a better way forward. This book is principally a challenge to our consumer economy, and the impact of this way of life on three fronts: what it's doing to us (spiritual/emotional), to the planet (environmental), and to our neighbors (justice).
Lappe really knows her stuff, and brings information into play in a useful way. For instance, while reminding us that the tax rate for the richest one-tenth of one percent of US'ers has gone down by half (yes, 50%!) since 1970, at the other end of the spectrum, poverty costs our society some $500 billion a year in added health costs, crime, and lost economic output.
Beyond lots of good stats, she gets at the deeper meanings of what we're doing to our world, and suggests ways to be and bring change. Keys are decentralization, separating money from politics, taking responsibility (“you made it, it's your responsibility” to manufacturers of our throw-away economy), and redefining power as something shared by all and enhanced in relationships rather than by wealth or status. And she notes that “believing is seeing” for humans: once we begin to believe in another reality, we can begin to see it taking shape.
“Our solutions need spontaneous inventiveness and widespread behavioral changes—and both need the grassroots.”
Earth Under Fire by Gary Braasch (2007)
Did you know they've moved the lighthouse on Cape Hatteras 2800 feet back from the shore due to rising sea levels? Me neither, but this is one of a myriad of telling tales Braasch brings into play to sound the alarm about global warming. He literally circled the globe—east to west and north to south—to gather information and photos for this book. He then combines these with easy-to-read narrative in a large-format work to tell the tale of a changing world.
Braasch's research is meticulous, and he goes out of his way to note dissenting views, but the conclusions are crisp and clear as a warming Arctic winter day—the planet is getting hotter and this can only mean trouble. If you have time to read one book on the current reality and looming consequences of global warming, this is it.
Stand-by mode of electronic gadgets consumes 6 percent of US electricity—one coal-fired electrical generation plant produces as much CO2 as 1.5 million cars—coal power plant pollutants kill 24,000-30,000 US citizens every year—and 10 times that many Chinese.
Fugitive Denim by Rachel Louise Snyder (2007)
So what did happen to the Aral Sea …? Turns out it was drained to irrigate cotton, according to Rachel Snyder's wide-ranging investigation into the “seamier” side of this ubiquitous but far from pure fiber.
In tracing the history and current incarnations of denim production (ultimately derived from cotton), Snyder examines the environmental (cotton occupies 3 percent of the world's agricultural land, but uses 25 percent of the world's pesticides), economic (the US provides over $260 million in subsidies to US cotton farmers—completely illegal according to the World Trade Organization) and human consequences of this important global crop (in India, there were 17,000 suicides by farmers in 2003, mostly in cotton-growing regions; the cost of pesticides and GM seeds create debts that overwhelm them—they often kill themselves by ingesting the cotton pesticides).
By the end of the book, you'll realize that the “pure and natural” aura that surrounds cotton is a total myth—and also how hard it is to escape the reach of this versatile if demanding crop, found in everything from pipes to feed to celluloid to, of course, the shirt on your back…
“I believe great people have no nationality; only little people fight over borders.” Visif Iruizou, cotton broker from Bilasuvar, Azerbajan. “We had Russian imperialism, now we have American. What's the difference?”
The White Man's Burden by William Easterly (2007)
What are the tangible gains from $2.3 trillion in aid given by rich countries to poorer countries since 1950? Not nearly enough, according to William Easterly in this unsparing critique of western aid programs. While the world is divided between the ‘have's' and the ‘have-not's' (the 3 billion people living on less than $2 a day), there is also a great divide in the way aid is or should be offered to the world's poor.
On the one hand, Easterly exposes the problems inherent in the Big Plans of donor nations and agencies (he is particularly hard on Jeffrey Sachs and his “449 interventions”—see Sachs' book above). These groups are typically: full of good intentions, but without motivation; they raise expectations without taking real responsibility for results; they are the ones determining what is needed, ready to apply global blueprints to local problems; and in summary, the donors already know the answers to the problems of our neighbors—without asking for their input.
Contrary to the style of the Planners is that of the Searchers. This method takes responsibility for outcomes; seeks to discover what is needed according to local conditions; discerns the reality of the situation of those being assisted; engages in assessment and follow-up; admits lack of knowledge and turns to local people for guidance; and recognizes the complexity of solutions, and the importance of taking into consideration the mix of political, social, environmental, and historical factors that can make or break a development initiative.
Investing in individuals rather than governments—and seeking their counsel and then their feedback—is the best way to make progress in addressing the problems of the world's poor.
Over a Barrel: the cost of US foreign oil dependence by John Duffield
If you want to get the bottom of US dependence on petroleum, here's your book. Duffield does a wonderful job scoping out all the ways petroleum courses through our economy, infects our politics, and drains our personal and national treasury. He considers us a gluttonous and inefficient consumer of the black stuff (which we are), while providing a country-by-country analysis of the price we and they (think Iran under the Shah) have paid for our addiction.
This is a thorough and understandable treatment of the key geo-political, environmental and economic reality of our time—dependence on petroleum.
Bottom line? Not counting the war in Iraq , we spend $30-50 billion a year securing the flow of oil from the Middle East . Add in Iraq , and that's about a $50 per barrel surcharge on each of the 7 billion barrels of oil we consume annually.
...reviews by friends of NCP...
Omnivore's Dilemma: a natural history of four meals by Michael Pollan (2006)
In The Omnivore's Dilemma the author examines the American food culture and industry, and to a degree, the human species' history of food. As the subtitle reflects, Pollan tells the story in the context of four meals: an organic dinner with ingredients purchased at his local Whole Foods Market (or "Whole Paycheck" as some know it); a lunch from McDonalds with his wife and son; dinner from a sustainable-practice farm in Virginia; and finally, a meal hunted and gathered by the author near his northern California home.
Pollan describes the insidious presence of corn in one form or another in nearly everything we consume. A spectrographic analysis of his family's McDonald's lunch reveals that some 60 percent of it has its origins in corn - from the sweetener in the soft drinks to the binders in the McNuggets and the unnatural diet of corn fed to the cattle ground into the hamburger, plus other more obscure derivatives of corn in ingredients unseen by the consumer. Pollan also tracks the cradle-to-plate path of a calf he purchases in the Dakotas to its corn-fed life and death at a western Kansas confined animal feeding operation (CAFO - an acronym that should encourage vegetarians and deeply disturb the rest of us).
Throughout the book Pollan carefully researches and reveals the cost of his - and our - food choices. Cost is measured in direct consumer prices, irrational federal farm subsidies and environmental impact both locally and globally. Just as important, he examines how those choices affect us on a more personal level: nutritional value and health, the effort required to produce a meal and, significantly, taste - the pleasure of consumption.
The details provided in The Omnivore's Dilemma are important and fascinating, well worth the reader's (or listener's) time and attention. Not to give away too much, the book left me with two significant conclusions: 1. Organic is good. 2. Locally produced food raised by sustainable methods is better.
-Reviewed by Todd Steele, Fort Wayne, IN
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah (2007)
"I have never been so afraid to go anywhere in my life as I was that day. Even the scuttle of a lizard frightened my being. Tears had begun to form in my eyes, but I struggled to hide them and gripped my gun for comfort." At just thirteen years old, Ishmael Beah prepared for his first day of active duty as a boy soldier - a day in which he would successfully kill a man, a day in which he would return to the "pot"-pungent village with two dead friends to bury. In his book A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Ishmael paints a portrait of war that none of us should ever know. From singing rap music and performing talent shows - to smoking marijuana and slitting throats - this truly gentle boy races from village to village, starving, yet surviving, searching for his family, escaping his foe . . . all along the way, stumbling between child and savage, fear and hope. In reading his powerful story, you will meet the incredible mind and strength of this now 26 year-old man, who inadvertently invites each of us to discover the immensity and possibility of our own spirit. It's a dynamic resource for youth and young adults - in particular, asking the question, "Where is God in Ishmael's story?" Check it out!
- Reviewed by Elizabeth Keller, Richmond, IN
Women Empowered by Phil Borges
If you merely flip through its pages, this book appears to be just another devastating tale of the overwhelming travesties in our world. Ahh, but if you dare to look deeper - into the eyes, cheeks, hands, and stories of these extraordinary women, then you will be humbled by what they have overcome - and how they have transformed individual, familial, and communal lives - along with the life of Mother earth. Cover to cover, photographer Phil Borges gives justice to these women by sharing their stories through honest accounts and telling portraits. As a woman I resonated with the words of Christy Turlington Burns, entrepreneur and author, "For any woman who has struggled with her own feminine identity, there is nothing more reassuring or rewarding than recognizing yourself in the life of another woman, despite the cultural differences and disparities in individual challenges that may exist."
I was particularly moved with how much this book gives beautiful affirmation to the work strived -- and succeeded -- through New Community Project (especially the photographs and narratives shared by David Radcliff). This book is powerful and poignant - instantly, it took me back to our NCP Learning Tour to Nepal, where we worked alongside a grassroots organization, Women Empowerment, where we visited the villages of Godavari and Rithepani, where we were welcomed and worshiped guests, where we listened intently to the quivering stories of Monita, Prajani, Arati, Dipti, Gyany and Ishma, where we gained strength from their strength, where we were challenged by our own ceaseless comforts and plentiful privileges, where language was transcended through smiles, laughter, and tears, and where we drank and danced their culture and customs - and empowerment. This book continues to bring alive the stories of struggling, challenged, yet powerful women everywhere.
This book is provocative - instantly, it made me weep - giving further force to a movement that must be deeply felt, loudly heard, and boldly manifested. In the words of Madleine Albright in the Forward, "This is a book about hope, based on reality. It rests on the premise that the ancient enemies of human progress - poverty, ignorance, and disease - can be defeated, or at least forced to retreat, through the empowerment of women and girls."
- Reviewed by Elizabeth Keller, Richmond, IN
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New
Community Project
Following Christ toward a new community of justice, peace and respect for God's earth 718 Wilder Street Elgin, IL 60123 888-800-2985-toll free David Radcliff, Director; Kim Chaffin, Care for Creation Specialist; Lutricia Zerfing, Website Manager; Dennis Kingery, Treasurer; Barb Holtz and Debra Illes, NCP-Cleveland; Heidi Gross, Administrative Assistant; Carolyn Trier, Database Manager ncp@newcommunityproject.org Non profit web hosting services by ThinkHost
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