A quote found while visiting the beach, “In this fleeting moment what extravagant respite as booming surf speaks its mystical passage across the undreamed depths.” Laguna Beach, Calif., 2016.
Journalist Susan Freinkel tells the story of familiar plastic objects—plastic grocery bags, soda bottles, credit cards, among others—to make a persuasive argument that we have reached a crisis point. It’s a good read that brings awareness to the plastic that is almost always within arm’s reach and offers solutions that can put us on a better path to a more sustainable future.
Pulitzer prize winner Edward Humes tells the story of Americans and their trash. More trash, he explains, is produced by Americans than any other people on the planet—102 tons over a lifetime—and it doesn’t magically go away. He follows the journey of the disposable goods that fill landfills and pollute oceans, and offers a better strategy to move from efforts solely focused on managing waste to simply wasting less.
Annie Leonard brings her insight of 20 years of investigating the materials economy to this book about how all the stuff in our lives affects communities around the world. It’s a compelling read that offers inspiration to change the way we make, use, and throw away the consumer goods we use every day.
Architect William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart tackle the one-way cradle-to-grave manufacturing model that creates such enormous amounts of waste and pollution with a fresh approach. Their vision is to design products from the outset so that, after their useful life, they can provide nourishment for something new. They show how anyone involved in making anything can do just that.
Archeologist William Rathje, former director of the Garbage Project at the University of Arizona and a pioneer in the study of modern refuse as a scientific discipline, helps set the record straight on common garbage myths and offers practical methods for dealing with the garbage we generate.
