Research by Subject: Sustainability in the SDSU Library: Green Team Reader's Advisories

Reader's Advisories

This curated collection for Earth Day readers offers a diverse and immersive journey into environmental awareness and activism. Get ready to learn, be inspired, and take action!

Igniting the Flame:

The Man from Clear Lake: Earth Day Founder Senator Gaylord Nelson: This engaging biography delves into the life and vision of the man who sparked Earth Day. Witness Nelson's journey from small-town Wisconsin to political powerhouse, and discover the motivations and strategies behind the pivotal event that ignited the global environmental movement.
The Genius of Earth Day: How a 1970 Teach-In Unexpectedly Made the First Green Generation: Dive deeper into the historical significance of Earth Day with this captivating chronicle. Rome unravels the magic of the first Earth Day, exploring its unexpected origins, grassroots momentum, and lasting impact on generations of environmentalists.

Expanding Horizons:

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson: This groundbreaking classic exposed the devastating consequences of pesticide use on ecosystems and human health. Carson's eloquent plea for environmental protection remains a powerful testament to the interconnectedness of nature and our wellbeing.
Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming by Paul Hawken: Embark on a solutions-oriented exploration with this data-driven guide. Hawken outlines over 100 proven technologies and practices that can dramatically reduce carbon emissions and pave the way for a sustainable future.

For Younger Eco-Warriors:

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss: This whimsical tale, with its iconic illustrations and catchy rhymes, reminds readers of the importance of protecting the environment and speaking up for those who can't.
We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom: Celebrate the courage and resilience of Indigenous communities fighting for clean water and environmental justice in this lyrical picture book.

This diverse collection offers something for everyone, from historical insights to practical solutions, heartwarming stories to creative inspiration. As you flip through the pages, may you be ignited with the spirit of Earth Day, ready to reduce your footprint, raise your voice, and celebrate our beautiful planet. Let's remember, Earth Day is just a starting point – the power to protect our environment lies in our hands, every day. Information on these books and others can be found below.

Drawdown by Paul Hawken (Editor)
ISBN: 9780143130444
Publication Date: 2017-04-18
In Drawdown, renowned environmentalist Paul Hawken has assembled a team of over 200 scholars, scientists, policymakers, business leaders and activists to illustrate the hundred most substantive solutions to combat climate change that together will not only slow down the growth of carbon emissions, but reverse them altogether. Put into action together, these solutions will mobilise society into taking the climate change conversation from problem definition to problem solving, from fear and apathy to collaboration and regeneration.
Earth Day by Clara Cella; Gail Saunders-Smith (Contribution by)
ISBN: 9781429687300
Publication Date: 2012-07-01
We live on an amazing planet. But we have to work hard to keep it clean. Let's celebrate Earth and its future on Earth Day.
Earth Day and the Environmental Movement by Christy Peterson
ISBN: 1541595823
Publication Date: 2020
A historical look at the launch of Earth Day and a look at the global environmental movement that has sprung from it.
The Genius of Earth Day by Adam Rome
ISBN: 9780809040506
Publication Date: 2013-04-16
A comprehensive and enlightening history of Earth Day 1970, one of the largest and most important political events of the twentieth centuryThe first Earth Day is the most famous little-known event in modern American history. Because we still pay ritual homage to the planet every April 22, everyone knows something about Earth Day. Some people may also know that Earth Day 1970 made the environmental movement a major force in American political life. But no one has told the whole story before.The story of the first Earth Day is inspiring; it had a power, a freshness, and a seriousness of purpose that are difficult to imagine today. Earth Day 1970 created an entire green generation. Thousands of Earth Day organizers and participants decided to devote their lives to the environmental cause. Earth Day 1970 helped to build a lasting eco-infrastructure - lobbying organizations, environmental beats at newspapers, environmental-studies programs, eco sections in bookstores, community ecology centers.
The Lorax by Seuss
ISBN: 0394823370
Publication Date: 1971-08-12
Celebrate Earth Day with Dr. Seuss and the Lorax in this classic picture book about sustainability and protecting the environment! I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. Dr. Seuss's beloved story teaches kids to treat the planet with kindness and stand up and speak up for others. Experience the beauty of the Truffula Trees and the danger of taking our earth for granted in a story that is timely, playful, and hopeful. The book's final pages teach us that just one small seed, or one small child, can make a difference. Printed on recycled paper, this book is the perfect gift for Earth Day and for any child--or child at heart--who is interested in recycling, advocacy, and the environment, or just loves nature and playing outside. Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.
The Man from Clear Lake by Bill Christofferson
ISBN: 0299196402
Publication Date: 2004-03-23
On Earth Day 1970 twenty million Americans displayed their commitment to a clean environment. It was called the largest demonstration in human history, and it permanently changed the nation's political agenda. By Earth Day 2000 participation had exploded to 500 million people in 167 countries. The seemingly simple idea--a day set aside to focus on protecting our natural environment--was the brainchild of U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin. It accomplished, far beyond his expectations, his lifelong goal of putting the environment onto the nation's and the world's political agendas. A remarkable man, Nelson ranks as one of history's leading environmentalists. He also played a major role as an early, outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War, and as a senate insider was a key player in civil rights, poverty, civil liberties and consumer protection issues. The life of Nelson, a small town boy who learned his values and progressive political principles at an early age, is woven through the political history of the twentieth century. Nelson's story intersects at times with Fighting Bob La Follette, Joe McCarthy, and Bill Proxmire in Wisconsin, and with George McGovern, Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Russell Long, Walter Mondale, John F. Kennedy, and others on the national scene. Winner, Elizabeth A. Steinberg Prize, University of Wisconsin Press
The Morning after Earth Day by Mary Graham
ISBN: 9780815732365
Publication Date: 1999-05-01
As we approach the 30th anniversary of Earth Day (the first of its kind was April 1970), congressional debate about environmental protection often remains paralyzed and polarized. But across the country, environmental pragmatism is gaining ground. The Morning after Earth Day explores how policymakers, business executives, and citizen groups are fighting novel political battles and sometimes making peace with surprising compromises. After a generation of progress in reducing large sources of industrial and municipal pollution and in improving management of public lands, today's environmental conflicts are more complex. They involve controlling pollution caused by farmers, small businesses, drivers of aging cars, and homeowners, as well as minimizing ecological threats on private land. Remedies often lie in politically treacherous territory--persuading ordinary people to change their daily routines rather than ordering big business to adopt new technology or government officials to manage land differently. As Mary Graham shows, practical approaches are resolving immediate disputes and providing clues for future policy. But core dilemmas remain. They include how to reconcile environmental protection with respect for private property, how to balance federal and state authority, and how much to rely on behavioral versus technological change. Only by reclaiming the debate about these dilemmas from extremists and confronting them head-on will the nation build a solid foundation for the next generation of environmental policy. Copublished with the Governance Institute
Practicing Sustainability by Guruprasad Madhavan (Editor); Barbara Oakley (Editor); David Green (Editor); David Koon (Editor); Penny Low (Editor)
ISBN: 9781461443483
Publication Date: 2012-10-20
Sustainability applies to everybody. But everybody applies it differently, by defining and shaping it differently--much as water is edged and shaped by its container. It is conceived in absolute terms but underpinned by a great diversity of relatively "green"--and sometimes contradictory--practices that can each make society only more or less sustainable. In Practicing Sustainability, chefs, poets, music directors, evangelical pastors, skyscraper architects, artists, filmmakers, as well as scientific leaders, entrepreneurs, educators, business executives, policy makers, and the contrarians, shed light on our understanding of sustainability and the role that each of us can play. Each contributor addresses what sustainability means, what is most appealing about the concept, and what they would like to change to improve the perception and practice of sustainability. What emerges from their essays is a wide spectrum of views that confirm an important insight: Sustainability is pursued in different ways not only due to different interpretations, but also because of varying incentives, trade-offs, and altruistic motives. Practicing and achieving sustainability starts with a willingness to look critically at the concept. It also means enabling rich and vigorous discussion based on pragmatism and common sense to determine a framework for best ideas and practices. With time and the much needed critical thinking, sustainable development will become a more integral part of our culture. By sharing experiences and crisp insights from today's savants, Practicing Sustainability serves as a stepping stone to the future.
Saving America's Wildlife by Thomas Dunlap
ISBN: 9780691006130
Publication Date: 1991-02-21
Through an account of evolving ideas about wolves and coyotes, Thomas Dunlap shows how American attitudes toward animals have changed.
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
ISBN: 9780618253050
Publication Date: 2002-10-22
Rarely does a single book alter the course of history, but Rachel Carson's Silent Spring did exactly that. The outrcry that followed its publication in 1962 forced the banning of DDT and spurred the revolutionary changes in the laws affecting our air, land, and water. Carson's passionate concern for the future of our planet reverberated powerfully throughout the world, and her eloquent book was instrumental in launching the environmental movement. I tis without question one of the landmark books of the twentieth century.
We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom; Michaela Goade (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9781250203557
Publication Date: 2020-03-17
Winner of the 2021 Caldecott Medal #1 New York Times Bestseller Inspired by the many Indigenous-led movements across North America, We Are Water Protectors issues an urgent rallying cry to safeguard the Earth's water from harm and corruption--a bold and lyrical picture book written by Carole Lindstrom and vibrantly illustrated by Michaela Goade. Water is the first medicine. It affects and connects us all . . . When a black snake threatens to destroy the Earth And poison her people's water, one young water protector Takes a stand to defend Earth's most sacred resource.

This collection, curated by Sarah Tribelhorn (Sciences Librarian), was developed to parallel the poster exhibit on the UN SDGs. It highlights some of the books in our collection speaking to sustainable development. These books, and others in this collection are important in raising awareness on these issues. By gathering diverse perspectives on crucial SDGs, this collection stimulates discussion and knowledge about these important goals. Some of these books, such as Drawdown, highlight successful initiatives and practical solutions, motivating readers to participate in achieving the SDS. Interwoven through the collection is the interconnectedness of everything, inspiring readers to consider everything holistically, and working on solutions to climate change holistically. Some of the books provide useful tools and resources, allowing those interested the ability to take action to reduce the impacts of climate change. Here are some of the SDGs that the books address:

Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs, addresses SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities, promoting vibrant, inclusive, and resilient urban spaces.
Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming by Paul Hawken, contributes to SDG 13 - Climate Action, offering solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Eliminating Human Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs: Focuses on SDG 1 - No Poverty, providing insights into eradicating extreme poverty globally.
Enough is Enough: How Big Business Plays Us Out and What We Can Do About It by John Dietz and John Nolt connects to SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities, exploring issues of economic and social injustice.
A Possible World: A Conversation About Utopia Before It's Too Late by Marianne Williamson: Touches on various SDGs, advocating for social, environmental, and economic transformation towards a more equitable future.

Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs
ISBN: 0394421590
Publication Date: 1961
A critical analysis of the urban planning policy of the 1950s, responsible for the neighborhood decline in many US cities. In this book the author advocates for dense mixed-use developments and walkable streeets.
Drawdown by Paul Hawken (Editor)
ISBN: 9780143130444
Publication Date: 2017-04-18
In Drawdown, renowned environmentalist Paul Hawken has assembled a team of over 200 scholars, scientists, policymakers, business leaders and activists to illustrate the hundred most substantive solutions to combat climate change that together will not only slow down the growth of carbon emissions, but reverse them altogether. Put into action together, these solutions will mobilise society into taking the climate change conversation from problem definition to problem solving, from fear and apathy to collaboration and regeneration.
Eliminating Human Poverty by Thomas Pogge (Series edited by); Santosh Mehrotra; Juliana Martínez Franzoni (Series edited by); Enrique Delamonica
ISBN: 1842777734
Publication Date: 2007-04-01
This book focuses on the provision of basic social services - in particular, access to education, health and water supplies - as the central building blocks of any human development strategy. The authors concentrate on how these basic social services can be financed and delivered more effectively to achieve the internationally agreed Millennium Development Goals. Their analysis, which departs from the dominant macro-economic paradigm, deploys the results of broad-ranging research they led at UNICEF and UNDP, investigating the record on basic social services of some 30 developing countries. In seeking to learn from these new data, they develop an analytical argument around two potential synergies: at the macro level, between poverty reduction, human development and economic growth, and at the micro level, between interventions to provide basic social services. Policymakers, they argue, can integrate macro-economic and social policy. Fiscal, monetary, and other macro-economic policies can be compatible with social sector requirements. They make the case that policymakers have more flexibility than is usually presented by orthodox writers and international financial institutions, and that if policymakers engaged in alternative macro-economic and growth-oriented policies, this could lead to the expansion of human capabilities and the fulfillment of human rights. This book explores some of these policy options. The book also argues that more than just additional aid is needed. Specific strategic shifts in the areas of aid policy, decentralized governance, health and education policy and the private-public mix in service provision are a prerequisite to achieve the goals of human development. The combination of governance reforms and fiscal and macro-economic policies outlined in this book can eliminate human poverty in the span of a generation.
Enough Is Enough by Rob Dietz; Daniel O'Neill
ISBN: 9781609948054
Publication Date: 2013-01-07
We're overusing the earth's finite resources, and yet excessive consumption is failing to improve our lives. In Enough Is Enough, Rob Dietz and Dan O'Neill lay out a visionary but realistic alternative to the perpetual pursuit of economic growth--an economy where the goal is not more but enough. They explore specific strategies to conserve natural resources, stabilize population, reduce inequality, fix the financial system, create jobs, and more--all with the aim of maximizing long-term well-being instead of short-term profits. Filled with fresh ideas and surprising optimism, Enough Is Enough is the primer for achieving genuine prosperity and a hopeful future for all.
The Limits to Growth: the 30-year update by Donella H. Meadows; Club of Rome Staff (Contribution by)
ISBN: 0876631650
Publication Date: 1972-01-01
This book brings data on overshoot and global ecological collapse to the present moment. It provides a short course in the World3 computer model, types of growth, and the various kinds of over-shoot likely to occur in the current century. While it remains to be seen whether public policy will respond effectively and in time to problems such as climate change, this book makes compellingly clear the vital need for a sustainability revolution.
A Possible World by Heikki Patomaki; Teivo Teivainen
ISBN: 1842774077
Publication Date: 2004-10-01
As globalization proceeds apace international law, and the scope and powers of international institutions - the United Nations, the Bretton Woods institutions, the World Trade Organization - continue to grow. If democratic values are still an aspiration of the 21st century, then their deficit at international level must be addressed. Patomaki and Teiveinen survey the range of proposals now on the table. Ruling nothing out, they emphasis feasibility. While democratic advances do not come without political mobilization, there is little point mobilizing people for the utopian and unrealizable. This informative, thought-provoking book will be of use both to students of International Relations and Political Science, and also to campaigners concerned with the existing inequitable and unaccountable international arrangements.
Principles of Sustainable Development by F. Douglas Muschett
ISBN: 1574440799
Publication Date: 1996-12-27
This book brings together the collective thinking, ecological perspectives, and experiences of individuals from air quality, land use and transportation disciplines who are working to advance and operationalize sustainable development.
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
ISBN: 9780618253050
Publication Date: 2002-10-22
Rarely does a single book alter the course of history, but Rachel Carson's Silent Spring did exactly that. The outrcry that followed its publication in 1962 forced the banning of DDT and spurred the revolutionary changes in the laws affecting our air, land, and water. Carson's passionate concern for the future of our planet reverberated powerfully throughout the world, and her eloquent book was instrumental in launching the environmental movement. I tis without question one of the landmark books of the twentieth century.
Sustainable Community Development by Marie Hoff
ISBN: 1574441299
Publication Date: 1998-03-04
The 1990s have been marked by a wide-spread awareness of the convergence of environmental, economic and social problems and issues. Many local workers have begun to recognize that severe setbacks or even collapse of their local economy is strongly related to environmental problems: either to the depletion of local resources (such as timber, fish, or minerals) or to severe pollution and degradation of the local ecosystem. This in-depth collection of case studies of urban and rural communities committed to a process of sustainable development provides a more detailed description of this dynamic process than was previously available. This provocative book demonstrates the commonalities in approach across a wide variety of environmental and cultural settings, examining an emerging consciousness from cultural, economic, social and environmental viewpoints.

Sustainability in the SDSU Library

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