Books on Sustainability
Welcome back to Way to Zero Waste, in this post we bring you four ideal books to inform you about the context of the sustainability of the planet and all the essential aspects that this entails.
The Green New Deal - Jeremy Rifkin
Jeremy Rifkin, New York Times bestselling author, visionary of major economic trends and policy advisor to several governments, proposes in his new book a practical and urgent plan for moving away from the fossil fuel economy and tackling climate change.
The key sectors that make up the infrastructure of the global economy are rapidly decoupling from fossil fuels and turning to solar and wind energy. The market is already signaling such a shift, and every government will have to follow the market or face the consequences. Governments that lead the way in scaling up new zero-carbon green infrastructure and creating new business opportunities, and the jobs that go with them, will stay ahead of the curve. The rest will be doomed.
Rifkin starts us on a journey of change, alternatives and progress; where he reviews all the key aspects, with a Western view, on the green transition from an economic and political perspective.
Rifkin warns us that:
"how we adapt to the new planetary reality before us will determine our future fate as a species." "Living off Carboniferous fossil fuel deposits for more than two centuries has given us the false sense of an unlimited future where everything was possible at a very low price."
The Green New Deal Global is a key reading to understand that the situation we live in is going to require a major collective effort of recovery, and that this recovery comes in the form of a more sustainable model than the current model of production and consumption.
How to Avoid Climate Disaster - Bill Gates
In this book, Gates lays out a comprehensive, functional and affordable plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero and avert an environmental catastrophe in time.
Bill Gates has spent a decade researching climate change. With guidance from experts in physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science and finance, in 'Avoiding Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Already Have and the Breakthroughs We Need' (Plaza &Janés) he focuses on determining what steps we must take to stop the planet's race toward irreversible environmental disaster.
There are two numbers related to climate change that are worth knowing. The first is 51 billion. The second is zero. Fifty-one billion is the approximate number of tons of greenhouse gases that the world puts into the atmosphere each year. Although the figure may increase or decrease slightly from year to year, it generally tends to grow. This is the situation today. Zero is the amount to which we should aspire. With this reflection Gates presents us with some of the challenges we face and against which he is fighting together with his wife in their foundation: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
We recommend the documentary series about his foundation available on Netflix (Watch).
"When it comes to climate change, the poor have the most to lose".
Some of the other reflections Gates sets out in his book are as follows:
We have never made a transition like the one we will have to make in the next 30 years.
Renewables like wind and solar can help us decarbonize electricity, but that's less than 30% of total emissions. We need to focus on steel production, cement, transportation systems, fertilizer production and much, much more.
The change has to start with governments. At the moment, the economic system does not calculate the real cost of fossil fuel use.
A large investment by governments in research and development is needed to allow the market for new products and technologies to grow, thus helping to lower prices.
The young generation has a "moral conviction" that they must participate in bringing about environmental change.
The World Without Us - Alan Weisman
What would happen on Earth if humans disappeared? This book rigorously answers this fascinating question and explains how our huge infrastructures would collapse; how long it would take for major cities to reforest and African plains to recover the splendor of their fauna; why some of the oldest constructions could be the last to disappear and which of our objects would be immortalized as fossils.
Indestructible plastic particles, domestic cats that become successful predators, urban pests - such as rats or cockroaches - that become extinct and bronze statues that survive for millennia are just some of the
elements that the reader will find in this exciting journey through a
world as familiar as it is strange.
"Without us, the Earth will remain and endure; without it, however, we could not even exist."
A fascinating journey through an earth without humans. A hymn to the regenerative power of nature.
Zero Waste Home- Bea Johnson
Zero Waste at Home, by Bea Johnson, is an original, creative book, applicable from simplicity to our daily life. The hegemonic structuring of consumption is accompanied by the generation of waste that, in most cases, could be avoided.
Zero Waste at Home provides us with ideas, tools and habits to avoid and dispense with waste at home. Let's apply the first of the five R's: reduction.
"Since I have been practicing Zero Waste, my life and my family's life has changed for the better. We are happy and feel that we lead a more meaningful life based on experiences, rather than things. Now, my goal is to share these benefits in health, time and finances."
Who is Bea Johnson?
Bea Johnson has been living with her family without generating any waste since 2008. She started with a blog, telling her experience eliminating plastic from her life and ended up being a speaker, writer and consultant to help as many people as possible understand that this lifestyle is the one we must adopt if we want to curb the waste problem.
In her book she narrates her experience in reducing her waste until it is almost completely eliminated and the solutions she has found to the obstacles that have arisen throughout the process. In Zero Waste at Home you will find a lot of tips and tricks to reduce your waste and your environmental footprint.
His book has been a bestseller and it is not for less because it leaves no one indifferent. Zero Waste at Home has been translated into 10 languages and is revolutionizing the way we relate to the material.
Join the fight!