Environmental Books

[hotforest]

So I would like to learn more about what's happening to our environment nowadays but it seems like there's so much contention and dispute regarding the reliability and integrity of a lot of the popular books on the subject. Do you guys know of any decent environmental books for the scientifically uneducated or is it better to just try and learn the science and do research yourself?

[voidisyinyang]

What particular topic?

 

Yes basically -- environmental issues go beyond "rational" debate since thugs rule the world and so rational debate is just their scam cover while the use delay tactics to continue destroying the planet.

 

So then if you "win" the argument - then the thugs just resort to force - bring in the storm troopers, etc. use torture, etc.

 

Most of the books I can recommend are "dated" now - but then again they are not really dated since not much has changed.

 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Corporate-Planet-Joshua-Karliner/dp/0871564343

 

This is a great classic overview book.

 

Probably free online somewhere - he writes for the Nation I notice - so probably update articles you can just read.

 

Joshua Karliner.

[hotforest]

Thanks PFL. I was thinking just an overview type work covering things like climate change, technological progress, basic stuff on ecosystems and the impact humans have on them etc. The Karliner book looks very interesting.

[Chang]

It might be worth your while to take a look at this.

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Quest-Gaia-Book-Changes/dp/0586083650/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1375541983&sr=1-7

 

Synopsis

Man, according to the author, stands at a critical moment in his history, when he must reassess his relationship with the web of interactions that make up the total lifeform of the planet. This lifeform he calls Gaia, after the Earth-mother goddess of the Greeks, a being whose concern is solely for the survival of the planet itself. The author argues that we are now provoking the goddess' wrath by technology and the destruction of the natural balance and harmony of the Earth. In "The Quest for Gaia", the author suggests practical ways in which each one of us can change his or her way of life to halt the technological Behemoth - and live again in harmony with the lifeform of which we are a part. His book is a challenge to recapture a rewarding and sustainable future for ourselves and our planet.

Edited August 3, 2013 by Chang

[zerostao]

i am currently reading

Human Life and the Natural World: Readings in the History of Western Philosophy

[zerostao]

my recent reading of Euripedes The Bacchae

very claasic lines drawn between Pentheus (archetype for a man who would control/dominate nature )

and Dyionsus and the Bacchae (nature and forces of nature)

it certainly illustrates how using reason against mystery may lead to catastrophe

[Dagon]

I guess it sort of depends how in depth you want to get, if you want up to date, reliable and sound information I would go for the college textbooks, or even high school text books. There are a bunch of titles here you can sort through:

 

http://www.valorebooks.com/new-used-textbooks/science/environmental-science

 

Maybe your local library has some, that's probably the first place I would look.

 

You don't need too much science to understand the principles and concepts. (imo)

 

Check out your library.

Edited September 8, 2013 by Dagon