Sustainability Books You'll Want to Read

A couple of years ago, after publishing Neville William?s fascinating article on his experience as founder of the Solar Electric Light Company (SELCO) – which sells solar PV systems in the developing world – I had the pleasure to meet him in person. His story was so inspiring that I encouraged him to write a book about it and to my surprise, he did!

Released October 12, Chasing The Sun: Solar Adventures Around the World, chronicles Neville’s 15-year odyssey which resulted in bringing solar electricity to 50,000 families in the developing world.

Williams tells the story of the “maverick” devotees who believed fervently in solar power from the “beginning” and what they went through to get it where it is today.

Says Ross Gelbspan, author of “The Heat Is On” and “Boiling Point,” “Chasing the Sun is a maddeningly frustrating and extremely inspiring diary of the 15-year effort by Neville Williams and his colleagues to provide solar energy to rural areas of the developing world. The book chronicles the mindless obstructionism of the development establishment, misguided competition from a multinational oil giant and the reflexive skepticism of conventional investment bankers. But the saving grace of this meticulously detailed odyssey is the thrilling enthusiasm of poor farmersvand their families in south Asia whose lives have been forever transformed by the gift of low-cost and unlimited energy.”

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Also published by New Society Publishers is a book authored by Andres Edwards, The Sustainability Revolution: Portrait of a Paradigm Shift – must reading for anyone who wants to understand the roots and development of our field. It traces its history, how it emerged, its core philosophies and tools.

It covers government and international institutions; corporate; forestry, farming and fisheries; architecture and ecological design; and biodiversity conservation. www.sustainabilityrevolution.com

Edwards is the founder of EduTracks, which creates educational exhibits for parks, towns and companies on green building and sustainability.

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In Megatrends and Megatrends 2000, both number-one bestsellers, authors John Naisbitt and Patricia Aburdene predicted the shift from an industrial to an informational economy, which is today a trillion dollar sector. Now in Megatrends 2010, Aburdene says the next wave to transform business and society is the demise of Business as Usual and the birth of Conscious Capitalism.

Meet the people and companies that are already living this next great vision for free enterprise firms like Timberland, Wainwright Bank, and Chiquita Brands. The quest for spirituality is today’s greatest megatrend; others are values-driven consumers; the wave of conscious solutions; and the socially responsible investment (SRI) boom.

In the latter chapter, Aburdene surveys the field of SRI investing and highlights our very own SB20, The World’s Top Sustainable Stocks.

Read an interview with Aburdene in Christian Science Monitor and visit these websites to learn more: www.patriciaaburdene.com and www.megatrends2010.com

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Speaking of SRI, Steve Lydenberg, one of the pioneers in the field, has released his fourth book, Corporations and the Public Interest: Guiding the Invisible Hand. Steve is Chief Investment Officer for Domini Social Investments. He asserts that corporations need to be rewarded for taking on their proper role – creating long-term value for all stakeholders. He describes tools that can be used to encourage corporations to act in the public interest, such as making data on social/ environmental performance widely available.

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The Natural Advantage of Nations: Business Opportunities, Innovation and Governance in the 21^st Century
On the 4th of April 2005, former Australian Governor General Sir Ninian Stephen launched The Natural Advantage of Nations to a full house of business, government and civil society leaders at the “National Business Leader’s Forum for Sustainable Development’ in Melbourne, Australia.

Collated and edited by a group of Australian engineers and scientists from a group called The Natural Edge Project, this book brings together leaders from business, government, academia and NGO’s to demonstrate how it is possible and profitable to achieve sustainable development in our lifetimes.

Its 30 authors show how the pursuit of sustainable development can lead to higher business as usual economic growth, increased employment, whilst solving our social and environmental problems. It provides a remarkable synthesis of the latest from the fields of sustainability, economics, innovation, business and governance.

The book directs the reader to the most significant day to day practice of sustainable development by business, government, civil society, universities, research and development organizations from around the world.

See more on the book at www.thenaturaladvantage.info
Learn about the Natural Edge Project: www.naturaledgeproject.net

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About Time: Speed, Society, People and the Environment

In a new book published by Greenleaf Publishing, Jonathon Porritt, chair of the UK Sustainable Development Commission, discusses the perils of life in our consumer-frenzied fast-lane society.

It is the speed with which human numbers have grown over the past 250 years that lies at the heart of today’s ecological crisis, he says. Speed is also the devil behind present day society’s view of progress
– the faster you can do something, the better it must be.

Eat faster, get the news faster, communicate faster, date faster – life in the fast lane is the aspiration of countless millions and fuels reckless consumption. There is growing evidence this “progress” makes us stressed and miserable – there’s a better way.

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That’s all we have TIME for!