There are a variety of books available through Amazon.com that cover the various topics included under the sustainability umbrella. Many of the following books have been reviewed and recommended by Sunrise board members past and present. All can be purchased through Amazon.com by following links below. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of these books helps support Sunrise Sustainable Resources Group.
by Eliot Coleman, Kathy Bray (Illustrator), Barbara Damrosch
A valuable guide to harvesting fresh vegetables and salad ingredients year round. Coleman combines succession planting with cold-frame growing in the winter months. Includes how-tos for building simple cold-frames. He believes in simplicity ("If what I am doing in the garden seems complicated, it is probably wrong"), eating foods in the season they normally grow and growing organically.
by Joseph C. Jenkins, Tom Griffin (Illustrator)
The science and how-to of sawdust toilets. Composting human waste safely is the next step in sustainability.
Whole Earth Review:
"Finally we have a comprehensive book on recycling human excrement without chemicals, high technology or pollution." "Well-written, practical...thoroughly researched."
by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, Murray Silverstein
The authors begin with the cosmos and work their way down to the finish details of a window. Invaluable guide to designing our spaces for living comfortably, creatively, in community and privately, with nature and with ourselves.
A handbook designed for the layman which aims to present a language which people can use to express themselves in their own communities or homes, and to better communicate with each other.
by William McDonough, Michael Braungart
A manifesto for a radically different philosophy and practice of manufacture and environmentalism.
"Reduce, reuse, recycle" urge environmentalists; in other words, do more with less in order to minimize damage. As William McDonough and Michael Braungart argue in their provocative, visionary book, however, this approach perpetuates a one-way, "cradle to grave" manufacturing model that dates to the Industrial Revolution and casts off as much as 90 percent of the materials it uses as waste, much of it toxic. Why not challenge the notion that human industry must inevitably damage the natural world, they ask.
In fact, why not take nature itself as our model? A tree produces thousands of blossoms in order to create another tree, yet we do not consider its abundance wasteful but safe, beautiful, and highly effective; hence, "waste equals food" is the first principle the book sets forth. Products might be designed so that, after their useful life, they provide nourishment for something new-either as "biological nutrients" that safely re-enter the environment or as "technical nutrients" that circulate within closed-loop industrial cycles, without being "downcycled" into low-grade uses (as most "recyclables" now are).
Elaborating their principles from experience (re)designing everything from carpeting to corporate campuses, the authors make an exciting and viable case for change.
by B. C. Mollison
The word "permaculture" was coined in 1978 by Bill Mollison, an Australian ecologist, and one of his students, David Holmgren. It is a contraction of "permanent agriculture" or "permanent culture."
Permaculture is about designing ecological human habitats and food production systems. It is a land use and community building movement which strives for the harmonious integration of human dwellings, microclimate, annual and perennial plants, animals, soils, and water into stable, productive communities. The focus is not on these elements themselves, but rather on the relationships created among them by the way we place them in the landscape. This synergy is further enhanced by mimicking patterns found in nature.
A central theme in permaculture is the design of ecological landscapes that produce food. Emphasis is placed on multi-use plants, cultural practices such as sheet mulching and trellising, and the integration of animals to recycle nutrients and graze weeds.
However, permaculture entails much more than just food production. Energy-efficient buildings, waste water treatment, recycling, and land stewardship in general are other important components of permaculture.
by Stephen Facciola
Cornucopia II is a new edition of the highly regarded Cornucopia book published in 1990. It is improved in a number of ways. The new single index is easy to use and seems to be pretty adequate on species and varieties. The comments on exotic plants, in my sampling, have been enhanced. And of course the references to nursery sources have been brought up to date.
This is the most comprehensive reference book we have in this field, listing (1) about 3000 species of plants that produce human edibles, (2) available varieties of about 125 popular fruit and vegetable crops, (3) a couple of thousand plant sources, mostly nurseries, and (4) an appendix that just lists plants in categories such as chocolate substitutes, fermentation product substrates, flavorings, food wrappers, food dyes, gums, honey plants, piths, etc. The first two groups are well cross-referenced with the plant sources. The appendix provides a good starting point for a variety of possible areas of interest.
Facciola is primarily oriented to the problem of finding the best crops for feeding the human race. He gives nice descriptions of the varieties and considerably better descriptions of the food uses to which people put exotic species than other reference books. He also keeps practical considerations in mind, and features varieties that are carried by the nurseries. Many other varieties are usually around but to get them you would go a chapter meeting and find somebody who had special plants and might give you a scion. There is not room in this book for essentially any taxonomic or cultural data, and of course it is not a picture book.
I have used the first edition of Cornucopia since it came out and have found it the best source for certain kinds of information. This edition is definitely better and easier to use. Much of our work on exotic fruits has produced things that are nutritious and taste good but are not designed to be eaten out of hand like an apple. We need to look at ways of presenting fruit to the consumer that will probably involve mixing elements from several kinds of edibles into a bar or a drink or baked into a pastry or whatever. I think the availability of Cornucopia II cannot help but stimulate people to think in these directions.
Cornucopia II is a very large and heavy, perfect-bound paperback so the buyer would be advised to open at the center and flatten the pages each way, a few at a time, before starting to read at the beginning.
by Linda R. Rowledge, Russell S. Barton, Kevin S. Brady, et al
by Beth Halacy (Contributor), Dan Halacy
by Harriet Kofalk, Harriet Kolfalk, Warren Jefferson (Illustrator)
by James Kachadorian
by Tom Turner
by Martin J. Pasqualetti (Editor), Paul Gipe (Editor), Robert W. Righter (Editor)
by Paul Gipe
by Ken Butti
by Bruce Anderson
by Daniel M. Berman, John T. O'Connor (Contributor)
by John J. Berger, Lester C. Thurow
by Edward Mazria
by Inc. Steven Winter Associates (Editor), Michael J. Crosbie (Editor)
by John Jeavons
by Sally Jean Cunningham
by Barbara W. Ellis (Editor), Fern Marshall Bradley (Contributor), Helen Atthowe (Editor), Roger Yepsen
by Toby Hemenway, John Todd
by Art Ludwig
by Ianto Evans, Michael G. Smith, Linda Smiley, Deanne Bednar (Illustrator)
by Kiko Denzer
by Joe Dominguez, Vicki Robin
by Ferenc Mate
by Charles Long
by Helen Nearing, Scott Nearing
by Joe Dominguez, Vicki Robin
by Ferenc Mate
by Kiko Denzer
by Ianto Evans, Michael G. Smith, Linda Smiley, Deanne Bednar (Illustrator)
by Paul Lacinski, Michel Bergeron
by John Jeavons
by Sally Jean Cunningham
by Barbara W. Ellis (Editor), Fern Marshall Bradley (Contributor), Helen Atthowe (Editor), Roger Yepsen
by Deborah L. Martin (Editor), Grace Gershuny (Editor), Jerry Rodale Guide to Composting Minnich (Editor)
by Stu Campbell
by Storm Cunningham
by Amory Hu Paul/Lovins Hawken (Author)
by Brian Nattrass, Mary Altomare, Brian Naijrass
by Alan Weisman
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