Recommended reading
The Winning of the Carbon War
By Jeremy Leggett
Paperback: £9.99
Published February 2016
The fifth book from campaigner and solar power entrepreneur Jeremy Leggett has been described by one reviewer as a “House of Cards for energy and climate politics”. It is a highly personal take on the politics surrounding issues such as the carbon bubble, fracking, oil prices and the renewable energy revolution. Leggett, a former geologist who is drawing a pension from Shell, explains why the fossil fuel industry is living on borrowed time, and talks about the mega-trends that will lead to its downfall. Since last March Leggett has been publishing a chapter a month on his website in the build-up to the Paris climate talks in December 2015, with the final chapter posted in February. All proceeds go to Leggett’s charity, SolarAid.
Transformational Resilience
By Bob Doppelt
Hardcover: 368 pages, £75
ISBN: 9781783535262
Publisher: Greenleaf, Published February 2016
US social systems change expert Bob Doppelt argues that climate change adaptation has to go beyond infrastructure to helping people learn the skills they will need to overcome growing adversity from the planet’s warming. The book describes how climate disruption damages psychological, emotional and social wellbeing, then outlines the tools and methodologies that can be used at all levels of society to develop resilience.
Sustainable Champions: How international companies are changing the face of China
By Fu Jia, Jonathan Gosling and Morgen Witzel
Hardcover: 233 pages, £74.95
ISBN: 9781783531615
Publisher: Greenleaf, Published October 2015
China is a huge challenge for multinational companies, which are having to innovate rapidly in the face of strong competition and a dynamic market. This book, from a trio of University of Exeter academics, argues that sustainability is a key benchmark, and outlines how nine leading companies, including Nestlé, HP, Tetra Pak and Sony, have transformed their practices, looking at what impact this shift towards sustainability is having on their businesses in China and beyond.
Half-Earth: Our planet’s fight for life
By Edward O Wilson
Hardcover: 272 pages, £16.99
ISBN 1631490826
Publisher: Liverlight, published April 2016
Half-Earth completes the trilogy by Harvard evolutionary theorist and Pulitzer-winning author Edward O Wilson charting human beings and our place in the biosphere. The title refers to Wilson’s ambitious proposal to set aside half the planet’s surface – as much as can be seen from space – and preserve it for the 10 million other species that inhabit our planet. He argues that this rather drastic solution is the only solution to our impending sixth mass extinction event. In this important book, Wilson challenges the contention by some that humans can survive alone through some geo-engineered bubble, arguing that the planet does not belong to us.
The World Guide to Sustainable Enterprise, volumes 1-4
By Wayne Visser
Paperback set: £105. Also sold separately
ISBN: 9871783535644
Publisher: Greenleaf, published January 2016
This four-volume set from the South African corporate social responsibility guru Wayne Visser is a globe-girdling compendium of sustainable business, with each volume covering a separate region: Africa and the Middle East (volume 1), Asia Pacific (volume 2), Europe (volume 3) and the Americas (volume 4). In each region Visser explores all the important social and environmental issues and government policies affecting sustainable business ventures, and each book is packed with case studies. Among the companies featured in volume one is a sugarcane producer in Uganda that is using bagasse waste fibre to produce renewable energy; Riso Africa, which makes solar-powered printers; and B-Fit, a women-only fitness club in Turkey that has 239 franchises throughout the Middle East.
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