Sustainability Science

Aluminum is the most abundant metal in the earth’s crust. It is also ubiquitous in the modern world, from aircraft to soda cans. A dizzying number of consumer and industrial products employ aluminum, typically alloyed, because of its availability, versatility, and malleability. Today, how efficiently we use—and reuse—aluminum is vital to addressing key environmental challenges and understanding humanity’s fraught relationship with the earth.

This pioneering audiobook by a career industry insider and 9/11 survivor spotlights why the multitrillion-dollar US-built environment is increasingly failing. His analysis exposes policies and interests that to this very day are the root causes of vulnerability. It discusses why the green movement has fallen short in addressing sustainable building development. The audiobook extracts 30 lessons for nations aiming to build a more disaster-resilient future. Guaranteed to stir building, policy, and sustainability circles, it signals a time for change.

This is not your typical sustainability book. It doesn't waste time throwing the usual suspects under the bus, blaming them for all of our problems, and leaving you feeling angry. Instead, it directly asks you to accept that there will always be people to blame for why things aren't the way you wish...and helps you become a master at dealing with them anyway!

Journey to eight states, three national parks, and three countries to experience the life-changing education and adventures that led Trent A. Romer to finding sustainability for his plastic-bag-manufacturing business and himself. 

As industry and technology proliferate in modern society, sustainability has jumped to the forefront of contemporary political and environmental discussions. The balance between progress and the Earth's ability to provide for its inhabitants grows increasingly precarious as we attempt to achieve sustainable development.

Deforestation. Desertification. Species extinction. Global warming. Growing threats to food and water. The driving issues of our times are the result of one huge problem: Us. As the population continues to grow, our problems will increase. And this means that every way we look at it, a planet of 10 billion people is likely to be a nightmare. Stephen Emmott, a scientist whose lab is at the forefront of research into complex natural systems, sounds the alarm. This is a snapshot of our planet, and our species, approaching a crisis, and a stark analysis of where this leaves us.

In this gripping historical memoir, journalist and famed redwood activist Greg King examines how investors and a growing U.S. economy drove the timber industry to cut down all but 4 percent of the original two-million-acre redwood ecosystem. King first examined redwood logging in the 1980s—as an award-winning reporter. What he found in the woods convinced him to leap the line of neutrality and become an activist dedicated to saving the very last ancient redwood groves remaining in private hands.

Setting out from her classroom, Jessica Lander takes the listener on a powerful and urgent journey to understand what it takes for immigrant students to become Americans. A compelling listen for everyone who cares about America’s future, Making Americans brims with innovative ideas for educators and policy makers across the country.

Trees are storehouses of the complex origins and histories of city growth, coming as they do from different parts of the world, brought in by various local and colonial rulers. From the tree planted by Sarojini Naidu at Dehradun's clock tower to those planted by Sher Shah Suri and Jahangir on Grand Trunk Road, trees in India have served, above all, as memory keepers. They are our roots: Their trunks our pillars, their bark our texture, and their branches our shade. Trees are nature's own museums.

In The Peacemakers, author Bruce Jentleson shows how key figures in the previous century rewrote the zero-sum and transactional scripts they were handed and successfully prevented conflict, advanced human rights, and promoted global sustainability. Covering a broad range of historical examples, from Yitzhak Rabin's efforts for Arab-Israeli peace to Dag Hammarskjöld's effectiveness as secretary-general of the United Nations and Mahatma Gandhi's pioneering use of nonviolence as a political tool, Jentleson argues that individuals can shape policy.

A healthy Earth requires healthy children. Yet nearly one-fourth of the world’s children are stunted physically and mentally due to a lack of food or nutrients. During the past 30 years, says Sharman Russell, we have seen a revolution in how we treat these sick children and in how - with a new understanding of the human body and approach to nutrition, and new ways to reach out to hungry mothers and babies - we have gone from unwittingly killing severely malnourished children to bringing them back to health through the “miracle” of ready-to-eat therapeutic food.

In China's Next Act, Scott M. Moore re-envisions China's role in the world, with a focus on sustainability and technology. Moore argues that these increasingly pressing, shared global challenges are reshaping China's economy and foreign policy, and consequently, cannot be tackled without China.

How serious are the threats to our environment? Here is one measure of the problem: if we continue to do exactly what we are doing, with no growth in the human population or the world economy, the world in the latter part of this century will be unfit to live in. Of course human activities are not holding at current levels—they are accelerating, dramatically—and so, too, is the pace of climate disruption, biotic impoverishment, and toxification.

Inspired by Nathaniel Rich’s Losing Earth: A Recent History, the acclaimed book that grew out of an August 2018 issue of the New York Times Magazine solely dedicated to it, Saving Earth tells the human story of the climate-change conversation from the recent past into the present day. It wrestles with the long shadow of our failures, what might be ahead for today’s generation, and crucial questions of how we understand the world we live in—and how we can work together to change the outlook for the better.

How to Love Animals is a lively and important portrait of our evolving relationship with animals, and how we can share our planet fairly. Mance works in a slaughterhouse and on a pig farm to explore the reality of eating meat and dairy. He explores our dilemmas over hunting wild animals, over-fishing the seas, visiting zoos, and saving wild spaces. What might happen if we extended the love we show to our pets to other sentient beings?

Soccer moms drive Priuses. Sport utility vehicles are going hybrid. Families are using hemp shopping bags. More and more companies are developing "green" buildings. What's more, the business consultants say going green is easy and profitable. In reality, though, many green-leaning businesses, families, and governments are still fiddling with the small stuff while the planet burns. Why?

For decades, immigrants have flocked to the United States of America, inspired by its spirit of freedom and equal opportunity. However, many fail to consider the barriers they may have to face when looking for entrepreneurial avenues. Financial Literacy for Immigrant Entrepreneurs is grounded in research, taking its roots from the state of financial literacy in immigrants of African descent in the United States. It lays out the financial system, which hurdles one might encounter, and possible resources that may aid immigrants during their quest for upward social mobility.

Australia resident Ephraim Osaghae has taken the lid off several hot migration topics in his books. Migration and Family is one of his best works. Few matters in life go deep, wide, and have a lasting impact like family. Ignoring what happens to the family unit means treating symptoms without removing the source of illness or cutting the branches without touching the roots.