Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable FutureAuthor: Bill McKibbon
Publisher: Holt Rinehart and Winston
Published: March 1, 2008 paperback
isbn: 978080508722
This is the book we recommend first as a wonderful introduction to how important our local economies are.
Description
"Masterfully crafted, deeply thoughtful and mind-expanding.""--Los Angeles Times" In this powerful and provocative manifesto, Bill McKibben offers the biggest challenge in a generation to the prevailing view of our economy. "Deep Economy "makes the compelling case for moving beyond "growth" as the paramount economic ideal and pursuing prosperity in a more local direction, with regions producing more of their own food, generating more of their own energy, and even creating more of their own culture and entertainment. Our purchases need not be at odds with the things we truly value, McKibben argues, and the more we nurture the essential humanity of our economy, the more we will recapture our own.
Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent Businesses
Author: Stacy Mitchell
Publisher: Beacon Press
Published: October 2007 paperback
isbn: 9780807035016
On locally owned, independent business
Description
An expert's in-depth exploration of the enormous impact of mega-retailers--and what communities and independent businesses can do. Large retail chains have become the most powerful corporations in America and are rapidly transforming our economy, communities, and landscape. In this deft and revealing book, Stacy Mitchell illustrates how mega-retailers are fueling many of our most pressing problems, from the shrinking middle class to rising water pollution and diminished civic engagement. Mitchell's investigation takes us from the suburbs of Cleveland to a fruit farm in California, the stockroom of an Oregon Wal-Mart, and a Pennsylvania town's Main Street. She uncovers the shocking role government policy has played in the expansion of mega-retailers and builds a compelling case that communities composed of many small businesses are healthier and more prosperous than those dominated by large chains. More than a critique, The Big-Box Swindle draws on real life to show how some communities are successfully countering the spread of mega-retailers and rebuilding their local economies. Mitchell describes innovative approaches--from cutting-edge land-use policies to small-business initiatives--that together provide a detailed road map to a more prosperous and sustainable future.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
Author: Barbara Kingsolver
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Published: May 2008 paperback
isbn: 9780060852566
On local foods
Description
Author Barbara Kingsolver and her family abandoned the industrial-food pipeline to live a rural life--vowing that, for one year, they'd only buy food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it. Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" is an enthralling narrative that will open your eyes in a hundred new ways to an old truth: You are what you eat.
"Masterfully crafted, deeply thoughtful and mind-expanding.""--Los Angeles Times" In this powerful and provocative manifesto, Bill McKibben offers the biggest challenge in a generation to the prevailing view of our economy. "Deep Economy "makes the compelling case for moving beyond "growth" as the paramount economic ideal and pursuing prosperity in a more local direction, with regions producing more of their own food, generating more of their own energy, and even creating more of their own culture and entertainment. Our purchases need not be at odds with the things we truly value, McKibben argues, and the more we nurture the essential humanity of our economy, the more we will recapture our own.
Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent BusinessesAuthor: Stacy Mitchell
Publisher: Beacon Press
Published: October 2007 paperback
isbn: 9780807035016
On locally owned, independent business
Description
An expert's in-depth exploration of the enormous impact of mega-retailers--and what communities and independent businesses can do. Large retail chains have become the most powerful corporations in America and are rapidly transforming our economy, communities, and landscape. In this deft and revealing book, Stacy Mitchell illustrates how mega-retailers are fueling many of our most pressing problems, from the shrinking middle class to rising water pollution and diminished civic engagement. Mitchell's investigation takes us from the suburbs of Cleveland to a fruit farm in California, the stockroom of an Oregon Wal-Mart, and a Pennsylvania town's Main Street. She uncovers the shocking role government policy has played in the expansion of mega-retailers and builds a compelling case that communities composed of many small businesses are healthier and more prosperous than those dominated by large chains. More than a critique, The Big-Box Swindle draws on real life to show how some communities are successfully countering the spread of mega-retailers and rebuilding their local economies. Mitchell describes innovative approaches--from cutting-edge land-use policies to small-business initiatives--that together provide a detailed road map to a more prosperous and sustainable future.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food LifeAuthor: Barbara Kingsolver
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Published: May 2008 paperback
isbn: 9780060852566
On local foods
Description
Author Barbara Kingsolver and her family abandoned the industrial-food pipeline to live a rural life--vowing that, for one year, they'd only buy food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it. Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" is an enthralling narrative that will open your eyes in a hundred new ways to an old truth: You are what you eat.
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