5 comments about Small is Possible: Life in a Local Economy.

1. It is easy to be overwhelmed with the doom and gloom consequences of American's thoroughly unsustainable lifestyle: climate change, pollution of air, water, and soil, declining ecosystems, and the very real risk that in 60 years, nobody will be living what we today consider to be a first-world lifestyle. What to do?
   
   For starters, read Lyle Estill's Small Is Possible, a wonderful collection of writings that chronicles Lyle's own shift from get-setting deal-maker to homesteading community-builder.
   
   Lyle's writing style is excellent: concrete, humorous, and often self-deprecating, Lyle's stories spring to life from the pages, and then linger in details which keeps the community and its members, not Lyle himself, in the foreground.
   
   This book variously strikes me as: non-fiction Huckleberry Finn, a North Carolinian Omnivore's Dilemma, a contemporary Guns, Germs, and Steel, and The Tipping Point as played by actors in Chatham County.
   
   Let me say again: the book is very well written, the material is extremely compelling and relevant to the 21st century, and, in the great tradition of open source software (which Lyle himself acknowledges), it is designed to be a resource for others who believe that small is possible.



2. I need to first point out my conflict of interest in this review. lyle is my brother.
   
   He calls this a non-fiction book and I am sure it is but it is unlike the other non-fiction books that I read. I would call it more of a storybook and Lyle is a great story teller.
   
   It is a story about Lyle's life in a small town and the characters in that town.
   
   In the book he did mention me:
   
   "He (that would be me) is an insatiable entrepreneur who insists he be measured not by the vast pile of bad ideas, heaped at the bottom of the wall - but rather by those ideas that stuck. As a risk-taker he has figured out a way to stay in the possible, and not dwell on those ventures that stung him."
   
   At one point he talked about his blogging and how he was finding it difficult to come up with topics and someone suggested that he needs to entertain people. I found his book very entertaining and this is something that I should probably consider more in my blogging.
   
   I love the book and found it easy and quick to read. Lyle is a great writer (and always has been).
   
   I don't agree with everything in the book. I think supporting small just for the sake of supporting small has some flaws. His book lays out many reasons why small can be better value. And if it is better value - then clearly I support it.
   
   Although small is possible, I am going to strive for big. I wonder if Lyle will still like me?



3. I just finished the book and found it very interesting and well written. As a reporter for a small weekly newspaper that covers Pittsboro, NC, I was fascinated to learn more about the many personalities, businesses and organizations that make up this small town. I certainly see Pittsboro as a more dynamic and exciting place through Lyle Estill's eyes. I initially had low expectations of the book since I thought it would just be a compilation of essays, blog entries and newspaper columns, but it contained about 98 percent original writing. I have been telling many people around town about the book as a great way to learn more about Pittsboro. I think the book will be popular on a national scale since it talks about many ways that communities, and individuals, can be more self sustaining and this is an important issue nationally. On another level, it is interesting as the story of an entrepreneur who had the courage to renounce a very high-paying conventional job to pursue his dream.



4. Globalization is becoming more and more the name of the game in recent years, but is it really needed? "Small is Possible: Life in a Local Economy" is a look why smaller economies are still viable in the modern world. Focusing on self-sufficient towns and cities that produce almost everything they need on their own, and how such locations improve their own economies while importing very little from the outside, "Small Is Possible" is an interesting read which offers something new from an oft-overlooked source - the past.



5. I had originally grabbed this book from the local library "new books" shelving thinking that anything with small in the title might be worth my time... and some relevance to www.small-house-building.com. Lyle Estill does talk about housing, and his attempt to foster a real estate development that focused more on offering a chance for people to build their own affordable housing. They named their development "Abeyance" and had a vision of attracting young families with children that would play in the woods and migrate from household to household in their play time. They even offered a covenant with NO minimum square footage. For awhile it worked, but over the years it devolved into the usual neighborly squabbles as families grew up and ownerships changed. It would be interesting to see it today.
   
   "Small is Possible" is an example of all the local economic and social interaction in Mr. Estill's Chatham County, NC. You could almost look at it as a biography of a community that has succeeded in building that elusive sense of community, but displays all the warts along the way. Surely not a smooth process, but one with great rewards. As Lyle says "forget homeland security... we need homeTOWN security". Keep your dollars, time, and energy in your local economy... what better way to build local security?
   
   Also check out Lyle Estill's Energy Blog at Piedmont Biofuels for his latest essays. A good read!

2 comments about Profiting from Clean Energy: A Complete Guide to Trading Green in Solar, Wind, Ethanol, Fuel Cell, Carbon Credit Industries, and More (Wiley Trading).

1. Useful introductory overview ... a place to start. Good Price/Value ... I got out of it what I expected. No surprises ... both a bit ahead of the market and conversely, overly analytical. Will be keeping it as a reference ... although much of it is based on extrapolation and informed "guesstimate". Worthwhile ... but, just another tool.



2. 
   The author has done an excellent job !!!
   This book is very informative and has been very well researched one.
   Everything you wanted to know about clean energy is availble her.

5 comments about We Give Our Hearts to Dogs to Tear: Intimations of their Immortality.

1. For me this precious read is best served with tea, a cozy chair, and a ray of light pouring through a window. I waited each day for just the right moment to pick it up. It is a book to savor.
   
   I understand that Alston Chase is quite the intellectual - the author of several very heady reads. I have to say that in "We Give Our Hearts To Dogs To Tear" I can see the heart of the author, splayed for all the world to see.
   
   This book takes the reader aside from the hustle and bustle of life and drops into the true essence of living. Maybe that shift is seen through a canine friend's field of vision or maybe because of these canine friends Alston Chase has made that shift himself.
   
   "We Give Our Hearts To Dogs To Tear" is reflective of days gone by, of pioneers, and grit, and lasting love.
   
   Thank you for such an endearing read.



2. On one level, this is a book about the Chases' retreat to Montana wilderness and their discovery of the treasures around them, including the Jack Russell Terriers they began to acquire. But it runs deeper than that, and explores what dogs are and need to be, and how breeders are ruining them by heeding human criteria, such as form and size, and ignoring the genetic traits that keep a breed viable and healthy.
   
   But this is also a love story, about how the Chases and their Jack Russells (and other pets) deal with each other, and how their differing personalities give and receive differing commitments and differing forms of love. There are passages of great tenderness here, but also passages of speculation: do animals have anything we might call a soul, anything that might transcend death? Might we ever be reunited with our pets beyond the grave?
   
   There is warning here as well: we stand on a precipice. If dogs continue to be bred for purely human criteria such as those imposed by the AKC, and not for those qualities that yield a healthy, athletic animal, the time is not far off when some breeds will be ruined. They will suffer more and more disorders such as deformity, and fewer live births.
   
   This is a love song, and we need to listen to Alston Chase's music.



3. This modern-day Pioneer family gave up a secure life as a tenured college Professor of Philosophy to venture West to the sparsely populated state of Montana, complete with primative living conditions and harsh winters. By doing so, they connected with the land, their many dogs and themselves. While reading the book, I obtained a new meaning of my love for our little companions, and why we are so willing to expose ourselves to the sorrow we know we will suffer when their short lives are over. I highly recommend the book!



4. Alston Chase has discovered a way of involving his readers both emotionally and pragmatically with this book about Jack Russell terriers. His insights into our love of dogs and our propensity to try to control nature and the environment in which we live are thought provoking. It is refreshing to read about a family that embraces not only their natural surroundings but their own human nature, without the need to purify or "improve" them. Lovers of the Jack Russells will appreciate Mr. Chases' insights into their nature, but there is much more to receive from this book than simply a treatise on this determined little breed.



5. We Give Our Hearts to Dogs to Tear: Intimations of Their Immortality is a thirty-year love story between humans and their animal companions, Jack Russell terriers, and tells of the authors' search for the immortality of dogs and what makes them special. First-person accounts of his dogs blends with philosophical reflection in a memoir which is warm and fuzzy.

1 comments about Green Jobs: A Guide to Eco-Friendly Employment.

1. 'Green Jobs' mixes an abundant amount of information in an easy-to-follow narrative with plenty of website links. Besides being helpful in the job search, it presents an accurate picture of the growing possibilities in the sustainable world.

5 comments about Green Investing: A Guide to Making Money through Environment Friendly Stocks.

1. Jack Uldrich creates an interesting and very well researched guide for those attracted to clean technology; both the beginner investor wanting to make
   environmentally aware investments and experienced investors looking for information on wind, solar, biofuels and other clean tech will benefit from this book. I would recommend for those people interested in environmental investing in specific technologies like biofuels (chapter 4), solar investing (chapter 5) or wind investing (chapter 6) read that chapter first. Then proceed to chapter
   7, Alternative Energies, where Green Investing covers geothermal, fuel cell, wave and clean coal investment opportunities.
   
   In my opinion chapter 8 on energy conservation shows the most promise for short term investing, in regards to clean technologies, and make the purchase
   price of the book a great investment - well worth the purchase price.
   
   To go on the author, Jack Uldrich, does a great job of presenting facts and research on the green tech companies and to his credit he keeps the passion (hype) out of the presentation. Having read several of his books, and heard him speak on a few occasions, if you want passion on future technology you
   can't go wrong with one of his other books, in fact you must read: "Jump the Curve" (2008) and "The Next Big Thing is Really Small" (2003).



2. Its a great reference for the green investor with tips and advice for how to go about finding and choosing investments.



3. Green Investing is a good primer on this emerging market. It's very well organized with loads of information on specific companies. it was worth the 15 bucks.



4. I'm an experienced investor and found this book useful as an overview of the state of green investing. The advice seems objective and fair.
   SW



5. I just read this for the solar chapter, but found the company information quite good. Thank you.

5 comments about Mid-Course Correction: Toward a Sustainable Enterprise: The Interface Model.

1. Ray Anderson is the CEO of Interface Corporation, a manufacturer of carpet tiles for businesses and hotel chains. After reading Paul Hawken's The Ecology of Commerce and Daniel Quinn's Ishmael, Anderson revolutionized his beliefs and how his company does business. He is now striving for 100-percent sustainability by having zero waste, reusing materials, not using non-renewable resources, such as petroleum, and by leasing his carpet rather than selling it. Why this is important: 1) The obvious reasons such as not being wasteful and polluting, 2) Interface is now a model for all industry, 3) Anderson shows how sustainability is more profitable, and 4) Anderson's model shows that it only takes changing minds to be a successfully revolutionary--not street protests, letters to the editor, petitions, meditation, spiritual consciousness, believing in God, lobbying Congress, protesting governments and/or corporations, and all the typically tried and often painfully slow ways to enact positive change. Brilliant.



2. This book deserves more than five stars.

   Mr. Anderson has taken an important step forward in leading Interface Corporation towards becoming ecologically neutral. By that phrase, ecologically neutral, I mean taking nothing from and adding nothing to the environment. This concept has become a popular one in Europe beginning in Sweden, in the form of The Natural Step, but has been much more slowly adopted in the United States. Those who are interested in understanding the processes by which a company can pursue improved environmental performance will find many helpful examples in Mid-Course Correction.

   What if you don't care about your company's impact on the environment? Mr. Anderson makes a powerful argument based on his experiences at Interface that you should. First, it is much cheaper to produce goods and services if you use less materials and waste less. This means higher profits. Do you care about profits? Second, the pursuit of sustainability attracts many new customers and better supplier relationships. That also means higher profits. Third, people feel better about themselves. Do you like to feel better about yourself? Fourth, perhaps you should rethink your position about the environment. Even if we have enough for now, if we waste it, we are robbing our own descendents at some point of a good quality life. Mr. Anderson describes many cases of where despoilage of nature from overuse has been very expensive and undesirable by anyone's standard.

   He also cites many of the leading books on the benefits of an ecologically sustainable business world. In fact, this movement will become a disruptive technology by making those who waste unable to compete with those who do not. Think about it.

   To me, the value in the book is in Mr. Anderson's fine example of how to lead towards becoming environmentally sustainable as a company. I have been aware of most of the arguments in favor of this (including The Natural Step), but could not imagine how an American company would go about pursuing this goal. I also could not imagine how it could be reconciled with public ownership of stock. So much for my tiny imagination. Now, with Mr. Anderson's book, I can understand (and so can you) that becoming a sustainable enterprise is simply good business as well as being a good citizen. That will make sense to almost anyone.

   After you read this wonderful book, I encourage you to share you copy with another person and ask them to do the same. This message needs to be spread if our companies are to fulfill their potential, and we are to have a world that we can all be proud of and enjoy living in. Then, I urge you to take this one step further, and think about how your family could become an ecologically sustainable unit.

   Do good and do well!




3. I would highly recommend this book for those of you who are convinced big business will eventually destroy our earth.

   I was impressed that a non-scientist/engineer would even attempt to write a book like this. His excitement about the potential for saving the environment came through in his text. He laid out the goals his company had set for achieving a state beyond zero waste, returning to the earth as much as was taken from it. I believe it takes a visionary to apply such abstract ideas and commit to making them real. And the fact that he was able to make a business arguement for sustainable development was reassuring because, realistically, if businesses can be convinced that this will help them make money, it is much more likely to happen. That's clearly what I saw with the pollution prevention movement and it just might happen here.




4. Let us stop talking about the environment and the need to protect it and start DOING SOMETHING, ANYTHING to achieve a better path towards a more SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY AND WAY OF LIFE! THE TIME IS NOW! I do hope its not too late.
   Anselmo De Portu, Environmental Planner



5. This is the personal and eco-spiritual journey of Ray Anderson - the CEO of Interface, Inc., the world's largest producer of floor coverings. The book chronicals Ray Anderson's mid-life "change of heart" concerning the negative impact his business was having on the eco-systems of earth. Moved by this new awareness, Anderson sets off on an intensive study of the topic (much of which he writes about here) and sets the audacious goal of transforming his company into the first truly sustainable enterprise (which is a work in-progess of course).
   
   Admittedly, much of what Mr. Anderson writes here is an amalgam of the writings of the major environmental proponents of the 80's & 90's, but told in a personalized way as it relates to Interface's carpeting business. He forms a framework and rationale of why sustainable business is essential and gives many useful stories of how Interface struggled to define and achieve continuous improvement in the quest for sustainability - a journey Anderson likens to "climbing Mt. Everest."
   
   Some highlights I found useful include:
   + A vision of prototypical sustainable company of the 21st century
   + The case how technology must move from being part of the problem to being part of the solution to non-sustainability
   + Interface's seven-front plan for achieving sustainability (nice color charts)
   + A great example of how Interface is moving from selling consumable products to be discarded (floorcovering) to providing an ongoing service (replaceable floorcovering that is taken back and recycled using zero-waste, solar-energy processes).
   
   While this book is now 10 years old, it is still relevant and useful - although some concepts are dated (eg: solar is now economically realizable in many places but not written as such). For readers who like books that tell a story, there should be much inspiration here in the author's memoirs. And for those who look for the "how-to" lists, there is a wonderful, comprehensive list of 200-some practices a company can implement to achieve greater sustainability. Those with responsibily to implement sustainable practices should find these highly practical actions invaluable (worth buying the book just for this).
   
   In any societal movement, true visionaries are needed to set the bar and define ultimate goals. Interface is one such organization. However, no organization, business or community is anywhere near being truly sustainable so far. Interface is no where near it, and their recyclable carpet "leasing" program has not quite been a big success - so far - as they miscalculated some customer behaviors needed to change. But it is better than it was years ago which is the basic journey towards truly sustainable products and operations.

5 comments about State of the World 2008: Toward a Sustainable Global Economy (State of the World).

1. Worldwatch Institute's annual State of the World books are always worth reading. I've read every single one since they first came out in 1984. This 2008 book gives insights into how our world economy needs to change in order to prepare for a viable future. People should be aware, however, that the founder of Worldwatch Institute, Lester Brown, quit the organization a few years ago and set up a new institute, the Earth Policy Institute. His new book Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, Third Edition has just come out. It is one of the most important books in recent years. Worldwatch also publishes Vital Signs 2007-2008: The Trends that Are Shaping Our Future (Vital Signs) Vital Signs is an annual set of statistics books in simple readable charts. I would recommend this too. Together, these three books could give a person some solid information about the environmental state of our planet and what needs to be done to create a viable future. On my profile I have a number of lists of some other very good books on the environment and future watch studies.



2. This 25th Anniversary Edition of State of the World focuses on problems and solutions for progress toward a sustainable society. It is a periodical and almanac worth owning. The writing promotes an easy read for sustained digestion of its resources.
   
   Fourteen Chapters by WorldWatch staffers, independent analysts, academics, and intellectual professionals arranged in 2-column newspaper format fill 281 pages, with dozens of boxes, tables, and figures plus endnotes. Each chapter contributes to other chapters and to the understanding of sustainable development as a path, not a panacea. Instead of competing with other writings, the State of the World series complements the contemplations of other writers on interdisciplinary economic, social, and environmental topics.
   
   Every chapter is true to its title. There are verbs of solution - seeding, rethinking, building, improving, engaging, mobilizing, investing, banking. There are nouns of challenge - sustainable economy, the commons, sustainable world, sustainable lifestyles, and sustainability. There are names of things to consider - water, carbon, meat, seafood, biodiversity, global diet, human energy, trade governance, new approaches, and new bottom line.
   
   Sustainability needs all the institutional ingenuity society can muster and harness to evolve into a broader, better focus for the good of humanity.
   
   "2008 State of the World, Innovations for a Sustainable Economy" will stay fresh well beyond next year's edition by the WorldWatch Institute.



3. This a superb edited work that melds chapters (with notes at the end) from world-class authors on a broad range of topics.
   
   I kept this at five stars until the end and then I could not stand it anymore. There are at least five reasons to reduce it to four. Here are the first two.
   
   1. As someone who grew up with Banks & Textor and have created four analytic models in my lifetime, I am growing increasing impatient with the continued fragmentation of research and writing. There is a model available: ten threats (from the UN High Level Threat Panel), twelve policies, eight challengers. We need to start fusing, analyzing, visualizing and discussing all ten threats in relation to all ten policies. I am no longer content to read about water in one chapter, meat in another, and so on. Stop putzing around and create the EarthGame with all information, all languages, all the time--geospatially grounded of course--and let's get on with the task of identifying with precision the global range of gifts table down to the household level, from $1 to $100 million.
   
   2. I am increasingly irritated by the little cabals that strive to cite only themselves, and furthermore, have their own language to distinguish them. "Get the price right" instead of "true cost"? Get over it. Enough already. I am also increasingly of the view that the Notes must be indexed. The notes are good, but when the lead chapter talks about "Adjust Economic Scale" and fails to cite Small Is Beautiful, 25th Anniversary Edition: Economics As If People Mattered: 25 Years Later . . . With Commentaries or Human Scale I growl.
   
   Together with Plan 3.0 and Vital Signs, both linked by another reviewer, this book represents a fine stand-alone study set if you want to limit yourself to the WorldWatch oracles and dismiss all others.
   
   Here is what grabbed me about this book:
   
   + Opens with utterly sensational four pages of "timeline" for 2007 with little blocks that are priceless. I really like this.
   
   + Chapter 1 does a fine job of listing:
   
   - Four flawed economic assumptions:
   
   - 1. Independence of economic activity from "infinite" nature
   
   - 2. Growth should be the primary economic objective
   
   - 3. Markets are always superior to governments at allocating resources
   
   - 4. Humans are economic maximizers and place no value on community
   
   This may sound simple but I admire it.
   
   - The seven big ideas for economic reform:
   
   - 1. Adjust economic scale
   
   - 2. Shift from growth to development
   
   - 3. Make prices tell the ecological truth [note: for World Index of Social and Environmental Responsibility--WISER--to not be in index irritates me so much I almost take the fifth star again).
   
   - 4. Account for nature's contributions [I am infuriated by a second hand citation. I am not familiar with more than a couple of books, but to not mention Ecological Economics: Principles And Applications or The Future of Life moves this book, as very good as it is--toward Classic Comics book shallowness.
   
   - 5. Apply the precautionary principle. [Cites a San Francisco Chronicle opinion piece, what happened to the real books on this subject, such as Protecting Public Health and the Environment: Implementing The Precautionary Principle
   
   - 6. Revitalize commons management
   
   - 7. Value women [here I am irritated by the isolation of these authors and their citations from a broader understanding of why we should value women: because it is a proven fact that there is no better investment, dollar for development dollar, than a dollar spend educating women. That ripples through society and impacts on the men big time.]
   
   The second chapter has a prices Figure showing that computer diffusion is growing arithmetically while cell phone diffusion is growing logrithmically plus. My comment: Nokia is slowing beginning to grasp what I told their Chairman a year ago: give the cell phones to the poor free, sell the call, not the phone (and my other idea, educate the poor one cell call at a time, starting with call centers in India and China, and then monetize the transactions. Having six farmers call in asking about the same animal disease is PRICELESS! How governments cannot understand this simple logic is beyond my comprehension.
   
   Across the book the tables and figures are powerful but they are not integrated into a total model (e.g. you should not grow grain with water you cannot afford to create fuel instead of feeding a family when you could run 35 million cars a year on Cuban sugar cane sap).
   
   I was pleasantly surprised to see meat and seafood in its own chapter, but as an avid admirer of everything by Francis Moore Lappe
   , see for example Diet for a Small Planet and her most recentDemocracy's Edge: Choosing to Save Our Country by Bringing Democracy to Life.
   
   Toward the end are two very important chapters, one on the financial implications of sustainability (i.e. what alternative vehicles can be used to push back on predatory lending, absentee ownership, and wasteful food practices) and on harnessing human energy (e.g. to plant trees).
   
   I put the book down with irritation--Open Money, Collective Intelligence, even the word Citizen are not in this book--and I again harken to the need for an EarthGame in which all knowledge, all budgets, all citizens, can come together to game, understand, dialog, and decide.
   
   I've come to the conclusion that the fragmentation of the "academy" is now just as dangerous as the desperate failure of our political system in America (see Running On Empty: How The Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It for the simple reason that if the academy would get its act together and "make sense" to the public, the public will take care of the political fix.
   
   We knew most of this stuff in the 1970's, 1980's, and 1990's--at the academic level--but the politicians were able to ignore us because a) the people were unwitting and b) low gas prices and high Exxon bribes were great for the smokey room crowd. That's over. It's time for the academy to start producing explicit recommendations and budgets, at the zip code level, that we can use to beat politicians into submission or out of office.
   
   Please have it online by 4 July 2008, and thank you for all the wonderful work up to this point. Time to bring this program home.
   
   Two more links that are action oriented:
   How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, Updated Edition
   Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace



4. Excellent coverage of current economic and environmental that we are facing now and need to be acted upon!



5. These books are amazing, I get them every year and read the important data.
   
   Well explained and thorough, especially for analytical minds like me, you'll enjoy watching the progress (or regress) of the state of our planet.
   
   Highly recommended to anyone who loves to know what happens to our planet and why it changes in such ways.

5 comments about Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American Power.

1. While I enjoyed this book (it reads fluently), it seems that it tries to do 2 separate things. The first is an extended and repetitious treatment of how the U.S. has lost its world position and influence in the world-wide regulation of the chemical industry due to regulatory recalcitrance and inaction. The second relates how the impact of the U.S. policy of waiting for problems to "emerge" or waiting for the legal system to highlight "problems" (which may need regulatory adjustment) vs. the EU policy of "precautionary" regulation has put U.S. citizens "at risk" to numerous potentially hazardous chemicals. The second focus was of more interest to me and I thought there would be a more thorough treatment of these potential hazards.



2. I encourage everyone who lives in or plans to visit the United States to read this book so you can appreciate how dangerous the products are that companies deliver here . . . even though many provide much safer versions in Europe and other parts of the world. Why? Governments outside the U.S. respond more to citizen concerns about safety than they do to pressure from product suppliers to reduce regulation.
   
   While some will see this as a Bush-bashing book, it seemed to me from reading Exposed that the prior Clinton administration didn't seem to do much better in safeguarding citizens from various toxic risks.
   
   What's the story line? It's convoluted . . . which is why I graded the book down one star. Let me see if I can encapsulate the key points in a brief list:
   
   1. Industry lobbyists have succeeded in persuading the U.S. government for a long time to not test many suspect items for toxicity, presuming that if it's in use . . . it's okay.
   
   2. Independent scientists report that most of these items aren't okay.
   
   3. The new European government is heeding citizen concerns about harmful substances and is requiring that they be eliminated from products and landfills. This means reformulating products if you are a global company and recycling hazardous materials.
   
   4. Because the European economy is larger than the U.S., most global companies are complying in Europe. Some are choosing to make all products to the European standard, but many leading U.S. companies still make and sell toxic versions for the U.S. Some Chinese manufacturers are doing the same.
   
   5. Many governments are about to adopt the European standards so that almost any other country will be a safer place to avoid toxins than the U.S.
   
   6. The U.S. government is lobbying like crazy in Europe and elsewhere for its views, and annoying foreign governments even more than before.
   
   7. The U.S. has little or no influence on world standards for product and environmental safety as a result.
   
   The book suggests that the well documented problems of falling fertility in the U.S. are probably tied in some way to these unregulated toxins.
   
   Are free markets always good for us? This article suggests otherwise when no one wants to speak up about poisons.



3. I really wanted to like this book. It's an interesting and important subject, a perfect fit for the kind of thing I usually like to read. Unfortunately, it doesn't live up to its tag line. "Toxic chemistry"? There's *no* chemistry at all here. I don't expect a book like this to read like a scientific journal, but it would have been nice if there had been just a little description of exactly what effect these chemicals have on our bodies. Similarly, a few anecdotes about people whose lives were directly affected by exposure to these awful chemicals would have done a lot to strengthen the message. I know the effects are diffuse, but a professional writer should be able to find *one case* to illustrate his point.
   
   So what do we get instead of word from either scientists or ordinary people? Endless quotes from envirocrats - regulatory officials on one side, chamber-of-commerce types on the other, plus consultants and lobbyists and lawyers for both sides. The author's only concern, pounded into us over and over and over and over and over again, is that the US is *losing its policy leadership* to the EU. The human toll hardly gets a nod; it's the economic and geopolitical implications that get this author's dander up. Even as economics, though, the book fails. There are a few vague numbers tossed around, but no properly-sourced charts or graphs to illustrate the magnitude of the economic effects involved. A picture would have been worth ten thousand of these words.
   
   This book could have been the Fast Food Nation of its topic area. Instead it is itself fast food - cheap mental calories, soon forgotten. What a shame.



4. I heard him on NPR and immediately bought his book! I found out that the European Union has rules about safety for toys, makeup, etc. which our corporate-lobbyist-paid-off government lead by the Republican Administration refuses to incorporate into law protecting us. Why won't they protect American children? Because they say it is 'bad for business.' Simply stated this means parents of children in Slovenia and all other EU countries don't have to worry about lead in toys, because of the EU's strong inforcement of these laws, but American parents DO have to worry. So in short -- China DOES make toys which are safe, and they sell them to EU countries. Things the EU refuses to allow on their shelves gets sent back to China and ends up in America. Also Shapiro let's us know cosmetic companies make products without lead and other cancer causing chemicals to sell in the EU due to the EU's strict laws protecting their citizens, but those same companies continue to make products with these banned chemicals and sell them eagerly in America. What the heck is up with that?!! Obviously we mere citizens cannot expect businesses to DO THE RIGHT THING because they do it only when forced to by the EU, but won't follow those standards unless our government forces them to provide safe products for American consumers. My opinion: If congress and the government agencies who are supposed to protect us can't get it together -- let's follow all the EU restrictions and say -- "We'll have what they are having!" Thanks for putting this issue out there in such a clear manner, Mr. Shapiro. My fellow Americans, buy this book and throw out the bums in 2008!!!!!



5. I just finished this book chemicals in our food, electronics, and other products, and how regulation addresses them.And how that regulation affects markets.
   
   It has a neat little store of information on the current European initiatives to protect their consumers ( REACH program ) and relates American govt and businesses responses to it. (It may or may not surprise you that the Bush administration sent lobbyists (even including Colin Powell!)
   to push against raising standards.
   
   Below, a handful of highlights, and if you're interested, you can check the other reviews (which are quite good in their coverage.)
   
   - We're either ignoring or not adopting REACH standards for the most part. It's still perceived as
   too expensive. (EU experience has shows otherwise in cases.) I suspect that, for the transnational corporations, this'll change quickly, and they'll adopt.
   
   - Our goods across a wide swath from food to cosmetics will be blocked at the border and returned if they don't comply with REACH.(And GMO standards, etc.)
   
   - Not only the EU, but a large number of major traders are adopting these standards. Brazil, Mexico, and yes, China.
   
   - REACH does two things our EPA and FDA don't: it measures risk by citing chemicals with known
   bad effects (e.g. teflon), and not by the more common Monte Carlo and human/behavior models
   used here, and it considers ALL chemicals up for review, and unlike the EPA, it does not
   grandfather in tens of thousands of chemicals without testing. For these reasons, it is much
   stricter.
   
   -There a few interesting stories about how some nations in the EU wanted stricter standards (for, e.g. GMOs) but were bent back to the mean by the EU/Brussels.Austria being one example.
   
   - The information on GMOs in one chapter is very well presented. It gave a fascinating synthetic
   and integrated look at GMO across market, lobbying, technical, and regulatory considerations. I
   learned a lot in a few pages.
   
   EXPSOED gave me enough background to understand why we're increasingly talking about "toys with lead paint" here in the States but why many other countries no longer worry about this. The USA will become a dumping ground for potentially dangerous products refused by other major nations.
   
   It also, going back to GMO food, made it clear why ethanol is being pushed so hard by the Bush administration: the EU has *very* strict rules against GMOs, and most of our corn is now GMO, and largely unacceptable to the EU. The story from France about their anti-GMO crop destroying
   vigilante group was especially interesting!
   
   In any case, this book is highly recommended (it's a flash to read) by social theorists who want to see their theories played out in practice, by political hacks and business lobbyiests, by "green" types, by anti/pro globalizers, and by free-market wackos (that'd be me).
   
   Oh, and there's an interesting quote in their by Stiglitz, about how market capitalism is not good, because of the information asymmetry between the consumer and the producer. It made me think of Sy Syms (if you're an older NY'er, you'll remember old Sy) who always said "An educated consumer is our best customer". Amen, Sy.
   
   ( I would have given the book five stars -- it is well-referenced and thought out -- but the omission of any commentary whatsoever on Codex Alimentarius, and its sotto voce slant toward "only the State will protect us" took the edge of this otherwise very appealing book by Schapiro.
   
   Enjoy!

5 comments about The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies.

1. This book covers the topic of how energy has been the most important factor in the evolution of civilization. And how civilization now, is threatened by the depletion of its main source of energy, oil.
   I got into Heinberg's work after watching The End of Suburbia, where he makes several appereances and quotes ideas from this book.
   My interest was mainly end of oil and energy alternatives, Party is Over goes all the way back to the beginnings, which is good, but sometimes you feel overwhelmed by so much information. Anyways the facts are good to know and definitely reinforce the concept and value of energy, mainly oil.
   If you are interested in having a strong fundamental understanding of energy and civilization this is definitely a book you should read. Heinberg really knows what he is talking about, all his arguments are supported with a lot of scientific evidence.
   I really admire Richard Heinberg's work, but Ive got to say I liked Power Down better, check it out after checking this one, or if you wanna save some money and time just get Power Down.



2. I like Mr. Heinberg's book very much. His knowledge of the oil business and the energy world is impressive. His insight and technical knowledge is also very good in the book. However, Mr. Heinberg is a liberal democrat and is to the far left on every issue. Mr. Heinberg lives in a very simple world. Liberals are good and virtuous and conservatives are neo-facist and anyone who disagrees with the far left must be a Nazi. Of course, this puts Mr. Heinberg in the camp of the good guys. Mr. Heinberg believes that Mr. Bush (one), started the first Gulf War just to help his Oil buddies get rich. I find this explanation too simple and childlike. I find Mr. Heinberg's understanding about Saudis and the Arab People as naive. Having said this, I can overlook Mr. Heinberg's political views and taste and look at the more important message. This is a great book about energy and the future. It is an important message. This is Mr. Heinberg's best work. Regards, Keith Renick, Project Materials Specialist, Central & Western Region, Project Management Team, Riyadh Refinery, Saudi Aramco Oil Co. Retired.



3. This book is one of the many that Heinberg has written on the topic of Peak Oil, in addition of course to numerous online articles that he has posted. Much like his other titles, he does not hesitate to call a spade a spade. Would that more writers and commentators would follow his lead in communicating so directly. This effort is among those texts that should be required reading on this topic. It is indispensable.
   
   Heinberg goes at great length into what has precipitated our predicament and he treats options and alternatives in a straightforward and easy to understand manner. He starts by laying a foundation for how the world as we know it has come to be, namely in relation to the enormously generous geological gift we call oil (and other carbon fuel sources). He lays out the trends in oil discovery and its acquisition and how the theorem (or fact) of Hubbert's Peak plays into our current conundrum.
   
   Alternative energy sources is given more than adequate treatment, ranging from natural gas (not entirely a true alternative) to nuclear power, biodiesel, and many others. Heinberg wraps it up by a treatment of the consequences on a global, national, local, and individual level. The afterword concludes this effort nicely by touching on current developments in the realm of related geopolitical events. All told, after having read this book, it is no surprise that Heinberg is considered one of the foremost authors and educators on this topic.
   
   For more Peak Oil reviews: http://www.peakoilresources.com



4. If you want to know what the near future holds for you, your family and society, Heinberg does a reasonably good job at describing it for the reader. There are, in my opinion, some limits to his content, as well as some "disinformation" about the field of economics, but these are minor issues that do not distract from the meat and potatoes of his message.
   
   The primary focus of this work is based on Peak Oil Theory that was presented by American geologist M. King Hubbert in the mid-1950's -- the fact that the production of available oil will peak, then run out. One of the major criticisms of Hubbert, by the way, is that he was a geologist and not an economist and therefore had limited understanding of the market forces in the decline phases after the peak is reached. This may be true, but I doubt anyone in the mid-1950's had a vision of the modern industrialization of countries like China and India, including their populations' thirst for our world's limited petroleum resources.
   
   I would agree with those, like T. Boone Pickens, who are of the opinion that we are now about a year or two down the road from peak oil with an economy that reflects the fact. Take a look at the stock markets... The markets have been going up when oil goes down in price, yet the reason that oil is going down is based on a U.S. and world-wide economic downturn. When the economic picture looks even a sliver brighter, oil rises eliminating even the small glimmer of a recovery. I heard it described best by an analyst on Bloomberg who described this as an "L-shaped recovery" (the economy will go down and there is no recovery as far as the eye can see) that just about summarizes life post peak oil.
   
   Just as important as peak oil is the concept of cheap oil; in other words, there may be a lot of oil under the ocean but it will be costly to recover. Sure, the Gulf of Mexico may have billions of gallons in deep water off-shore. Perhaps there is another Prudhoe Bay at the bottom of the Marianas Trench... Are you going to pay $25,000 per barrel of oil with current technology to recover it? Inexpensive energy peaked in the 1970's.
   
   Heinberg may have a skewed view of economist -- I don't know of a single student who has covered a micro or macro course in the 101's level that does not understand the ramifications of consuming a limit strategic product without finding alternative resources. It is not going to go well for the United States or any country in the world... Economist do practice a lot of theoreticals with charts, graphs and "what-if's," but they are absolutely cognizant of the world's realities and many of the consequences of price and demand on a finite resource like petroleum.
   
   Finally, I feel that Heinberg paints too positive of a picture of our society when things like power grids and our economic systems fail. Our country, like most other developed nations, keeps their populations compliant by giving citizens a relatively comfortable way of life; the "American way of life if you will." As most of us have seen after Hurricane Katrina, local, state and federal governments have a total inability to control civil unrest on limited scales. Just think if what it will look like when numerous banks fail, prices double overnight, there is no gasoline and the electricity is out. When the gas prices reached $3.75 it was almost impossible to find a policeman on the street and I'm sure this practice was duplicated throughout the country. The prospect gives one great pause that perhaps the "survivalist" may get to see their day come in the near future.
   
   We, in the United States, have lived at the expense of others too long. Our day of reckoning is just around the corner. I don't envy whoever becomes our next president. They'll have a full plate of problems our nation has never seen before.



5. One of the author's primary contentions is that "the earth is a closed system." A closed system is one in which all of the energy and forces are isolated from external influences; roughly speaking the system is in a tight box. The laws of thermodynamics say that total entropy, i.e. disorder, can only increase. Thus we are doomed, and only the details need be sorted out. The earth, of course, is not a closed system. The sun shines on the earth producing not only solar energy directly, but producing wind and growing plant life that can be used for fuel. This is so obvious, that the author's credibility is reduced to zero by his "closed system" claim.
   
   I don't doubt that oil production is in decline, but it is a slow decline because new technology makes it possible to economically extract more and more oil from oil fields. In the near term, what we mainly have is coal-to-oil conversion (the US has about 200 years worth at current oil consumption levels), oil shale conversion (much larger amounts), and nuclear energy (about 5000 years supply). On the near horizon (perhaps 25 years) are cellulosic ethanol (made from wood chips and inedible vegetation) and solar electric. Further out there is fusion power and solar energy from space transmitted to the ground by microwaves.
   
   The common thread of doomsayers is that they do not understand technology, and more importantly, how economics interacts with the development of technology. There will be interesting events as the world shifts away from oil to alternatives, a process likely to be played out over the next fifty years, but the end of the world scenario is nonsense.

No comments about Applied Spatial Data Analysis with R (Use R).