Preserving the legacy of Bay Area Action’s environmental work from 1990–2000 and beyond.
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Worldwatch Institute (1990)
State of the World is an annual environmental report that describes the physical condition of the world. The 1990 report covers issues of global climate, the world’s capability for feeding itself, water pollution, ocean levels, air quality, poverty, military conversion and bicycling. The book starts with an essay by Lester Brown titled “The Illusion of Progress.” This chapter effectively questions the measurement of short-term economic statistics, such as Gross National Product and stock prices, which do not take into account the depreciation of the world’s natural resources.
Contact: Worldwatch Institute; 1776 Massachusetts Ave., NW; Washington, DC 20036; (202) 452-1999.
Council on Economic Priorities (1989)
Shopping for a Better World is a pocket-sized reference book for the socially responsible supermarket shopper. It consists of a listing of companies and products, and rates them on eleven categories. In addition to their environmental records, companies and product are rated on: giving to charity, women's advancement, advancement of people of color, military contracts, animal testing, disclosure of information, community outreach, nuclear power, investments in South Africa and family benifits.
Contact: Council on Economic Priorities; 30 Irving Pl.; New York, NY 10003; (212) 420-1133.
Ernest Callenbach (1975)
This book takes place in the year 1999, approximately 20 years after Northern California, Oregon, and Washington seceded from the rest of the United States to form the ecologically-stable state of Ecotopia. The protagonist in this futuristic novel is a journalist from the U.S. who is the first American allowed to enter Ecotopia to investigate and document life in the reclusive country. As the journalist hunts for the underlying principles behind Ecotopia, he is forced to deal with a set of values very different than those he is used to.
John Elkington, Julia Hailes and Joel Makower (1990)
Author Julia Hailes, speaking at the Earth Day rally in Washington DC, asked, “Why buy environmentally dangerous products when you can buy equally-effective, safe ones?” The Green Consumer is almost a book on “how you can help the environment without even trying.” Its premise is to show how everyday purchases can affect the Earth’s resources. Listing both recommended brandnames and those to avoid, the book is broken into sections suggesting environmentally-safe ways to buy food, garden supplies, personal care products, cars, and more.
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Special thanks to Printers Inc. in Mountain View for their assistance in helping us produce these book reviews.
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Published in Action, vol 1, no 1 · Jul–Aug 1990
