11.	Blueprint for Survival
	by Edward Goldsmith et al. (Penguin, 1972).

A true oldie but goldie. It still contains the best diagnosis of our mounting social and environmental ills and the best policy framework for curing them. It shows that a coherent green programme cannot be constructed on the basis of 'grievance politics', mixing together the demands from disaffected groups on the edges of society as some radicals have tried to do. Such recipes can only produce dogs' dinners. The Blueprint should be the starting point for all those seeking to flesh out the details of a manifesto for sustainability. Its main weakness was a naive faith in the willingness, indeed ability, of governments drawn from mainstream politics to listen to reason. They didn't and they won't. Its other main failing ironically was too much moderation. Things are slip sliding away faster than even this forthright statement anticipated.

12.	Ecology and the Politics of Scarcity
	by William Ophuls (Freeman, 1992).

This contains the best single presentation of the green critique of expansionism. Ophuls also provides a superb explanation of the dynamic of the 'tragedy of the commons'. In particular, it demonstrates how harmful consequences can flow from the cumulative effect of harmless and otherwise well-intentioned decisions. It knocks on the head the soft-headed sentiment that believes that, as one 'green' book put it, "if you care for people, you care for the planet". Sadly, life is a bit more complex. Ophuls should be read by all those who simply blame everything on 'them', be they crooked capitalists or bossy bureaucrats. He also shows how important it is to learn from conservative thinkers such as Edmund Burke, mindless written off as hopeless reactionaries by simple-minded radicals. Follow up with his Requiem for Modern Politics (Westview, 1997). See also Biosphere Politics by Jeremy Rifkin (Harper, 1992), a wide-ranging work, with much insight into the downside of the worldview that emerged out of the Enlightenment as well as into specific issues such as genetic engineering. The writings of Christopher Lasch also shed much light both on modern society as a whole (e.g. his Culture of Narcissism, Abacus, 1980) and political movements, especially his Revolt of the Elite and the Betrayal of Democracy (Norton, 1995) and The True and Only Heaven: Progress and Its Critics (Norton, 1991).

13.	Let the Mountains Talk, Let the Rivers Run
	by David Brower (Harper, 1996).

There are a number of personal statements by leading activists but few have been so active as Brower or write with such eloquence and force. A really lively and stimulating book, one that really does recharge the batteries of tired campaigners.

Mention must be made of Edward Abbey, Wendell Berry and Gary Snyder all of whose writings exude wisdom combined with an enthralling way with words. Abbey wrote widely but the best starting point is Desert Solitaire (Peregrine Smith, 1981), partly based on his experiences as a National Park ranger. He also wrote some great novels, which manage to combine anger and humour, plus some good storylines. The best place to begin when exploring the many writings of Wendell Berry might be The Unsettling of America (Sierra Books, 1982), a demonstration of how to link a critique of a specific aspect of modern society (industrialised agriculture) with broader insights into the values and goals on which it is founded. A number of books have gathered together the many wonderful essays penned by Berry, eg. The Gift of Good Land (North Point Press, 1981), Standing By Words (North Point Press, 1983), Home Economics (North Point Press, 1987), What are People For? (North Point Press, 1990), Sex, Economy, Freedom and Community (North Point Press, 1993) and especially Life is a Miracle: An Essay Against Modern Superstition (Counterpoint, 2000), a critique of the new 'determinist' science, a cult that now attracts many worshippers.

Gary Snyder: Dimensions of a Life edited by Jon Halper (Sierra Club Books, 1991) celebrates one of America's greatest contemporary thinkers and poets. Snyder's sensitivity to undomesticated nature gives his work an edge perhaps lacking in Wendell Berry's works. He too has authored many great books, many of them collections of essays, talks and interviews. The major ones are Earth Household (New Directions, 1969), The Old Ways (City Light Books, 1977), Turtle Island (New Directions, 1974), The Real Work (New Directions, 1980), Axe Handles (North Point Press, 1983), The Practice of the Wild (North Point Press, 1990) Coming into the Watershed (Pantheon, 1994) and A Place in Space: Ethics, Aesthetics and Watersheds (Counterpoint, 1995).

14.	Eco-socialism or Eco-capitalism? a critical analysis of humanity's fundamental choices
	by Saral Sarkar (Zed Books, 1999).

Saral Sarkar was born in India in 1936 but since the early 80s has lived in Germany. This background helps him provide extra insights into the global nature of the modern crisis as well as avoid rose-tinted images of the so-called 'developing' world. The peoples of those lands are not helpless victims, as portrayed in much radical literature, but often active and willing participants in the process of 'maldevelopment'. Sarkar cuts through the nonsense of those who think western-style affluence could - or even should - be generalised around the world. He demonstrates that capitalism can never be made green, contrary to the 'market-based' solutions ('natural capitalism' etc.) being touted by people like Paul Hawken and Amory Lovins. However Sarkar has no illusions about the experiences of the various 'non-capitalist' (or, perhaps more aptly, 'state capitalist') regimes that emerged from the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. He makes a convincing case for a new kind of socialism, based on solidarity both between people and between people and planet. His vision goes not go beyond a somewhat restrictive utilitarian view of nature. Yet his arguments are vital to the development of a practical programme for an ecological economy.

15.	Steady-State Economics
	by Herman Daly (Freeman, 1977).

The signals sent by conventional economics have been signposts to long-term ruin. For people have done more than Daly to mark out another road, both in theoretical and policy terms. The concept of the steady-state is much misunderstand yet it represents the essence of the green economic alternative. Daly explains why it is so vital and puts forward challenging ideas about how to institutionalise it. His focus on the throughput of energy and raw materials in the human economy dispels a lot of the fog generated by vague words like 'growth' and 'development'. There is, of course, much noise about 'new economics' but most of it fails to go beyond a very pale green Keynesianism. Daly also anticipated reformist policies such as pollution levies and emissions trading, showing that they are the wrong tool applied to the wrong end of the economic process.

See also the works of Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen (especially his magnum opus The Entropy Law and the Economic Process, Harvard UP, 1971) and the various writings of E. J. Mishan. Arguments against 'growthmania' are also developed in The Growth Illusion by Richard Douthwaite (Green Books, 1992). For a compendium of examples of how 'giantism' (bigger-is-more-beautiful) becomes increasingly counter-productive and unsustainable in all its forms, social, economic and technological, look up Human Scale by Kirkpatrick Sale (Secker and Warburg, 1980). The name of Fritz Schumacher is often linked to the phrase "small is beautiful" but all his writings provide a rich treasure chest of wisdom. Leopold Kohr might be less well known but he too had many insights into the curse of bigness and the need to break up today's megastates.

16.	The Conserver Society: Alternatives for Sustainability
	by Ted Trainer (Zed, 1995).

This is the best nuts-and-bolts vision of a sustainable society. It is firmly grounded in the theory of limits-to-growth and the fact that we must all learn to tread more lightly and to share smaller pies as the American writer Tom Bender once put it. Trainer shows that a no-longer-affluent society (in conventional terms) could not only be much safer but also much richer in all kinds of other ways.

The skills of 'living lightly' will partly depend upon an awareness of how heavily we now stamp down on the planet. In this field pioneering work has been done by William Rees and Mathis Wackernagel. See in particular their study of the human 'boot', Our Ecological Footprint (New Society Publishers, 1996). A good companion is Sharing The World by Michael Carley and Philippe Spapens (Earthscan, 1998). Case studies of people trying to build such alternatives can be found in a series of short books produced by New Society Publishers, particularly Turtle Talk: Voices for A Sustainable Future (edited by Christopher and Judith Plant, 1990), Putting Power in its Place: Create Community Control (edited by Christopher and Judith Plant, 1992), and Futures By Design: The Practice of Ecological Planning (edited by Doug Aberley, 1994). Richard Douthwaite's Short Circuit: Strengthening Local Economies for Security in an Unstable World (Green Books, 1996) and Sustainable Communities: The Potential for EcoNeighbourhoods, edited by Hugh Barton (Earthscan, 1999) provide many encouraging case studies and valuable proposals. A book that manages to make the link between core green values and questions of individual lifestyle and public policy is Simple in Means, Rich in Ends: Practising Deep Ecology (Green Print, 1990).

Another critical area is the reorganisation of government structures. The construction of a conserver society will depend upon devolution of powers to the lowest appropriate level (often the framework created by watershed and river basins, sometimes smaller, sometimes larger, and, given the predicaments facing the planet as a whole, continental and even global in a few cases). Those latter cases will be options only of the last resort given the negative side-effects when decisions are made by those who will not be affected by them and who therefore receive no feedback on the error of their choices. National and local government boundaries ignore the geological, hydrological or biological patterns on which constitution, economy and culture all depend. The most obvious examples are the straight lines plotted across maps to divide one political zone from another, regardless of biophysical and cultural contours. Many campaigners for decentralisation fall into the same trap, failing to connect their proposals to those underlying world of biogeography Similarly debates about 'national culture' ignore the primary need to rebuild human cultures so that they become attuned to and reflect the specificities of local places - its climate, its landforms, its soils, plants, waters and wildlife.

A very useful collection of material on what is often called 'bioregionalism' is Home! A Bioregional Reader, edited by Van Andruss et al. (New Society Publishers, 1990). See also Boundaries of Home: Mapping for Local Empowerment edited by Doug Aberley (New Society Publishers, 1993) and Reinhabiting a Separate Country edited by Peter Berg (Planet Drum, 1975). The various writings of Raymond Dasmann played a pioneering in such thinking.

The search for a sustainable society will be aided by much more humility about contemporary technological prowess as well as more respect for the achievements of many traditional cultures. A good aid here is Helena Norberg-Hodge's Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh (Sierra Club Books, 1991).

17.	Ecological Literacy
	by David Orr (SUNY Press, 1992).

Any hopes of sustaining a 'conserver society' will depend most of all upon the education of its future citizens. Contrary to the position of many radical critics of contemporary education systems, there will be much prescription in the curriculum we need. Its content is the key issue, with matters such as organisational form, funding and assessment methods significant but nonetheless secondary questions. There is no better guide than David Orr, whose study also has much light to shed on the meaning of 'sustainability'. See also his Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment and the Human Prospect (Island Press, 1994).

Critical Essays on Education and the Recovery of the Ecological Imperative by C. A Bowers (Teachers College, 1993) provides a first-rate critique of the ecological failure of modern educational theory and practice. It also dissects the fallacy of thinking that a computer on every school desk will improve matters. Another work by Bowers, Let Them Eat Data: How Computers Affect Education, Cultural Diversity and the Prospects of an Ecologically Sustainable Future (Univ. Georgia Press, 2000), broadens and deepens that latter argument.

18.	Green Architecture: Design for a Sustainable Future
	by Brenda and Robert Vale (Thames and Hudson, 1991).	&nsp;

More and more people live in urban environments but the modern megalopolis is as ugly and oppressive as it is unsustainably rapacious in the demands it places on both local and distant ecosystems. However, there is an alternative and this book provides examples as well as draws out the principles on which planning must be based.

A number of leading thinkers and practitioners in this field as well as commentators on broader matters are united in Reshaping the Built Environment: Ecology, Ethics & Economics edited by C. Kilbert (Island Press, 1999). See also David Pearson's Earth Spirit (Gaia books, 1994) and Living Spaces: Ecological Building and Design edited by Thomas Schitz-Günther (Køneman, 1999, English edition). The Findhorn Community has produced some good technical material on such matters such as John Talbott's Simply Build Green. So has Ecover, the manufacturer of environmentally friendlier cleaners and detergents. See The Ecological Factory by Dick Develter (Ecover, 1992).

On broader matters of appropriate technological design, a number of names demand mention. They include John Lyle, Victor Papanek, John and Nancy Todd, David Wann and Sim Van Der Ryn. One of the best statements of why a greener design ethic is needed and of its principles is to be found in an essay Sharing Smaller Pies by Tom Bender, a version of which was included in a very useful volume Resettling America: Energy, Ecology and Community, edited by Gary Coates whose own contributions are excellent as well (Brick House, 1982). The Rocky Mountain Institute (Colorado, USA) and the Centre for Alternative Technology (Machynlleth, Wales) are good sources of inspirational ideas in many fields. With specific respect to land use planning, the seminal work remains Design With Nature by Ian McHarg (Academic Press, 1969).

19.	Ecoforestry: The Art and Science of Sustainable Forest Use
	edited by Alan Drengson and Duncan Taylor (New Society Publishers, 1997).

Farming and forestry have wrecked the Earth on a far, far greater scale than many traditional protest targets such as hunts, fur farms or new motorways. This book is a case study of how to put forestry on a more sustainable footing in an approach that firmly recognises the needs of non-human species. It also addresses the social and economic dimensions of the needed revolution in land use. (Drengson's own writings on both ecophilosophy and technology are well worth seeking out)

See also Forestopia: a Practical Guide to the New Forest Economy by Michael M'Gonigle and Ben Parfitt (Harbour publishing, 1994). With regard to the production of food and other crops, there are several good books on organic farming and community-supported farms but particularly stimulating are Forest Farming by Robert Hart (Green books, 1991) and New Roots for Agriculture by Wes Jackson (Univ. Nebraska Press, 1985) as well as the various writing of Bill Mollison.

20.	Cascadia Wild
	edited by Mitch Friedman and Paul Lindholdt (Frontier Publishing, 1993).

Finally, since sustainability is not just about people, here is a book which points the way to protect remaining wildernesses and ensure habitats for the Earth's other dependants. Their biggest problem is simply that we humans leave less and less space for them. Apart from being an excellent case study (set in the mountains of the north west United States), it is also an introduction to some great writers in the field of wildlife conservation such as Reed Noss and Ed Grumbine.

Other case studies in repairing some of the appalling damage humankind has inflicted on Mother earth can be found in Helping Nature Heal: an Introduction to Environmental Restoration edited by Richard Nilsen (Ten Speed Press, 1991) and In the Service of the Wild: Restoring and Reinhabiting Damaged Land by Stephanie Mills (Beacon, 1995). See also Saving Nature's Legacy by Reed Noss and Allan Cooperrider (Island Press, 1994) and The Wildlands Project, a special issue of the excellent American magazine Wild Earth (1992).