Small Stories, Big Changes: Agents of Change on the Frontlines of Sustainability

by Lyle Estill (Editor), David W. Orr (Foreword)

A remarkable cast of characters inhabit the pages of this book. Meet Tim Toben, who developed a high rise with the lowest energy consumption of any building in the southeastern United States, was foreclosed upon, and lost millions in the process. Gary Phillips held the line against real estate developers in Chatham County and was run out of office for his efforts. Elaine Chiosso has been protecting her watershed by fighting on behalf of the Haw River for twenty-eight years. Unflinchingly honest and compulsively readable, Small Stories, Big Changes provides an intimate look at the personal experience of being a pioneer in the sustainability movement, laying bare the emotional, spiritual, and financial impact of a life lived in the service of change. Activist, farmer, publisher, philosopher or entrepreneur; each writer has a unique personal tale to tell. Small Stories, Big Changes is a book written by ordinary people doing extraordinary things; whose lives have been transformed by their willingness to commit themselves unreservedly to the creation of a better world. Empowering, hopeful, and inspiring, this rich tapestry of voices from the vanguard of change is a must-read for anyone dreaming of a brighter future and seeking a counterbalance to a canon of work that is laced with doom and gloom. Lyle Estill is the president and co-founder of Piedmont Biofuels and the author of Industrial Evolution , Small is Possible , and Biodiesel Power . He has won numerous awards for his commitment to sustainability, outreach, community development, and leadership.

216 pages, Paperback

First published April 16, 2013

Reviews

[Charlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this collection of 14 short essays over a period of about 6 weeks -- editor is a North Carolina pioneer in biodiesel & he approached individuals in the sustainability movement who inspire him, asking if they could contribute a brief summary of their career or what led them to sustainability movement.

There's a good variety of people included; some with decades of experience, some just starting out. My favorite essays were by the old timers: Bryan Welch, publisher of Mother Earth News, Gary Phillips, a local county politician and poet, and Albert Bates, lawyer, inventor, and permaculture expert at the Farm (Tennessee).

My favorite quote was from Elaine Chiosso, a North Carolina Riverkeeper: "And always, always get out there and enjoy the beauty of the world and be renewed by it."

[Miz Lizzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the fourteen essays in this collection, individuals share how they each became movers and shakers in the sustainability movement. The focus is on making a living and creating businesses that hold a vision of a sustainable, environmentally sound future. There are successes, failures, confrontations, and forging on in the personal stories of ventures in organic cotton, wind power, biofuels, publishing, and more. Since the contributors are all folks that editor Lyle Estill either knows personally or has connected with in one way or another, the stories are heavily based in North Carolina and Ontario, though Madison and the west coast do have some representation as well. If you're looking for inspiration or a shot in the arm, this is the book to pull you up by your bootstraps and think about what you are doing or can do to create a new vision of how we can live and thrive on this precious planet.

[Jonathan Hunsberger]

Interesting book featuring some local people I have met and/or heard of, and part of the story of the building where my in-laws live.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Almost finished but I never got back to it.

[Aaron Richardet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick fun read. With many inspiring topics

[Patrick McGarry]

Ok book (think there is more fuel than just diesel to be bio). Now am connected with the author.