Building the Green Economy

by Kevin Danaher, Shannon Biggs, Jason Mark

After centuries of economic activity based on extraction, exploitation, and depletion, we now face undeniable environmental threats. New business models that save or restore natural resources are critical. But how can we translate that insight into more sustainable practices?



Building the Green Economy shows how community groups, families, and individual citizens have taken action to protect their food and water, clean up their neighborhoods, and strengthen their local economies. Their unlikely victories―over polluters, unresponsive bureaucracies, and unexamined routines―dramatize the opportunities and challenges facing the local green economy movement.



Drawing on their extensive experience at Global Exchange and elsewhere, the authors



Lay out strategies for a more successful green movement

Describe how communities have protected their victories from legal and political challenges

Provide key resources for local activists

Include conversations with Rocky Anderson, Lois Gibbs, Anuradha Mittal, David Morris, Michael Shuman, and other activists and leaders.

Genres: Environment, Nonfiction, Activism

288 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2007

Reviews

[Camille McCarthy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was surprised that this book had a holistic approach to "greening" the world - from the title, I expected it to be a corporate-friendly greenwashing-promoting book, but actually only the last section focused on entrepreneurs. The rest was about building grassroots community organizations to fight big polluters, close juvenile detention centers, and keep money out of politics. Reading it in 2020. thirteen years after it was published, it feels a little dated; I was an intern at TerraCycle, one of the companies mentioned in the final section, and they no longer even sell the product they were featured for in this book. This would be my main critique of it. I was pleased that it talked about environmental racism and brought in the land dispossession of the Sioux in South Dakota. It seems prescient, in hindsight, to see what the book highlights. I would recommend it but since it's so dated I would rather recommend a newer book to people interested in these topics, so I hope they write an updated version sometime.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for getting inspiration of how people came together for a local cause that ultimately became a long-term impact. There's a lot of information in the book and some of the stories will stay with you. The book is split in short chapters and it's good source of resources of how to get involved. It did take me a while to read, but worth reading it.

[Paul Ivanov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Similar in spirit to Goodman and Goodman's Standing up to the Madness (see my detailed review of that book, to get a feel for it). Good, inspiring read.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm only about half way through but this book. It explores the breadth of the ways we have altered and damaged the environment and reals people who have made a significant effort to reverse that damage. Inspirational, scary and very well-written.

[Betty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as hard to read as some books about the attrositys that are perpitrated by corperations in the name of profits, due to the fact that these are the success storys. It is heartning that communitys don't have to lie down and be mown over by these self serving groups.