What do you think?
Rate this book
Time to Think Small: How Nimble Environmental Technologies Can Solve the Planet's Biggest Problems
This call to climate action examines ways we can leverage the growing power of smartphones and other technologies to become effective environmental stewards to protect threatened species, reduce the risk from climate change, and stop ocean plastic.
Personal technologies are creating what the Environmental Defense Fund calls “a transformational shift” in how we address environmental problems. Time to Think Small explores how these brand-new approaches are already playing a huge role in winning some of the most difficult and important environmental struggles of our day–from fighting climate change, to ensuring drinkable water for everyone, to saving endangered animals, to keeping plastic out of the ocean.
Learn how these technologies magnify and multiply the power everyone has as individuals to save our environment and how this tremendous power is not only growing, but also has the huge benefit of being independent of sudden shifts in political leadership.
Drawing on two decades of environmental policy and a career working with endangered species mixed with his previous career in tech, Myers looks at the different ways we can be empowered to find environmental solutions.
"Time to Think Small reminds me of the first words spoken on the moon, about small steps and giant leaps. Todd Myers does, in fact, describe the giant strides from accumulated small steps that will help solve THE biggest long-term problem facing humanity today. If Big Government won’t act, WE CAN, in our own small ways!" --Donald Kroodsma, Author of Birdsong for the Curious Naturalist
"The future of environmental stewardship depends on technology and innovation. Todd Myers is a national leader on environmental policy and technology and understands how to create solutions that sidestep political gridlock." --John Connors, former Microsoft CFO
"A much-needed analysis of how we can solve complex global environmental problems by applying human ingenuity. . . and why every step matters along the way." --Benji Backer, President, American Conservation Coalition
"Addressing climate change can be such a polarizing issue. Myers's book has found a way to cut right through that with practical, applicable actions that everyone can take to make a difference." --Kevin Wilhelm, CEO, Sustainable Business Consulting
"While the positions taken by Todd Myers may be disconcerting to an old-school environmentalist such as myself, his voice is one we need to hear in the conversation about climate change. Myers makes a compelling argument that thinking small stimulates creativity, and that nimble, creative approaches can play a crucial role in achieving sustainability." -- John S. Farnsworth, PhD, Author of Nature Beyond Notes from the Field
Personal technologies are creating what the Environmental Defense Fund calls “a transformational shift” in how we address environmental problems. Time to Think Small explores how these brand-new approaches are already playing a huge role in winning some of the most difficult and important environmental struggles of our day–from fighting climate change, to ensuring drinkable water for everyone, to saving endangered animals, to keeping plastic out of the ocean.
Learn how these technologies magnify and multiply the power everyone has as individuals to save our environment and how this tremendous power is not only growing, but also has the huge benefit of being independent of sudden shifts in political leadership.
Drawing on two decades of environmental policy and a career working with endangered species mixed with his previous career in tech, Myers looks at the different ways we can be empowered to find environmental solutions.
"Time to Think Small reminds me of the first words spoken on the moon, about small steps and giant leaps. Todd Myers does, in fact, describe the giant strides from accumulated small steps that will help solve THE biggest long-term problem facing humanity today. If Big Government won’t act, WE CAN, in our own small ways!" --Donald Kroodsma, Author of Birdsong for the Curious Naturalist
"The future of environmental stewardship depends on technology and innovation. Todd Myers is a national leader on environmental policy and technology and understands how to create solutions that sidestep political gridlock." --John Connors, former Microsoft CFO
"A much-needed analysis of how we can solve complex global environmental problems by applying human ingenuity. . . and why every step matters along the way." --Benji Backer, President, American Conservation Coalition
"Addressing climate change can be such a polarizing issue. Myers's book has found a way to cut right through that with practical, applicable actions that everyone can take to make a difference." --Kevin Wilhelm, CEO, Sustainable Business Consulting
"While the positions taken by Todd Myers may be disconcerting to an old-school environmentalist such as myself, his voice is one we need to hear in the conversation about climate change. Myers makes a compelling argument that thinking small stimulates creativity, and that nimble, creative approaches can play a crucial role in achieving sustainability." -- John S. Farnsworth, PhD, Author of Nature Beyond Notes from the Field
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2022
16 people are currently reading
57 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 28, 2023
I found this book worth reading for the awareness it brings to the range of grass-roots environmental actions that are being enabled by now widely available, low cost technologies -- in particular smart phones. Granted, the book can be viewed as more of a collection of anecdotes as opposed to building a cohesive thesis, and it certainly isn't comprehensive, but the examples of environmental projects provided is enlightening and inspiring. I also appreciate that the author provides a balanced assessment of when "top down" (large government programs) approaches are appropriate/inappropriate versus grass-roots ones. Included in that assessment, the author points out how providing positive incentives for change (while providing detailed examples like collecting and recycling plastics in poor regions) often works better than penalties which we often see applied by governments.
March 29, 2024
A call-to-action for utilizing technology to confront environmental issues, Myers does a solid job of providing case studies in which readily available, current technology can be used by ambitious environmentalists to transform society. Additionally, he does confront the issues of the lack of innovation due to the consolidation of new technology by tech companies.
I think this would have been more enjoyable as a visual medium due to the sheer scope of different types of technologies and how they are applied to confront environmental issues. It becomes repetitive to read how someone realized they could use technology to help aid their cause. At a certain point, all things can be made easier, and more efficient, by having more exposure to technology.
I think this would have been more enjoyable as a visual medium due to the sheer scope of different types of technologies and how they are applied to confront environmental issues. It becomes repetitive to read how someone realized they could use technology to help aid their cause. At a certain point, all things can be made easier, and more efficient, by having more exposure to technology.
December 30, 2022
It's not horrible, I just can't stand the prose. I can't find any overarching logical or argumentative structure within the book as a whole or within individual chapters. There are very few numbers or mathematical figures used.
A lot of it reads as simply listing and describing environmental startups. The use of thinkers like Ostrom and Coase was a bit fast and loose for my taste. Taken at face value, the thesis is mostly harmless, if overstated. Mostly, I was just bored.
A lot of it reads as simply listing and describing environmental startups. The use of thinkers like Ostrom and Coase was a bit fast and loose for my taste. Taken at face value, the thesis is mostly harmless, if overstated. Mostly, I was just bored.
March 12, 2024
Engaging, optimistic, and exciting review of a couple of dozen "small" ideas to create large, positive environmental changes. The author points out that when change is dropped on our heads from above, putting all our eggs in one basket, often the controlling authority has it wrong. He provides a few examples of expensive government-mandated environmental policies that went nowhere.
The flip side? When we each have a computer in our pocket and the ability to aggregate the data collected by these computers, our phones, we can make individual decisions that are in our own best interest AND, in the aggregate, benefiting all of us. Myers gives us several interesting examples, none of which I'd ever heard of before, all of which I enjoyed reading about.
Myers writes with enthusiasm and a positive spirit. He conveys that results that are not economical are not "good" results, even if the outcome may be positive. Good results are positive and make economic sense. These types of results are self-replicating.
A very fun and satisfying read.
The flip side? When we each have a computer in our pocket and the ability to aggregate the data collected by these computers, our phones, we can make individual decisions that are in our own best interest AND, in the aggregate, benefiting all of us. Myers gives us several interesting examples, none of which I'd ever heard of before, all of which I enjoyed reading about.
Myers writes with enthusiasm and a positive spirit. He conveys that results that are not economical are not "good" results, even if the outcome may be positive. Good results are positive and make economic sense. These types of results are self-replicating.
A very fun and satisfying read.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews