Each month, The Ocean Project will highlight a book focused on our blue planet or environmental sustainability. Books for all age groups will be covered, non-fiction and fiction, prose and poetry. If you have a suggestion, please let us know.
2010
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September
Beyond Ecophobia:
Reclaiming the Heart in Nature Education
by David Sobel
- Non-fiction
- Subject: Consideration of the need for children to embrace nature to benefit their development.
- Synopsis: This book should help you consider the advantages gained through a healthy relationship with the natural world.
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August
The Most Important Fish in the Sea:
Menhaden and America
by H. Bruce Franklin
- Non-fiction
- Subject: Interconnections between components of the food web and fish consumption.
- Synopsis: This book should help you consider complexities in the food web on which we rely for nourishment.
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July
Entanglements:
The Intertwined Fates of Whales and Fishermen
by Tora Johnson
- Non-fiction
- Subject: Interconnections among those who depend on the ocean for survival.
- Synopsis: This book should help you consider complexities among ocean life and human actions.
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June
Rapture of the Deep: The Art of Ray Troll
by Ray Troll
- Art book
- Subject: Zany, irreverent, and often surreal art.
- Synopsis: This book provides you a unique way to celebrate the ocean before, during, and after World Oceans Day on June 8th.
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May
On Guerrilla Gardening:
A Handbook for Gardening without Boundaries
by Richard Reynolds
- Non-fiction
- Subject: Seeing the full potential for gardens in your community.
- Synopsis: This book provides you an extensive discussion of gardens and the opportunity for them to improve community health.
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April
A Community Guide to Environmental Health
by Jeff Conant and Pam Fadem
- Non-fiction
- Subject: Working towards community health.
- Synopsis: This book provides you an extensive checklist of concerns and solutions to issues to consider for creating or maintaining community health.
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March
Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf
by John Muir
- Non-fiction
- Subject: Appreciation for nature as a pasttime.
- Synopsis: This book should introduce you to more natural environments to inspire you to walk and explore your surroundings.
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February
Fight Global Warming Now:
The Handbook for Taking Action in Your Community
by Bill McKibben
- Non-fiction
- Subject: Taking action against global warming.
- Synopsis: This book presents the "Step It Up" community action case study for you to consider.
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January
The Outermost House:
A Year of Life On The Great Beach of Cape Cod
by Henry Beston
- Non-fiction
- Subject: Historical lives in ocean communities.
- Synopsis: This book should introduce you to more natural times to inspire you to reconsider the ocean.
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2009
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December
A Sense of Wonder
by Rachel Carson
- Family friendly
- Subject: Love for the outdoors.
- Synopsis: This book should remind you of childhood memories that inspire you to get back to nature.
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November
Low Carbon Diet:
A 30 day program to lose 5000 pounds
by David Gershon
- Adult, Do-it-yourself
- Subject: Practical primer on reducing personal carbon output.
- Synopsis: This book should educate and give you a hopeful outlook on the power of one person to reduce carbon output.
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October
Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans
by Sylvia Earle
- Adult, Non-fiction
- Subject: The life and insights of an ocean researcher.
- Synopsis: This book should educate and give you a hopeful perspective on the power of one person's work on behalf of the world's ocean.
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September
Sea of Slaughter
by Farley Mowat
- Adult, Non-fiction
- Subject: Historical perspective on the North Atlantic coast from Cape Cod up to Labrador.
- Synopsis: This book should give you a historical basis for becoming more mindful on behalf of the world's ocean.
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August
Smithsonian Ocean: Our Water, Our World
by Deborah Cramer
- Family Friendly, Non-fiction
- Subject: Developing a personal, family, and community ethic for the ocean.
- Synopsis: This book should help you appreciate and become more mindful on behalf of the world's ocean.
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July
Soil Not Oil:
Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis
by Vendana Shiva
- Adult, Non-fiction
- Subject: Connecting critical issues from food security to peak oil to global warming.
- Synopsis: This book should help you consider and adapt your food choices to be a better world citizen.
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June
Chicken Soup for the Ocean Lover's Soul:
Amazing Sea Stories and Wyland Artwork to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit
by Mark Victor Hansen, Jack Canfield, and Wyland
- Adult, Non-fiction
- Subject: Celebrating our world ocean through stories and pictures that inspire.
- Synopsis: This book should help you see and re-connect with the wonders of our world ocean.
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May
Planet Ocean:
Photo Stories from the 'Defending Our Oceans' Voyage
by Sara Holden
- Adult, Non-fiction
- Subject: Considering our ocean and its need for protection.
- Synopsis: This book should help you see and connect with the work others have done to bring the plight of our world ocean into our awareness.
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April
Souls in the Sea:
Dolphins, Whales, and Human Destiny
by Scott Taylor
- Adult, Non-fiction
- Subject: Considering our large mammal cousins of the sea.
- Synopsis: This book should help you see and investigate the lives of whales and dolphins as relevant to our consideration of the ocean and the environment.
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March
Earth Odyssey: Around the World in Search of Our Environmental Future
by Mark Hertsgaard
- Adult, Non-fiction
- Subject: Considering the effect of poverty on the environment
- Synopsis: This book should help you better ponder the effect dire poverty has on the ocean and the environment.
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February
Trust Us We're Experts: How Industry Manipulates Science and Gambles with Your Future
by Sheldon Rampton
- Adult, Non-fiction
- Subject: Questioning independent science and reporting
- Synopsis: This book should help you better consider the sources of information you turn to when trying to find truth regarding safe and dangerous phenomena in the environment.
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January
At the Ends of the Earth
by Kieran Mulvaney
- Adult, Non-fiction
- Subject: Plight of the water at our poles
- Synopsis: This book should help you better consider the current beauty of our Arctic and Antarctic regions and how their water properties are changing over time.
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2008
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December
Last Child in the Woods:
Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
by Richard Louv
- Adult, Non-fiction
- Subject: Awareness of the Looming Nature-Deficit crisis
- Synopsis: This book should help you better consider "the nature-deficit problem" and consider diverse efforts to confront it.
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November
Confronting Consumption
Edited by Thomas Princen, Michael F. Maniates and Ken Conca
- Adult, Non-fiction
- Subject: Conservation Through Mindful Consumption
- Synopsis: This book should help you better conceptualize "the consumption problem" and consider diverse efforts to confront it.
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October
The Great Gulf:
Fishermen, Scientists, and the Struggle to Revive the World's Greatest Fishery
by David Dobbs
- Adult, Non-fiction
- Subjects: Fisherman/ Fish/ Northern Atlantic Ocean
- Synopsis: This book should help you solidify your understanding of the fish crisis from many different stakeholder perspectives.
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September
The Whale Warriors:
The Battle at the Bottom of the World to Save the Planet's Largest Mammals
by Peter Heller
- Adult, Non-fiction
- Subjects: Whales/ Conservation/ Antarctic Ocean
- Synopsis: This book may yet again give you an appreciation for the world's largest mammals and interest in their plight.
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August
Edible Estates:
Attack on the Front Lawn
Edited by Fritz Haeg
- All Ages, Non-fiction
- Subject: Environmentally Sustainable Environment Decisions
- Synopsis: Inspire yourself to get rid of all that water hungry lawn with pictures, letters, interviews from people who have made the switch regionally in the US.
Food Not Lawns:
How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden And Your Neighborhood into a Community
by Heather Coburn Flores
- Adult, Non-fiction
- Subject: Environmentally Sustainable Environment Decisions
- Synopsis: Read a deeper, darker manifesto discussing the reasons to replace your lawn with a food-producing garden now rather than later.
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July
Hope's Edge:
The Next Diet for a Small Planet
by Frances Moore Lappé and Anna Lappé
- Adult, Non-fiction
- Subject: Environmentally Sustainable Food Decisions
- Synopsis: This book may change the way you look at the world and how you eat, motivating you to smarter personal action when you make your food choices.
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June
Reef
by Scubazoo
- All Ages, Non-fiction
- Subject: Marine Conservation and Ocean Photography
- Synopsis: This book powerfully demonstrates the beauty and diversity of reefs found around the world while helping to educate us about this year’s World Ocean Day theme: "helping our climate – helping our ocean" with a focus on coral reefs.
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May
From Eco-Cities to Living Machines:
Principles of Ecological Design
by John Todd and Nancy Todd
- Adult, Non-fiction
- Subject: Ecological Design
- Synopsis: John and Nancy lay out the precepts of ecological design and map out how we can apply them to re-design our communities and economies into healthy sustainable systems.
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April
The Edge of the Sea
by Rachel Carson
- Adult, Non-fiction
- Subject: Coastal ecosystems
- Synopsis: Carson explores rocky shores, sandy beaches, and coral reefs, leading us into unknown worlds to catch the evanescent beauty of a tide pool and tell the story of a grain of sand.
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March
How to Live Well Without Owning a Car
by Chris Balish
- Adult, Non-fiction
- Subject: Green Living / transportation
- Synopsis: The first practical, accessible, and sensible guide to living in North America without owning a car.
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February
Blessed Unrest:
How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming
by Paul Hawken
- Adult, Non-fiction
- Subject: Environmental / Social activism
- Synopsis: A leading environmentalist and social activist's examination of the worldwide movement for social and environmental change.
- Watch the video
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January
Ignition: What You Can Do To Fight Global Warming and Spark a Movement
Edited by Jonathan Isham and Sissel Waage
- Adult, Non-fiction
- Subject: climate change advocacy
- Synopsis: For anyone who feels compelled to do more about climate change
than change their light bulbs or occasionally carpool, Ignition is an essential guide.
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2007
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December
Deep Economy:
The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future:
by Bill McKibben
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November
Cape Wind:
Money, Celebrity, Class, Politics, and the Battle for Our Energy Future on Nantucket Sound:
by Wendy Williams and Robert Whitcomb
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October
The Lazy Environmentalist:
Your Guide to Easy, Stylish Green Living:
by Josh Dorfman
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September
Garbage Land:
On the Secret Trail of Trash
by Elizabeth Royte
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August
Hooked:
Pirates, Poaching, and the Perfect Fish
by G. Bruce Knecht
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July
Gaia Girls:
Way of Water
by Lee Welles
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June
Kon-Tiki
by Thor Heyerdahl
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May
Swimming in Circles:
Aquaculture and the End of Wild Oceans
by Paul Molyneaux
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April
The Monkey Wrench Gang
by Edward Abbey
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March
Silent Spring
by Rachel Carson
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February
Ocean Life From A to Z
by Cynthia Stierle and Annie Crawley |
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January
The National Geographic
Atlas of the Ocean: The Deep Frontiers
By Sylvia Earle |
