The Green Reader: Essays Toward a Sustainable Society

This collection of more than 55 excerpts not only offers an introduction to the environmental issues currently affecting our world (e.g., pesticides and pollution, growth, overpopulation, third-world poverty, and consumerism, among others), but also provides an excellent introduction to the classic writings of numerous contributors including Rachel Carson, E. F. Schumacher, Fritjof Capra, Ed Abbey, and Aldo Leopold, among others. Although writer Thomas Berry is unfortunately absent from this collection, and the selections are short (3 to 5 pages each), this book should nevertheless be considered a good starting place to get one's feet wet in the green debate. Then, if wet feet aren't enough, I would recommend the recent "Dharma Rain" (2000) collection of environmental essays from a buddhist perspective. G. Merritt