New Society Publishers

The life story of one of the most revered environmental and spiritual leaders of our time

In Widening Circles, well-known eco-philosopher, Buddhist scholar, and deep ecology activist /teacher Joanna Macy recounts her adventures of mind and spirit in the key social movements of her time. Macy’s autobiography reads like a novel as she relates her multi-faceted life experiences and reflects on how her marriage and family life enriched her service to the world.

Macy’s formative years with an abusive father and oppressed mother set her on an irrevocable path of self-definition and independence. A short-lived stint with the CIA exposed Macy firsthand to the Cold War’s darkest threats: the construction of the hydrogen bomb and the building of the Berlin Wall. With three children in tow, Macy and her husband traveled with the Peace Corps to Africa, India, and Tibet, where her encounter with the Dalai Lama and Buddhism led to Macy’s life-long embrace of the religion and a deep commitment to the peace and environmental movements.

Joanna Macy was one of those rare people who, in the words of a Rilke poem, could genuinely claim to “live my life in widening circles / that reach out across the world.” In this absorbing, and sometimes thrilling memoir, the unique synthesis of spiritualism and activism that defined Macy’s contribution to the world are illuminated by the life- events and experiences that paved her uncommon path.

Elegant and audacious possibilities that push the boundaries of contemporary environmentalism

Dysfunctional cities, catastrophic climate change, ever-deepening distance from nature-today we see environmental disaster everywhere we look. In Mobilizing the Green Imagination , philosophical provocateur Anthony Weston urges us to move beyond ever more desperate attempts to "green" the status quo, toward entirely different and far more inviting ecological visions:

• Life after transportation-decentralized work, inventive infill and self-sufficient micro-communities to facilitate life in place
• Adaptation with attitude-cities that welcome the rising waters
• A Great Second Chance-moving beyond exploitation of the whole natural world
• A cosmic ecology-why not a green space program?

These postcards from beyond the leading edge of today's green thinking are bold, audacious, extravagantly hopeful and profoundly inspiring-the perfect antidote to the despair brought on by too many "doom and gloom" scenarios. Nothing less than a complete reinvention of contemporary environmentalism, Mobilizing the Green Imagination belongs in the back pocket of anyone who dares to dream of a brighter future and a better world.

The definitive guide for people wanting to make a positive difference in the world.

Specifically designed to reach people who normally would not consider themselves activists, The Better World Handbook is directed toward those who care about creating a more just, sustainable, and socially responsible world but don’t know where to begin. Substantially updated, this revised bestseller now contains more recent information on global problems, more effective actions, and many new resources.

How the dirt below our feet can save us from extinction.

Conventional agriculture destroys our soils, pollutes our water and is a major contributor to climate change. What if our agricultural practices could stabilize, or even reverse these trends?

The Biochar Solution explores the dual function of biochar as a carbon-negative energy source and a potent soil-builder. Created by burning biomass in the absence of oxygen, this material has the unique ability to hold carbon back from the atmosphere while simultaneously enhancing soil fertility. Author Albert Bates traces the evolution of this extraordinary substance from the ancient black soils of the Amazon to its reappearance as a modern carbon sequestration strategy.

Combining practical techniques for the production and use of biochar with an overview of the development and future of carbon farming, The Biochar Solution describes how a new agricultural revolution can reduce net greenhouse gas emissions to below zero while increasing world food reserves and creating energy from biomass wastes. Biochar and carbon farming can:

• Reduce fossil fuels inputs into our food system
• Bring new life to desert landscapes
• Filter and purify drinking water
• Help build carbon-negative homes, communities and nations.

Biochar is not without dangers if unregulated, and it is not a panacea, but if it fulfills its promise of taking us back from the brink of irreversible climate change, it may well be the most important discovery in human history.

The long-awaited exposé of 9/11 and Peak Oil - by the "Godfather of 9/11 research."

The attacks of September 11, 2001, were accomplished through an amazing orchestration of logistics and personnel. Crossing the Rubicon discovers and identifies key suspects—finding some of them in the highest echelons of American government—by showing how they acted in concert to guarantee that the attacks produced the desired result.

Crossing the Rubicon is unique not only for its case-breaking examination of 9/11, but for the breadth and depth of its world picture—an interdisciplinary analysis of petroleum, geopolitics, narcotraffic, intelligence and militarism—without which 9/11 cannot be understood.

The US manufacturing sector has been mostly replaced by speculation on financial data whose underlying economic reality is a dark secret. Hundreds of billions of dollars in laundered drug money flow through Wall Street each year from opium and coca fields maintained by CIA-sponsored warlords and US-backed covert paramilitary violence. America’s global dominance depends on a continually turning mill of guns, drugs, oil and money. Oil and natural gas—the fuels that make economic growth possible—are subsidized by American military force and foreign lending.

In reality, 9/11 and the resulting “war on terror” are parts of a massive authoritarian response to an emerging economic crisis of unprecedented scale. Peak Oil—the beginning of the end for our industrial civilization—is driving the élites of American power to implement unthinkably draconian measures of repression, warfare and population control. Crossing the Rubicon is more than a story. It is a map of the perilous terrain through which, together and alone, we are all now making our way.

Michael C. Ruppert is the publisher and editor of From the Wilderness , a newsletter read by more than 16,000 subscribers in 40 countries. A former Los Angeles Police Department narcotics investigator, he is widely known for his groundbreaking stories on US involvement in the drug trade, Peak Oil and 9/11.

The life story of one of the most revered environmental and spiritual leaders of our time

In Widening Circles, well-known eco-philosopher, Buddhist scholar, and deep ecology activist /teacher Joanna Macy recounts her adventures of mind and spirit in the key social movements of her time. Macy’s autobiography reads like a novel as she relates her multi-faceted life experiences and reflects on how her marriage and family life enriched her service to the world.

Macy’s formative years with an abusive father and oppressed mother set her on an irrevocable path of self-definition and independence. A short-lived stint with the CIA exposed Macy firsthand to the Cold War’s darkest threats: the construction of the hydrogen bomb and the building of the Berlin Wall. With three children in tow, Macy and her husband traveled with the Peace Corps to Africa, India, and Tibet, where her encounter with the Dalai Lama and Buddhism led to Macy’s life-long embrace of the religion and a deep commitment to the peace and environmental movements.

Joanna Macy was one of those rare people who, in the words of a Rilke poem, could genuinely claim to “live my life in widening circles / that reach out across the world.” In this absorbing, and sometimes thrilling memoir, the unique synthesis of spiritualism and activism that defined Macy’s contribution to the world are illuminated by the life- events and experiences that paved her uncommon path.

By providing tools to understand the land we live on and the sources of its natural regeneration, the more than 40 contributors to Home! open up new possibilities for the creation of cultures in keeping with the requirements of the natural world. Home! contains essays, poems, songs, and beautiful illustrations.

This book of readings, meditations, rituals and workshop notes prepared on three continents helps us remember that environmental defense is nothing less than "Self" defense. Including magnificent illustrations of Australia's rainforests, Thinking Like a Mountain provides a context for ritual identification with the natural environment, inviting us to begin a process of "community therapy" in defense of Mother Earth. It helps us experience our place in the web of life, rather than on the apex of some human-centred pyramid. An important deep ecology educational tool for activist, school and religious groups, Thinking Like a Mountain can also be used for personal reflection.

Thinking Like a Mountain has been made available through New Catalyst Books. New Catalyst Books is an imprint of New Society Publishers, aimed at providing readers with access to a wider range of books dealing with sustainability issues by bringing books back into print that have enduring value in the field. For more information on New Catalyst Books click here.

When it came out in 1994, My Name is Chellis and I'm in Recovery from Western Civilization quickly became a classic of the ecopsychology movement. It is a book about roots which reach back millennia to a time when humans lived in and honored the natural world. By documenting the entanglement of the ecological crisis with modern addictions, the book gives an unusual glimpse into matters of culture, history, politics, and personal consciousness; and by helping us make sense of the senseless abuses in the world today, it inspires the remembrance of new/old pathways towards healing.

My Name is Chellis and I'm in Recovery from Western Civilization has been made available through New Catalyst Books. New Catalyst Books is an imprint of New Society Publishers, aimed at providing readers with access to a wider range of books dealing with sustainability issues by bringing books back into print that have enduring value in the field. For more information on New Catalyst Books click here.

Contrary to accepted wisdom, rapid urban growth can leave communities permanently scarred, deeply in debt, with unaffordable housing, a lost sense of community, and sacrificed environmental quality.

In Better NOT Bigger, Fodor explodes the fundamental myth that growth is good for us and that more development will bring in more tax money, add jobs, lower housing costs, and reduce property taxes. Lively and well-illustrated, Better NOT Bigger provides insights, ideas, and tools to empower citizens to switch off their local "growth machine" by debunking the pro-growth rhetoric. Highly accessible to ordinary citizens as well as professional planners.

Better NOT Bigger has been made available through New Catalyst Books. New Catalyst Books is an imprint of New Society Publishers, aimed at providing readers with access to a wider range of books dealing with sustainability issues by bringing books back into print that have enduring value in the field. For more information on New Catalyst Books click here.

Our Ecological Footprint presents an internationally-acclaimed tool for measuring and visualizing the resources required to sustain our households, communities, regions and nations, converting the seemingly complex concepts of carrying capacity, resource-use, waste-disposal and the like into a graphic form that everyone can grasp and use. An excellent handbook for community activists, planners, teachers, students and policy makers.

The climate futurist presents a sobering analysis of America’s future in the face of climate change—and how we can prepare to make the most of it.

After decades of missed opportunities, the door to a sustainable future has closed, and the future we face now is one in which today's industrial civilization unravels in the face of uncontrolled climate change and resource depletion. What is the world going to look like when all these changes have run their course?

John Michael Greer seeks to answer this question, using a clear-eyed analysis of ecology, economics, and history to discern what the next 500 years or so might look like. As globalization ends, the United States—and Western civilization—will enter the stages of decline and fall.

Though Dark Age America offers an uncompromising assessment of our collective future, it is by no means without hope. Knowing where we're headed is a crucial step in responding to the challenges of the future and doing what we can now to help our descendants make the most of the world we're leaving them.

The male case against patriarchy - why it hurts men, and how they can change it.

The macho society that held John Wayne as a role model has created an emotional wasteland where 80 percent of men are unable to accurately express their feelings, and that same percentage feel estranged from their fathers. The stifled male, disconnected and out of touch, fills the void with apathy or anger, and the toll is staggering: short, unhealthy lives, ruined relationships, and damaged children. This destructive behavior repeats itself in the next generation as the sins of the father continue the cycle.

In Becoming the Kind Father, Calvin Sandborn aims to break that cycle. His intensely personal story is heart-searing and inspirational. Brought up to fear his father’s alcohol-fueled fury and hateful put-downs, the author buried his feelings and fine-tuned his own rage. His father’s early death and the collapse of the author’s marriage provided catalysts for change.

Interspersing clever literary references with painful childhood memories, intense self-examination, and astute observations, Sandborn provides well-researched psychological findings and self-help tips, including how to:

• Identify and share feelings
• Treat yourself as a kind father would
• Form trusting male friendships
• Break the anger habit
• Forgive the world and yourself

This guide offers helpful insight for the millions of men who want to become kinder human beings. A must-read for every woman who loves an angry or emotionally distant man.

Calvin Sandborn is a journalist, author, and environmental lawyer who currently supervises the University of Victoria Environmental Law Clinic. He is also a kind father and grandfather.

The definitive guide for people wanting to make a positive difference in the world.

Specifically designed to reach people who normally would not consider themselves activists, The Better World Handbook is directed toward those who care about creating a more just, sustainable, and socially responsible world but don’t know where to begin. Substantially updated, this revised bestseller now contains more recent information on global problems, more effective actions, and many new resources.

How the dirt below our feet can save us from extinction.

Conventional agriculture destroys our soils, pollutes our water and is a major contributor to climate change. What if our agricultural practices could stabilize, or even reverse these trends?

The Biochar Solution explores the dual function of biochar as a carbon-negative energy source and a potent soil-builder. Created by burning biomass in the absence of oxygen, this material has the unique ability to hold carbon back from the atmosphere while simultaneously enhancing soil fertility. Author Albert Bates traces the evolution of this extraordinary substance from the ancient black soils of the Amazon to its reappearance as a modern carbon sequestration strategy.

Combining practical techniques for the production and use of biochar with an overview of the development and future of carbon farming, The Biochar Solution describes how a new agricultural revolution can reduce net greenhouse gas emissions to below zero while increasing world food reserves and creating energy from biomass wastes. Biochar and carbon farming can:

• Reduce fossil fuels inputs into our food system
• Bring new life to desert landscapes
• Filter and purify drinking water
• Help build carbon-negative homes, communities and nations.

Biochar is not without dangers if unregulated, and it is not a panacea, but if it fulfills its promise of taking us back from the brink of irreversible climate change, it may well be the most important discovery in human history.

Elegant and audacious possibilities that push the boundaries of contemporary environmentalism

Dysfunctional cities, catastrophic climate change, ever-deepening distance from nature-today we see environmental disaster everywhere we look. In Mobilizing the Green Imagination , philosophical provocateur Anthony Weston urges us to move beyond ever more desperate attempts to "green" the status quo, toward entirely different and far more inviting ecological visions:

• Life after transportation-decentralized work, inventive infill and self-sufficient micro-communities to facilitate life in place
• Adaptation with attitude-cities that welcome the rising waters
• A Great Second Chance-moving beyond exploitation of the whole natural world
• A cosmic ecology-why not a green space program?

These postcards from beyond the leading edge of today's green thinking are bold, audacious, extravagantly hopeful and profoundly inspiring-the perfect antidote to the despair brought on by too many "doom and gloom" scenarios. Nothing less than a complete reinvention of contemporary environmentalism, Mobilizing the Green Imagination belongs in the back pocket of anyone who dares to dream of a brighter future and a better world.

The acclaimed investigative reporter and author of Confronting Collapse examines the global forces that led to 9/11 in this provocative exposé.

The attacks of September 11, 2001 were accomplished through an amazing orchestration of logistics and personnel. Crossing the Rubicon examines how such a conspiracy was possible through an interdisciplinary analysis of petroleum, geopolitics, narco-traffic, intelligence and militarism—without which 9/11 cannot be understood.

In reality, 9/11 and the resulting "War on Terror" are parts of a massive authoritarian response to an emerging economic crisis of unprecedented scale. Peak Oil—the beginning of the end for our industrial civilization—is driving the elites of American power to implement unthinkably draconian measures of repression, warfare and population control. Crossing the Rubicon is more than a story of corruption and greed. It is a map of the perilous terrain through which we are all now making our way.