The post carbon reader : making sense of the 21st century's sustainability crises / edited by Richard Heinberg and Daniel Lerch.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This diverse collection by best-selling authors, renowned scientists, and experienced activists is an engaging and practical book that will be of interest to the lay reader as well as university students in both graduate and undergraduate courses.

The expert contributors to The Post Carbon Reader were asked to unflinchingly describe the deep and interconnected sustainability crises confronting humanity in the 21st century--and then give readers concrete steps for addressing those crises.

This unprecedented collection of writings (34 essays, 4 previously published) is an honest, informed and engaging exploration of the most challenging issues of our time. It includes chapters by best-selling authors like climate activist Bill McKibben, renowned scholars like "ecological footprint" co-founder William Rees, and up-and-coming experts like urban food systems pioneer Erika Allen. Lead editor Richard Heinberg is the world's leading author of mass-market books on fossil fuel dependence and depletion. Heinberg says, "We've run out of time, natural resources and capital, so this is our only chance to get things right."

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Foreword (p. xiii)
• Preface (p. xix)
• Acknowledgments (p. xxv)
• Part 1 Foundation Concepts
• 1 Beyond the Limits to Growth (p. 3)
• 2 What Is Sustainability? (p. 13)
• Box 2.1. Defining Social Sustainability (p. 21)
• 3 Thinking "Resilience" (p. 25)
• Part 2 Climate
• 4 A New World (p. 43)
• 5 The International Response to Climate Change (p. 53)
• Box 5.1. Cap and Dividend in the United States (p. 60)
• 6 The Ecological Deficit: Creating a New Political Framework (p. 63)
• Part 3 Water
• 7 Water: Adapting to a New Normal (p. 77)
• Part 4 Biodiversity
• 8 Peak Nature? (p. 97)
• Part 5 Food
• 9 Getting Fossil Fuels Off the Plate (p. 119)
• 10 Tackling the Oldest Environmental Problem: Agriculture and Its Impact on Soil (p. 128)
• 11 Growing Community Food Systems (p. 140)
• Part 6 Population
• 12 Population: The Multiplier of Everything Else (p. 153)
• Part 7 Culture and Behavior
• 13 Dangerously Addictive: Why we Are Biologically I11-Suited to the Riches of Modern America (p. 177)
• 14 Remapping Relationships: Humans in Nature (p. 184)
• 15 The Human Nature of Unsustainability (p. 194)
• Part 8 Energy
• 16 Making Sense of Peak Oil and Energy Uncertainty (p. 207)
• 17 Hydrocarbons in North America (p. 211)
• 18 Nine Challenges of Alternative Energy (p. 229)
• 19 Peak Oil and the Great Recession (p. 247)
• Part 9 Economy
• 20 Ecological Economics (p. 259)
• 21 Money and Energy (p. 279)
• 22 The Competitiveness of Local Living Economies (p. 283)
• Part 10 Cities, Towns, and Suburbs
• 23 The Death of Sprawl: Designing Urban Resilience for the Twenty-First-Century Resource and Climate Crises (p. 295)
• 24 Smart Decline in Post-Carbon Cities: The Buffalo Commons Meets Buffalo, New York (p. 314)
• 25 Toward Zero-Carbon Buildings (p. 322)
• 26 Local Government in a Time of Peak Oil and Climate Change (p. 335)
• Part 11 Transportation
• 27 Transportation in the Post-Carbon World (p. 347)
• Part 12 Waste
• 28 Climate Change, Peak Oil, and the End of Waste (p. 363)
• Part 13 Health
• 29 Human Health and Well-Being in an Era of Energy Scarcity and Climate Change (p. 385)
• Box 29.2 Climate Change and Dengue Fever (p. 397)
• Part 14 Education
• 30 Smart by Nature: Schooling for Sustainability (p. 409)
• 31 Community Colleges: A Vital Resource for Education in the Post-Carbon Era (p. 419)
• Part 15 Building Resilience
• 32 Personal Preparation (p. 429)
• 33 What Can Communities Do? (p. 442)
• Part 16 Call to Action
• 34 What Now? The Path Forward Begins with One Step (p. 455)
• Notes (p. 459)
• Index (p. 499)