In the past few years, I've read some extraordinary books that connected ideas in unexpected ways, and changed the way I now think about sustainability and community. Connecting arts, news, and communities had been my work and passion for decades. But restoring the relationships between people and nature has become urgent, and the many complex issues of human and planetary health, justice, and equity have come to the fore. I still recall Dr. Clement Price, then professor of history at Rutgers University-Newark, saying in 2009: “The question still remains: who will build community?”

The five books I have described below, stretching back from 2021 to 2017, take inventive, cross-disciplinary approaches to building vibrant, regenerative communities. This is a mission of CivicStory and a key aspect of civics: understanding why all will benefit when we each foster mutual well-being in our daily activities.

Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less

By Leidy Klotz (2021)

The author is an associate professor at the University of Virginia with appointments in three schools: engineering, architecture, and business. He built schools in New Jersey early in his career, and his research touches on behavioral sciences. Klotz noted that, when trying to solve a problem, humans are biased toward adding, or doing something—anything—rather than subtracting and not doing something. But if we learn which habits to drop (“stop-doings,” as he calls them), we'll have more time and less stress, and we'll find that some critical paths open toward future ecological health and flourishing. I love the way the book realigns all areas of humanities, science, and social science.

The Story of More: How We Got to Climate Change and Where to Go from Here

By Hope Jahren (2020) 

Paleobiologist and native Minnesotan Hope Jahren grew up exploring her father’s biology, chemistry, and physics labs, and now heads a research team in Oslo, Norway. I love her logical, vivid phrases that explain the science behind our human predicament. “When we burn fossil fuels—that is, long-dead plants—carbon dioxide sequestered millions of years ago is released into the air," she explains. We must “transform our collective idea of what energy is for, and then transform our individual—and eventually collective—practices of how energy is used.” As a scientist, she appeals to our ethics and humanity: every meal we eat, mile we travel, and dollar we spend offers us a choice to “use less, and share more.”

Nature's Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard

By Douglas W. Tallamy (2019) 

A native of Berkeley Heights, NJ, Tallamy is an ecologist and University of Delaware professor in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology. I have enjoyed his many talks on “lawn change” and native plants, accessible on YouTube, and his energetic, pragmatic advice is to “shrink our lawns” and create more habitat for insects we depend on. He states, “increasing the number and biomass of the plantings in our yards and public spaces is one of our most accessible and convenient tools for fighting climate change.” The cure, according to Tallamy, requires “small efforts by many people that will deliver enormous physical, psychological, and environmental benefits to all.” His attractive concept of creating “Home-Grown National Parks” is catching on. 

How to Give Up Plastic: A Guide to Changing the World, One Plastic Bottle at a Time

By Will McCallum (2018)

This straightforward guide by Greenpeace veteran McCallum helps us eliminate plastic waste from our lives, and I found his civic-minded approach surprising and motivating. “Plastic is so pervasive,” he observes. “Giving it up has to be a journey that brings people together, no matter what their circumstance.” McCallum refutes the notion that individual acts are inconsequential. “Our world functioned before plastic packaging existed, so it's obvious that we can exist without it again,” he writes, and “every victory against plastic begins with a single person or small group of people deciding that the time to take action is now.” This is a quick-start guide in twelve concise chapters, and a practical civics manual for readers of all ages. 

Drawdown: a compendium of solutions to reverse global warming

Edited by Paul Hawken (2017)

Hawken published an illustrated encyclopedia of one hundred specific ways to slow and ultimately reverse atmospheric warming occurring around the globe. Entries are grouped under subject areas such as Food, Land Use, Materials, Buildings and Cities, and Transport. Comparative data and statistics support estimates of how much carbon each technique removes from the atmosphere. Though the online material at Drawdown.org is more up-to-date, I appreciate the vivid descriptions, dazzling photos, and concise impact summaries in the original paperback publication. Eloquent essays by ecologist Janine Benyus (born in Cherry Hill, NJ), Pope Francis (Laudato Si), Peter Wohlleben (The Hidden Life of Trees) and others appear among the 100 entries, weaving a tapestry of story, image, science, and possibility.