book review Archives - Falcon Water Free

WHAT WE’RE READING: LET MY PEOPLE GO SURFING

In his long-awaited memoir, Yvon Chouinard – legendary climber, businessman, environmentalist, and founder of Patagonia, Inc. – shares the persistence and courage that have gone into being head of one of the most respected and environmentally responsible companies on earth. In Let My Poeple go Surfing, Chouinard tells the story of how the success of his company has forced him to invent a whole and balanced way of doing business. He takes a longer term view focused on real sustainability and in doing so he does away with conventional business paradigms where the goal is growth at any cost.

Patagonia, a fellow B Corp, is an example for the rest of the world with a dedication to the highest level of quality and the lowest amount of side-effects, environmentally and socially. The principles that drive Chouinard’s company are really his own. He focuses on quality, durability and doing more with less. He is a committed environmentalist and believes businesses should be responsible for the damage they do to the Earth.

Our favorite quote: How you climb a mountain is more important than reaching the top.

Have a great weekend!

WHAT WE’RE READING: GLOBAL THIRST

On a crowded shelf of books on water, one name stands out – John R. Wennersten. In his new book, “Global Thirst” (SchifferBooks), this seasoned scholar of environmental history has turned his eye from local issues of the Chesapeake Bay and Anacostia River to water across the globe and throughout the centuries.

Global Thirst offers a critical perspective on water, its uses, and access, as a major global issue in the 21st century. John R. Wennersten turns an unflinching eye on todays global water problems, critically analyzing pollution, drought, dying rivers, and the privatization of water utilities. He also offers commentary on what kinds of sustainable water options we should be pursuing in the near future. The author also touches on some of the less conventional aspects of the history of water. For example, Wennersten provides an extensive discussion of water’s role in culture, spirituality and religion, mythology and human speculation of the origins of life. Water not only provides a mean of survival, but it is also ingrained our culture. “Rivers appear frequently in the world’s sacred traditions as symbols of divine influence and life’s interdependence. They evoke an image of spiritual-intellectual energies cascading through the manifold planes of cosmic and intellectual life.”

Wennersten is a bit more historical than most water writers that we have read, and a bit less concerned with policy recommendations, however this comes as a breath of fresh air. When our focus is primarily on consuming water as a way of survival, we forget how much it affects other aspects of our life. Humans have always used water as a part of religion, entertainment and relaxation, and this continues to be an important aspect in our culture. We shouldn’t shy away from this or hope water supplies will be enough for the rituals to continue. On the contrary, “hope is not a strategy,” but solutions that require planning and work is what we need to focus on. “Carelessness and failure to plan have been the biggest enemies in the face of natural weather events. Our water catastrophe (the complete global scarcity of water) will not be a product of Mother Nature – it will be human-made.”

WHAT WE’RE READING: WATER – THE FATE OF OUR MOST PRECIOUS RESOURCE

The underlying premise is simple: water is life. It is a necessity that flows through every part of our day, every day of our life. We depend on water for everything from basic survival to generating the energy that lights our homes and fuels our businesses. Therefore it is very important that we take water conservation seriously and start to innovate new ways to make what limited resources we have last.

In Water, Marq de Villiers tours the world to examine the state of its most vital resource. What he finds is not encouraging. From Africa to Asia and Australia, from Europe to the Middle East and the Americas, too many people depend on too little — and increasingly limited — water. Despite engineering schemes constructed to water deserts and to store and deliver water where it would otherwise not be available, demand for water will almost surely continue to outstrip supply unless we dramatically alter our behavior.

In addition to the problems of supply and demand, the book describes the ecological damage incurred by the use and abuse of water sources. Through pollution, diversion, and degradation, industrialization of the world has taken a heavy toll on water quality.

The author creates his narrative based of childhood memories. Growing up in an arid and rural South Africa, de Villiers is aggressive with the value of clean, uncompromised water. The book brings both ecological and historical knowledge alongside his frank criticism of how the world’s water resources has and continue to be managed. He states that, “Humans consume water, discard it, poison it, waste it, and restlessly change the hydrological cycles, indifferent to the consequences: too many people, too little water, water in the wrong places and in the wrong amount. The human population is burgeoning, but water demand is increasing twice as fast.”

Thanks to de Marq de Villiers’s humane tone and unique curiosity, Water ends on a positive note. There is much to be learned here and even though it takes a long time to change a mindset, with education and awareness we go from just talking about it

WHAT WE’RE READING: GREEN METROPOLIS

Built on his article published in the New Yorker, David Owen’s Green Metropolis is sure to cause some commotion in the sustainable world. Based on the argument that cities are inherently more sustainable than suburban and rural areas, Owen develops his case and argues how New York City is actually the greenest, most environmentally responsible community in America. His book mounts a passionate, fact-studded case for “the environmental advantages of Manhattan-style urban density.”

There has been a lot of criticism whether this is just another book on “Why living in New York City is awesome”, however it’s worth to take a step back and put some thought into Owen’s case.

The premise is that cities with a high population density are better for the environment than suburbs. Even though the city generates more greenhouse gases, uses more energy, and produces more solid waste than any other region of comparable size, individually, New Yorkers pollute, drive, consume and throw away far less than other Americans. This is based on “the tightly circumscribed space in which they live creates efficiencies and reduces the possibilities for reckless consumption” and the number of cars on the road. Less drivers equals more damaging fossil fuels and reason to spread out destroying open space.

While all this may draw many to criticism, it is worth discussing a different point of view when it comes to thinking our impact on the planet. Sustainability has no final destination, as there is always room for improvement. It is more than just switching to hybrid cars, recycling and creating HOV and bicycle lanes. It’s an ever-changing, ever-growing challenge that our generation faces on a daily basis. “We all tend to think of ourselves as the last unsinning inhabitants of whatever place we live in. We don’t usually recognize ourselves as participants in its destruction.” How can we change this? That is our question.