Books by Local Authors
Business | Community and Sustainability | Food | Green Building | Land and Natural Resources | Transportation | Youth
BUSINESS
Industrial Evolution: Local Solutions for a Low Carbon Future- Lyle Estill, New Society Publishers, 2011
About how the small group of committed entrepreneurs managed to keep their dream alive and thriving through the economic recession, emerging with a model of what a sustainable local economy might look like in a post carbon future… This book seeks to show how community-scale enterprise can create a vibrant, sustainable local economy.
Lyle Estill is V.P. Stuff, Sales/Marketing, Strategy, Management at Piedmont Biofuels.
Katie Kross - Profession and Purpose: A Resource Guide for MBA, Careers in Sustainability, Greenleaf Publishing, 2009
A clear roadmap of the field of sustainability and of the resources currently available to those interested in further investigating or pursuing careers in sustainability.
Katie Kross is Managing Director of the Center for Energy, Development, and the Global Environment (EDGE) at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.
COMMUNITY & SUSTAINABILITY
Stephen Hren - Tales from the Sustainable Underground, New Society Publishers, 2011
Packed with the stories of pioneers—who care more for the planet than the rules — whether engaged in natural building, permaculture, community development, or ecologically based art. Equally entertaining and informative, the profiles in this highly original book provide a unique lens through which to view deeper questions about the societal structures that are preventing us from attaining a more sustainable world.
Stephen Hren is a restoration carpenter, builder and teacher who specializes in sustainable design and solar heating technologies.
Lyle Estill - Small is Possible: Life in a Local Economy, New Society Publishers, 2008
Chronicles the failures and victories of an ongoing movement for sustainability and local resiliency in Chatham County. He introduces us to “hometown security” - a community-powered response to resource depletion in a fickle global economy. This is the story of how one small southern town found actual solutions to actual problems… discovering it is possible for a community to feed itself, fuel itself, heal itself, and govern itself.
Lyle Estill is co-founder and V.P. Stuff, Sales/Marketing, Strategy, Management, Piedmont Biofuels
FOOD
Linda Watson - Wildly Affordable Organic: Eat Fabulous Food, Get Healthy,
and Save the Planet—All on $5 a Day or Less, Da Capo Lifelong Books, 2011
If you’ve wanted to eat like it matters but felt you couldn’t afford it, Wildly Affordable Organic is for you. It’s easy to think that “organic” is a code word for “expensive,” but it doesn’t have to be. With these ingenious cooking plans and healthy, satisfying recipes, Linda Watson reveals the incredible secret of how you can eat well every day—from blueberry pancakes for breakfast to peach pie for dessert—averaging less than two dollars a meal.
Linda Watson is the test cook and researcher at Cook for Good.
Sheri Castle - The New Southern Garden Cookbook Enjoying the Best from Homegrown Gardens, Farmers' Markets, Roadside Stands, and CSA Farm Boxes, The University of North Carolina Press, 2011
Castle aims to make "what's in season" the answer to "what's for dinner?" This timely cookbook, with over 300 dishes for omnivores and vegetarians alike, celebrates and promotes the delicious, healthful homemade meals made possible by the diverse array of seasonal fruits and vegetables grown in the South, and most of the rest of the nation as well.
Sheri Castle is a food writer, cooking teacher, recipe tester and developer at Sheri-inc.
Andrea Reusing - Cooking in the Moment: A Year of Seasonal Recipes,
Clarkson Potter, 2011
For Andrea Reusing—an award-winning chef, a leader in the sustainable agriculture movement, and a working mother—“cooking in the moment” simply means focusing on one meal at a time… cooking and eating this way allows food in season to become the foundation of a full life. Cooking in the Moment is a rich, absorbing journey through a year in Reusing’s home kitchen as she cooks for family and friends using ingredients grown nearby.
Andrea Reusing is owner and chef of The Lantern Restaurant in Chapel Hill.
Jonathan Bloom - American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of Its Food (and What We Can Do About It) , Da Capo Lifelong Books, 2010
Bloom documents the nature of wasted food in the twenty-first century and questions both the economic efficiency and the morality of such profligacy. He finds food crops lying rotting in fields owing to intentional social policy, economic vagaries, and sheer ignorance. Restaurant portion sizes have ballooned and many Americans allow food to decay on refrigerator shelves out of carelessness and lack of planning. Bloom has found some hopeful signs of a shift -grocery stores and restaurants giving surplus edibles to food pantries, and socially conscious farmers allowing the poor to glean.
Jonathan Bloom is a journalist and blogger who created wastedfood.com.
GREEN BUILDING
Traci Rose Rider, Stacy Glass & Jessica McNaughton - Understanding Green Building Material, W.W. Norton, 2011
A companion to Understanding Green Building Guidelines, this primer explains green building products - what they are and how to choose them. From eco-friendly sheetrock to sustainable paint finishes, the green building movement is gaining momentum. But with new products, manufacturers, and standards being introduced routinely, how are architects or designers to know what's best for their projects? This book summarizes what is available and the
considerations for selecting sustainable materials.
Dr. Traci Rose Rider is the Director of the Downtown Design Studio and Research Associate at North Carolina State University’s College of Design. Stacy Glass is President of CaraGreen, a sustainable architectural materials showroom. Jessica McNaughton is Director of Strategic Initiatives at Caragreen.
Rebecca & Stephen Hren – A Solar Buyer's Guide for the Home and Office: Navigating the Maze of Solar Options, Incentives, and Installers, Chelsea Green Publishing, 2010
Solar power, once a fringe effort limited to DIY enthusiasts, is now fast becoming mainstream, and strong tax credits ensure continued growth even in a sluggish economy. Many home and business owners are curious about solar electric and solar thermal systems, and wonder how to go about getting a clean energy generation system of their own. The vast majority will hire a
professional installer to do the job. But what should they be asking of these installers? What system makes the most sense for their home or office, solar electric, solar hot water, solar heating, or some combination of these?
Rebekah Hren is Director of Implementation at O2Energies, a licensed NC electrical contractor and NABCEP certified solar installer. Stephen Hren is a restoration carpenter, builder and teacher who specializes in sustainable design and solar heating technologies.
Traci Rose Rider - Understanding Green Building Guidelines: For Students and Young professionals, W.W. Norton, 2009
This book aims to look at a selection of both national and local green building rating systems and guidelines, ranging from commercial to residential. While the goal is to provide students and young professionals with a solid overview of each product, enabling them to understand the differences and select the most appropriate system for their chosen projects, the book provides valuable overviews and comparisons for anyone interested in
better buildings: designers, homeowners, realtors, contractors, facility managers, site designers, and more.
Dr. Traci Rose Rider is the Director of the Downtown Design Studio and Research Associate at North Carolina State University’s College of Design.
Stephen & Rebecca Hren - The Carbon Free Home: 36 Remodeling Projects to Help Kick the Fossil-Fuel Habit, Chelsea Green, 2008
Meant as a guide for renovating existing homes, this book gives you the hands-on knowledge necessary to kick the fossil fuel habit, with projects small and large listed by skill, time, cost, and energy saved. For every aspect of your life currently powered by fossil fuels, we offer alternatives you can accomplish yourself to get started using renewable and sustainable sources of power.
Stephen Hren is a restoration carpenter, builder and teacher who specializes in sustainable design and solar heating technologies. Rebekah Hren is Director of Implementation at O2Energies, a licensed NC electrical contractor and NABCEP certified solar installer.
LAND & NATURAL RESOURCES
Helen Kraus & Anne Spafford - Rain Gardening in the South: Ecologically Designed Gardens for Drought, Deluge and Everything in Between, Eno Publishers, 2009
Written by horticulturalists Helen Kraus and Anne Spafford, Rain Gardening in the South helps gardeners use our most precious resource--water--wisely. Rain gardens maximize rainwater, enhance the landscape, and promote environmental stewardship. This four-color book addresses the specific environmental circumstances of Southern gardens, including climate issues, plant selection, and soil types.
Dr.Helen Kraus is an Assistant Professor in Horticultural Science at NCSU. Anne Spafford is an Associate Professor of Landscape Design, Horticultural Science and Adjunct Faculty Member, Department of Landscape Architecture, NCSU.
TRANSPORTATION
Lyle Estill – Biodiesel Power The Passion, the People, and the Politics of
the Next Renewable Fuel, New Society 2005
A chronicle of this emerging industry. Lightly touching on the technical aspects of the fuel, its qualities, and specifications, the book is largely about the people and stories of the biodiesel movement. It explores the tensions between Grass-roots activists and their altruistic co-ops. The profit-minded commercial producers, the voices of agribusiness, and the then current administration—or “the coalition of the drilling”.
Lyle Estill is co-founder and V.P. Stuff, Sales/Marketing, Strategy, Management, Piedmont Biofuels.
YOUTH
Bob Palmatier, The Tiny Turtle of the Marsh
A children’s book about the salt marsh adventures of a Diamondback Terrapin. Like his first book, this one offers real learning about this species, their habitat and behaviors. http://bobpalmatier.com/
Bob Palmatier is an environmental educator and field researcher of native species of turtles, salamanders and insects and their habitats.
Bob Palmatier, Stormy’s Return
Children’s book about the relocation of a spotted turtle whose habitat is threatened, and his journey to return home. The author does all the wonderful illustrations as well; prints, notecards and educational materials based on the story are also available. http://bobpalmatier.com/
Bob Palmatier is an environmental educator, and field researcher of native species of turtles, salamanders and insects and their habitats.