Now in Review: Sea Sick

Sea Sick: The Global Ocean in Crisis
by Alanna Mitchell
McClelland & Stewart, 2010

This is the first book to examine the current state of the world’s oceans — the great unexamined ecological crisis of the planet — and the fact that we are altering everything about them; temperature, salinity, acidity, ice cover, volume, circulation, and, of course, the life within them.

Sea Sick: The Global Ocean in Crisis
Nature Writing and Natural Histories
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Feeding the Market

Feeding the Market
South American Farmers, Trade and Globalization
by Jon Hellin and Sophie Higman
Kumarian Press, 2003

Authors Jon Hellin and Sophie Higman traveled the backroads of South America for 12 months visiting smallholder farms and researching the access they have to national and global markets. Their journey, made primarly by bicycle, provided the grist for this detailed report on the effects of economic globalization on the average South American farmer.

As this book demonstrates, small-scale producers in Latin and South America want to participate in the global marketplace, but they face serious impediments: production and transportation costs, quality and quantity demands, cultural and economic restrictions.

To date, economic globalization has benefitted a few individuals and corporations in the world's most developed countries with little obvious return to the developing world. Finding ways to bring some of the benefits of globalization to rural South America and to help smallholder farmers derive a sustainable livelihood from their new-found access to world markets is the primary intent of this study.

"Only by working together with other farmers can smallholder farmers accumulate enough supply-power to fulfill the market demands for quantitiy and continuity of production," the authors point out.

In their survey of eight smallholder commodity areas -- bananas, coffee, potatoes, quinoa, coca, wine, sheep, forestry -- the most promising ventures discovered are cooperative efforts by groups of farmers. Fair trade programs, introduced by concerned consumer groups in the developed world, have had the biggest impact by offering farmers a just price for their produce in exchange for organic or sustainable practices.

Review: Feeding the Market
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M Hofferber Books

Now in Review: The Master Your Metabolism Cookbook

The Master Your Metabolism Cookbook
by Jillian Michaels
Crown, 2010

Through the Master Your Metabolism plan, Jillian has taught readers how to balance their hormones naturally so their bodies become energetic, thriving, fat-burning machines.

Now Jillian makes it even easier for you by bringing the Master program right into your kitchen. With more than 125 recipes specifically designed for the Master Diet and including health tips tailored to enhance your nutrition and weight loss, The Master Your Metabolism Cookbook will help make living a long, healthy life easier—and tastier.

The Master Your Metabolism Cookbook
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Very Blueberry: Preserving

Very Blueberry
by Jennifer Trainer Thompson
Celestial Arts, 2005

To enjoy berries year-round, simply place them, unwashed, in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze them. Remove the pan from the freezer, place the berries in sealed plastic bags, and return them to the freezer for up to six months.

Never wash berries -- fresh, dried, or frozen -- until you're about to serve them or use them to brighten muffins or pancakes, enliven rice and salad, or add color to desserts. Swirled into your pancake batter in January, they will remind you of that hot August afternoon you picked the perfect blue ball and popped it into your mouth while it was still warm from the sun.

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Now in Review: Fixing the Sky

Fixing the Sky
The Checkered History of Weather and Climate Control
by James Rodger Fleming
Columbia University Press, 2010

For more than a century, scientists, soldiers, and charlatans have tried to manipulate weather and climate, and like them, today's climate engineers wildly exaggerate what is possible. Scarcely considering the political, military, and ethical implications of managing the world's climate, these individuals hatch schemes with potential consequences that far outweigh anything their predecessors might have faced.

Showing what can happen when fixing the sky becomes a dangerous experiment in pseudoscience, James Rodger Fleming traces the tragicomic history of the rainmakers, rain fakers, weather warriors, and climate engineers who have been both full of ideas and full of themselves.

Fixing the Sky
Science Writing
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Out There

The Abundant Community

The Abundant Community
Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods
by John McKnight and Peter Block
Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2010

Depersonalization and the corporate centralization of wealth, power and influence has obviously had a deleterious affect on families and neighborhoods throughout America in recent years, creating deep insecurities, inequities and social maladies that have lowered the quality of life and enlarged prison populations.

This book is all about correcting this trend with basic, localized and personal actions that lead to greater cooperation, stronger communities and a sustainable economy.

Educators and social policy scholars John McKnight and Peter Block offer practical suggestions for nurturing voluntary systems, reconnecting with our neighbors and creating an environment of abundance rather than scarcity.

"The culture of community is initiated by people who value each other's gifts and are seriously related to each other," they explain. "It takes time, because serious relationships are based upon trust, and trust grows from with experience of being together in ways that make a difference in our lives."

The process begins with mutual respect, appreciating the abilities of our neighbors, buying and employing locally while also welcoming newcomers and including them in the community, creating associations and supporting one another.

"We take seriously the idealistic notion that our future is dependent on each of us and if one of us is not free, or valued, or participating in a full life, then those are not possible for any of us."

Refreshingly utopian and optimistic, this book gives voice to ideals that have been too long suppressed. Hopefully, it will help strengthen efforts to restore community and neighborhood to their rightful importance in American society.

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The Great Book of Chocolate

The Great Book of Chocolate
The Chocolate Lover's Guide with Recipes
by David Lebovitz
Ten Speed Press, 2004

Former Chez Panisse pastry chef and cookbook author David Lebovitz compiled this compact but far-reaching guide to all things chocolate.

"Chocolate, in my biased opinion, is the most universally provoking and addictive flavor," Lebovitz explains, describing his book as "a gift to all chocolate lovers," an informed tour of the world of chocolates and chocolate-making that includes cooking tips and recipes.

Lebovitz's tour includes an introduction to cacao beans and where they are grown, a primer on the different types of chocolates from couverture to white chocolate, some comments on the healthy benefits of chocolate, and some suggestions on choosing a chocolatier. He devotes a full chapter to the chocolates in Paris, which he claims has more fantastic chocolate boutiques than any other city in the world.

The recipes includes riffs on the classic brownie and Lebovitz's signature Rocky Road as well as Chocolat Tarte de Rue Tatin, Triple-Chocolate Parfait and Black-Bottom Cupcakes. There are 30 recipes in all preceeding a resource section of chocolatier websites.

The Great Book of Chocolate
Review: The Great Book of Chocolate
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