Sustainable Planet

Book excerpt: Can we find ways of living that are sustainable and deeply satisfying, that ensure economic and political democracy, and are passionate about beauty, elegant design, and the wildness of nature? The contributors to Sustainable Planet say we can, and offer 16 remarkable visions of how to get from here to there, including: * Specific proposals from citizen and labor coalitions that articulate a positive alternative to the free-trade model of globalization * The emergence of local food systems that allow us to eat fresher, better tasting food while protecting family farms and conserving the environment * New thinking about industrial design and engineering that is leading to production systems which generate no waste * How we might create a fashion industry that weds aesthetic pleasure with social justice * Five economic policy recommendations that could move us toward a sustainable economy * What you can do to create a real sense of community where you live * A road map for building the political will to change the system before it's too late. This anthology grew out of the work of the Center for a New American Dream (CNAD), a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping Americans change the way they consume to improve quality of life, protect the environment, and promote social justice.