Product Description

We all know the Earth is in crisis. We should know that it is big enough to sustain us if we can only mobilise politicians and economists to change course now. This book explores environmental, economic and social ideas to save our planet. It helps us understand what is happening to the planet today, exposes the actions of corporations and the lack of action of governments, weighs up new technologies, and champions innovative and viable solutions. Tackling a huge range of subjects – it has the potential to become the seminal reference book on the state of the planet – the one and only environmental book you really need.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #168956 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

About the Author
James Bruges has been an architect in London, the Sudan, and Bristol. In 1995 he left architectural practice to concentrate on environmental issues that had become a major concern for him. He set up, jointly, Leigh Court Farm in Bristol (an edge-of-town organic enterprise), and became an adviser to an Environmental Trust. In 1999 James published <I>Sustainability and the Bristol Urban Village Initiative</I> and in 2000 he wrote <I>The Little Earth Book</I>.

Customer Reviews

No day-dreaming in class
If the layout, with its colourful photographs, inset maps, information summaries and quotations recalls your GCSE text book - that's quite appropriate. It should be `back to school' for most of us to learn about the earth and life on it. Although attractive to look at and easy to pick up for quick reads, The Big Earth Book could not be a more serious text and one that has the immediate effect of concentrating the mind on what matters most.

Under four subject areas - The Elements, Money, Power and Life - this volume is divided into manageable, mostly 3-page chapters. Bruges' work is a digest of articles which challenge us to wake up: the shock and awe tactics of not just one source, but a bevy of thinkers both past and present. But this kind of shock and awe is only totally surprising if the reader has ignored all the news of the past few years. What the BE book does is bring together facts, warnings, proposals and solutions for a general audience to consider. And when you have read just a few of its diverse topics, connections begin to appear and many of its solutions start to make fundamental good sense.

For many people, reports of greenhouse gases remaining in the atmosphere for over 150 years, extreme drought affecting a third of the world's surface by 2100 and waves of stinger jellyfish as the result of over -fishing is disturbing but already partly apprehended information. What is exciting news is the existence of a Happy Planet Index, the New Economics Foundation and a suggested four-currency model to encourage fair trade, help the environment and stimulate national economic activity.

Scoring fairly high on the scale of curious facts is the commissioning of a report in 2002: 'Converging Technologies for Improving Human Performance'. And if you think `global dimming' alludes to a collective consciousness focussed on meals round the glow of a television reality show - apt though that may be - think again. The Big Earth book should be required reading for all earth's citizens.

Fantastic
This book is just wonderful. The images are stunning, and entice you to pick it up to read. While we all listen to the news and hear about fuel running out, climate change and the like, this book puts all these issues into a well laid out clear structure. It looks at the issues and works through ideas and solutions. We all need to be more aware - and I'm sure this book would make a great present.

Big Earth - Big Book
I wasn't sure what to expect from this book but James Bruges doesn't fail to intrigue and challenge. This book is designed to make us think about the many issues around for our planet just now, offering a clear background to the thinking that currently informs the pressure for us to rethink the way we live our lives. Better yet, Bruges offers solutions and ideas and gives us a more positive way forward than many harbingers of doom. The design is very good quality with chapters divided into manageable sizes so it is easy to dip into a topic. Definitely a read to recommend.