Everybody knows what a physical invention is, but what's a social invention? It's collective action to improve the status quo for the common good. Better Ways to Live celebrates many successful social inventions, and explores challenges that invite new ways of being together. The great thing about social inventions is that anybody can norrow the ideas. During his famous trip to the U.S., Alexis de Tocqueville, author of Democracy in America, praised...

Looks at the history of the growth of consumerism, exposing the international nature of its expansion through the last six hundred years, and the challenges it poses to the planet.

The director of The Story of Stuff Project tracks the life of the "stuff" we use every day, transforming how we think about our patterns of consumption. This book is based on the author's 2007 internet film, "The Story of stuff." "With just 5 percent of the world's population, [the U.S.] is consuming 30 percent of the world's resources and creating 30 percent of the world's waste." -- Dust jacket.