Mile
Zero

What's the price on raising your consciousness? Worldchanging thinks it's about $40, including renewable energy credits for the impact of printing the book. If that sounds like a deal, then they've got the product for you--what they call a "User's Guide for the 21st Century." Pretty heavy rhetoric to fulfill, but for the most part it does succeed.

The first thing that you notice about Worldchanging is the cover. A big (600 or so pages) hardcover book in green and grey, it comes with a beautifully-designed cardboard slipcover. It's bright and attention-grabbing, if not terribly convenient. I assume they had a good reason for it. Inside, the book is divided into sections similar to the website, such as "Stuff," "Cities," and "Politics." Each section discusses the problems that we will face in the future, current solutions being attempted, and often attempts to create tie-in for personal action. The chapters are broken up into short, snappy entries, many less than three paragraphs long. It's not in-depth information so much as a jumping-off place, complete with URLs and book recommendations.

The basic idea is that even if you can't do anything about the problems facing mega-cities like Lagos, being aware of them (and being pointed toward reliable resources with short reviews, if you want to find out more) will help you live a more sustainable lifestyle. Solutions start with awareness, the thinking goes, and even a small amount of change in each person's life could make a big impact. In this way, Worldchanging has been compared to an information-age Whole Earth Catalog, which doesn't mean much to someone my age. I had to look it up.

I'd have to say it works, at least on some level. Reading Worldchanging, particularly the chapters on Stuff, Politics, and Business, got me thinking about what I throw away, what I buy, and how I live, if only in the most cursory fashion. Much the same as An Inconvenient Truth, the relentlessly upbeat tone of the book does make these problems seem approachable, even as they're sounding a drumbeat of doom.

A lot of people who pick up Worldchanging will already be attentive to these ideas, since it's not cheap enough for an impulse buy. They'll probably try to loan it out to others, something I'm sure the authors would appreciate. Frankly, I'm not entirely sure whether (or even how) to review this book for purchasing--but I'll definitely recommend it for borrowing, and those short on cash but long on IT should consider browsing Worldchanging.org, where much of the book's material originated. If you can afford to pay $40 for wider awareness, then that's great. If not, give it a shot for free, especially if you don't normally think of yourself as an environmentalist or a philanthropist.