Our Journey to Sustainability: How Everyday Heroes Make a Difference

Engineer Biemer (Our Environmental Handprints) delivers an unfocused survey of more than 60 people and companies working to aid the environment. Their efforts range from the small-scale to the grandly ambitious. Harry Luton, a Louisiana homeowner, replaced vegetation destroyed by Hurricane Katrina with plants native to the region, while rancher Salvatore Gencarelle hopes to popularize bison as a less “management intensive” alternative to cattle, and Maria Erixon founded Nudie Jeans to encourage fairer garment production and cut down on clothes waste. Some of the profile subjects developed a deep care for nature as children, while others were driven by natural or manmade disasters (the 1971 Standard Oil spill, which released more than 800,000 gallons of oil into the San Francisco Bay, motivated environmentalist John Francis to stop using motorized vehicles). While the range of efforts featured is admirable and the author’s point that change starts in one’s own backyard is well taken, the profiles blur together and the lack of concrete suggestions for readers’ own activism disappoints. Despite its good intentions, this falls short. (Aug.)