Our Bookshelf

Dip out of the shallows...

Internet knowledge tends to be only headline deep.

But not for everyone:  We are a team of readers who thirst for new science based information when it comes to our planet.  Our love of the planet is deep, and we think that the culture of alarmism clouds people from reading other environment based information that can actually be fun or interesting to read.

If you can, get these books from your library or buy used.

From our team, this is our reading list: 

 

 

As humans believe the world works as a pyramid with us at the top, nature and the environment can’t seem to agree. What once was a symbiotic relationship between humans and Earth has turned into a superiority fight. Peter Wohlleben decides to combat this notation by telling the unnoticed consciousness of the trees around him. 

Why we love it:  We are trail runners & spend hours in the forests during all seasons.  This book brings a personality to trees and makes us feel more connected to the gentle giants of the woods.

 

Everyone reads one side of the story but the only way to have a well rounded understanding is to expose yourself to the other side. We encourage you to do this because deeper understanding helps you formulate your own opinions and actions.

Why we love it:  because this book makes people uncomfortable. That is what reading & immersing yourself in a topic is supposed to do sometimes.  It's really nice to get out of the environmentalist echo-chamber sometimes. Don't fear something that might change your mind, it might also re-inforce what you already think--and that's cool too!

 



Before there was technology there were still explorers, travelers, navigators. They used the clues of nature to guide them. We created things to assist us, to make it easier, but it was never to replace these nature clues, those preserved on and Tristan Gooley took it upon himself to compile 850 of them to help humans reconnect with the natural way of navigation. 

Why we love it:  Because it got us off of our phones and paying attention to the actual world...as nature intended.

The history of our species is complex. Yuval Noah Harari explores the differences between humans and animals in our ability to give meaning to things not tangible from a new perspective. This book captivated everyone from teens to college professors. 
Why we love it:  honestly, it's just so good.

A love for the Earth and nature is not limited to those born among the trees. Unseen city describes how urban settings have their own ecosystems, their own set of nature, and how to pay attention to it. Nathanael Johnson encourages taking an extra minute to pay attention to what’s around you. 

Why we love it:  If you live in a city, which we did, you often get that feeling of being disconnected from nature...but this book sucked us right back in and made us pay attention to pigeons in a new way. 


It seems like everyday there’s a new ‘what-not-to eat”, a new “thing that’s bad for you”, a new “just kidding this is actually incredible for you”. It’s hard to keep up in this ever shifting labyrinth of health and happiness so Nathanael Johnson decided to decode it on his own and offers readers a middle ground solution.
 
Why we love it:  we’re here for middle ground. We understand that sustainability goes beyond the product and into lifestyles and attitudes as well. For new parents this book is a great resource to set those pre-baby jitters at ease.  It covers everything from raw milk to our weird fear of vaccines (ooh, hot topic alert!)


Written by the founder of Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard details how he took on the challenge of changing consumption. He wanted to go beyond product change, beyond company change, and dove head first into culture change. Doing ‘business as usual’ does not apply here as Chouinard lays down a blueprint for sustainability in companies. 
Why we love it:  the world is made better by Yvon and his reluctance to compromise his standards--and also his openness about the mistakes he made.  For any of you eco-entrepreneurs, this is the Bible.

A compilation of research proving what we already considered to be true, Last Child in the Woods details why exposure to nature is critical for a child’s growth and development and crucial for the emotional well-being of children and adults alike. 

Why we love it: we’re a team of nature lovers, born and raised. We have meetings on paddle boards, our founder is a trail runner, we’re surfers, our content and marketing lead hiked one of the seven summits, our creative director bathes in the lake. We want the next generation to feel this love of the earth too.

As the environmental movement shift from wild spaces to business dominated sustainability, Paul Kingsnorth and others like him became apathetic towards the movement and began to pull away. He now stands firmly on the idea that progression and new technology will not come about to save the planet but instead we must regress to symbiotic relationships with the land in order to renew the balance between human and nature. 
Why we love it: this author is the real deal.  He even goes as far as to make his own toilet because he thinks as humans we are disconnected from waste--so there's a whole level of respect for someone who takes their environmentalism to the level that we are not willing to do :)

Why you should be making your business better not bigger. Company of one details the highlights of staying small, the highlights of building your company around your life, not your life around your company. 
Why we love it:  this validated everything we wanted to build as a company. If you're thinking about starting one, read this after "Let My People Go Surfing." We also think it's rock and roll that Mr. Jarvis has on his website that he doesn't want anyone contacting him. 


Environmentalism of the Rich, Peter Dauvergne 

Critiquing movements is nothing new and we’re on board with Peter Dauvergne’s critique. Dauvergne analyzes if anything meaningful has actually been done within the environmental movement since it’s been dominated by “eco” businesses and the affluent. We don’t believe sustainability should be something you have to strive for. 

Why we love it:  because it says everything we want to say.




Unraveled, Maxine Bedat 

Following the creation to termination of a pair of jeans, Maxine Bedat uncovers and explains the sustainability crisis present in the fashion industry. The industry’s waste is beyond the clothing in the landfills and extends across continents to poisonous growing practices, toxic dyes, and unsustainable labor.

Why we love it: Not only did it open our eyes to the real destructive force that is fast-fashion, it also aligns with our mission of out with the new and in with the old as we urge you to repurpose and revive textiles instead of jumping on fashions newest micro trends.  

 

 

Elevated Economics, Richard Steel 

How Conscious Consumers Will Fuel the Future of Business. The world is changing--people care more about how things are made and who made them.  They care about the ethical treatment of workers and ecosystems. 

Why we love it: We love this book for a million reasons, and we think that it's time for large companies to start paying attention to the new wave of consumers.  For now though, we will do the work ourselves :)

Why we extra love it:  our founder, after closing NOAP said that this book gave her the fire to start all over again from scratch.  Thank you Richard for writing this!

Ishmael, Daniel Quinn

Our world exists in duality. Good versus bad, creation versus destruction, etc. and our culture has extended that to things that do not need to be versus, things like humanities versus mathematics and money versus the environment. Daniel Quinn writes a metaphorical story of the unnecessary killing of a crab to explore these dualities and how they relate to our relationship with nature and nature’s relationship with itself. 

Why we like it:  this book is polarizing and is often credited as being life-changing for a lot of people who grew up with an anthropocentric view point.  That's pretty juicy, eh?

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