Confessions of an Eco-Sinner: Tracking Down the Sources of My Stuff - Hardcover

Pearce, Fred

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 080708588X ISBN 13: 9780807085882

Publisher: Beacon Pr, 2008

Synopsis

A global journey to find the sources of all the stuff in one man’s life—and its social and environmental footprint

Where does everything in our daily lives come from? The clothes on our backs, the computers on our desks, the cabinets in our kitchens, and the spices behind their doors? Under what conditions—environmental and social—are they harvested or manufactured?

In Confessions of an Eco-Sinner, Fred Pearce shows us the hidden worlds that sustain a Western lifestyle, and he does it by examining the sources of everything in his own life; as an ordinary citizen of the Western world, he, like all of us, is an “eco-sinner.” In conversational and convivial prose, Pearce surveys his home and then starts out on a global tour to track down, among other things, the Kenyans who grow and harvest his fair trade coffee (which isn’t as fair as one might hope), the women in the Bangladeshi sweat shops who sew his jeans, and the Chinese factory cities where the world’s computers are made. It’s a fascinating portrait, by turns sobering and hopeful, of the effects the world’s more than 6 billion inhabitants—all eating, consuming, making—have on our planet, and of the working and living conditions of the people who produce most of these goods.

About this title

Review

"The hot new green book on the market . . . A riveting, well-written and witty account of the origin of some of the common objects in people's homes."--GreenMuze
"Confessions of an Eco-Sinner . . . displays a refreshing ability to defy conventional green wisdom. . . . Pearce scores an inspiring read here, with a gift for getting to the heart of the matter in just a few words."--David Valdes Greenwood, Body + Soul
"With a straightforward writing style and a pace that circles breezily from travelogue to statistics to history and back, Pearce . . . [offers] hope for a more just and healthy future."--Molly Reid, The Times-Picayune
"Sometimes frightening, always enlightening, [Confessions] will teach you more about other people's lives than you ever thought possible."--Catherine Brahic, New Scientist
"Far from merely presenting a litany of consumer sins . . . Pearce discusses a range of socio-economic solutions, including recycling alternatives, agricultural initiatives and population issues."--Ted Hainworth, The StarPhoenix
"If you've ever wondered where all your stuff comes from . . . and where it all goes, Fred Pearce has beaten you to it, been there, cast a critical eye over it and published it here. Armed with a sense of his own ignorance and fallibility . . . [t]o his great credit Pearce has no fear of statistics and is skilled at making them more manageable, less illusory and, yes, sometimes more shocking. . . . Essential reading."--New Agriculturalist
"It's official: Everyone is going green. Sometimes, though, learning which behaviors really make a difference seems an impossible task. In Confessions of an Eco-Sinner, Fred Pearce is determined to find the truth by following his possessions from the cradle to the grave. What he learns is sometimes disturbing, occasionally rewarding, and always eye-opening."--Rachel Tavares, Changing Hands Bookstore, Tempe, AZ

About the Author

Fred Pearce is a former news editor at New Scientist. Currently that magazine's environment and development consultant, he has also written for Audubon, Popular Science, Time, the Boston Globe, and Natural History. His books include With Speed and Violence, When the Rivers Run Dry, Keepers of the Spring, Turning Up the Heat, and Deep Jungle. He lives in England.

About this edition

• Publisher: Beacon Pr
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 080708588X
• ISBN 13: 9780807085882
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 276