Ecology, Community, Politics

The Business of Moving the World

FLYING LEAD CHANGE 56 Million Years of Wisdom for Leading and Living by Kelly Wendorf $24.99, paper. Sounds True. 272 pages

For leaders at work, at home, and in our communities—In Flying Lead Change, leadership teacher Kelly Wendorf offers a new approach to leading and living inspired by two profound sources of wisdom: original peoples and Equus (the horse), grounded in evidence-based principles of neuroscience.

In her groundbreaking EQUUS training program, Wendorf teaches a way of leadership modeled on a 56

million-year-old system of the horse herd—a path that has allowed humans and horses alike to survive the

kinds of global and societal threats we now face, such as climate change and mass extinction. Here she takes you step by step through this powerful approach, including: ♦ Listening—the starting point for all leadership, in which we suspend our biases and preferences ♦ Care—explore the ancient, indigenous understanding of care that is reciprocal, empathic, and beneficial to all ♦ Presence—meeting the here and now with vulnera-

THE TAO OF INFLUENCE

Ancient Wisdom for Modern

Leaders and Entrepreneurs by Karen McGregor $27.95, paper. Mango. 224 pages

This unique leadership book provides practical and tangible actions that lead to high levels of sustainable influence. The book is

an easy-to-follow roadmap to creating lasting change in your workplace, community and family, while navigating chaotic and demand-

ing environments. Make an impact and positively influence others to create much needed change. As the “old world” influence of manipulation, hidden agendas, control and greed crumble, people are seeking a replacement. They want to be part of the solution. The Tao of Influence fills the gap between old and new world influence through the teachings and application of the Tao Te Ching, a 4000-year-old wisdom book written by Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu.

The greatest power is in understanding the use of

speaker, and a guide to entrepreneurs and professionals seeking to become more influential leaders. In the

Tao Te Ching, the Tao represents masculine creation and Te represents feminine nurturing. The Tao of Influplex forces that make societal change inevitable; explains how low-carbon, locally self-reliant agrarian communities can empower us to successfully confront these changes head on; and explores the pathways for delivering this vision politically. Challenging both conventional wisdom and utopian blueprints, A Small Farm Future offers rigorous original

analysis of wicked problems and hidden opportunities in a way that illuminates the path toward functional local economies, effective self-provision-

ing, agricultural diversity and a shared earth. “A Small Farm Future is a solid and truly inspiring book. I have dedicated the last 17 years of my life to creating a micro farm, and what I have learned fully confirms what Chris Smaje says: a small, ecologically inspired farm can produce high-quality, local food while also improving soil bility, openness, and a stable foundation ♦ Safety—how a masterful leader creates

a sense of group resilience and strength by

leading from behind for the welfare of all ♦ Connection—ways to move away from coercion and force to promote genuine communication and belonging ♦ Peace—creating group harmony right now through the surprising concepts of congruence and tempo ♦ Freedom—returning to our wild nature that is inherently free, unbridled, and un-

broken ♦ Joy—moving beyond temporary happiness to a state of wholehearted engagement of life, whatever the circumstances

In horsemanship, a flying lead change allows a running horse to respond with breathtaking grace to changing conditions. Collectively, we need a similar physics-defying maneuver.

This book is for the called—thought leaders, visionaries, parents, creatives, and all those who sense we are being asked to participate in humanity’s flying

power. Karen McGregor is a keynote speaker, TEDx change through the way we live, love, and lead.

ence speaks to both the feminine and masculine within, using words and concepts that are in keeping with the wisdom of the Tao, and that don’t rely on having to force, beat or defeat anything.

Each chapter begins with a quote from the Tao Te Ching that connects with that chapter’s theme. Then concludes with reflections and

recommended action. Learn how to: ♦ Handle challenges, including difficult people ♦ End the dynamic that heightens power struggles and destroys influence ♦ Create stillness and space to generate more presence and authentic power.

“Today, more than ever, the world is yearning for positive influencers. We’ve observed the fall of corrupt companies, institutions, and leaders. While we have lost faith and belief in them, we have not yet replaced them with positive alternatives. Karen McGregor provides these alternatives in The Tao of Influence. This

book addresses the deepest yearnings of influencers, including the journey from self-growth to standing for

altruistic global needs for change. Her four pillars walk you through the journey to ultimate love. Read it and watch your influence expand to serve the planet.” —Dr.

Manon Bolliger, and founder of Bowen College fertility, storing carbon, conserving water resources and improving biodiversity. Not to mention creating jobs and improving quality of life. A return to Mother Earth is the foundation on which we can build a new paradigm of

sustainable and equitable abundance based on biological resources, renewable energies, eco-construction and solidarity – among individuals and cultures, and across gener-

ations. Getting out of a virtual and globalized economy to cultivate the land with love and respect is our only hope to pass on a viable planet to our children. This is also the secret to happiness!’ —Charles Hervé-Gruyer, author of Miraculous Abundance; co-founder, Bec Hellouin Farm, France

MY GRANDMOTHER’S HANDS Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem $26.95, paper. Central Recovery. 308 pp.

The body is where our instincts reside and where we fight, flee, or freeze, and it endures the trauma inflicted by the ills that plague society. In this groundbreaking work, therapist Res-

maa Menakem examines the damage caused by racism in North America from the perspective of body-cen-

tered psychology. He argues this destruction will continue until Americans learn to heal the generational anguish of white supremacy, which is deeply embedded in all our bodies.

Not hurting is no longer an option. We must face and

feel soul-stirring pain. But this pain can be clean or dirty. We have a profound and historic opportunity. As the world watches and holds us accountable, we can choose clean pain… This book can help us make that choice, and to navigate the unknown waters into which we will need to sail.

Our collective agony doesn’t just affect African Americans. White Americans suffer their own secondary trauma as well. So do blue Americans—our police. My Grandmother’s Hands is a call to action for all of us to recognize that racism is not about the head, but about the body, and introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide.

The healing of trauma, and the creating of room for growth in the nervous systems of our children and other human beings, does not only happen in therapists’ offices. Our everyday lives present us with endless

opportunities to heal—through the things we say and do, the harmful things we are able to not say and do,

and the ways in which we treat ourselves and others. We all have the capacity to heal—and to create room for others to heal. Our relationships, communities, and circumstances all call us into this healing.

This book paves the way for a new, body-centered understanding of white supremacy—how it is literally in our blood and our nervous system. It offers a step-by-step

solution—a healing process—in addition to incisive social commentary.

You have the power to stop intergenerational and historical trauma in its tracks, and to keep it from spreading from your body into others. Above all, you have the power to heal. But first you have to choose to heal. Resmaa Menakem is a therapist with decades of experience, specializing in trauma, body-centered psychotherapy, and violence prevention. He also trained at Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute.

AMERICA’S RACIAL KARMA An Invitation to Heal by Larry Ward $13.50, paper. Parallax. 144 pages

Immediate, illuminating, and hopeful: this is the key set of talks given by leading Zen Buddhist teacher Larry Ward, on breaking America’s cycle of racial trauma.

I am a drop in the ocean, but I’m also the ocean. I’m a drop in America, but I’m also America. Every pain, every confusion, every good and every bad and ugly of America is in me. And as I transform myself and heal and take care of myself, I’m very conscious that I’m healing and transforming and taking care of America.

I say this for American cynics, but this is also true globally. It’s for real.

Shot at by the police as an 11-year-old child for playing baseball in the wrong spot, as an adult, Larry Ward experienced the trauma of having his home firebombed by racists. At Plum Village Monastery in France, the home in exile of his teacher, Vietnamese peace activist and Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, Dr. Ward found a way to heal. In these short reflective essays, he offers his insights on the effects of racial constructs and answers the question: how do we free ourselves from our repeated cycles of anger, denial, bitterness, pain, fear, violence? Larry Ward looks at

the causes and conditions that have led us to our current state and finds, hidden in the crisis, a profound opportu-

nity to reinvent what it means to be a human being. This is a deeply heartfelt invitation to transform America’s racial karma. “His teachings are wise, clear, heartfelt, and based on his own authentic transformative experience of being a Black man and one who also holds a high and honored Dharma seat in Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s lineage. This jewel of a book is sure to be a classic among those who are serious about awakening.” —Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, author of

The Deepest Peace

“Rehydrates our weary bodies for the monumental journey ahead: redefining what it means to be human. Wel-

come medicine for today’s generation of decolonial, spir-

it-led seekers and activists.” — Katie Loncke, codirector, Buddhist Peace Fellowship

Ecology, Community & Politics

PLEASURE ACTIVISM The Politics of Feeling Good by adrienne maree brown $27.95, paper. AK Press. 442 pages, a few colour illustrations

How do we make social justice the most pleasurable human experience? How can we awaken within ourselves desires that make it impossible to settle for anything less than a fulfilling life? Editor adrienne maree brown finds the answer in something she calls “Plea-

sure Activism,” a politics of healing and happiness that explodes the dour myth that changing the world is just an-

other form of work.

Drawing on the black feminist tradition, including Audre Lourde’s invitation to use the erotic as power and Toni Cade Bambara’s exhortation that we make the revolu-

tion irresistible, the contributors to this volume take up the

challenge to rethink the ground rules of activism. Writers including Cara Page of the Astraea Lesbian Foundation For Justice, Sonya Renee Taylor, founder of This Body Is Not an Apology, and author Alexis Pauline Gumbs cover a wide array of subjects—from sex work to climate change, from race and gender to sex and drugs—they create new

narratives about how politics can feel good and how what

feels good always has a complex politics of its own.

Pleasure activism is about learning what it means to be satisfiable, to generate, from within and from between us, an abundance from which we can all have enough… Pleasure is what our bodies, our human systems, are structured for; it is the aliveness and awakening, the gratitude and humility, the joy and celebration of being miraculous…

Do you understand that you, as you are, who you are, is enough?

Building on the success of her popular Emergent Strategy, brown explores experimental, expansive, and innovative ways to meet the challenges that face our world today.

Imagining Our Future

FROM WHAT IS TO WHAT IF New in Paperback Unleashing the Power of Imagination to Create the Future We Want by Rob Hopkins $25.95, paper. Chelsea Green. 240 pages

In these times of deep division and deeper despair, if there is a consensus about anything in the world, it is that the future is going to be awful. There is an epidemic of loneliness, an epidemic of anxiety, a mental health crisis of vast proportions, especially among young people. There’s a rise in extremist movements and governments. Catastrophic climate change. Biodiversity loss. Food insecurity. The fracturing of ecosystems and communities beyond, it seems, repair. The future—to say nothing of the present—looks grim.

But as Transition movement cofounder Rob Hopkins tells us, there is plenty of evidence that things can

change, and cultures can change, rapidly, dramatically,

and unexpectedly—for the better. He has seen it happen around the world and in his own town of Totnes, England, where the community is becoming its own

housing developer, energy company, enterprise incuba-

HUMAN PERMACULTURE

Principles for Ecological and Social Life Design by Bernard Alonso & Cecile Guiochon $29.99, paper. New Society. 224 pages, 150 2-colour illustrations

Harness the power of permaculture to change yourself and become a regenerative force for the planet. As climate change, ecological decline, and social breakdown start to bite, people expect that governments will solve our problems. Yet this belief has proven to be false. Rather than looking to others, changes must come from the inside out: transforming the “I” to “we,” changing the world by changing ourselves, and re-establishing our deep connection to nature.

Human Permaculture is a powerful, forward-thinking guide that uses permaculture principles of ecological design rooted in people care, Earth care, and fair share

for redesigning your life and community to align with the resources available on the planet. Richly illustrated and inspiring, Human Permaculture offers specific actions and tools for adopting an ethical,

$23.00, paper. Simon & Schuster. 288 pp

Most of us have a sense that something’s not right— balmy December days, catastrophic fires and floods, a world at constant war, political systems in disarray, pandemic lockdown. Some misinformation is repeated so often it acquires the sheen of obvious truth: Civilization is humankind’s greatest accomplishment. Progress is undeniable. Count your blessings. You’re lucky to be alive here and now. Well, maybe we are and maybe we aren’t. Civilized to Death count-

ers the idea that progress is inherently good, arguing that the “progress” de-

fining our age is analogous to an advancing disease.

Prehistoric life, of course, was not without serious dangers and disadvantages. Many babies died in infancy. A broken bone, infected wound, snakebite, or difficult pregnancy could be life-threatening. But ultimately, Ryan argues, were these precivilized dangers really much worse than modern scourges, such as car accidents, social iso-

tor, and local food network—with cascading benefits to the community that extend far beyond the projects themselves.

We do have the capability to effect dramatic change, Hopkins argues, but we’re failing because we’ve largely allowed our most critical tool to languish: human imagination. As defined by social reformer John Dewey, imagination is the ability to look at things as if they could be otherwise. The ability, that is, to ask What if? And if there was ever a time when we needed that ability, it is now.

Imagination is central to empathy, to creating better lives, to envisioning and then enacting a positive future. Yet imagination is also demonstrably in decline at precisely the moment when we need it most. In this

passionate exploration, Hopkins asks why imagination is in decline, and what we must do to revive and reclaim it. Once we do, there is no end to what we might ac-

complish.

From What Is to What If is a call to action to reclaim and unleash our collective imagination, told through

the stories of individuals and communities around the

world who are doing it now, as we speak, and witnessing

often rapid and dramatic change for the better. regenerative way of life. Coverage includes: ♦ Human permaculture principles ♦ A nine-step ecological and social life design process ♦ Discovering your personal niche ♦ Stimulating the permaculture “edge effect” to work with others in efficient teams ♦ Rediscovering our deep connections to water, soil, forests, and caring for nature.

This guide is for everyone who wants to find their own meaning in life, put their talents at the service of the environment, live ethically, and navigate the great

transition we face in a future of climate change and en-

ergy decline.

Bernard Alonso is co-founder of the Collaborative International University of Transition and a human permaculture facilitator, speaker, coach, and project designer. He lives in Quebec, Canada. www.permacultureinternationale.org Cecile Guiochon is a French journalist and holder of a Permaculture Design Certificate. She co-founded KerWatt, which develops citizen projects renewable energy

CIVILIZED TO DEATH The Price of Progress by Christopher Ryan

New in Paperback

in Brittany, France. www.e-ker.org lation, worsening natural disasters, and rising deaths by Covid, cancer, suicide, and cardiovascular disease? The lives of our foraging forebears, it turns out, were far from nasty, brutish, and short—despite what we’ve been led to believe. On the contrary, today’s “enlightened” societies have much to learn from our “primitive” ancestors.

At a time when our health, our society, and our planet all feel increasingly imperiled, an accurate understanding of our species’ true nature is vital to a clear sense of the ultimate value of civilization—and its costs.

“Why hasn’t the brain’s remarkable intelligence produced happier, healthier people, even in ‘civilized’ countries? Christopher Ryan provides the answer in this provocative book. It demonstrates how people are being

civilized to death, both literally and metaphorically. It presents a stark picture of how the human experiment

may be winding down if not winding up. But it also provides some solutions, brilliant roadmaps that you will find nowhere else, neither in politician’s utopian scenarios or futurists’ speculations.” —Stanley Krippner, co-author of

Personal Mythology

21 LESSONS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY by Yuval Noah Harari $22.00, paper. McClelland & Stewart. 416 p New in Paperback

With Sapiens and Homo Deus, historian Harari explored the past, then the future of humankind. In 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, he devotes himself to the present.

This a kind of instruction manual

for the present day to help readers find their way around the 21st century, to understand it, and to focus on

the really important questions of life. Once again, Harari presents this in his distinctive, informal, and entertaining style.

Some sections focus on technology, some on politics, some on religion, and some on art. There are chapters that celebrate human wisdom, and others that highlight the crucial role of human stupidity. The topics Harari examines in this way include major challenges such as international terrorism, fake news, and migration, as well as turning to more personal, individual concerns, such as our time for leisure or how much pressure and stress we can take. 21 Lessons for the 21st Centu-

ry answers the overarching question: What is happening in the world today, what is the deeper meaning of these events, and how can we individually steer our way through

them? Few writers of non-fiction have captured the imagination of millions of people in quite the astonishing way Yuval Noah Harari has managed, and in such a short space of time. He has a unique ability to look at where we have come from and where we are going. The “21 Lessons” are:

Disillusionment: The End of History Has been Postponed Work: When You Grow Up, You Might Not Have a Job Liberty: Big Data’ s Watching You Equality: Those Who Own the Data Own the Future Community: Humans Have Bodies Civilization: There is Just One Civilization in the World Nationalism: Global Problems Need Global Answers Religion: God Now Serves the Nation Immigration: Some Cultures Might Be Better than Others Terrorism: Don’t Panic War: Never Underestimate Human Stupidity Humility: You Are Not the Center of the World God: Don’t Take the Name of God in Vain Secularism: Acknowledge Your Shadow Ignorance: You Know Less Than You Think Justice: Our Sense of Justice Might Be Out of Date Post-Truth: Some Fake News Lasts Forever Science Fiction: The Future is Not What You See in the Movies Education: Change is the Only Constant Meaning: Life Is Not a Story Meditation: Just Observe

BURN Igniting a New Carbon Drawdown Economy to End the Climate Crisis by Albert Bates & Kathleen Draper $24.95, paper. Chelsea Green. 288 pages, b/w illustrations

To avert climate catastrophe, we need to radically alter how humans live on Earth. We have to go from spending

carbon to banking it. We have to put back the trees, wetlands, and corals. We have to regrow the soil and turn

back the desert. We have to reverse the flow of greenhouse gases and send them in exactly the opposite direction: down, not up. We have to flip the carbon cycle and run it backwards. For such a revolutionary transformation we’ll need civilization 2.0. A secret unlocked by the ancients of the Amazon for its ability to transform impoverished trop-

Vandana Shiva on Seeds, Soil & Society

ONENESS VS. THE 1% Shattering Illusions, Seeding Freedom by Vandana Shiva $27.95, paper. Chelsea Green. 208 pages, b/w illustrations (With a new epilogue about Bill Gatess global agenda and how we can resist the billionaire’s war on life)

Widespread poverty and malnutrition, an alarming refugee crisis, social unrest, and economic polarization have become our lived reality as the top 1% of the world’s seven-billion-plus population pushes the planet—and all its people—to the social and ecological brink.

In Oneness vs. the 1%, Vandana Shiva takes on the Billionaires Club of Gates, Buffet, and Zuckerberg, as well as other modern empires whose blindness to the

rights of people, and to the destructive impact of their construct of linear progress, have wrought havoc across the world. Their single-minded pursuit of profit has undemocratically enforced uniformity and monocultures,

RECLAIMING THE COMMONS

Biodiversity, Indigenous Knowledge, and the Rights of Mother Earth by Vandana Shiva $29.50, paper. Synergetic. 321 pages, colour plates

Reclaiming the Commons: Biodiversity, Indigenous Knowledge, and the Rights of Mother Earth

lays out the scientific, legal, political, and cultural struggle to defend the sovereignty of

biodiversity and indigenous knowledge. Corporate war on nature and people through patents and corporate Intellectual Property

Rights has unleashed an epidemic of biopiracy resulting in important legal battles fighting efforts to patent the rights to many plants, including basmati rice, neem, and wheat. The author presents details of the specific attempts made by corporations to secure these patents and the legal actions taken to fight them. The book goes beyond the legal struggle to position the necessary solutions to corporate control including exploring the way. The indigenous custom of converting organic materials into long lasting carbon has enjoyed a reawakening in recent decades as the quest for more sustainable farming methods has grown. Yet the benefits of this carbonized

material, now called biochar, extend far beyond the soil. Pyrolyzing carbon has the power to restore a natural balance by unmining the coal and undrilling the oil and gas. Employed to its full potential, it can run the carbon cycle

in reverse and remake Earth as a garden planet.

Burn looks beyond renewable biomass or carbon capture energy systems to offer a bigger and bolder vision for the next phase of human progress, moving carbon from wasted sources: ♦ into soils and agricultural systems to rebalance the carbon, nitrogen, and related cycles; enhance nutrient density in food; rebuild topsoil; and condition urban and agricultural lands to withstand flooding and drought ♦ to cleanse water by carbon filtration and trophic cascades within the worlds rivers, oceans, and wetlands ♦ to shift urban infrastructures such as buildings, roads, bridges, and ports, incorporating drawdown materials and components, replacing steel, concrete, polymers, and composites with biological carbon ♦ to drive economic reorganization by incentivizing carbon drawdown.

Fully developed, this approach costs nothing—to the contrary, it can save companies money or provide new revenue streams. It contains the seeds of a new, circular

economy in which energy, natural resources, and human

division and separation, monopolies and external control—over finance, food, energy, information, healthcare, and even relationships.

Basing her analysis on explosive, little-known facts, Shiva exposes the 1%’s mod-

el of philanthro-capitalism, which is about deploying unaccountable money to bypass democratic structures, derail diversity, and

impose totalitarian ideas based on One Science, One Agriculture, and One History. She calls for the resurgence of real knowledge, real intelligence, real wealth, real work, real well-being, so that people can reclaim their right to: Live Free. Think Free. Breathe Free. Eat Free.

“All of us who care about the future of Planet Earth must be grateful to Vandana Shiva. Her voice is powerful, and she is not afraid to tackle those corporate giants that are polluting, degrading and ultimately destroying the natural world.” —Jane Goodall, UN

Messenger of Peace

Rights of Nature and proposing a framework for a Universal Declaration of the Rights of

Mother Earth. It is the first detailed legal history of the international and national laws related to biodiversity and Intellectual Property Rights.

Reclaiming the Commons details the thirty-year cultural, political, scientific, and legal journey to protect biodiversity and indigenous knowledge from the unethical frame-

work corporations impose on humankind in order to lay claim to life on Earth.

Vandana Shiva masterfully articulates the devastation this corporate greed has inflicted not only on agricultural communities but on our planet and our very existence; ultimately posing that the recovery of the commons lies in the collective recognition of common creativity of both nature and people, and the rediscovery of our place within the oneness of nature as beings with

ical soils into terra preta—fertile black earths—points the

a responsibility to protect and honor all life on Earth.

ingenuity enter a virtuous cycle of improvement. Burn offers bold new solutions to climate change that can begin right now.

THE REINDEER CHRONICLES And Other Inspiring Stories of Working with Nature to Heal the Earth by Judith Schwartz $25.95, paper. Chelsea Green. 256 pages

In a time of uncertainty about our environmental future, here’s an eye-opening global tour of some of the

most wounded places on earth, and stories of how a passionate group of eco-restorers is leading the way to their

revitalization.

Science journalist Judith Schwartz takes us first to Chinas Loess Plateau, where a landmark project has successfully restored a blighted region the size of Belgium, lifting millions of people out of poverty. She journeys on to Norway, where a young indigenous reindeer herder challenges the most powerful orthodoxies of conservation—and his own government. And in the Middle East, she follows the visionary work of an ambitious young American working to re-engineer the desert ecosystem, using plants as his most sophisticated technology.

Schwartz explores regenerative solutions across a range

of landscapes: deserts, grasslands, tropics, tundra, Medi-

terranean. She also highlights various human landscapes, the legacy of colonialism and industrial agriculture, and