Yale Press Log

Live chats with Zittrain and Speth!

Do you have any questions for Jonathan Zittrain about the future of the Internet? Well, thanks to the Internet, you can ask him today in a live chat with Network World from 2PM to 3PM. You can start posting your questions now, or just check back at 2 to hear Zittrain answer other people's questions.

Network World, in a recent feature on his book, lauded Zittrain's "thought-provoking ideas about the trade-off between convenience and innovation on the Internet." Read the entire review, or click here to read more about the book, including excerpts and the table of contents. Also, click here to watch videos of Zittrain fielding interesting questions on current events and trends at bigthink.com.

And tomorrow at 3 PM, washingtonpost.com will host a live chat with James Gustave Speth, author of The Bridge at the Edge of the World. You can begin submitting questions here.

The Bridge at the Edge of the World was reviewed in the Green section of the Washington Post. They said that Speth, who has "long been prominent in the environmental movement," gives "an extremely probing and thoughtful diagnosis of the root causes of planetary distress." Read the entire review here. Or read an excerpt from the book itself.

Speth's Bridge brings together diverse thinkers

Gus Speth, author of The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability, has been praised by a wide range of readers.

A Christian writer from Read the Spirit called Speth's ideas "a sign of hope." A philosopher of social science at ChangingSociety lauded Speth's "very powerful analysis," while comparing his ideas to those of the Dalai Lama. The writer at Kale for Sale wrote that Speth "is bursting at the seams with information and urgency." And Andrew Revkin on his DotEarth New York Times blog mentioned that The Bridge at the Edge of the World is on his reading table. And a review from the Yale Daily News noted that Speth's book makes "an argument supported from professionals from several different disciplines."

To hear what Speth himself has to say about his ideas, here's a video of Speth's April 22 appearance on OnPoint.

"During today's OnPoint, Speth, a former chair of the Council on Environmental Quality and founder of both the Natural Resources Defense Council and the World Resources Institute, explains why he is unhappy with the current state of environmentalism. He also gauges the changing level of interest in environmental issues on college campuses throughout the country."

View this video here while you still can--It will only be on the site for the next six months.

Click here to listen to an interview with Gus Speth on the Yale Press Podcast.

Yale University Press celebrates Earth Day

The Yale Press website now features a special page for Earth Day, with a selection of key environmental titles for individuals and for businesses. From recent publications like Gus Speth's The Bridge at the Edge of the World, to some of our bestsellers like Daniel C. Esty and Andrew S. Winston's Green to Gold, Yale University Press continues to publish groundbreaking work in the field of environmental studies. Click here for an extensive list of titles.

For more new and feature backlist titles in environmental history, conservation biology and the life sciences, please see our online Science catalog.

Speth brings together governors to fight climate change

U.S. Governors and top environmental officials will meet tomorrow here at Yale University to exchange ideas on how states and the federal government can combat global warming and develop a strategy for future action.

The gathering, organized in part by Yale Press author Gus Speth, will also celebrate the centennial of President Theodore Roosevelt’s landmark 1908 Conference of Governors, which launched the modern conservation movement, planted the seed for the National Parks System, and inspired significant state efforts to protect land.

Dean of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and author of The Bridge at the Edge of the World, Speth collaborated with other Yale organizations and state officials to commemorate that landmark 1908 conference. Last night at 8pm, Speth introduced keynote speakers Theodore Roosevelt IV and Gifford Pinchot III, the descendants of the original organizers of that 1908 conference.

The author of Red Sky at Morning would be the first to agree that we are in deep environmental trouble, but he offers hope that there is still time to avert global catastrophe. Gus Speth explores a wide variety of promising and even radical ideas for transforming modern capitalism so as to protect and restore the natural world.

For more information on this conference, click here. To keep on top of more of Speth's events, visit the author's website Bridge At the Edge of the World.com.

Click here to listen to an interview with Gus Speth on the Yale Press Podcast.

New York Times bloggers "Freaking" out for Nudge

On the Freakonomics blog at the New York Times, Annika Mengisen admitted that she and fellow-blogger Steven Levitt can't stop reading Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein. The Freakonomics team invited Thaler and Sunstein for a Q&A, which can be read here.

This interview follows Levitt's enthusiastic review for Nudge a few days ago. Levitt, one of the authors behind the book Freakonomics, was just too eager to share Nudge with his readers--even before finishing it.

"I’m halfway through it," says Levitt. "And this is a book I love."

He goes on to say, "Picking and choosing a few examples can’t convey what is most surprising about the book: it is really fun to read. Academics aren’t supposed to be able to write this well."

In the comments section, Freakonomics readers have shared Levitt's and Mengisen's excitement:

"You’ve nudged me. I’m going to go buy the book now," posted Charles D.

"I can’t wait to get this book!" JP agreed.

Read an excerpt from the book, view the table of contents, or check out the Nudges blog.

Heckscher's Creating Central Park discusses the creation of recreation

The New York Sun and the New York Observer, both running pieces on Creating Central Park by
Morrison H. Heckscher, have decided to emphasize different parts of the story: one real estate, the other art.

The Real Estate section of the New York Observer contained a Q&A with Heckscher about the book.  Heckscher begins, "I would like to start by saying that the whole issue of the park has to do with open space in Manhattan. Central Park is, shall we say, the conclusion of 50 years of political machinations of how to provide, for the city and Manhattan, open space mostly for health reasons—for air and space for the health of the public, and recreation." Read the entire interview here.

And the New York Sun ran a piece, "Creating Central Park," in their Arts section, with Heckscher discussing the great minds behind the creation of Central Park.

The year 2008 marks the 150th anniversary of the design of Central Park, the first and arguably the most famous of America’s urban landscape parks. In October 1857 the new park’s board of commissioners announced a public design competition, and the following April the imaginative yet practicable “Greensward” plan submitted by Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted was selected.

This book tells the fascinating story of how an extraordinary work of public art emerged from the crucible of New York City politics. From William Cullen Bryant’s 1844 editorial calling for “a pleasure ground of shade and recreation” to the completion of construction in 1870, the history of Central Park is an urban epic––a tale not only of animosity, political intrigue, and desire but also of idealism, sacrifice, and genius.

Speth appears on radio with high frequency

Radio stations across the country are interviewing James Gustave Speth about his new book The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability.

On Monday morning, Speth could be heard on Focus 580 with David Inge (WILL Illinois Public Radio). Hear that interview in RealAudio format here, or in MP3 here.

Monday evening, Speth appeared on At Issue with Ben Merens (Wisconsin Public Radio). That interview can be found here in RealAudio format.

Speth's upcoming radio appearances stretch from coast to coast. See the list after the jump.

Two Yale Press authors to talk on NPR today

Tune your dials to NPR from 11-noon EST today and you're bound to hear one of our Yale Press authors share their expertise.

James Gustave Speth, author of The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability, will talk to Diane Rehm about the effect of American-style consumer capitalism upon the environment. To learn more about his appearance on The Diane Rehm Show, click here.

The author of Red Sky at Morning would be the first to agree that we are in deep environmental trouble, but he offers hope that there is still time to avert global catastrophe. Gus Speth explores a wide variety of promising and even radical ideas for transforming modern capitalism so as to protect and restore the natural world.

Or you can hear Josh Ozersky, author of The Hamburger: A History and online food editor for New York Magazine. Ozersky will discuss the juicy story of America's favorite sandwich live on WBUR's On Point. For more information, click here.

A lively and entertaining history of the hamburger and why it is no mere sandwich in America, but an icon. Josh Ozersky uncovers an array of facts and stories about the hamburger’s evolution and chronicles how the burger has reflected—and even shaped—American business and culture.

Nudging Against Global Warming

In his Findings column for the New York Times, John Tierney wonders why Americans aren't changing their lives in reaction to climate change. "We need the right nudge," Tierney says, referring to the recent release from Yale Press authors Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein, Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness.

Taking a cue from Thaler and Sunstein, Tierney suggests a piece of jewelry that measures the wearer's carbon footprint and displays it to the world on a scale from red to green. Writing a blog post for TierneyLab, Tierney nudged his readers to help him out with this project: "Do you have a better name, or a better nudge of kind? The best suggestion will be rewarded with a copy of Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler and Cass Sunstein of the University of Chicago." Click here to read the entire post or enter the contest.

For more information about nudges, check out Nudge or the website for the book, www.nudges.org, with news, reviews, a blog and even a glossary.

Yale Press Podcast, Episode 13

Episode 13 of the Yale Press Podcast is now available.
Download Episode 13

In Episode 13, Chris Gondek speaks with (1) Richard Sennett, winner of the 2006 Hegel Prize for lifetime achievement in the humanities and social sciences, about the art of craftsmanship; and (2) Gus Speth, dean of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale, about how the free market system will need to adjust in the face of serious environmental changes.

Download it for free here, on iTunes, and everywhere else that podcasts can be found.

Comments are welcome.

In Episode 13, Chris Gondek speaks with (1) Richard Sennett, winner of the 2006 Hegel Prize for lifetime achievement in the humanities and social sciences, about the art of craftsmanship; and (2) Gus Speth, dean of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale, about how the free market system will need to adjust in the face of serious environmental changes.

Download it for free here, on iTunes, and everywhere else that podcasts can be found.

Comments are welcome.

Allawi and McCarthy: two experts discuss their expertise

Ali A. Allawi, author of The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace, spoke at Brown University last Wednesday as part of the Peter Green Lectures on the Modern Middle East. His talk at Brown was moved to a 675 seat lecture hall to accommodate demand. Read an article covering Allawi's lecture from the Providence Journal. The Occupation of Iraq is now available in paperback.

This is a comprehensive account of the invasion and occupation of Iraq, told for the first time by an Iraqi insider. Ali Allawi, former Iraqi Minister of Defense and Finance, writes from the perspective of both principal and observer, shedding new light on the story behind the invasion, the shambolic aftermath and attempts at stabilization, and why events have failed to unfold as planned.

Click here to listen to an interview with Ali A. Allawi on the Yale Press Podcast.

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On February 29, 2008, Yale Press author Tom McCarthy appeared on the Leonard Lopate Show (WNYC) to discuss his new book Auto Mania: Cars, Consumers, and the Environment. You can download the segment or listen with the embedded player below. For more information on the segment, or to hear the entire program, click here.

Spanning the automobile’s entire history, this book is the first to relate consumer behavior to the wider environmental impact of cars—from raw materials and manufacturing to use and disposal. It shows that America’s disappointing response to automobile-related environmental issues stems from the interplay of politics, economics, and desire.

Colinvaux's Amazon Expeditions is a "scientific detective story"

Amazon Expeditions: My Quest for the Ice-Age Equator by Paul Colinvaux was recently reviewed in the Publishers Weekly Review Annex. They found the book to be "an exciting account of field work under challenging and sometimes dangerous circumstances. They went on to say that Amazon Expeditions is "a rewarding read for anyone with an interest in environmental and biological history."

In this vivid memoir of a life in science, ecologist Paul Colinvaux takes his readers from the Alaskan tundra to steamy Amazon jungles, from the Galapagos Islands (before tourists had arrived) to the high Andes and the Darien Gap in Panama. He recounts an adventurous tale of exploration in the days before GPS and satellite mapping, and a tale no less exhilarating of his battle to disprove a hypothesis endorsed by most of the scientific community.

Colinvaux’s grand endeavor, begun in the 1960s, was to find fossil evidence of the ice-age climate and vegetation of the entire American equator, from Pacific to Atlantic. The accomplishment of the task by the author and his colleagues involved finding unknown ancient lakes, lugging drilling equipment through uncharted Amazon jungle, operating hand drills from rubber boats in water 40 meters deep, and inventing a pollen analysis for a land with 80,000 species of plants. Colinvaux’s years of arduous travel and research ultimately disproved a hotly defended hypothesis explaining bird distribution peculiarities in the Amazon forest. The story of how he arrived at a new understanding of the Amazon is at once an adventurous saga, an account of science as it is conducted in the field, and a cautionary tale about the temptation to treat a favored hypothesis with a reverence that subverts unbiased research.

Yale Press books about unlikely neighbors and allies

In light of continued media coverage about the U.S.'s relationship with Iran, Trita Parsi's attention-grabbing Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States was reviewed by both Salon and Bloomberg News. Gary Kamiya of Salon calls it "an important new book," addressing a "fundamental misunderstanding of the country" of Iran. Celestine Bohlen of Bloomberg News admires the book for "tackling the complex question of Israel's role in what has become a triangular relationship" between Iran, the U.S., and Israel.

Read an excerpt, view the table of contents, or listen to an interview with the author on the Yale Press Podcast.

Slate and Seattle Times have recently praised In the Company of Crows and Ravens by John M. Marzluff and Tony Angell, released earlier this year in paperback.

This intriguing book examines the often surprising ways that crows and ravens and humans interact. Featuring more than 100 striking illustrations, the book recounts lively stories about crows and ravens throughout history and around the world, and the authors challenge us to reconsider our thinking not only about these compelling birds but also about ourselves.

James Prosek in print and in studio

James Prosek, author and illustrator for Yale University Press' recently released Tight Lines: Ten Years of the Yale Anglers' Journal, wrote a short essay for the Outdoors section of the New York Times. The piece, published on November 28th, describes in painterly prose his trip to Alaska with an old mentor:

When I was 14, I was caught fishing illegally in a drinking-water reservoir by a game warden named Joe Haines. Instead of giving me a ticket, he took me under his wing.

I learned a lot of things from Haines: how to find edible mushrooms in the woods or four-leaf clovers in the yard; how to catch blue crabs and find razor clams; and how to spear, skin and cook eels.

To continue reading the piece, click here.

In addition, Prosek and Alexis Surovov came on WNPR's Where We Live to talk about fly fishing, the Yale Anglers' Journal, and Tight Lines. To listen to that show, click here.

Prosek also came into the studio for the Yale Press Podcast, which you can hear by clicking here.

James Prosek at the Peabody

From the Yale Peabody Museum's website:

Fly Fishing at the 41st Parallel

Realizing that he had happily fished his entire life only around his home of Easton, Connecticut, James Prosek decided to take a fishing trip around the world along the 41st parallel — that’s where trout thrive.

He headed east, traveling through southern Europe, the Balkans, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Japan, and returning through the western United States, stopping frequently along the way to indulge his passion for fishing.

Come hear about this grand adventure and pick up a copy of the newly released Tight Lines: Ten Years of the Yale Anglers’ Journal, illustrated by Prosek.

Thursday, November 15 at 5pm. Yale Peabody Museum, 170 Whitney Ave & Sachem St., New Haven, CT

Listen to a Yale Press Podcast with James Prosek

Tight Lines, illustrated by James Prosek; Edited by Joseph Furia, Wyatt Golding, David Haltom, Steven Hayhurst, Joseph Kingsbery, and Alexis Surovov; With a Foreword by Nick Lyons; With a Preface by James Prosek and Joseph Furia

Since the first copy of the Yale Anglers’ Journal appeared in 1996, readers with an interest in fish and fishing have opened the pages of each issue with anticipation and delight. YAJ’s founders suspected that others would share their passion for literature and art...

John Firor remembered

John Firor, author of The Changing Atmosphere: A Global Challenge and The Crowded Greenhouse: Population, Climate Change, and Creating a Sustainable World, passed away last Monday. The environmental scholar and public-policy expert was, according to The New York Times, "an early voice linking climate change and human activity."

Richard Anthes, president of the University Corporation of Atmospheric Research, told The New York Times that, while Firor was director of the National Center of Atmospheric Research, "he called attention to the importance of human impact on the environment, when such a connection was still considered a fairly radical idea." An important thinker and a leader in the field, Firor had also been chairman of the board of Envrionmental Defense, and was a trustee and founding board member of the World Resources Institute.

Firor's first book, The Changing Atmosphere, was winner of the 1992 Louis J. Batten Author’s Award given by the American Meteorological Society. Firor, a widely known authority in atmospheric research, describes the causes of acid rain, ozone depletion, and global warming and the evidence for each one's recent acceleration, and he provides practical and long-range suggestions for controlling these and other forms of atmospheric deterioration.

The Crowded Greenhouse, Firor's second book, focuses on two critical global issues—rapid population growth and a human-induced climate change. Firor and Judith Jacobsen summarize the current status of these two issues, show how they are related to one another, and prescribe steps that governments, economies, societies, and individuals can adopt to stabilize both population and climate.

Read the entire New York Times article.

Congratulations Al Gore and IPCC on winning the Nobel Peace Prize

Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize earlier today for their efforts to increase awareness of climate change. (See a video of the announcement.)

We at Yale University Press want to congratulate them on their work and their achievement. For those who want to follow in Mr. Gore's footsteps, YUP offers an assortment of books in science and environmental topics.

In Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment, renowned environmental leader James Gustave Speth warns that despite all the international negotiations of the past two decades, efforts to protect Earth’s environment are not succeeding. He explains why this is so and presents eight specific steps that governments and citizens can take to achieve a sustainable future.

Read an excerpt. View the table of contents.

Edited by Thomas E. Lovejoy and Lee Hannah, Climate Change and Biodiversity was selected by Choice Magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title for 2006. Leading researchers discuss what is now known about past climate changes in different areas of the world. They examine recent trends in and projections about climate change; ways that particular organisms are responding to climate change; conservation challenges, including social and policy issues; and more.

Read an excerpt. View the table of contents.

And keep an eye out for the upcoming book Environment: An Interdisciplinary Anthology, selected, edited, and with introductions by Glenn Adelson, James Engell, Brent Ranalli, and K. P. Van Anglen. This major, definitive anthology of writings is a complete and up-to-date guide to environmental literacy. The first to be organized around the idea that environmental studies must be interdisciplinary, the collection demonstrates how the natural sciences, social sciences, and the humanities all contribute to a balanced understanding of the natural world and our relationships to it. Watch for this title's release on December 31, 2007.

View the table of contents.

These are just the tip of the iceberg. See the rest of our science-related titles here.

Yale Press Podcast, Episode 9

Episode 9 of the Yale Press Podcast is now available.

In Episode 9, Chris Gondek speaks with (1) Trita Parsi about about his behind-the scenes revelations about events in the Middle East and the geopolitical competition between Israel, Iran, and the United Staes, and with (2) James Prosek, author, watercolorist, and musician about the Yale Anglers' Journal tenth anniversiary as well as its rise as one of world's premier literary journals devoted to the sport.

Download it for free here, on iTunes, and everywhere else that podcasts can be found.

Comments are welcome.

Marshes receiving a flood of reviews

William Burt's Marshes: The Disappearing Edens is receiving several nods in the media recently, with the most recent appearing in August's Science magazine. "Burt has been stalking shy inhabitants (especially rails, bitterns, grebes, and gallinules) of North America's grassy wetlands with his camera...He also reflects on the marshes he has explored, their riches, their pasts, and the threats they now face."

The Washington Post mentioned the book in an article about summer's flickering creatures: fireflies. "Nature photographer William Burt has communed with fireflies for years, but he knows that they can be hard to capture on film. Species that are dimmer, or don't blink for as long as others, he said, make for shy subjects. In his new book of wetland images, Burt takes readers to a great sedge marshland in Douglas, Manitoba, and an evening 14 summers ago when he captured hundreds of fireflies signaling to one another. Another force of nature, lightning, is dancing in the distant horizon."

In the July/August issue of Orion, Tim Traver calles Marshes, "entertaining and sobering at the same time...Books like this help put places like marshes back in the center of things."

The author recently appeared at a book signing during the opening of his exhibt at the Chesapeake Maritime Museum. Marshes: The Disappearing Edens, is published in conjuction with the exhibition and features over ninety of his most striking photographs and a narrative that invokes the marshes of the past and compares them to today’s, with prose as picture-sharp as the photography.

Click here for additional reviews of Marshes.

2007 Independent Publisher Book Awards: Yale University Press takes Gold

This year's Independent Publisher Book Awards ("IPPY" Awards) were released this week, with several Yale University Press titles taking top honors in the following National Categories:

FINE ARTS
Gold:
Eva Hesse, Catalog Raisonne edited by Renate Petzinger and Barry Rosen, with Annette Spohn (vol. 1); Edited by Barry Rosen and Renate Petzinger, with Jörg Daur (vol. 2)
These lavishly illustrated and revelatory books examine Eva Hesse’s paintings and sculptures––some previously unknown––and feature fascinating archival images.

Bronze:
Saul Steinberg: Illuminations by Joel Smith
This book is the first comprehensive look at the extraordinary contribution Saul Steinberg made to 20th-century art.

ARCHITECTURE
Silver:
Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future edited by Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen and Donald Albrecht
Featuring extensive new archival material, previously unpublished photographs, plans, and working drawings, this major new study of Saarinen––one of the most important and inventive practitioners of modern architecture––offers a wide-ranging look at the entire scope of his career.


Bronze:
London: An Architectural History by Anthony Sutcliffe
With over 300 color illustrations, this book presents an absorbing look at the unique architectural heritage of London, one of the world’s greatest cities, across two thousand years of development.

ENVIRONMENT/ECOLOGY/NATURE
Bronze:
Green to Gold by Daniel C. Esty and Andrew S. Winston
This indispensable guide explains what every manager should know and do with respect to the environment. Filled with examples and pragmatic how-to advice, the book shows how corporations can meet environmental challenges and become more profitable by building eco-thinking into their business strategies.

RELIGION
Bronze:
A Republic of Mind and Spirit by Catherine L. Albanese
This pathbreaking book tells the story of American metaphysical religion for the first time, along the way revising the entire panorama of American religious history. The author argues that metaphysical religion has been more influential than previously recognized and that it offers key insights into mainstream American religion.

SCIENCE
Bronze:
The Origins of the Future: Ten Questions for the Next Ten Years by John Gribbin
Dramatic scientific progress may soon provide answers to some of the most compelling questions about our universe, predicts John Gribbin in this accessible book. He focuses on today’s cutting-edge research and what it can tell us about the creation of the universe, the possibility of other forms of life, and the fate of the expanding cosmos.

For a full listing of winners, click here.

Earth Day and Yale University Press

In honor of the 37th annual celebration of Earth Day, Yale is proud to present a new book by Daniel Esty and Andrew Winston: Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage. A Miami Herald review begins, "Offering a clear-cut management plan and lots of real-life examples of success and failure, Green to Gold shows companies how to make money while saving Planet Earth." The Financial Times calls it "a manual on how to turn your company into an eco-success," and Chad Holliday, CEO of DuPont, writes, "No executive can afford to ignore the green wave sweeping the business world. Esty and Winston show how to make sustainability a core element of strategy—and profit from it."

On a related note, James Gustave Speth’s award-winning Red Sky at Morning is now available in paperback. A renowned environmental leader and winner of the prestigious Blue Planet Prize, Speth has written what New Scientist calls "the perfect antidote to apathy." Former United States President Jimmy Carter says, "Gus Speth brought global environmental concerns to the world’s attention nearly a quarter of a century ago. His extraordinary new book is an impassioned plea to take these issues seriously before it is too late. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to read Red Sky at Morning and take action while we can."

Also new in paperback are David Schoenbrod's Saving Our Environment from Washington : How Congress Grabs Power, Shirks Responsibility, and Shortchanges the People and Thomas Lovejoy and Lee Hannah’s Climate Change and Biodiversity, both published by Yale University Press.

Science and Diplomacy

The Coldest March author Susan Solomon was profiled as today’s New York Times featured “Scientist at Work,” for her unusual choice to leave her job in cutting-edge atmospheric research to run a global climate review for the United Nations.

Dr. Solomon, who was honored with the National Medal of Science in 1999, left her position as a senior scientist at for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder, Colorado in 2002. Along with Qin Dahe, head of the Chinese meteorological agency, she was charged with drafting the fourth report of advances in climate science since 1990.

The final 20-page summary, released last Friday in Paris, involved approval by 113 governments. Although the report demonstrated with over 90% certainty that humans have become the main force in driving global warming, it has been criticized by some for being too optimistic about the future. Dr. Solomon said at a news conference that it is not her role to convey urgency to policy-makers, because science is one input to societal choice.

To read the full article, click here.

To visit Dr. Solomon’s homepage, click here.

Show Notes for Episode 3, Yale Press Podcast

Posted by Chris Gondek, Producer/Host of the Yale Press Podcast

The famous baseball manager, Casey Stengell, once said that "There comes a time in every man's life, and I've had plenty of them." I had one of those moments during my interview with John Marzluff and Tony Angell, when Tony decided to cut loose with both a Raven and Crow call. I knew right then that I was going to have something fun for the opening segment.

As usual, the guest list was a very cool mixed bag. I thought that Sidney Kirkpatrick's statement on how his step-daughter's illness was the inspiration to write about Thomas Eakins was a nice moment. I now hope that Dr. Gerald Edelman, or someone else, might look more into the intersection of brain science and Eastern philosophy, which we got into just a bit on his extended interview. And I thought that all of the Gombrich family stories that Leonie Gombrich told were great. I now have both A Little History of the World and The Story of Art side by side on my bookshelf.

Please send me comments and questions. The Ask the Author segment has been running dry, and if I don't start getting some e-mails, I'll have to make up some of my own ;)

Stay warm,

Chris

Andrew Winston on The Invisible Hand Podcast

Andrew Winston, co-author of Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage, was recently interviewed on the Invisible Hand Podcast with Chris Gondek.

Listen to the Podcast here.

Don't Panic

In direct contrast to the federal government’s refusal to act against man-made, global climate change, California’s leaders passed landmark legislation yesterday to reduce its level of carbon dioxide emissions by 25% by 2020. According to the New York Times, the deal between the Democratic-controlled Legislature and Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger “could establish controls on the largest industrial sectors, including utilities, oil refineries and cement plants.”

Such sweeping changes by the nation’s largest state and the world’s eighth largest economy will have tremendous repercussions throughout the business world.

California’s Chamber of Commerce, which led opposition to the now passed legislation, argued that these new standards would prompt an exodus of industry to states without emission controls and leave California unable to attract new out-of-state businesses.

But far from panicking about new environmental standards, Yale authors Dan Esty and Andrew Winston argue in their forthcoming book, Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage, that business leaders can instead embrace these standards, and indeed profit from them.

Even as many industries continue to resist change, some leaders, such as Pacific Gas and Electric chairman Peter Darbee, are taking the lead in reversing unsustainable trends. Darbee is quoted by the Times as saying,

“The issue of climate change is important and needs to be dealt with . . . . We need a pragmatic and practical result. Since the bill has a market-based program, it will work efficiently and effectively for businesses.”

With practical suggestions for incorporating environmental thinking into core business strategy and with a clear focus on execution, Esty and Winston offer up a roadmap that companies like PG&E can use to cope with environmental pressures and responsibilities while sparking innovation that will drive long-term growth.

Green to Gold is written for executives at every level and businesses of all kinds. Esty and Winston guide leaders through a complex new world of resource shortfalls, regulatory restrictions, and the growing pressure from outside stakeholders to strive for “sustainability.” While highlighting successful strategies, the authors also examine in depth why environmental initiatives sometimes fail despite the best intentions.  Green to Gold will be the new template for global CEOs who want to be good stewards of the Earth while simultaneously building the bottom line.

Click here to read an excerpt.
For more information, email us.

Green to Gold

The following is an excerpt from Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage by Daniel Esty and Andrew Winston.

                       * * *

The Environmental Lens
SONY’S VERY EXPENSIVE CHRISTMAS

In the weeks before Christmas 2001, the Sony Corporation faced a nightmare. The Dutch government was blocking Sony’s entire European shipment of PlayStation game systems. More than 1.3 million boxes were sitting in a warehouse instead of flying off store shelves. Was this a trade war or an embargo against violent video games? Sony executives probably wished it were something that easy to fix.

So why was Sony at risk of missing the critical holiday rush? Because a small, but legally unacceptable, amount of the toxic element cadmium was found in the cables of the game controls. Sony rushed in replacements to swap out the tainted wires. It also tried to track down the source of the problem—an eighteen-month search that included inspecting over 6,000 factories and resulted in a new supplier management system. The total cost of this “little” environmental problem: over $130 million.

Sony executives refer to their PlayStation disaster as the “Cadmium Crisis.” They’ve vowed never again to be caught unaware of environmental risks. In fact, they’re now much more familiar with their own operations as a result of hunting down the problem.

So what can we learn from all this? Did an environmental ogre get what it deserved? Hardly. Sony has been a business powerhouse for years, and despite a few hiccups, the company is also generally perceived as an environmental leader. Nothing, in fact, foreshadowed the PlayStation stumble, yet it happened. Why? From Sony’s difficult experience, we draw three lessons:

• Even the best companies can be surprised by environmental issues.
• The environment is not a fringe issue—it can cost businesses real money.
• Real benefits can come from seeing things in a new light.

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In the chapters that follow, we’ll explore how leading companies are layering environmental (often called “green”) factors into their corporate strategies—spurring innovation, creating