Tag: environment

Shoshana Zuboff’s groundbreaking The Age of Surveillance Capitalism—called “an epoch-defining international bestseller” by Guardian—is also one of Prospect’s picks for the Best Books of Bold Ideas. And it’s no wonder— it’s already named one of TIME’s 100 Must-Read Books of 2019 and one of Bloomberg’s Best Books of 2019. Zuboff created the new term—surveillance capitalism—to describe our current era where private data has a price, and we’ve fallen behind on protecting ourselves from the corporations that aim to control our spending and social habits. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism is a fascinating, frightening, and powerful read. Zuboff urges leaders to pay attention, compels citizens to resist habituation, and explores how together, we can come up with innovative responses to an invasive new era. 

Pulitzer Prize winning author Jared Diamond’s newest book, Upheaval, explores why some nations fail and others recover in the face of conflict. Connecting coping mechanisms more commonly associated with personal trauma to show how successful nations recover from crisis; his work offers a refreshing take on some of the most profound evolutionary questions of our time. Also on Prospect’s picks for Best Books of Bold Ideas, Diamond’s work explores how we can improve modern society from looking to the past, and interrogates the collective strides necessary to do so—before it’s too late.

The Anthropocene Project—the cumulative work of a years-long exploration of humanity’s impact on the world—is embracing the future with a new VR app. A multidisciplinary endeavor combining a feature documentary (directed by Edward Burtynsky, Jennifer Baichwal, and Nicholas de Pencier), art photography, scientific research, and now VR, The Anthropocene Project engages viewers with its in-depth inquiry into the human influence on the future of our planet. 

To book speaker Edward Burtynsky, contact his exclusive speakers bureau, The Lavin Agency.

As students, workers, and people from all walks of life around the world are striking in the name of climate reform, bestselling author and renowned journalist Naomi Klein has released a hot new title—On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a New Green Deal.

A longtime prominent figure calling for international attention to the climate crisis, Klein once again thoroughly lays out exactly where we stand in terms of the environment—and exactly how fast we’re sinking into the irreversible, devastating consequences of our actions—and lack thereof.

A true force of nature herself, Klein is beloved by climate activists seasoned and blossoming alike: hailed as the “intellectual godmother of the Green New Deal,” by 350.org founder Bill McKibben, and as the “great chronicler of our age of climate emergency, an inspirer of generations,” by Greta Thunberg, her powerful influence has had a ripple effect on an international level. 

In On Fire, Klein writes with renewed urgency from the frontlines of modern natural disaster; issuing prescient warnings and illustrating that the fight for a greener planet is one and the same with a fight for our lives—and social justice. Reflecting her burning prose and call to action is the fiery passion of protesters worldwide hoping to catalyze real change; to inject the impetus to enact a New Green Deal now—lest we incinerate instead. Although never without hopeful glimpses to a better future, Klein has never slowed down in her fight—because climate change isn’t slowing down either.

With the climate crisis rapidly snowballing, how can we afford to house the 3 billion people who will need homes in the next twenty years? For sustainable architect Michael Green, the answer is building with wood.

Almost half of our energy use and greenhouse gas emissions are related to the building industry. The materials of the last century—concrete and steel—account for 8% of global emissions. By looking to nature, award-winning architect and new Lavin speaker Michael Green explains how we can solve two problems—world housing and climate change—in an innovative, systemic way. He advocates for sweeping changes in building regulations to embrace wood as a building material for large-scale projects—even 30 foot tall skyscrapers (otherwise known as “plyscrapers”). “I believe that wood is the most technologically advanced material I can build with,” Green explains. “It just happens to be that Mother Nature holds the patent, and we don't really feel comfortable with it.”

Green authored the book The Case for Tall Wood Buildings. His company, Michael Green Architecture, was recently acquired by Silicon Valley construction start-up Katerra, a move that Green says will help “advance our agenda on design, quality, sustainability, and affordability.”
 

To book Michael Green or another Environment speaker for your next event, contact The Lavin Agency today.