Inconspicuous consumption : the environmental impact you don't know you have /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

*First Place Winner of the Society of Environmental Journalists' Rachel Carson Environment Book Award*

"If you're looking for something to cling to in what often feels like a hopeless conversation, Schlossberg's darkly humorous, knowledge-is-power, eyes-wide-open approach may be just the thing."-- Vogue

From a former New York Times science writer, this urgent call to action will empower you to stand up to climate change and environmental pollution by making simple but impactful everyday choices.

With urgency and wit, Tatiana Schlossberg explains that far from being only a distant problem of the natural world created by the fossil fuel industry, climate change is all around us, all the time, lurking everywhere in our convenience-driven society, all without our realizing it.

By examining the unseen and unconscious environmental impacts in four areas-the Internet and technology, food, fashion, and fuel - Schlossberg helps readers better understand why climate change is such a complicated issue, and how it connects all of us: How streaming a movie on Netflix in New York burns coal in Virginia; how eating a hamburger in California might contribute to pollution in the Gulf of Mexico; how buying an inexpensive cashmere sweater in Chicago expands the Mongolian desert; how destroying forests from North Carolina is necessary to generate electricity in England.

Cataloging the complexities and frustrations of our carbon-intensive society with a dry sense of humor, Schlossberg makes the climate crisis and its solutions interesting and relevant to everyone who cares, even a little, about the planet. She empowers readers to think about their stuff and the environment in a new way, helping them make more informed choices when it comes to the future of our world.

Most importantly, this is a book about the power we have as voters and consumers to make sure that the fight against climate change includes all of us and all of our stuff, not just industry groups and politicians. If we have any hope of solving the problem, we all have to do it together.

"A compelling-and illuminating-look at how our daily habits impact the environment."-- Vanity Fair

"Shows how even the smallest decisions can have profound environmental consequences." --The New York Times

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction (p. 1)
• Technology and the Internet (p. 9)
• The Physical Internet (p. 13)
• Bringing the Cloud to Earth (p. 23)
• Taking It Offline: E-Commerce (p. 37)
• Silicon Valley: A Toxic Waste Dump? You Decide (p. 46)
• Mining for Tech (p. 52)
• Vampire Power (p. 56)
• The Tech We Throw Away (p. 63)
• Food (p. 71)
• The Greediest Crop (p. 76)
• Wasting Away (p. 86)
• Organic Food: How Good Is It? (p. 95)
• How Far Our Food Goes (p. 105)
• A Sea of Troubles (p. 113)
• Fashion (p. 123)
• Thirsty for Denim (p. 130)
• Athleisure Forever! (p. 140)
• Fast Fashion, but Going Nowhere (p. 149)
• It's Not Wood, It's Rayon (p. 157)
• The Yarn That Makes a Desert (p. 163)
• Fuel (p. 171)
• The Other Problem with Coal (p. 177)
• The Wood for the Trees (p. 187)
• Staying Cool, Getting Hotter (p. 195)
• The Great Big Cargo Route in the Sky (p. 202)
• Shipping: The World in a Box (p. 210)
• Cars, Trucks, and Justice (p. 218)
• Hitching a Ride(share) (p. 224)
• Conclusion (p. 231)
• Acknowledgments (p. 237)
• Notes (p. 241)
• About the Author (p. 279)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

This first book by environmental journalist Schlossberg details hidden environmental impacts in the fields of electronic technology, food, fashion, and fuel. The author explains that while the Internet operates as tiny packets of electronic pulses, running it and storing its data requires a global infrastructure. There are many buildings, servers, routers and exchange points, all powered by electricity. While online commerce might reduce physical shopping, it requires air freight and truck delivery trips. Turning to our food systems, Schlossberg's focus is on unsustainable farming methods, depleted soil, wasted produce, overfishing, and acidifying oceans. With fashion, cheap clothes made of cotton, and oil-based and wood pulp-based fabrics create environmental issues. The fuels section touches on toxic coal ash, wood particulates, and petroleum burned by various modes of transportation. The author concludes, "Our indifference to the value of our resources and to their limits threatens everything, including our own success and survival." VERDICT Although Schlossberg's asides sometimes derail the journalistic narrative, with this call for mass action she presents valuable information that could help readers make more sustainable choices in their lives.--David R. Conn, formerly with Surrey Libs., BC

Publishers Weekly Review

In this straightforward, accessible look at the environmental impact of consumer habits, journalist Schlossberg examines how seemingly innocuous "everyday, run-of-the-mill" decisions substantially affect the wellbeing of the planet. She divides her discussion into four manageable parts devoted to, respectively, technology, food production, fashion, and fuel. Regarding the first, she observes that the extraction of the metals used to manufacture lithium ion batteries-"the invention that, more than almost any other... powers our phones, laptops, and electric cars"-often comes "at great environmental and human cost" in such countries as Argentina, Chile, and Congo. Meanwhile, the "biggest environmental problem created by agriculture," according to Schlossberg, is due to corn. So much of this crop is grown, mostly for products such as alcohol, oil, animal feed, and sweeteners, that it wreaks havoc on biodiversity and native ecosystems. Style-conscious readers should be particularly fascinated by Schlossberg's critical look at fashion industry practices, notably the water-intensive process through which cotton gets made into denim. With insight and urgency, Schlossberg prods readers to think more deeply about how they participate in these and other activities, and how they might mitigate their impact. In the process, she delivers an intriguing and educational narrative. Zoe Sandler, Esther Newberg, ICM Partners (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

Climate journalist Schlossberg connects the dots between consumption and climate change in this clever, informative, and unexpectedly charming examination of humans' effect on the environment. Rather than offering solutions, Schlossberg focuses on demystifying the everyday products and services, from two-day shipping to expired milk, that contribute to the current dire state of affairs. Book sections explore the environmental impact of four major industries internet and technology, food production, fast fashion, and transportation and Schlossberg is careful to remind readers that we're all in this (planet) together: a Western appetite for cheap denim dried up the Aral Sea, while laws to eliminate coal use in Britain have led to the deforestation, and subsequent decline in biodiversity, of the U.S. south. Though the subject matter is bleak, Schlossberg takes care to emphasize that while individual choices matter, governmental and corporate transparency matters much, much more. To halt the climate crisis, we must first understand the many factors that create and sustain it, and this book offers the tools for that understanding. The author breaks complex issues down to be understandable to the lay reader, while her humor and wit ensure that readers will close the book feeling energized rather than hopeless.--Jenny Hamilton Copyright 2019 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

An environmental journalist pens an informative, practical guide to understanding and acting on climate change.To many, the climate change crisis often seems so overwhelming and intimidating that they try to avoid thinking about it altogether. As former New York Times reporter Schlossberg relates, before becoming informed, "I didn't like reading about climate change and its effectsit filled me with dread and made me feel powerless. The problems seemed too big and too inevitable for me to do anything about, so it felt like it was probably best to look away." But as she demonstrates in her debut book, climate change is not just a remote problem about California wildfires and superhurricanes that is only relevant to scientists and legislators. "There are trade-offs and consequences for almost everything we buy and use and eat," she writes; our personal choices and daily activities have a direct impact on the planet's overall health and future. Breaking the narrative into four categoriesTechnology and the Internet, Food, Fashion, and FuelSchlossberg follows and connects the dots between our habits and the far-reaching consequences they may have. Although the thrust of the book is climate change, this is more a volume about cause and effect that tackles a broad scope of topics. Whether visiting a Connecticut apple orchard to flesh out the current definition of "organic food," exploring microplastic pollution caused by sweat-wicking microfiber athletic wear, or weighing the environmental advantages of e-commerce versus traditional retail shopping, Schlossberg brings a variety of current conversations on environment together in down-to-earth, easily understood terms. Avoiding dense technical language and writing in a highly personalized style laced with humor and asides, the author provides much-needed clarifications about climate change and pollution that not only empower average consumers with the ability to act and make informed decisions, but also encourage and inspire that action.If fighting climate change can be engaging, fun, and fulfilling, this is the road map. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Tatiana Schlossberg is a journalist writing about climate change and the environment. She previously reported on those subjects for the Science and Climate sections of the New York Times , where she also worked on the Metro desk. Her work has also appeared in the Atlantic , Bloomberg View , the Record (Bergen County), and the Vineyard Gazette . She lives in New York.