Reviews for Edens Lost and Found: How a New Generation of Urban Activists Is Restoring Our Great American Cities

The average rating for Edens Lost and Found: How a New Generation of Urban Activists Is Restoring Our Great American Cities based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-01-03 00:00:00 Lisa Jones The book focuses on urban environmental sustainability efforts in four cities in the United States: Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Seattle. It explores the various citizen initiatives that are revitalizing these four cities and making them more sustainable. The book begins with an introduction to the subject of environmental sustainability and some background on the history of suburban sprawl and the problems with it. It proposes six main tools for creating livable, self-sustaining cities: open space and public parks, urban forestry, watershed management, environmentally conscious waste disposal and recycling, green building, and mass transit. It also explains why cities can be sustainable places: cities are dense, cities are pedestrian-friendly, and cities can mediate climate, build community, and encourage self-policing. The main message of the book is that ordinary people, with courage and persistence, can shape their cities for the better. While the book focused more on environmentally sustainability than social and economic sustainability, all three aspects of sustainability were included. For example, it included statistics about the lack of park space available within walking distance of low income neighborhoods and the need for new sources of jobs in former industrial areas. Limiting initiatives to four cities allowed the reader to really learn about each city's history, struggles, and current efforts. The historical context and learning about so many sustainability efforts within each city truly allowed each city's unique contribution to sustainability to shine through. One of the best things about this book was that it provided such a wide variety of community projects that it was really able to show that so many small actions are part of one large movement. A wide variety of sustainability topics were included from free community wireless to river restoration to local food to community murals. Unfortunately, because it provided such an overview of so many efforts, I did not feel that it did a good job of teaching potential community activists how to begin in detail. I also would have liked more information included about the coalitions that are possible to help the sustainability movement become less fragmented. It focused a little too much on visionary individuals rather than the coalitions of people that helped implement that vision.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-11-20 00:00:00 Craig Mitchell Sustainability bugs me. Its become such an entrenched buzzword, a part of what it means to be white and middle class in the united states, that everyone just throws it around as a means of denying culpability. Everything has a cost, even an aesthetic of little or no cost. That said I'll confess I'm reading this book to combat my irascible cynicism.