Every movement has a beginning, a cornerstone – works that will always be relevant. Here are five books, in chronological order, that have shaped the environmental and sustainability movements as we know them today:

“Walden” - Henry David Thoreau (1854)

Thoreau was highly suspicious of the extravagant, materialistic world that was unfolding on the foothills of the Industrial Revolution.

Through “Walden,” we get a glimpse of an idea that would soon be lost in common thought for a long time – nature and simplicity make a person whole and our need for material things is superficial and unsatisfying.

“A Sand County Almanac” – Aldo Leopold (1949)

Today, Leopold is touted for the foresight he exercises in this book that was not published until after his death. Leopold was a champion and founding father for wilderness preservation. He was an ecologist before the term even existed. “A Sand County Almanac” is significant because it makes a connection between ethics and our treatment of the natural world.

As a literary work, the book includes some of the most descriptive and enjoyable nature writing ever published. The most progressive lesson from Leopold is the land ethic which he describes as the evolution of ethics to include all living things, including the land.

“Silent Spring” – Rachel Carson (1962)

Carson is credited with starting the environmentalist movement, which put pressure on the government and made industry an enemy. Carson and “Silent Spring” brought attention to the dangers of the synthetic chemicals Americans were, and still are, using in their daily lives without question of their safety.

“Silent Spring” is alarming and compelling. The writing flows easily and demands the reader’s attention.
What few people remember to appreciate about Carson and “Silent Spring” is how groundbreaking her work was as a woman. She persevered through two fields, government and science, which were both extraordinarily laden with men at the time. Carson was a gifted and pioneering biologist, and her struggle to gain respect among her public and professional peers for works such as “Silent Spring” took most of her life.

“Ecology of Commerce” – Paul Hawken (1993)

“Ecology of Commerce” is to sustainability as “Silent Spring” is to environmentalism. Hawken is a true groundbreaker in the field. He, and several others, are responsible for the common language of the sustainability movement that is used today.

“Ecology of Commerce” challenges almost every view we have of the world today. It reads with a pace of urgency that characterizes the movement and is written eloquently. It is in “Ecology of Commerce” that we stray from industry as the enemy to industry as the solution.

“Cradle to Cradle” – William McDonough and Michael Braungart (2002)

“Cradle to Cradle” was written by two other masterminds in the sustainable business field. It is a how-to book on sustainable business, and the recyclable non-paper on which the words are printed is almost as important as the words themselves, which is appropriate because “Cradle to Cradle” demands action and awareness.