Alison’s 2023 Summer Book List: A Journey Through Social, Environmental, and Economic Perspectives
I love to read. Novels, nonfiction, peer-reviewed papers, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, FoodFix, CivilEats and various newspapers make up my literary diet. In fact, when mulling over the career change or leap that resulted in founding Grow Well, I recall saying to a colleague that fitting more library time into my life was a goal I had for my next phase. I still wish I had even more time to read, but I currently get to read about 20 books per year.
Books have an incredible power to educate, inspire, and challenge our perspectives. They offer us an opportunity to delve into diverse subjects and gain a deeper understanding of the world around us.
When I pick up a book, I find commonalities that tie my work to what I’m reading. It’s so clear to me to see how stories about people and their experiences connect to food systems and agriculture, even when the books themselves are not about food systems and agriculture.
My recent reads are five thought-provoking books that touch upon important social, environmental, and economic issues. From climate change and inequality to housing insecurity and economic justice, these books offered valuable insights that have left a lasting impact on me, enough for me to want to pass them along to you.
So, grab a cup of tea, find a cozy spot, and let's explore these captivating books together.
How too hard of a “glass floor” under the top 20% of households by income damages society
Did you know there is less economic and social mobility in the US today than there is in the UK? “Dream Hoarders” by Richard Reeves encourages anyone who finds themselves in the upper 20% of income earners in the U.S., that’s households bringing in $149,212 or more in 2022, to take a good hard look in the mirror. He rigorously documents the ways in which our society is far less meritocratic and far more classist than our national narrative around the American dream alludes . Reeves’ book unpacks how and why class mobility in the U.S. has all but vanished, and shares recommendations for policy changes that could free us from the burdens of classism (e.g. stifled innovation, staggering student load debt, and crumbling public infrastructure).
Sustainability work and housing insecurity
One of former President Barack Obama’s favorite books of 2017, “Evicted” by Matthew Desmond is a deep dissection of poverty and housing insecurity in the U.S. I nearly purchased Desmond’s latest, Poverty, By America, on a work trip this spring, but managed the self-restraint to stick to the stack of other books I already had in my bag, and instead reserve Evicted for pick up at my local library when I got home. Evicted did not disappoint. Equal parts heartbreaking and hopeful, Desmond manages to powerfully present the personal, political, and financial underpinnings of the ongoing housing crisis in America. Like housing, food and agriculture are similarly both fundamental to human survival and dignity, yet increasingly inequitably distributed. Equity is a critical cornerstone to any sustainability work, and this book is a great primer on what type of policy changes are needed to improve equitable access to basic resources, like housing and food.
What the opioid crisis means today
While this may seem far afield from food systems and climate, this is an important cautionary tale for anyone trying to make sense of how our society got to where it is today and what needs to be done to fix it. Dopesick by Beth Macy digests how corporate greed in the pharmaceutical industry, desperation, and human brain chemistry came together in the raging opioid epidemic, a major contributor to the decline in life expectancy in the U.S. in recent years. Brain chemistry, desperation, and corporate greed in the food industry are another major contributor to the decline in life expectancy in the US. The most recent mortality data from the CDC shows that diet-related diseases, including heart disease, certain cancers, and diabetes remain the leading causes of death, killing well over a million Americans annually (see here, here and here for more info). Poor diets - fewer than 1 in 10 Americans eat enough fruits or vegetables and 9 in 10 eat too much sodium - have resulted in about half (117 million) of all American adults developing one or more chronic preventable disease. Increasingly, these poor diets are driving earlier and earlier emergence of these diseases, which now also impact ~20% of children. Desperation, is one driver of this trend, as nearly one in 4 (23.9%) of adults who are parents or guardians of children under 19 are food insecure. Like tackling addiction, solving our diet-related disease crisis, will require personal, policy, and community changes.
The best book I’ve read in a long time
My copy of “The Nutmeg’s Curse” by Amitav Ghosh is filled with dog eared pages, underlines, and highlights, it’s hard to pick a favorite part or quote. From the University of Chicago: “In this ambitious successor to The Great Derangement, acclaimed writer Amitav Ghosh finds the origins of our contemporary climate crisis in Western colonialism’s violent exploitation of human life and the natural environment.” For anyone working in the climate space, this thought-provoking read is an absolute must.
A perspective on managing society
Growth Delusion by David Pilling should be required reading for anyone who names their company Grow Well. Rife with biting British humor, this book is an excellent exploration of what’s wrong with our prevailing economic frameworks, and what might be some better ways than GDP to measure and manage our societies.
What I’m reading next
I’ve got stacks of books ready to be devoured by my couch and under my bed..
Paradise Built in Hell By Rebecca Solnit
The Brother Gardeners by Andrea Wulf
We Had a Little Real Estate Problem by Kilph Nesteroff
Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit
Embrace Fearlessly the Burning World by Barry Lopez
The Great Transition by Lester R. Brown
Replacing GDP by 2030 by Rutger Hoekstra
Books have the power to open our minds, challenge our perspectives, and drive us to take action. My recommended books in this blog post offer profound insights into climate change, inequality, housing insecurity, economic justice, and the food system. By reading and reflecting on these thought-provoking works, we can deepen our understanding of these complex issues and better understand how to address them.
I originally shared these thoughts in Grow Well Consulting’s quarterly newsletter. To get my future reading recommendations delivered directly to your inbox, subscribe today.
