Live Sustainably Now

Karl Coplan

Published by Columbia University Press 2020

Live Sustainably Now

A Low-Carbon Vision of the Good Life

Karl Coplan

https://doi.org/10.7312/copl19090

Overview
Contents

About this book

Karl Coplan shares his personal journey of attempting to cut back on carbon without giving up the amenities of a suburban middle-class lifestyle. Live Sustainably Now shows that there does not have to be a trade-off between the ethical obligation to maintain a sustainable carbon footprint and the belief that life should be fulfilling and fun.

Author information

Coplan Karl :

Karl Coplan (JD Columbia) is a Professor of Law at Pace Law School, and Co-Director of its Environmental Litigation Clinic. He has authored several chapters in academic and legal practice books, and is the co-author of the second edition of Introduction to Environmental Law (Environmental Law Institute, 2016). This book grows out of the author’s many public lectures over the years on how individuals and society can lower its carbon footprint.Karl Coplan is professor of law at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, where he directs its environmental litigation clinic. He is a coauthor of Introduction to Environmental Law: Cases and Materials on Water Pollution Control (second edition, 2016). Coplan is also a member of the board of directors of Waterkeeper Alliance, a global network of clean water advocates.

Reviews

Peter Kalmus, climate scientist and author of Being the Change: Live Well and Spark a Climate Revolution:
Coplan reminds us that low-carbon living not only contributes to the cultural shift required for systems-level change, but is satisfying, meaningful, and fun.

Mark Hineline, author of Ground Truth: A Guide to Tracking Climate Change at Home:
In clear prose, sometimes taking a colloquial turn, Coplan walks the reader through questions of individual culpability for global warming, ranging—quite usefully, in my view—between philosophical abstractions and quantifiable realities of daily life. He balances theory and practice with aplomb.

Andrew Revkin, former New York Times environmental writer and director of the Initiative on Communication & Sustainability, Earth Institute, Columbia University:
A paralytic feeling can come when deeply confronting the global nature of climate change, given how a multitude of dispersed human activities are contributing to worldwide shifts in climate and coastal patterns that will build and persist for centuries. In this educational, entertaining account, Karl Coplan, law professor and long-distance sailor, argues for and, better yet, demonstrates a completely different kind of reaction—passionate engagement in shaping a fulfilling and fun low-carbon life.

Colin Beavan, author of How To Be Alive and No Impact Man:
Talking the environmental talk is one thing, but if you want to walk the walk, too, Karl Coplan's book will tell you how to do it and how to do it happily.

Tatiana Schlossberg, former New York Times science writer and author of Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don't Know You Have:
Karl Coplan's vision for living an ethical, meaningful, and sustainable life in the face of the climate crisis is an inspiration to all those who care about the environment. Without losing sight of the need for collective global corporate and governmental action, he shows us that it is possible to enjoy life and have fun without sacrificing the future of the planet for the instant gratification many of us have come to expect from life in the twenty-first century.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
PREFACE Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
PROLOGUE: CLIMATE MARCH AT THE CROSSROADS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. CLIMATARIANISM: OUR PERSONAL MORAL OBLIGATION Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	5
2. WHY BOTH INDIVIDUAL ACTION AND COLLECTIVE POLICY WILL BE NEEDED TO ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	25
3. SOME CLIMATE BASICS: WHAT WE MEAN BY “CARBON FOOTPRINT,” HOW WE MEASURE IT, AND WHY IT MATTERS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	41
4. SUSTAINABILITY: WHAT IS IT, AND WHO CAN REALLY CLAIM TO BE DOING IT? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	55
5. WHAT IS INDIVIDUAL CARBON SUSTAINABILITY, THEN? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	65
6. GOING ON A CARBON DIET TO SAVE THE PLANET Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	77
7. SURPRISING CARBON IMPACT COMPARISONS: IF YOU ARE ONLY GOING TO SWEAT ONE KIND OF STUFF, SWEAT BIG STUFF, NOT SMALL STUFF Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	91
8. GRAPPLING WITH THE BIG FOUR: ELECTRICITY, HEAT, TRANSPORTATION, AND FOOD Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	103
9. HAVING FUN ON A CARBON BUDGET Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	151
10. MEDIUM-TERM GOAL: GETTING TO ZERO Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	167
POSTSCRIPT: INDIVIDUAL CLIMATE ACTION IN THE TRUMP ERA: NOW MORE THAN EVER Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	187
APPENDIX. SAMPLE CARBON FOOTPRINT CALCULATION Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199

Language: English
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Illustrations
- Other: 16 figures

eBook

Published: December 16, 2019
ISBN: 9780231549165