Resources

Books (non-fiction)

In addition to the books written by authors we have spotlighted in the Green Swans Bookclub, here are some others that occupy a prominent position on our desks or shelves – and while it may seem strange for a business reading list, we include Greta. At a time when business talks about stakeholder capitalism, Greta Thunberg speaks for billions of stakeholders as yet unborn:  

  • The Power of Creative Destruction, Philippe Aghion, Céline Antonin and Simon Bunel, Belknap Press, 2021. Joseph Schumpeter nailed it. Capitalism periodically tears itself apart to create the conditions for new types of value creation to emerge. How do we use the powers of creative destruction to help grow the Regenerative Economy?
  • Light to Life,the Miracle of Photosynthesis and How it Can Save the PlanetRaffael Jovine, 2021. Exploring new ways in which plants can help slow and reverse global warming.
  • How to Save Our Planet: The Facts, Mark Maslin, Penguin Books, 2021. Basic reading for anyone wanting to understand the challenge and how we might achieve genuine system change.
  • Value(s): Building a Better World for All, Mark Carney, William Collins, 2021. The former Governor of the Bank of England on how our values and conceptions of value must change.
  • The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global Economy, Mariana Mazzucato, and Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism, Allen Lane, 2021. One of the most interesting economists alive explores the future of capitalism.
  • How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need, Bill Gates, Allen Lane, 2021. A key idea here is that governments and the private sector need to work together to drive down the “green premiums” that slow the diffusion of climate solutions.
  • Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future, Elizabeth Kolbert, The Bodley Head, 2021. Fir decades we have changed nature for the worse. Can we now learn to change it for the better?
  • How to Spend a Trillion Dollars: Saving the World and Solving the Biggest Questions in Science, Rowan Hooper, Profile Books, 2021. A fascinating book, spotlighted in our ‘Education‘ section.
  • Green Swans: The Coming Boom in Regenerative Capitalism, John Elkington, Fast Company Press, 2020. The genesis of – and manifesto for – the Observatory. With 16 pages of references and endnotes, signposting the information sources we drew on in evolving the Green Swans agenda.
  • Impact: Reshaping Capitalism to Drive Real Change, Sir Ronald Cohen, Ebury Press/Penguin Random House, 2020. A roadmap for the Impact Economy.
  • The Regenerative Life: Transform Any Organization, Carol Sanford, Our Society and Your Destiny, Hachette Book Group, 2020. A guide to organizational change from one of the leading thinkers in this space.
  • No-one is Too Small to Make a Difference, Greta Thunberg, Penguin Books, 2019. Inspirational.
  • Regenerative Leadership: The DNA of Life-Affirming 21st Century Organizations, Giles Hutchins and Laura Storm, 2019.
  • Call of the Reed Warbler: A New Agriculture, A New Earth, Charles Massy, Chelsea Green Publishing, 2018 – set to be a foundational book for the regenerative agriculture movement.
  • Wilding: The Return to Nature of a British Farm, Isabella Tree, Picador/Pan Macmillan, 2018. Again, a foundational text.
  • Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming, Penguin Books, 2017. A core text – and a springboard for Paul’s forthcoming book, Regeneration(due late 2021).
  • Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think like a 21st Century Economist, Kate Raworth, Cornerstone, 2017. Another leading economist on her vision of the future, now being adopted by cities like Amsterdam.
  • Designing Regenerative Cultures, Daniel Christian Wahl, Triarchy Press, 2016. An early pioneer in regenerative thinking ponders the culture change aspects of the Regenerative Economy.
  • Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman, Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia/Penguin, originally published 2005, updated 2015. An oldie, but a goldie – and a key link for the Yvon Chouinard interview in our ‘Meet the Regenerators‘ section.
  • Eden Again: Hope in the Marshes of Iraq, Suzanne Alwash, Tablet House Publishing, 2013. The inside story on one of the greatest ecosystem restoration projects ever attempted, linking to our Azzam Alwash interview in the ‘Meet the Regenerators‘ section.

Books (fiction)

 

 

 

 

This is a list that can only grow, in many dimensions of fiction. One that we particularly appreciate is science fiction, which can be an important source of insight on the regeneration agenda – as underscored by our Green Swan Zoom interview with science fiction author David Brin (due May 2021). Among the authors he mentions in the interview is Kim Stanley Robinson, who often returns to the subject of degeneration versus regeneration. Among KSR’s books we read in 2021 were New York 2140 and The Ministry for the Future. Another author well worth tracking is Ramez Naam, whose energy forecasts are mentioned in our sector scan on energy.

An interesting piece on the usefulness of speculative fiction in helping us cope with such crazy times appeared recently in TechCrunch. In the conversation, speculative fiction author Eliot Peper says: “Current events are a painful reminder that unlike fiction, reality needn’t be plausible. The world is complex and even the wisest of us understand only a tiny sliver of what’s really going on. Nobody knows what comes next. So while it may feel like we’re living in a science fiction novel, that’s because we’ve always been living in a science fiction novel. Or maybe speculative fiction is more real than so-called realist fiction because the only certainty is that tomorrow will be different from today and from what we expect. Depicting a world without fundamental change has become fantastical.