The work has almost 600 pages and consists of short essays on all the main problem areas touched on by the media in the past few years – from organic farming to the lotus effect, from open-source software to solar cookers and from low-energy houses to micro-credits. Just how these will contribute to the desired improvement of the world sometimes remains rather vague, and hard facts and figures are also often lacking. Only rarely are the inventions and organisations described in the book examined critically.
This makes Worldchanging a sort of Encyclopaedia Britannica of good news, arranged into seven areas of knowledge: Stuff, Shelter, Cities, Community, Business, Politics and Planet. An extensive index at the end of the book helps the reader to navigate the different areas of knowledge, and the numerous annotated book and internet recommendations are an encouragement to read more about the various topics.
Despite its occasional superficialities, Worldchanging can usefully serve as a guidebook to the world of the future – provided the reader is prepared to use his own discrimination when forming his opinion of the ‘sights’ described here. At the same time, the book also manages to avoid resorting to the schoolmasterly tone characteristic of so many persons on a mission to save the world. In the introduction, the editor Alex Steffen explains why: “Because the question is not easy, this book doesn’t offer easy answers. This book isn’t about lists of Ten Simple Things You Can Do. It’s about providing you with ideas for rethinking your own life, and providing approaches to change. This book is written not by people who know it all (such people are invariably wrong), but by a bunch of your team mates who are working themselves to figure out how we can make a difference together.”
Worldchanging is like a scholar’s card index, occasionally somewhat randomly sorted but always inspiring. This underscored by the book’s attractive design and excellent illustrations, which include contributions by some of the masters in their fields, such as Edward Burtynsky or the Magnum photographer Stuart Franklin. Like all really good encyclopaedias, the book is more than merely a reference work: even if no one can be expected to read it from cover to cover, it invites its readers to embark on an enjoyable voyage of discovery into the world of sustainability.