Inconspicuous Consumption
The Environmental Impact You Don't Know You Have
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Narrated by:
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Tatiana Schlossberg
About this listen
From former New York Times Science writer Tatiana Schlossberg comes Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don't Know You Have, a fascinating and unexpectedly entertaining look at the way climate change and environmental pollution are intimately involved in our everyday life - in everything we use, buy, eat, wear, and how we get around - and have consequences that extend far beyond our lives.
With urgency and wit, Tatiana Schlossberg explains that far from being only a distant problem of the natural world created by the fossil fuel industry, climate change is all around us, all the time, lurking everywhere in our convenience-driven society, all without our realizing it.
By examining the unseen and unconscious environmental impacts in four areas-the Internet and technology, food, fashion, and fuel - Schlossberg helps listeners better understand why climate change is such a complicated issue, and how it connects all of us: How streaming a movie on Netflix in New York burns coal in Virginia; how eating a hamburger in California might contribute to pollution in the Gulf of Mexico; how buying an inexpensive cashmere sweater in Chicago expands the Mongolian desert; how destroying forests from North Carolina is necessary to generate electricity in England.
Cataloging the complexities and frustrations of our carbon-intensive society with a dry sense of humor, Schlossberg makes the climate crisis and its solutions interesting and relevant to everyone who cares, even a little, about the planet. She empowers listeners to think about their stuff and the environment in a new way, helping them make more informed choices when it comes to the future of our world.
Most importantly, this is a book about the power we have as voters and consumers to make sure that the fight against climate change includes all of us and all of our stuff, not just industry groups and politicians. If we have any hope of solving the problem, we all have to do it together.
©2019 Tatiana Schlossberg (P)2019 Hachette AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"[A] straightforward, accessible look at the environmental impact of consumer habits...With insight and urgency, Schlossberg prods readers to think more deeply...[and] delivers an intriguing and educational narrative." (Publishers Weekly)
"The author breaks complex issues down to be understandable to the lay reader, while her humor and wit ensure that readers will close the book feeling energized rather than hopeless." (Booklist, starred review)
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From Joseph Romm, Chief Science Advisor for National Geographic's Years of Living Dangerously series and one of Rolling Stone's "100 people who are changing America," Climate Change offers user-friendly, scientifically rigorous answers to the most difficult (and commonly politicized) questions surrounding what climatologist Lonnie Thompson has deemed "a clear and present danger to civilization."
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Religious not scientific claims and preachings
- By Jeanne Renzo on 09-19-19
By: Joseph Romm
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Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper
- How Innovation Keeps Proving the Catastrophists Wrong
- By: Robert Bryce
- Narrated by: Steven Menasche
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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In this provocative and optimistic rebuke to the catastrophists, Robert Bryce shows how innovation and the inexorable human desire to make things Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper is providing consumers with Cheaper and more abundant energy, Faster computing, Lighter vehicles, and myriad other goods. That same desire is fostering unprecedented prosperity, greater liberty, and yes, better environmental protection.
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I thought I was getting a book on the future.
- By Grant on 08-02-14
By: Robert Bryce
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Organic Manifesto
- How Organic Food Can Heal Our Planet, Feed the World, and Keep Us Safe
- By: Maria Rodale, Eric Scholsser - foreword
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 5 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Drawing on findings from leading health researchers as well as conversations with both chemical and organic farmers from coast to coast, Maria Rodale irrefutably outlines the unacceptably high cost of chemical farming on our health and our environment. She traces the genesis of chemical farming and the rise of the immense companies that profit from it, bringing to light the government's role in allowing such practices to flourish.
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those in power must read and work upon it.
- By Jaktip on 12-20-17
By: Maria Rodale, and others
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Fossil Future
- Why Global Human Flourishing Requires More Oil, Coal, and Natural Gas—Not Less
- By: Alex Epstein
- Narrated by: Alex Epstein
- Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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For over a decade, philosopher and energy expert Alex Epstein has predicted that any negative impacts of fossil fuel use on our climate will be outweighed by the unique benefits of fossil fuels to human flourishing--including their unrivaled ability to provide low-cost, reliable energy to billions of people around the world, especially the world’s poorest people. And contrary to what we hear from media “experts” about today’s “renewable revolution” and “climate emergency,” reality has proven Epstein right.
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Strongly Recommend
- By Kevin on 06-14-22
By: Alex Epstein
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The Vanishing Face of Gaia
- A Final Warning
- By: James Lovelock
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Vanishing Face of Gaia, British scientist James Lovelock predicts global warming will lead to a Hot Epoch. Lovelock is best known for formulating the controversial Gaia theory in the 1970s, with Ruth Margulis of the University of Massachusetts, which states that organisms interact with and regulate Earth's surface and atmosphere. We ignore this interaction at our peril.
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A New Perspective - A Must Listen - Very Moving
- By Thomas on 01-29-12
By: James Lovelock
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The Rational Optimist
- How Prosperity Evolves
- By: Matt Ridley
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Life is getting better at an accelerating rate. Food availability, income, and life span are up; disease, child mortality, and violence are down all across the globe. Though the world is far from perfect, necessities and luxuries alike are getting cheaper; population growth is slowing; Africa is following Asia out of poverty; the Internet, the mobile phone, and container shipping are enriching people's lives as never before.
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Personal
- By Robert F. Jones on 09-15-17
By: Matt Ridley
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The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight: Revised and Updated
- The Fate of the World and What We Can Do Before It's Too Late
- By: Thom Hartmann, Neale Donald Walsch - associate editor
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 18 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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While everything appears to be collapsing around us - ecodamage, genetic engineering, virulent diseases, water shortages, global famine, wars - we can still do something about it and create a world that will work for us and for our children's children. The inspiration for Leonardo DiCaprio's feature documentary movie The 11th Hour, The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight details what is happening to our planet, the reasons for our culture's blind behavior, and how we can fix the problem.
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One of the Most Important Books of our Time
- By Jana on 04-24-20
By: Thom Hartmann, and others
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The Soil Will Save Us
- How Scientists, Farmers, and Ranchers Are Tending the Soil to Reverse Global Warming
- By: Kristin Ohlson
- Narrated by: Dina Pearlman
- Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Soil Will Save Us, journalist and bestselling author Kristin Ohlson makes an elegantly argued, passionate case for "our great green hope"—a way in which we can not only heal the land but also turn atmospheric carbon into beneficial soil carbon—and potentially reverse global warming. Her discoveries and vivid storytelling will revolutionize the way we think about our food, our landscapes, our plants, and our relationship to Earth.
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Rambling, mile wide, inch deep treatment of a subject
- By Charles Phillips on 10-17-18
By: Kristin Ohlson
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Animal, Vegetable, Junk
- A History of Food, from Sustainable to Suicidal
- By: Mark Bittman
- Narrated by: Mark Bittman
- Length: 12 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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The story of humankind is usually told as one of technological innovation and economic influence—of arrowheads and atomic bombs, settlers and stock markets. But behind it all, there is an even more fundamental driver: Food. In Animal, Vegetable, Junk, trusted food authority Mark Bittman offers a panoramic view of how the frenzy for food has driven human history to some of its most catastrophic moments.
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Mostly Junk
- By Daniel Ducat on 05-22-21
By: Mark Bittman
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Green Metropolis
- What the City Can Teach the Country About True Sustainability
- By: David Owen
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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In this remarkable challenge to conventional thinking about the environment, David Owen argues that the greenest community in the United States is not Portland, Oregon, or Snowmass, Colorado, but New York City.
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A stupid and dangerously short sighted view
- By Gare&Sophia on 11-13-12
By: David Owen
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Water in Plain Sight
- Hope for a Thirsty World
- By: Judith D. Schwartz
- Narrated by: Tia Rider
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Water scarcity is on everyone's mind. Long taken for granted, water availability has entered the realm of economics, politics, and people's food and lifestyle choices. But as anxiety mounts - even as a swath of California farmland has been left fallow and extremist groups worldwide exploit the desperation of people losing livelihoods to desertification - many are finding new routes to water security with key implications for food access, economic resilience, and climate change.
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Crucial solutions
- By Shane Emanuelle on 07-25-19
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Coal
- A Human History
- By: Barbara Freese
- Narrated by: Shelly Frasier
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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The fascinating, often surprising story of how a simple black rock altered the course of history. Yet the mundane mineral that built our global economy, and even today powers our electrical plants, has also caused death, disease, and environmental destruction. In this remarkable book, Barbara Freese takes us on a rich historical journey that begins three hundred million years ago and spans the globe.
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Uses Coal to push her Political Agenda
- By Kismet on 08-22-06
By: Barbara Freese
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Let There Be Water
- Israel's Solution for a Water-Starved World
- By: Seth M. Siegel
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Let There Be Water illustrates how Israel can serve as a model for the United States and countries everywhere by showing how to blunt the worst of the coming water calamities. Even with 60 percent of its country made of desert, Israel has not only solved its water problem; it also has an abundance of water. Israel even supplies water to its neighbors - the Palestinians and the Kingdom of Jordan - every day.
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More water politics story than water technology
- By normal person on 04-12-21
By: Seth M. Siegel
What listeners say about Inconspicuous Consumption
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Anonymous User
- 10-20-19
Read before it’s even more late
A depressing depiction . Should be required in elementary and high schools. For those of us routinely clothed in oil it may be too late.
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- Andrew Koppel
- 10-21-19
Great Information, Ill-Advised Attempts at Humor
As the title of this review suggests, the book is filled with valuable information for a lay reader who wants to understand how climate change affects our daily lives. The author knows her subject, and provides perceptive insights into the impact of our seemingly innocent behavior on the environment.
That said, the ubiquitous attempts at humor, which must grate on a reader, are even more grating when heard aloud. They seem to indicate either a lack of confidence in the material itself, or an appeal to a different readership/listenership.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Sarah Ritter Hamilton
- 10-07-24
Well Thought Our
Great review of most pressing issues and the complications of our impact on these issues and resolving them.
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- Anonymous User
- 02-11-24
Knowledge Is Power
This book gives readers the tools to better comprehend and address the greatest challenges we face today, giving us a more holistic and informed view of climate change in a way that is engaging, accessible, and laugh out loud funny.
GET THIS BOOK
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- Frankie
- 12-10-19
Dissapointing
Someone recommended this book to me but I was disappointed after reading it. To the author's credit, she covers a lot of topics and some with some level of depth. However, I was surprised on the topic of GMOs while addressing Food as she basically gave Monsanto's talking points that they are a good thing and if you are against them then you are a science denier. She claimed that pesticide use in the US has decreased with GMOs which is not true. In fact, the use of Roundup (Glyphosate) has increased significantly and it is now proven to be cancer producing. Plus these pesticides end up in rivers and contaminate the water and oceans.
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1 person found this helpful
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- David D
- 11-04-19
Great topic, but execution could be better
This book was something I always wanted to read - a guide that better informs the average consumer about our impact so we can make better choices. After all, we're not expected to be experts on cotton watering needs or denim recycling in order to buy jeans. This book tackles a decent number of those exact topics, though the Omnivores Dilemma appears to be better for understanding food consumption.
But the execution and writing is rough - there is a very dry sense of humor throughout that breaks up the narrative in a very distracting way. There is also a mix of stats that don't mean much (e.g. 100 trillion pounds of something) rather than establishing a simpler or cohesive metric, or using more relatable term (e.g. consistently discussing percentage of overall energy use rather than some unrelatable unit like BTUs). Finally, there are often tangents on how our consumption affects our socioeconomic environment rather than the natural environment - both are important, but I find it distracting to switch between the two. For example, when discussing cashmere, I found it confusing to switch between the climate of the Gobi desert and the plight of the nomadic way of goat herders...both are important, but only one of those is within the narrative I was expecting in this book. Finally, after reading this book I feel more confused about what to do than before - the conclusion from the author on most topics was unactionable, or just a version of throwing up our hands and saying, "this stuff is complicated, so I guess we'll never really know what the right thing to do is".
An important topic, but I hope another author can write a more actionable guide for consumers who care about their impact.
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3 people found this helpful
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- B.L.
- 12-07-22
Helps me understand how large a problem this is!
I'm very glad I read this book! For those interested in gaining understanding on how extensive the issues with our environment are, this is your read. I highly recommend this audiobook. This is not a text. But Tatiana has done her research (its impressive!) and guides the reader through a wide range of issues. Before reading this, I had no clue, as I had never considered how all-encompassing these issues are to us as individuals, at home, at work, and to us collectively on planet Earth. It can be overwhelming, but Tatiana's balance in explaining technical detail, dumbing down the hard to grasp and sometimes tedious subjects is much appreciated. Her humor and sarcasm are just what this subject needed, I'm sold and motivated to take action. You can take up a particular issue which resonates with you, or maybe decide to be more careful about wasting and being unwise with what we buy. This is practical, as well as inspiring. There are many ways to step up and make a difference, and that quickly become apparent in this audio version.
This is one I'm going to re-read. I typically read bios and novels and such. Because I have this inner voice saying ... Hey, you should learn more about this subject, I did. Now, I have a new favorite book to share.
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- Read One
- 08-02-20
Are we Inconspicuous?
Tatianna Schlosberg creates a narrative that is simultaneously interesting, compelling and distressing. Our Consumption being Inconspicuous may have been the best title for her work at the time of publication. However, post 7 months into our US Covid experience the blinders are off for many more of Us. Share her work either in print, audio or conversationally. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Cleaner Air, Cleaner Water for ALL:)
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- Nelson
- 08-11-23
A Humorous and Engaging Look at The Environment
You can’t and shouldn’t look away from the environment and climate change — this book makes the case in an engaging and entertaining way. Entertaining mostly through Tatiana’s conversational and deprecating manner — sometimes directed at herself and other times at me, the listener.
It is a frustrating book. It opens the eyes to many things we didn’t know, others we suspected and reinforces others. There isn’t a ton of actions prescribed — which leads to the frustration. Overall — knowledge is power and what actions are taken is individual.
Make sure to listen all the way to the end. Her acknowledgments are touching.
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- HR01
- 05-29-20
Interesting, not groundbreaking.
I listened to the author narrate her own book after hearing her interviewed on NPR. If you are interested in the environmental impact of modern life, you've probably heard much of this before, but the author does bring much of it together in one place. You will learn, or review, about the rare earth metals in your cell phone, why the internet and bitcoin mining require so much electricity, and why clothing and "fast fashion" are a bad deal for the Earth. The author does her research and, as JFK's granddaughter, probably had more access to information than many other people.
The author is quite witty, but her humor is largely lost in her monotone delivery.
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