The Better World Handbook : From Good Intentions to Everyday Actions

It would be a perfect world if everyone could quit their jobs and devote themselves fully to the causes they believed in. Instead, The Better World Handbook shows caring, but busy people how to live out their progressive values and have a life! The principle behind this engaging guide is to incorporate everyday activism into even the most mundane areas of our lives-like grocery shopping, banking, eating, reading the newspaper, and working.

The book begins with a concise summary of our society's most pressing problems that lead directly to seven foundations necessary for building a better world: economic fairness, comprehensive peace, ecological sustainability, deep democracy, social justice, a culture of simplicity, and revitalized community. Subsequent chapters are organized around intuitive topics such as Food, Money, Transportation, Work, and Media, focusing on activities that support the seven foundations for a better world. A purchase can allow a locally owned business to thrive; money invested in the right bank can create opportunities for poor communities; a vacation can contribute to preserving wilderness areas; tuning-in to public and alternative media can put readers back in control of their thoughts, feelings and values that mainstream media marginalize.

Practical and extremely well researched by four university instructors who have synthesized knowledge from a wide variety of sources, The Better World Handbook provides readers with the essential information they need to take effective actions that will make a difference across the entire spectrum of the world's problems.

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All four authors live in Boulder, Colorado where they are instructors at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Each author is deeply committed to activism.

The authors of this definitive, 291-page handbook are college instructors and Ph.D candidates at the University of Colorado, Boulder. (Okay, so some Boulder residents believe that the rest of the planet rotates around our city. But when it comes to serious issues of land development, diversity, endangered species, public smoking, chain stores and restaurants, shopping malls, alternatives to SUVs, and recycling, there is indeed much for the rest of our country to learn from this very special community.) THE BETTER WORLD HANDBOOK first identifies the problems facing our planet. For instance, while "we have become a nation of sleepwalkers" (p. 1), the wealthiest 20 percent of the world's population earns 30 times as much income as the poorest 20 percent (p. 13). The average American CEO makes 475 times as much as the average worker (p. 13). The richest 1 percent of Americans own almost as much wealth as the bottom 95 percent of the U. S. population (p. 14). The average American consumes as much energy as two Germans, six Mexicans, twelve Chinese, twenty-nine Indians, or 117 Bangladeshi (p. 25). Air pollution kills nearly 70,000 Americans every year (p. 25). Development results in the extinction of 137 species each day, while the world's population grows by 212,000 people a day (p. 26). Our children watch 20,000 to 40,000 commercials on television every year (p. 42).

After confronting these alarming statistics, in an easy-to-read format, the HANDBOOK then reveals how we can make the world a better place through our actions involving money, shopping, food, friends and family, community, work, transportation, and travel. For example, the authors encourage us to vote, invest in socially responsible companies, take a daily walk, get to know our neighbors, ride a bike to work or take the bus, work less, shop locally and buy less stuff, eat organic foods and less meat, watch less tv, volunteer, recycle, and appreciate others. They even go so far as to offer suggestions for our personal transformation, cultivating emotional and spiritual well-being, maintaining physical health, and taking time for reflection in our lives. Offering us words to live by, THE BETTER WORLD HANDBOOK is sure to become a trusted resource for anyone hoping to change the world through the power of one.

G. Merritt


Inspiring and well researched   November 5, 2001
Benjamin Johnson (Boulder, CO)
15 out of 15 found this review helpful

Do you remember the book "50 Simple Things You Can Do To Save the Earth"? I loved that book because it gave me simple actions I could take at home to help do my part to protect the environment. It was well researched--yet easy to read. The Better World Handbook is a lot like "50 Simple Things..." but it applies to a lot of other important issues I care about not just the environment--like empowering poor communities, embracing diversity, and simplifying my life. The book is full of actions like: socially responsible investing, interesting magazines/websites I had never heard of, and a shopping guide that ranks how responsible different corporations are. After reading it, I felt (and still feel) excited and hopeful about what I can do to improve the world (sounds idealistic I know ;-)


An invaluable resource   November 19, 2004
Lady Murasaki (Washington, USA)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

Want to make a difference but don't know where to begin? Try reading "The Better World Handbook" by Ellis Jones, Ross Haenfler, Brett Johnson, and Brian Klocke. They offer a variety of actions on issues like poverty, environmental damage, and free trade that you can incorporate into your life. What's great about this book is that you can pick and choose what works for you at the moment - there are suggested actions that may not seem doable now but you can probably do later. You don't have agree with each issue the authors describe and suggest actions for, and the authors make a good attempt at avoiding a self-righteous tone. I have notes and have highlighted what actions I can manage, and will keep referring to this list (probably on the new year's eves to come).

The authors first explain our culture of cynicism and define the 7 most common traps that prevent people from taking action on issues they care about. I found this especially revealing as I have often caught myself in one or more of those traps. They then describe the seven foundations of a better world (economic fairness, comprehensive peace, ecological sustainability, deep democracy, social justice, culture of simplicity, and revitalized community) and have a list of references on each foundation. What follows are numerous actions regarding money (e.g. banking), shopping, food, personal living and relationships, community, home, work, media, politics, transportation, and travel. Some of the website links they include are not up-to-date, so I strongly recommend doing a search on the organizations mentioned and trying to find similar links and organizations.

This book is a starting point and can inspire other actions that are not included in the book. Reading "The Better World Handbook" is an invaluable first step to realizing that one person can really make a difference.


Practice What You Preach   February 3, 2005
catwoman (berkeley, CA)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful

I LOVED this book. It gives all kinds of good practical advice on how every day actions really CAN make a difference. It cites a lot of other great books too that you can read in further detail about the things that are mentioned in the book which i really appreciate.
When I first read this book I was a student activist who thought that i always needed to do BIG things to change the world. Some of the little things that i would do made me feel different from the rest of my friends and make me feel like i was not doing enough. This book affirmed some of my decisions and made me feel serious about doing more.
This book is a good guide to actually living to make the world a better place! There are a lot of issues in the book that can and MUST be further researched but I think that the authors do a wonderful job at encouraging you to actually do so by suggesting books and websites to get you started. Its good for what it is: a guide to how to live. And it can point you in great directions for further more academic exploration of the issues that are presented.
I will say that I have used this book as MY BIBLE to living. I would suggest this in addition to Sojourners magazine to those who want to look at these same issues from a Christian perspective