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93rd out of 290 books
—
435 voters
As the World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Stay in Denial
Two of America's most talented activists team up to deliver a bold and hilarious satire of modern environmental policy in this fully illustrated graphic novel. The U.S. government gives robot machines from space permission to eat the earth in exchange for bricks of gold. A one-eyed bunny rescues his friends from a corporate animal-testing laboratory. And two little girls f...more
Paperback, 224 pages
Published
November 6th 2007
by Seven Stories Press
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i wish that someone had handed this to me when i was a 19-year-old environmental science major. i was sick and tired of developing recycling programs for schools, talking about the implications of pollution of global fashion, the World Bank's latest irrigation project, and discussing how long it really takes for compact fluorescent bulbs to burn out. and then there is this, satirical comics and hilarious illustrations that are simple enough to let the dry wit shine.
the plot is funny enough. robo...more
the plot is funny enough. robo...more
While I agree that the problem is bigger than everyone just taking shorter showers, I fail to see how one book (created from chopping down trees AND in a factory AND shipped by gasoline belching trucks to the stores) that's self-righteous, sarcastic, has no offered solutions beyond beating down hippies and burning down factories is going to help either.
I think the book is as narrow minded as the people they despise. Blech.
Also, a quick search of Medline reveals that the link between aluminum an...more
I think the book is as narrow minded as the people they despise. Blech.
Also, a quick search of Medline reveals that the link between aluminum an...more
3 likes · like · see review
I just read this book in one sitting at Helia's, and I really WANTED to like it. I did. It was on th the right path for a few pages. But it spent too may pages making bad jokes about how stupid politicians are, and got way off track. And then there was page 154. only person of color in the book comes out of the trees for a minute to tell them to be better with the earth and then disappears. hell no.
UPDATE - i have been contacted by several Derrick Jensen fans saying that I got it wrong, that the...more
UPDATE - i have been contacted by several Derrick Jensen fans saying that I got it wrong, that the...more
3 likes · like · see review
Sorry, Katigreen. I thought this book was silly. I asked the crows and the trees if they wanted to engage in armed battle against corporations with me and they said "No." Furthermore, I don't think that "civilization" is inherently evil, and the world doesn't have room for 6 billion hunter-gatherers. I do agree that compact florescent light bulbs will not save the world.
3 likes · like · see review
The human characters in this book are not compelling. The experience of the one eyed bunny is what its all about, and these are the parts that might make you cry. The ending is super cheezy, cause the good guys win, which isnt realistic at all.
This book, so full of promise and hype, was really stupid. It almost could've been cute, if you try to think of it as total camp, what with the posi hippy girl constantly being emotionally pulverized by the gothy type girl. Alien robots that shit gold is also kind of funny, including an army of wild forest creatures fighting back. Yeah, it is true that recycling is not going to "save the planet", nor is full spectrum light bulbs, but unfortunately neither is Derrick Jensen or his literary fans....more
3 likes · like · see review
This Graphic Novel by Stephanie McMillan (Minimum Security) and Derrick Jensen is great to read aloud and view with a good friend.
Alien Robots come to earth, shit gold, give said shit to the President of the US in exchange for written permission to eat every tree, fish, mountain, etc. (except 12 trees, 7 fish, etc.). The two protagonists argue the finer points of eco-friendly corporate cooptation, Social activists hand over power to power all too easily, and the wild revolts, bloodily.
It's funny...more
Alien Robots come to earth, shit gold, give said shit to the President of the US in exchange for written permission to eat every tree, fish, mountain, etc. (except 12 trees, 7 fish, etc.). The two protagonists argue the finer points of eco-friendly corporate cooptation, Social activists hand over power to power all too easily, and the wild revolts, bloodily.
It's funny...more
A little graphic novel version of Derrick Jensen's basic points: The world is being destroyed by industrial civiliation, which has built up, madly, systems to expidite that destruction. There are some aliens, in a sort of ... satire I guess, or maybe just an additional lens through which to view the situation... I guess the aliens are a metaphor. Anyway. The basics will be familar in detail to those who are familiar with Jensen and in broad scope to those who are paying attention. Nothing actual...more
This is a scary and informative* comic about how you are totally going to die from global warming no matter what any one does. Which is a theory I do subscribe to but I just realized I never ever want to read about again.
*possible punk rock propaganda, small press & not sure where they are getting their statistics, of which there are many and not a single cited source
*possible punk rock propaganda, small press & not sure where they are getting their statistics, of which there are many and not a single cited source
3 likes · like · see review
Such promise, for what it was: Ohm-ing changes nothing but your insides, which are small comparatively. "We will go quietly, meekly, to the end of the world if only you will allow us to believe that buying low energy light bulbs will save us."
All this excoriation of denial to devolve into a Noah's Ark, Noble Savage, animist fantasy in which all the animals and rocks and wind and shit tell the humans how to live, and then join forces with them to kill the earth-eating aliens. You'd think a graphi...more
All this excoriation of denial to devolve into a Noah's Ark, Noble Savage, animist fantasy in which all the animals and rocks and wind and shit tell the humans how to live, and then join forces with them to kill the earth-eating aliens. You'd think a graphi...more
Aug 18, 2008
Morgan
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people whose appetites for change are appeased by recycling or not flushing the toilet
This book had me laughing out loud at certain spots, rolling my eyes at others, and being served up some serious challenges the whole way through. Granted, it's not as heartfelt and thorough as Derrick Jensen's other work, but the pairing of his overstated allegory about alien robots who eat the Earth and poop out gold bullion is better told with Stephanie McMillan's haphazard comics than without. It's also way more digestible than some of Jensen's heftier tomes. A good one to read and then pass...more
While the themes, metaphors, and call to action are all good and relevant, the art in this book is crude looking, lacking in detail, and altogether not enough for the concept.
Space aliens come to earth and offer to trade thier shit (they poop gold bricks) to our government and corporations if they can eat nature. Yeah, not exactly a difficult metaphor, but I often think writers try to hard and the simply understood--and hilarious--are better. Meanwhile, animals--including a one-eyed bunny with...more
Space aliens come to earth and offer to trade thier shit (they poop gold bricks) to our government and corporations if they can eat nature. Yeah, not exactly a difficult metaphor, but I often think writers try to hard and the simply understood--and hilarious--are better. Meanwhile, animals--including a one-eyed bunny with...more
This book was sort of difficult to review. As far as content is concerned, I really agree that "green thinking" is rather dangerous to the planet as a whole--it continues to perpetuate a safety that deludes us into believing that the planet ISN'T dying and that the power of the individual to impact the whole is much more significant than it actually is. Green thinking is actually empowering us to destroy the planet, but simultaneously allows us to be more ignorant and happier to maintain the com...more
Nov 21, 2008
Craig
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people who cannot think critically
Recommended to Craig by:
a lot of people, sadly enough
It was funny and entertaining, but I couldn't help but be disturbed by the ideas presented. Don't get me wrong, I'm big on environmentalism. I'm at least 60% hippy. But the author is a tad extreme for me. Not only does he explicitly condone eco-terrorism, but he is guilty of many of the things he seems to condemn the "evil corporations" of, such as manipulation for one.
Let's get one things straight here folks: corporations are not by definition evil. Sure, there are some, actually many, bad one...more
Let's get one things straight here folks: corporations are not by definition evil. Sure, there are some, actually many, bad one...more
A lot of people wouldn't give this book a chance because of how radical it is. They would automatically stop listening because they don't want to accept that we have a problem -- a major problem. Their response is, "Ridiculous! None of this happpens in our great country of America!" When what's being said in this graphic novel is all true. So true. All of it. I have to admit that I did raise my eyebrows at battling rabbits and tenderhearted bears, and that the narration came off as haughty at ti...more
Self-righteous doesn't even really scratch the surface. At first I thought I was going to love this b/c it opened with talking about how futile recycling is, and how it accomplishes basically nothing other than making people feel good about themselves, which is so true, cuz omg I fucking hate recycling. But it quickly becomes apparent that the nutbags who wrote this book are just WAY more extreme.. like the environmentalist version of PETA. What's it called, EarthFirst? Like those people. Their...more
6 likes · like · see review
This may be the most important book you'll ever read.
It explores our role on Spaceship Earth with a single question: What can we do to fix everything? We have poisoned our oceans, decimated entire forests, displaced animal life and subjugated these very animals to vivisection. All for what? Corporate greed, and our own perceived needs. You wouldn't dump toxic chemicals in your front yard, would you? What we don't realize, the world is our front yard.
There are many ways you can help save the wo...more
It explores our role on Spaceship Earth with a single question: What can we do to fix everything? We have poisoned our oceans, decimated entire forests, displaced animal life and subjugated these very animals to vivisection. All for what? Corporate greed, and our own perceived needs. You wouldn't dump toxic chemicals in your front yard, would you? What we don't realize, the world is our front yard.
There are many ways you can help save the wo...more
This graphic novel is a bit of a blow to most 'greenies.' People who change a light bulb and want to think they're changing the world might want to avoid this book. Even though the title is 50 things to do to stay in denial the authors are quick to take your denial and crush it in their informed fists. It is more than demoralizing for fans of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, it picks apart everything the movie cites as something an individual could do to help save energy and create less of a car...more
A comic parable about environmental catastrophe that makes some good points and doesn’t bother to try to avoid radical environmentalist/luddite hyperbole. It’s designed to reach folks who believe that people are making the planet uninhabitable out of short-sighted greed, but who are still hoping that the solution won’t be terribly disruptive to the status quo.
So I only got to page 41 of this book before giving up on it. I learned that if I already agree with a point of view, I shouldn't read a book convincing those who do not agree with said point of view that their views are wrong.
In other words, I felt like I was being lectured to and beat over the head with all of the facts, figures and fallacies of the environmental woes of earth.
This is all well and good for some who maybe don't know those facts, figures and fallacies. I was just hoping for a g...more
In other words, I felt like I was being lectured to and beat over the head with all of the facts, figures and fallacies of the environmental woes of earth.
This is all well and good for some who maybe don't know those facts, figures and fallacies. I was just hoping for a g...more
I had hope that this book would have something more interesting to say about how to be good stewards of the earth, other than reduce, reuse, recycle, etc. I may not be as actively against our consumer culture as the characters in this story, but I have long been frustrated by the greed and selfishness of government/corporations/individuals who don't really care what kind of effect their actions have on their environment. I was encouraged to see this book mention that it would take more than peop...more
I loved this book and it changed a lot of my thinking. It is totally flawed, I know and totally problematic and weird.
This is a great read. I really liked how accessible it made the case against industrial civilization (anarcho primitivism). I'd recommend it to anyone because it's a fast, compelling, and fun read even if it is directly addressing the deep disconnect and denial civilized people have to our way of "life," which actually depends on the destruction and death of eventually almost all life on this planet. But it didn't bum me out. Maybe because the end is so cheesy. And because the portrayal of Derri...more
I bought this from the AK Press table at SF Zine Fest. It seemed like it was pushing my buttons a bit with its criticisms of liberal environmentalist half-measures, so I thought I'd check it out. As other reviewers have pointed out, its solutions aren't really any more practical. The dialogues come off more like straw-man arguments. Still, it was somewhat through-provoking. But if these folks can't even take over the town of Eugene, Oregon, I don't really see how they're going to move beyond a v...more
The other day I was rinsing out my cans for the blue box when it occured to me that I was washing my garbage. And I wondered what the point of it was, when washing the cans consumes water. Then, don't forget, there are entire populations of continents who don't recycle at all and without 100% compliance can recycling programs even work? While living in Central America I came to realize that a lot of countries are consuming at a first-world rate, but their waste management is '60s era. They actua...more
Hmmm . . . I may have to buy my own copy of this, as I loved the sarcastic humor mixed with factual content. The book is a comic strip, interweaving several stories. Granted, I skimmed the book and only really focused on (a) the discussion between the two young women debating whether or not doing "50 simple things" can have a real effect or if, say, maybe cutting off the flow of water to a polluting factory could have much more of an impact than not flushing the toilet every time; and (b) the li...more
Sep 06, 2008
Jen
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
burst your green bubble
Recommended to Jen by:
farmer erin
Shelves:
not-novels
much needed. as usual, derrick jensen cuts through the BS. this time in something a bit more palatable than 600 pages of text (i read it in less that 2 hours). but there's no silver lining here - his answers aren't cozy, convenient, or PC.
i've been feeling the need to better get my head (heart? spirit?) around the realities of looming catastrophe and the limited impact of anything i can do. And the simultaneous sense that everything i do must be meaningful and effective. is it really enough just...more
i've been feeling the need to better get my head (heart? spirit?) around the realities of looming catastrophe and the limited impact of anything i can do. And the simultaneous sense that everything i do must be meaningful and effective. is it really enough just...more
Overall I liked this book: really good criticisms of being "green" and the 50 "easy" things to stop global warming. But I have to say, I was not inspired to action to take down the corporations via bombing their structures...(which the authors advocate). I mean, there must be some other way then burning down gov't/corporations. But what?? Still, it was really good to be reminded about the quieted ramifications of wind energy, green products, light bulbs, low water toilets, etc: all are using up...more
I probably don't like Derrick Jensen,--that remains to be seen--but I think this book is a worthwhile read even if it admittedly doesn't offer a solution in a way that is easily accessible, realistic, or even apparent. It's a lot less complicated to revolt against literal machines than it is to wage revolution against ourselves and our own culture. The book offers a first step: it provokes one to question that culture. What comes from that depends on what the reader brings to the conversation.
As the World Burns takes a critical look at the popular notion that we can help our environment steer clear of destruction by taking on a few simple practices (think of the often repeated lists that cajole us to switch to energy efficient light bulbs, take shorter showers and use biofuel). These lists only serve to distract us from the real problem- that we continue to work for and buy from impersonal corporations that are irrevocably harming our planet and people.
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Derrick Jensen is an American author and environmental activist living in Crescent City, California. He has published several books questioning and critiquing contemporary society and its values, including A Language Older Than Words, The Culture of Make Believe, and Endgame. He holds a B.S. in Mineral Engineering Physics from the Colorado School of Mines and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Eas...more
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Apr 28, 2011 01:46am
Apr 28, 2011 10:57am