Confessions of an Eco-Sinner

June 2, 2008
Pearce’s quest to discover “the hidden world” sustaining Western consumption habits is fulfilled with varying degrees of success in this, his third book. Tracking the routes taken by the items in his home—his coffee, cellphone, computer, green beans, chocolate, socks—from raw ingredient to finished product, the author presents fascinating firsthand investigations, as when he visits a group of fair-trade coffee farmers, follows the trail of his donated shirts to markets in Africa, visits Uzbek communities whose health, infrastructure and environment have been devastated by the cotton industry, and interviews female sweatshop workers who view their factory jobs as empowering. When Pearce strays from these journalistic portraits, however, he is prone to flaccid opining about the greenest fuel sources and simplistic boosting for urban planners designing “small-footprint” cities. The most effective chapters puncture the feel-good myths surrounding fair trade and recycling and introduce unique characters, such as the farmers and middlemen responsible for getting prawns from Bangladesh to a London curry shop. Although a timely effort, Pearce’s diffusion of his reportorial mission with green-pleading mires his refreshing discoveries in moralizing and familiar cant.

August 15, 2008
At first glance, this title appears to be another in the current onslaught of "green" books. However, journalist and author Pearce ("When the Rivers Run Dry") extends his exploration from the ecological to the social and economic implications of our "stuff." By choosing several categories of possessionsfood, clothes, beer cans, and garbageand seeking out the origins or hunting down the resting grounds of each, Pearce sets off on a journey crisscrossing the globe. While obviously creating a carbon footprint of his own, Pearce tells the stories of the heads of each industry and the laborers whose families are supported by them. His calculations of the carbon footprint of, for example, each green bean grown in Kenya, are an interesting and somewhat unique view of the impact produce grown abroad and air-freighted to high-income economies has on the planet. Through this book, readers will gain a holistic sense of global markets, and some actions (e.g., buying green beans from Kenya instead of beans grown locally in a hothouse) emerge as surprisingly virtuous when the true global impact is revealed. Recommended for public and academic libraries.Jaime Hammond, Naugatuck Valley Community Coll., Waterbury, CT

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2008
After addressing climate change in With Speed and Violence (2007), London-based journalist Pearce joins the growing ranks of the curious and intrepid who are determined to dispel the fog of globalization and find out exactly where our food and belongings come from, where our trash goes, and how this complicated cycle impacts the planet. Vitally interested in the lives of the people who extract, process, and cultivate the materials, plants, and animals that clothe, shelter, and feed us, Pearce begins his far-ranging inquiry by tracing his gold wedding band to an immense South African gold mine. Unsettling conversations with coffee and cocoa farmers, an up-close view of the fish crisis, and expos's of the environmental havoc wrought by the surging palm-oil industry and the high human and natural costs of cotton and aluminumeverywhere his favorite foods, clothes, and gadgets lead him, Pearce is confronted by imbalance and waste, tyranny and greed. And yet the sheer ingenuity of people infuses him with optimism. An uneven yet engaging and informative report on the consequences of overconsumption.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)