Environomics presents some intriguing concepts at the intersection of economics and environmental science, offering a fresh perspective on how the two fields intersect. While it introduces some thought-provoking ideas, the book tends to vacillate on complex issues and would have benefited from a more linear approach with accompanying references. The writing is accessible, but at times, it feels like it skims the surface rather than diving into the real challenges and nuances of sustainable economics. Overall, it's a decent introduction, but readers looking for more substance may come away wanting more

Environomics is a very readable account of what impacts underpin the simplest things in our existence. The author makes most of her focus the environmental side, especially climate change, pollution and land/sea use. But she also raises the social impacts as well, which is vital if transitions are going to be acceptable in our lives.

We start gently, by waking up and turning on the light. Plenty to analyse there. We start with the whole electricity and renewable energy system. While at times it feels like moving a mountain, it is clear that globally, we are making progress to cleaner systems. And cleaner light bulbs. After a diversion into clothing, we get back to the energy sector with our drive, bike or train to work. We are definitely making progress, but with some cautions…and especially when it comes to batteries. That leads into the battery impact of our phones, computers, laptops, etc., and the problem of rare earth metals, which, if you’ve never heard of them, are a Problem: scarce, geographically sparse, and extremely polluting to extract.

Let’s get back to clothes. This is probably the section where I learned most. The fashion industry needs much more attention, because it’s the one the consumer can really influence. In fact the average clothes buyer is probably the only person who can get the industry to change from its wasteful over-consumption of both natural and man-made fibres, all of which damage the environment.

Environomics goes on to examine palm oil, which is worth buying the book for even without the rest of the information. It also covers construction, shipping, the impact of next-day deliveries, and teases out some misconceptions in the process. And banking…payment systems and bitcoin. It’s pretty hard to think of any stone she has left unturned, although I think I found one… entertainment. How do you allocate the carbon emissions of downloading a film? Maybe that’s why she didn’t go there. Maybe the TV and Film industry does not figure that highly in sectoral emissions.

The good news is: most industries, governments and innovators are making great strides towards reducing their impact on our world. The bad news? Not fast enough, not enough investors, and they didn’t start soon enough. Very little in this book was not in prototype 20 years ago. Some of the solutions currently being developed will probably need 20 years to reach commercial status. Unless something even more urgent pushes them forward, we are sunk in our own mess.

The author does not reference her work here, although does give ‘further reading’ which is a tip of the iceberg (melting, obviously). I think for balance, anyone reading this should finish with the last section of David Attenborough’s ‘witness statement’ in which he cites more initiatives and countries who are playing a different, greener game. It makes economic sense to them.

The thing I love most about this book of non-fiction, is that it is easily digestible. It’s organized, contains minimal complicated verbiage, and the author keeps you hooked.

Nonfiction can be daunting. Economics and climate change can be equally as daunting, but I’m always on the hunt for easy-to-read nonfiction and this one hit the mark.

This book is perfect for seasoned environmentalists, novices, and anyone and everyone that cares, has ever cared, or is starting to care about the state of our planet and how we as humans are connected.

Only 2 sections had me a little bored. The only other “bad” thing was that she didn’t explain or add small definitions that would have helped someone who is just starting out about the climate change world. I’ve been in it for years now and there’s some things I didn’t even know, and a tiny bit more explanation would have been helpful.

Other than that, I think this was a wonderful and insightful read!

"Environomics" is a refreshing and excellently researched exploration of the demand side (rather than the rather more dominantly written about supply side) side of the world's daily economic transactions. Of all the books I've read on sustainability as of late, "Environomics" truly stands a cut above the rest. It is original and wide-ranging exploring amongst other green energy, corporate greenwashing and geopolitics and is refreshingly pragmatic.

It is one of the rare books that actually takes underlying economics into account when trying to understand why the world isn't magically and autonomously transitioning into a more sustainable one: the more you read, the more you come to understand that we don't just need the supply side of the equation to change, we also need somebody to be prepared to pay for the more expensive alternatives. Or change their communal behaviour.

By focussing on a variety of our daily activities like switching on a light, getting dressed, checking our phones or buying a coffee, the author takes us through the countless implicit approvals we provide to supply side business models which have been constructed to satisfy our daily needs at the lowest possible cost. As a society, we need to understand this mechanism. If we persist in our failure to understand why "those evil corporations" keep on pumping oil or providing single use plastics, I fear all environmental protests will be for nought. Until our planet suffers a huge inevitable environmental aneurism (my words, not those of the author).

I can highly recommend this book to anyone interested in sustainable economy. It represents an urgently needed complementary story to all the technological advances which are making it technically feasible to enjoy a sustainable society. This is just half of the story. Now to sort out whether we are either willing to pay for the alternative or we are willing to change our ways.

This book was an eye opener if, like me, you're not really up on climate change, green energy and economics. I watch the news but I don't dive deeper. This book is a perfect way to do that without having your head explode. Dharshini writes in a readable, easy style but there is that journalistic 'push' going on. She wants you to really understand this stuff. It's economics so it won't always be an easy read but I think she does a very good job of explaining everything without needing to 'dumb down' the content. Some companies are going to get very rich for moving ahead of the game and being prepared for inevitable change in the way energy will be created; some countries (Scandinavia in particular) are already well ahead of the curve with renewable energy provision; the UK is kind of mid-table though with a potential change of government ahead, we might improve? An interesting read from a journalist who clearly knows her stuff.

I was going to give this book a single star due to the fact that there is very little in the way of references, but as this is an ARC provided via NetGalley, I'm giving the author/publisher the benefit of the doubt. Although, given the comment around how this is a very fluid field, not sure it is warranted.

I do think I'm being generous as there is an abundance of weasel words, e.g. the Great Pacific Garbage patch supposedly covers 1.6 sq miles. Why not say estimated at ?

I think the way the book is organized is interesting, as if covering an average Westerner's day and discussing the impact of the various activities.

At the risk of banging on about the sources and references, I really do wish that the book had proper sources as some of the claims seem exaggerated and/or not explained properly.

All in All, it's not a bad book but I did get a bit hanged up on the references towards the end, which probably coloured my view and lessened the enjoyment/learning.

An interesting and very timely read. I found it informative, however I would have appreciated source citation and more exploration of corporate responsibility.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

I read an eARC of this book so thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley.

This is an important book and well worth a read. It’s a non-fiction books that explores the intersection of economics and environment.

This book covers a broad range of interesting subjects such as farming, fishing, phones, travel, shopping, energy. It looks at how economics can drive poor and harmful environmental choices whilst also exploring how many opportunities for green investment there are and how great the economic potential is of going green.

I’d heard a lot of the content covered in this book before from different sources because I have a strong interest in this subject and have read about it extensively and pursued education in this area. I’d say this is a really useful introduction to this subject to get an idea of the different areas covered and I would recommend it.

I would have preferred the book to be referenced. Although I have seen a lot of this information validated in other sources, I feel a bit nervous reading statistics and information presented as factual without referencing. The author did provides a list of sources at the end, but I didn’t see specific referencing in the Net Galley edition that I read.

A very informative book, that is different to the nonfiction I normally pick up. It reads a lot like an academic paper and from a professional standpoint, I found it very interesting. The author provides a lot of information about how our day-to-day choices have global impacts on the environment. This would be a good book to put in front of the general public but to make it more accessible to real people and their real life decisions, I think the author could have concluded each chapter by bringing the broader information on environmental implications back down to how impactful our daily decisions are.

This is a good introductory book on the major contributors to global warming. This is not for climate change deniers as it assumes that for a fact.

The book starts with the context around the Paris accord to limit temperature increase to 1.5 degree C, and the recent meet in Abu Dhabi. The balance between ensuring energy certainty, while at the same time limiting the impact of global warming requires a lot of work. While the direction appears right with more consciousness around the topic, pace of change is also critical. Many countries have increased their proportion of clean energy from wind, solar in recent years. The initial investments are still expensive though costs have gone down since a decade back.

There are a number of practices which also add stress - fast fashion for instance exacts a major toll towards greenhouse gas emissions. While cotton uses less carbon footprint than synthetics, it very water intensive, and is depleting the ground water table in countries like India where there are many regions which are water stressed. There are many other areas which need action – addressing dependence of lithium, cobalt & rare earth metal in many areas, curbing waste in the manufacturing, transport, consumer support for conservation & recycling, buying environment friendly products, reducing meat consumption (especially beef), limiting use of plastics & recycling. Plant based food are gaining, but very slowly.

Greenwashing is an issue and it is currently near impossible to verify claims by product manufacturers.

An informative book!

Highly recommend to those who are new to environomics. If you wish to learn what to do more to help the fight against the climate crisis in terms of your purchasing decisions, this book is a good start. For others who have read on this topic before, it is a good collection of thoughts and reminders.

As frightening as it is, this book describes not only the problem areas and the time window we have left (or even don't have left) to deal with the situation, but more importantly, it describes in a timely manner what has already been done or still needs to be implemented from an economic standpoint. Given that the literature on the subject currently oscillates between utter despair and complete denialism, this is refreshing news.

Per quanto spaventoso, questo libro descrive non solo le aree problematiche e la finestra temporale che ci resta (o anche non ci resta) per gestire la situazione, ma soprattutto descrive in maniera puntuale quanto é stato giá fatto o deve essere ancora implementato dal punto di vista economico. Considerato che attualmente la letteratura sul tema oscilla tra la disperazione piú totale e il negazionismo completo, é una piacevole novitá.

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

My thanks to the publisher for the ARC via Netgalley.

This is quite the informative book and it covers a variety of topics from fossil fuels to plastic to smartphones, following the thread of how caring for the environment can or should be intertwined with the economy. I found it very educational, quoted many of the facts as I was learning them and overall a great "breadth" style book on environmentalism.

There are some editing oversights and it does not cite sources, in the version I got. The book reads more like an essay or dissertation, and the author overuses certain pet words or phrases throughout that get repetitive. I would still highly recommend it for the learning value and clear research put into preparing this lens.

I enjoy David's reports on the economy on TV and am of the view she should be given a broader platform and visibility. This book is timely, enlightening and important about the small changes individuals can make to help the environment and climate change. I did feel it was that it was too individual focused and could have had a chapter on corporate responsibility and, in particular, companies that engage in 'green-washing' without any substantive corporate change and how that interfaces with choices at the individual consumer level.