Since 2003, Alex Steffen's nonprofit online magazine Worldchanging has been a beacon of sustainability, social innovation, and thought-leadership in bettering our planet's future. In 2006, this essential toolkit for conscious modern living was packaged in Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century—a densely informative 600-page synthesis of the iconic site, dubbed "The Whole Earth Catalog for the iPod generation." At the time, sustainability was just a budding meme, which over the past five years evolved into an essential part, and some would argue a bare minimum, for our cultural ethos. Worldchanging is back with Worldchanging, Revised and Updated Edition: A User's Guide for the 21st Century—a timely compendium of the smartest strategies and most exciting new tools for building a better future.

One of the book's most valuable aspects for me, given my deep fascination with and passion for urbanism, is its insightful angle on cities as living organisms capable of catalyzing social change.

"The first Worldchanging book looked at the most creative and high-impact solutions available for solving the planet's most pressing problems. WC2.0 takes the same solutions approach, but raises the bar, asking how we can participate as individuals in creating systemic change." ~ Alex Steffen

From food justice to carbon-neutral homes to alternative transportation, the Worldchanging, Revised and Updated features 160 noteworthy ideas and vital solutions that maybe, just maybe, offer real, tangible hope for a world we've cornered into near-hopeless vulnerability.

This post also appears at Brain Pickings.

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Image: Harry N. Abrams