Counterculture green:the Whole earth catalog and American environmentalism

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kirk Andrew G., 1964-
Published: University Press of Kansas,
Publisher Address: Lawrence, Kan.
Publication Dates: c2007.
Literature type: Book
Language: English
Series: CultureAmerica
Subjects:
Carrier Form: xiii, 303 p.: ill. ; 24 cm.
ISBN: 9780700615452 (cloth : alk. paper)
0700615458 (cloth : alk. paper)
Index Number: X
CLC: X-097.12
G171.22
G171.29
Call Number: X-097.12/K591
Contents: Includes bibliographical references (p. 267-291) and index.
Introduction: one highly evolved tool box -- Environmental heresies -- Thing-makers, tool freaks, and prototypers -- Bailing wire hippies -- On point -- The final frontier -- Free minds, free markets -- Epilogue: What happened to appropriate technology?
For many, it was more than a publication: it was a way of life. The Whole Earth Catalog billed itself as "Access to Tools," and it grew from a Bay Area blip to a national phenomenon catering to hippies, do-it-yourselfers, and anyone interested in self-sufficiency independent of mainstream America (now known as "living off the grid"). In recovering the history of the Catalog's unique brand of environmentalism, historian Kirk recounts how Stewart Brand and the Point Foundation promoted a philosophy of pragmatic environmentalism that celebrated technological achievement, human ingenuity, and sustainable living. Kirk shows us that Whole Earth was more than a mere counterculture fad. At a time when many of these ideas were seen as heretical to a predominantly wilderness-based movement, it became a critical forum for environmental alternatives and a model for how complicated ecological ideas could be presented in a hopeful and even humorous way.--From publisher description.