
The Optimistic Environmentalist
Progressing Towards a Greener Future
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $17.19
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Graham Winton
-
By:
-
David R. Boyd
About this listen
A hopeful, inspiring, and honest take on the environment.
Yes, the world faces substantial environmental challenges - climate change, pollution, and extinction. But the surprisingly good news is that we have solutions to these problems. In the past 50 years, a remarkable number of environmental problems have been solved while substantial progress is ongoing on others.
The Optimistic Environmentalist chronicles these remarkable success stories. Endangered species - from bald eagles to gray whales - pulled back from the precipice of extinction. Thousands of new parks, protecting billions of hectares of land and water. The salvation of the ozone layer, vital to life on Earth. The exponential growth of renewable energy powered by wind, water, and sun. The race to be the greenest city in the world. Remarkable strides in cleaning up the air we breathe and the water we drink. The banning of dozens of the world's most toxic chemicals. A circular economy where waste is a thing of the past. Past successes pave the way for even greater achievements in the future.
Providing a powerful antidote to environmental despair, this audiobook inspires optimism, leading listeners to take action and exemplifying how change can happen.
©2015 David R. Boyd (P)2015 Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
-
Apocalypse Never
- Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All
- By: Michael Shellenberger
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Michael Shellenberger has been fighting for a greener planet for decades. He helped save the world’s last unprotected redwoods. He co-created the predecessor to today’s Green New Deal. And he led a successful effort by climate scientists and activists to keep nuclear plants operating, preventing a spike of emissions. But in 2019, as some claimed "billions of people are going to die", contributing to rising anxiety, including among adolescents, Shellenberger decided that he needed to speak out to separate science from fiction.
-
-
Environmentalist with integrity!
- By Wayne on 07-01-20
-
How to Avoid a Climate Disaster
- The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need
- By: Bill Gates
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton, Bill Gates
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bill Gates shares what he's learned in more than a decade of studying climate change and investing in innovations to address the problems, and sets out a vision for how the world can build the tools it needs to get to zero greenhouse gas emissions. Bill Gates explains why he cares so deeply about climate change and what makes him optimistic that the world can avoid the most dire effects of the climate crisis. Gates says, "We can work on a local, national, and global level to build the technologies, businesses, and industries to avoid the worst impacts of climate change."
-
-
Be curious, not furious
- By Axel Merk on 02-20-21
By: Bill Gates
-
How the World Really Works
- The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going
- By: Vaclav Smil
- Narrated by: Stephen Perring
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We have never had so much information at our fingertips and yet most of us don’t know how the world really works. This book explains seven of the most fundamental realities governing our survival and prosperity. From energy and food production, through our material world and its globalization, to risks, our environment and its future, How the World Really Works offers a much-needed reality check—because before we can tackle problems effectively, we must understand the facts.
-
-
Let me save you a credit: progress is hard
- By Dalton on 06-06-22
By: Vaclav Smil
-
False Alarm
- How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet
- By: Bjorn Lomborg
- Narrated by: Jim Seybert
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
False Alarm will convince you that everything you think about climate change is wrong. It points the way toward making the world a vastly better, if slightly warmer, place for us all.
-
-
Stop climate change panic!
- By Wayne on 07-16-20
By: Bjorn Lomborg
-
This Changes Everything
- Capitalism vs. the Climate
- By: Naomi Klein
- Narrated by: Ellen Archer
- Length: 20 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In This Changes Everything Naomi Klein argues that climate change isn’t just another issue to be neatly filed between taxes and health care. It’s an alarm that calls us to fix an economic system that is already failing us in many ways. Klein meticulously builds the case for how massively reducing our greenhouse emissions is our best chance to simultaneously reduce gaping inequalities, re-imagine our broken democracies, and rebuild our gutted local economies.
-
-
Didactic and preachy... and I agree with her
- By plau on 09-25-16
By: Naomi Klein
-
The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels
- By: Alex Epstein
- Narrated by: Alex Epstein
- Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For decades environmentalists have told us that using fossil fuels is a self-destructive addiction that will destroy our planet. Yet by every measure of human well-being, from life expectancy to clean water to climate safety, life has been getting better and better. How can this be? The explanation is that we usually hear only one side of the story. We're taught to think only of the negatives of fossil fuels, their risks and side effects, but not their positives.
-
-
A different point of view
- By Ballofyarn on 01-12-17
By: Alex Epstein
-
Apocalypse Never
- Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All
- By: Michael Shellenberger
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Michael Shellenberger has been fighting for a greener planet for decades. He helped save the world’s last unprotected redwoods. He co-created the predecessor to today’s Green New Deal. And he led a successful effort by climate scientists and activists to keep nuclear plants operating, preventing a spike of emissions. But in 2019, as some claimed "billions of people are going to die", contributing to rising anxiety, including among adolescents, Shellenberger decided that he needed to speak out to separate science from fiction.
-
-
Environmentalist with integrity!
- By Wayne on 07-01-20
-
How to Avoid a Climate Disaster
- The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need
- By: Bill Gates
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton, Bill Gates
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bill Gates shares what he's learned in more than a decade of studying climate change and investing in innovations to address the problems, and sets out a vision for how the world can build the tools it needs to get to zero greenhouse gas emissions. Bill Gates explains why he cares so deeply about climate change and what makes him optimistic that the world can avoid the most dire effects of the climate crisis. Gates says, "We can work on a local, national, and global level to build the technologies, businesses, and industries to avoid the worst impacts of climate change."
-
-
Be curious, not furious
- By Axel Merk on 02-20-21
By: Bill Gates
-
How the World Really Works
- The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going
- By: Vaclav Smil
- Narrated by: Stephen Perring
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We have never had so much information at our fingertips and yet most of us don’t know how the world really works. This book explains seven of the most fundamental realities governing our survival and prosperity. From energy and food production, through our material world and its globalization, to risks, our environment and its future, How the World Really Works offers a much-needed reality check—because before we can tackle problems effectively, we must understand the facts.
-
-
Let me save you a credit: progress is hard
- By Dalton on 06-06-22
By: Vaclav Smil
-
False Alarm
- How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet
- By: Bjorn Lomborg
- Narrated by: Jim Seybert
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
False Alarm will convince you that everything you think about climate change is wrong. It points the way toward making the world a vastly better, if slightly warmer, place for us all.
-
-
Stop climate change panic!
- By Wayne on 07-16-20
By: Bjorn Lomborg
-
This Changes Everything
- Capitalism vs. the Climate
- By: Naomi Klein
- Narrated by: Ellen Archer
- Length: 20 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In This Changes Everything Naomi Klein argues that climate change isn’t just another issue to be neatly filed between taxes and health care. It’s an alarm that calls us to fix an economic system that is already failing us in many ways. Klein meticulously builds the case for how massively reducing our greenhouse emissions is our best chance to simultaneously reduce gaping inequalities, re-imagine our broken democracies, and rebuild our gutted local economies.
-
-
Didactic and preachy... and I agree with her
- By plau on 09-25-16
By: Naomi Klein
-
The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels
- By: Alex Epstein
- Narrated by: Alex Epstein
- Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For decades environmentalists have told us that using fossil fuels is a self-destructive addiction that will destroy our planet. Yet by every measure of human well-being, from life expectancy to clean water to climate safety, life has been getting better and better. How can this be? The explanation is that we usually hear only one side of the story. We're taught to think only of the negatives of fossil fuels, their risks and side effects, but not their positives.
-
-
A different point of view
- By Ballofyarn on 01-12-17
By: Alex Epstein
-
Climate of Hope
- How Cities, Businesses, and Citizens Can Save the Planet
- By: Michael Bloomberg, Carl Pope
- Narrated by: Michael R. Bloomberg - introduction, Charles Pellett, Carl Pope
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former head of the Sierra Club Carl Pope comes a manifesto on how the benefits of taking action on climate change are concrete, immediate, and immense. They explore climate change solutions that will make the world healthier and more prosperous, aiming to begin a new type of conversation on the issue that will spur bolder action by cities, businesses, and citizens—and even, someday, by Washington.
-
-
INCREDIBLE
- By David Cohn on 06-22-17
By: Michael Bloomberg, and others
-
World on the Edge
- How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse
- By: Lester R. Brown
- Narrated by: Alan Robertson
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We are in a race between political and natural tipping points. Can we close coal-fired power plants fast enough to save the Greenland ice sheet and avoid catastrophic sea level rise? Can we raise water productivity fast enough to halt the depletion of aquifers and avoid water-driven food shortages? Can we cope with peak water and peak oil at the same time? These are some of the issues Lester R. Brown skillfully distills in World on the Edge.
-
-
a must read for anyone that cares about the future
- By Cynthia on 03-21-18
By: Lester R. Brown
-
The Story of Stuff
- By: Annie Leonard
- Narrated by: Annie Leonard
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We have a system in crisis, but Annie Leonard shows us that this is not the way things have to be. It's within our power to stop the environmental damage, social injustice, and health hazards caused by polluting production and excessive consumption, and Leonard shows us how. Expansive, galvanizing, and sobering yet optimistic, The Story of Stuff transforms how we think about our lives and our relationship to the planet.
-
-
A wonderful eye opening book everyone should read!
- By Meghan N on 04-24-10
By: Annie Leonard
-
Cradle to Cradle
- Remaking the Way We Make Things
- By: William McDonough, Michael Braungart
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 5 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Reduce, reuse, recycle," urge environmentalists. In other words, do more with less in order to minimize damage. William McDonough and Michael Braungart argue in this provocative book that this approach perpetuates a one-way, "cradle to grave" manufacturing model that dates back to the Industrial Revolution, a model that casts off as much as 90 percent of the materials it uses as waste, much of it toxic. They challenge the notion that human industry must inevitably damage the natural world.
-
-
a step ahead
- By Andy on 01-10-10
By: William McDonough, and others
-
Power Hungry
- The Myths of 'Green' Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future
- By: Robert Bryce
- Narrated by: Ax Norman
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The promise of green jobs and a clean energy future has roused the masses. But as Robert Bryce makes clear in this provocative book, that vision needs a major re-vision. We cannotand will notquit using carbon-based fuels at any time in the near future for a simple reason: they provide the horsepower that we crave. The hard reality is that oil, coal, and natural gas are here to stay.
-
-
Important but Imperfect
- By Michael on 08-13-13
By: Robert Bryce
-
Speed & Scale
- An Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis Now
- By: John Doerr, Ryan Panchadsaram
- Narrated by: John Doerr, Sundar Pichai, Margot Brown, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2006, John Doerr was moved by Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth and a challenge from his teenage daughter: “Dad, your generation created this problem. You better fix it.” Since then, Doerr has searched for solutions to this existential problem - as an investor, an advocate, and a philanthropist. Fifteen years later, despite breakthroughs in batteries, electric vehicles, plant-based proteins, and solar and wind power, global warming continues to get worse. Its impact is all around us: droughts, floods, wildfires, the melting of the polar ice caps.
-
-
Most Important and Worst Audiobook ever!
- By Amazon Customer on 12-17-21
By: John Doerr, and others
-
Regeneration
- Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation
- By: Paul Hawken
- Narrated by: Feodor Chin, Bahni Turpin, Lauren Baldwin, and others
- Length: 18 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Regeneration offers a visionary new approach to climate change, one that weaves justice, climate, biodiversity, equity, and human dignity into a seamless tapestry of action, policy, and transformation that can end the climate crisis in one generation. It is the first book to describe and define the burgeoning regeneration movement spreading rapidly throughout the world.
-
-
More damage than good for the climate crisis
- By Matthew on 06-06-22
By: Paul Hawken
-
The Really Inconvenient Truths
- By: Iain Murray
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Iain Murray's exposé reveals how environmental blowhards actually do more to waste energy, endanger species, and kill people than those they finger, while capitalism, hunting, and old-fashioned property rights have made the planet better. Rather than just myth busting and blame shifting, Murray offers applicable and effective solutions for each catastrophe - something the Left has yet to do.
-
-
Too right wing in his politics.
- By Ricky on 09-30-08
By: Iain Murray
-
A Question of Power
- Electricity and the Wealth of Nations
- By: Robert Bryce
- Narrated by: Robert Bryce
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Global demand for power is doubling every two decades, but electricity remains one of the most difficult forms of energy to supply and do so reliably. Today, some three billion people live in places where per-capita electricity use is less than what's used by an average American refrigerator. How we close the colossal gap between the electricity rich and the electricity poor will determine our success in addressing issues like women's rights, inequality, and climate change.
-
-
Not the complete story
- By John on 08-11-20
By: Robert Bryce
-
Fueling Freedom
- Exposing the Mad War on Energy
- By: Stephen Moore, Kathleen Hartnett White
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Fueling Freedom, energy experts Stephen Moore and Kathleen Hartnett White make an unapologetic case for fossil fuels, turning around progressives' protestations to prove that if fossil fuel energy is supplanted by "green" alternatives for political reasons, humanity will take a giant step backwards and the planet will be less safe, less clean, and less free.
-
-
Really a super book for understanding oil and the green mythology
- By Michael Cook on 01-22-21
By: Stephen Moore, and others
-
Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper
- How Innovation Keeps Proving the Catastrophists Wrong
- By: Robert Bryce
- Narrated by: Steven Menasche
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this provocative and optimistic rebuke to the catastrophists, Robert Bryce shows how innovation and the inexorable human desire to make things Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper is providing consumers with Cheaper and more abundant energy, Faster computing, Lighter vehicles, and myriad other goods. That same desire is fostering unprecedented prosperity, greater liberty, and yes, better environmental protection.
-
-
I thought I was getting a book on the future.
- By Grant on 08-02-14
By: Robert Bryce
-
Seasteading
- How Floating Nations Will Restore the Environment, Enrich the Poor, Cure the Sick, and Liberate Humanity from Politicians
- By: Joe Quirk, Patri Friedman
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Our planet is suffering from serious environmental problems: coastal flooding due to severe storms caused in part by atmospheric pollution, diminishing natural resources such as clean water, and so on. But while these problems plague planet Earth, two-thirds of our globe is ocean. The seas can be home to pioneers, seasteaders, who are willing to homestead the Blue Frontier. Oil platforms and cruise ships already inhabit the waters; now it's time to take the next step to full-fledged ocean civilizations.
-
-
To the sea we will return
- By The Hormans on 03-21-18
By: Joe Quirk, and others
What listeners say about The Optimistic Environmentalist
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jihad H. Al-Sadah
- 04-02-18
Wide and good coverage
Nice book but lacks depth in some of the topics covered. Numbers presented are not always properly scaled.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Giuseppe
- 01-23-17
Uplifting
A good friend of mine recommended this book and she was right, it a great read!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- P. Wellings
- 12-31-17
Great book
Amazing book if it was 5 credits it would still be worth it. Love the reader to (-;.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!