The Five-Ton Life

Carbon, America, and the Culture That May Save Us

Susan Subak

• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780803296886
• eBook ISBN: 9781496208095
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Environmental Conservation & Protection
• Index: Biological Sciences

Winner of the 2018 Nautilus Book Award, Silver, for Green Living/Sustainability At nearly twenty tons per person, American carbon dioxide emissions are among the highest in the world. Not every American fits this statistic, however. Across the country there are urban neighborhoods, suburbs, rural areas, and commercial institutions that have drastically lower carbon footprints. These exceptional places, as it turns out, are neither "poor" nor technologically advanced. Their low emissions are due to culture. In The Five-Ton Life, Susan Subak uses previously untapped sources to discover and explore various low-carbon locations. In Washington DC, Chicago suburbs, lower Manhattan, and Amish settlements in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, she examines the built and social environment to discern the characteristics that contribute to lower greenhouse-gas emissions. The most decisive factors that decrease energy use are a commitment to small interiors and social cohesion, although each example exhibits its own dynamics and offers its own lessons for the rest of the country. Bringing a fresh approach to the quandary of American household consumption, Subak's groundbreaking research provides many pathways toward a future that is inspiringand rooted in America's own traditions.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• List of Tables
• Introduction
• 1. Founding Mitigator
• 2. Carbon Dissenters
• 3. Urban Families
• 4. The Greenest Suburb
• 5. College, Commercial Carbon
• 6. Becoming Five Tons
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• About Susan Subak
• Series List