Remember books? Those pages of printed word bound together and read by ancient mankind way back when there wasn't a world wide interweb? Apparently they're still around! Which brings me to the purpose of this semi-regular column: I'll be showing you what's under the covers of various eco-themed books on shelves everywhere (or soon to be).

These are not reviews, mind you -- I haven't actually read these books. Heavens, no! But I have held them in my hands and read the inside covers and looked at the pretty pictures. Which clearly makes me an expert, people. An expert enough, anyhow, to summarize the contents so that you, dear reader, can choose to read further. In this edition, I'll focus on a handful of books that crossed our desks here at Grist HQ during our Poverty & the Environment series.