Despite an uncertain economy, the market for green building is projected to grow and strengthen. But, says green-building pioneer Sim Van der Ryn, "greening" our buildings is not enough. He advocates "empathic design," in which a designer not only works in concert with nature, but with an understand[...]

Gathering his most compelling essays and addresses from the last fifty years in one accessible volume, this book looks at the pioneering ideas that underpin Sim Van der Ryn's ecological design philosophy. It offers a unique decade-by-decade retrospective of the key issues in environmental design, be[...]

A classic is back in print! One of the favorite books of 1970s back-to-the-landers, The Toilet Papers is an informative, inspiring, and irreverent look at how people have dealt with their wastes through the centuries. In a historical survey, Van der Ryn provides the basic facts concerning human wast[...]