Christina Palassio

GreenTOpia: Towards a Sustainable Toronto is the third volume in this locally popular uTOpia series.

GreenTOpia should be read by every politician at the civic, provincial and federal levels. It should be highlighted at the front of every Toronto library and featured as a Toronto Reads book on CBC’s Metro Morning. High school teachers should incorporate parts into their classes. Excerpts of it should be painted in subway stations.

Most of GreenTOpia. the third installment in Coach House's "TOpia" series, is a lot of fun to read. This collection of essays and lists of resources could easily have been pretty boring and ended up being read only by those already convinced they have to act locally while thinking globally.

But the first essay sets the tone.

"PM to Cities: Drop Dead"- that is the headline in the print version of the Toronto Star today, as the Canadian Prime Minister says that the cities are not his problem and can look to the provinces instead. (while he rolls in surpluses and cuts taxes).

Green greenie

By Chris Randle

Like any good environmentalist, GreenTOpia (Coach House, 256 pages, $24.95) abhors decadence.

There's a new book out that you should have a look at.

Toronto The Good

In 2005, uTOpia: Towards a New Toronto (Coach House Press) was an unexpectedly successful book of essays re-imagining Toronto as a city of possibility and invention. The fact that there’s now a sequel, The State of the Arts: Living With Culture in Toronto, is either proof that the notion of Torontopia soldiers on, or proof to outsiders that Torontonians never tire of talking about themselves.