It is easy to get lost in the vast literature on Life Cycle Analysis, but the textbook author has selected this text by academics based in The Netherlands and Sweden as the most comprehensive and accessible guide.

Three chapters by various authors in Part !! of this book review a range of sustainability measuring and assessment tools.

As with Life Cycle Analysis, there are many texts about Cost Benefit Analysis. The text by Boardman et al. is pitched at undergraduate students and is widely used.

This chapter by Louise Crewe shows what can be revealed by conducting research on the component parts of an item of clothing on sale in an English fashion shop.

This rather disturbing book chapter by Kathleen Kern shows how a growing market for rare minerals used in cell phones and other electronic devices helped fuel war and violence in the Congo.

With decades of experience in teaching environmental policy and environmental management at RMIT University, Ian Thomas worked with experienced environmental management practitioner Paul Murfitt to produce this cutting edge textbook. It examines Australian practice in the context of global trends and ideas.

US architect William McDonough teamed up with German chemist and foundation member of the German Greens Michael Braungart to write this highly influential book calling for another ‘industrial revolution’ aimed at closing the circle between production and waste disposal.

Michael Woolcock enjoys the rare distinction of being a social scientist working in the World Bank’s Development Research Group while he also teaches public policy at Harvard University. In this book he argues that projects need to be evaluated in terms of the ‘internal validity’ rather than according to some externally established criteria.

www.footprintnetwork.org

With offices in several countries, the Global Footprint Network promotes the use of footprint calculators as a way of achieving environmental sustainability. It offers advice on the use of personal, city, national and global calculators and provides links to organisations working with footprint calculators in particular countries. Carbon footprint calculators have been added to the earlier ecological footprint calculators.

http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/std/lca/lca.html

The US EPA offers advice and resources for people wanting to work with Life Cycle Analysis. The emphasis here is on environmental impacts of production and disposal rather than both environmental and social impacts.

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ipp/lca.htm

The European Commission of the European Union promotes the use of LCA as the best available framework for assessing potential environmental impacts of production. As with US EPA, the focus is on environmental impacts.

www.alcas.asn.au

This is the website of a non-profit peak body formed in 2001 to help people interested in the use of LCA. Once again, it focuses on environmental impacts rather than both environmental and social.

http://www.cbabuilder.co.uk/

CBA Builder is a free interactive web-based resource for people interested in teaching or using Cost Benefit Analysis.

sourcemap.com

This is a user-friendly sign-up website that enables the user to track the supply chains for a designated product. It is a good learning tool, although it needs to be remembered that the information provided is not rigorously tested for accuracy.

www.free2work.org

This website aims to help consumers avoid products that have been made by forced child labour or modern-day slavery.

http://www.shipfinder.com/

This is a website that enables the user to track the movement of ships anywhere in the world in real time. It has a mapping device that enables the user to look at any part of the world, and you can zoom in to get information about each ship. This helps track the movement of goods and materials around the planet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_aguo7V0Q4

Duration: 6:16

A well-produced introduction to the principles of ecological footprints using animated illustrations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjyrAHzthTo

Duration: 2:67

This is an introduction to ecological footprints featuring Mathis Wackernagel, the originator of the concept and Executive Director of the Global Footprint Network.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imapZr8d1RI

Duration: 4:17

A very well-produced introduction to how Life Cycle Analysis can be used to expand the lifetime of products and maximise recycling. Pitched at companies wanting to operate sustainably with an emphasis on environmental impacts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D55PVhdMA8o

Duration: 6:11

A well-produced introduction to LCA with an emphasis on understanding and mitigating the environmental impacts of production.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGhoInz-VUs

Duration: 3:09

A presentation which uses animation to introduce the use of LCA for designing products with minimal environmental impacts. This is from the same presenter as the Six Minutes Crash Course video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tdKkeNClPE

Duration: 4:25

An excellent, well-produced introduction to Cost Benefit Analysis, moving from financial considerations to social and environmental impacts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jORau0V62c

A well-produced presentation on the rationale for, and key ideas within, the work of McDonough and Braungart on cradle to cradle design.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIrvWVcb4E8

Duration: 3:52

A cleverly animated presentation showing how and why an Austrian company used cradle to cradle principles to redesign the production of paper.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jORau0V62c

Duration: 21:55

A TED talk by one of the co-creators of the concept of cradle to cradle design.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYO3tOqDISE

Duration: 6:32

This popular 2012 video examines the components that go into the making of an apparently simple graphite pencil. This is a very well made video about global supply chains which also looks at the history of a taken-for-granted product.