By Chris Turner. Random House Canada, 469 pp, $34.95, hardcover

Chris Turner's The Geography of Hope: A Tour of the World We Need aspires to investigate various sustainability issues with the ambitious goal of finding "the right fragments to assemble into a whole new way of life". Based in Calgary, Turner travels all over the map looking for the ecological innovators who are trying to make our world a more livable place. While investigating such hot-button issues as energy consumption, alternative housing, and the commitment involved in living a greener lifestyle, he takes the reader on a journey that stretches from Colorado to India.

The good news? Turner can write. The author of Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Defined a Generation –a critically acclaimed look at how The Simpsons has influenced pop culture–he manages to avoid the smug tone of the average pop-culture addict. The author's seemingly effortless sense of easygoing sincerity is one of the more admirable things about the book, and thankfully, he never resorts to preaching.

Turner's style is so ingratiating that it hints at more than The Geography of Hope actually delivers. His touching start–where he reflects on the world his infant daughter will inherit–sets us up for a kind of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance for the environmental hipster. And there are sublime stretches where the book rises to just that. Unfortunately, Turner all too often abandons the personal touch to rehash a broad range of familiar material.

The most frustrating aspect of the book is how heavily it relies on secondary sources. If we really need to revisit the work of Buckminster Fuller or why the electric car is doomed, there are plenty of other absorbing places to look. Still, Turner's is such an engagingly pure voice that it's hard to stay cranky. While there's little that's truly original here, The Geography of Hope would make an excellent textbook for a freshman class on sustainability.