‣Social issues are, and need to be, a central part of environmental and economic sustainability efforts. Using stories of extraordinary communities across North America, Living Green showcases the social side of living green.

The book features communities that explicitly integrate social and human factors into their design and planning, ...

‣No matter how rich life is in youth and middle age, the elder years can bring on increasing isolation and loneliness as social connections lessen, especially if friends and family members move away.

Senior cohousing fills a niche for this demographic-the healthy, educated and proactive adults who want to live in a social and environmentally ...

‣Today's teenagers are standing at the crossroads of environmental history. Global warming will fundamentally change the world as they know it within their lifetime. But how to keep their healthy environmental awareness from becoming environmental anxiety? The secret is to provide them with education and tools for positive action.

Written ...

‣As mayors and city councilors seek solutions to climate change, existing policies and legislation can stand in the way of effective change.

The Carbon Charter is the first book to describe the municipal bylaws required to abate climate change and create sustainable communities. It provides city councilors with a cut-and-paste set ...

‣Riding a bicycle is something you never forget-even if the last time you owned a bike, it had playing cards pinned to the spokes.

People are coming back to bicycling in droves; propelled by rising gas prices, expanding waistlines, or the allure of fancy gear, bicycling for all ages has never been more popular.

The Practical Cyclist ...

‣This resource is ideal for anyone working with young people in grades 9-12, whether in schools or in non-formal educational settings. Richly illustrated, it offers 50 teaching strategies that promote learning about natural systems and foster critical thinking about environmental issues, both local and global. It contains new approaches ...

‣People of all ages and backgrounds are seeking work in career fields that will help save the planet, yet many people are unaware of the variety of green careers available. This unique career guidance book, based on labor market research, covers green jobs representing almost every area of career interest.

The authors' extensive ...

‣Coal fuels about 50 percent of US electricity production and provides a quarter of the country's total energy. China and India's ferocious economic growth is based almost entirely on coal-generated electricity.

Coal currently looks like a solution to many of our fast-growing energy problems. However, while coal advocates are urging ...

‣Once we could fill our grocery carts with cheap and plentiful food, but not anymore. Cheap food has gone the way of cheap oil. Climate change is already reducing crop yields worldwide. The cost of flying in food from far away and shipping it across the country in refrigerated trucks is rapidly becoming unviable. Cars and cows ...

‣Dwindling petroleum supplies and growing environmental concerns are significantly impacting the cost of petro-fuel and its infrastructure. The search for alternative fuel sources has led to ethanol, a gasoline substitute that is already in the marketplace as Gasohol and E-85. But large-scale production of corn-based ethanol is controversial ...

‣What if I could harness this energy? An unusual question for anyone putting in a long stint on a treadmill perhaps, and yet human power is a very old, practical and empowering alternative to fossil fuels. Replacing motors with muscles can be considered a political act-an act of self-sufficiency that gains you independence.

The Human-Powered ...

‣Cities function unintelligently when their parts are disconnected. The integral city meshes or multiplies city intelligences by integrating capacities, functions and locations into a whole system, like a human hive. Everything counts.

An integral city exists as a whole living system within the context of a specific natural environment, ...

‣There is an emerging revolution in wild forest relationships. Wild foresting has evolved from ecoforestry, going far beyond merely having a minimum impact on the world, to sustaining and promoting forest health, and biological and cultural diversity. Wild foresting promotes the responsible use of forests, connects indigenous knowledge ...

‣The Long Descent examines how industrial society is following the same well-worn path into civilization decline, how our cultural narratives blind us to alternatives, and how it is too late for massive programs for top-down change. The only hope may come from individuals taking action.

‣Where would you find your groceries if your supermarket's shelves were suddenly empty? The threat of earthquakes, trucker strikes, power outages or a global market collapse make us vulnerable like never before. With spiralling fuel prices and unstable world economies, individuals and communities are demanding more control over their ...

‣Depletion and Abundance explains how we are living beyond our means with or without a peak oil/climate change crisis and that, either way, we must learn to place our families and local communities at the center of our thinking once again.

‣The benefits of straight vegetable oil (SVO) as an alternate fuel for diesel engines are many. SVO is cheap, carbon-neutral, uses a waste product, and does not depend upon centralized corporate infrastructure.

An experienced designer and researcher in the straight vegetable oil field, author Forest Gregg has worked for Frybrid, the ...

‣The shiny rings of the Olympic Games have grown tarnished over the years as doping, corruption and other scandals rise to the surface. Those scandals are the tip of the iceberg, according to author Christopher Shaw, the lead spokesperson for several anti-Games groups.

Five Ring Circus details the history of how Vancouver won the ...

‣It is now 5 minutes to midnight on the Doomsday Clock, reflecting the fact that we are closer to assuring the obliteration of our species than we have been at any time since the early eighties. We are rapidly approaching a tipping point, where we will either transform our violent, exploitative global system into a peaceful, cooperative ...

‣Powerful social trends towards green living, relocalization and self-sufficiency have fanned the fires of would-be ecopreneurs in North America, driving a shift towards prioritizing purpose over profits, and building community over building market share. A nation of 9 to 5-ers is giving way to a spirited bunch of innovators, searching ...

‣Concerns over climate change and energy depletion are increasing exponentially.

Mainstream solutions still assume a panacea that will cure our climate ills without requiring any serious modification to our way of life.

Plan C explores the risks inherent in trying to continue our energy-intensive lifestyle. Using dirtier fossil fuels ...

‣Grid beam is a modular, reusable building system that is fast, easy, affordable and virtually goof-proof. Ordinary people, with few skills and even fewer tools (all you need is a wrench!) can tackle projects ranging from furniture and shop benches to more ambitious projects like wind turbines, truck racks, small buildings--even ...

‣In an era when incomprehensibly complex issues like Peak Oil and Climate Change dominate headlines, practical solutions at a local level can seem somehow inadequate.

In response, Lyle Estill's Small is Possible introduces us to "hometown security," with this chronicle of a community-powered response to resource depletion in a fickle ...

‣Energy efficient, non-toxic, healthy homes are the hottest trend in the building industry. Homebuilders are constructing green homes in astonishing numbers-nearly 200,000 in the US alone in 2006.

How does a home buyer who wants a green home know what to look for, what questions to ask a builder, which green home rating systems to ...

‣Interest in sustainable, green building practices is greater than ever. Whether concerned about allergies, energy costs, old-growth forests, or durability and long-term value, homeowners and builders are looking for ways to ensure that their homes are healthy, safe, beautiful and efficient.

In these pages are descriptions and manufacturer ...

‣Stoneview is an octagonal cordwood masonry timber-framed guesthouse with a living roof, located in upstate New York, fully constructed and finished for just $6,000.

In response to the enormous interest in this unique little home, author/builder Rob Roy has written Stoneview.

Over 130 clear line drawings and step-by-step images provide ...

‣Recreational boating is a pastime enjoyed by millions. Yet the waters and marine environment that boaters so love are in serious jeopardy from pollution, from resource mismanagement, and from misunderstanding. Boaters can help to change that. Although a relatively small part of the problem of marine environmental degradation, recreational ...

‣Making a Living While Making a Difference is a timely and highly informative guide to a working life built on principled choices and an entrepreneurial attitude. It's "about" greener enterprises and technologies, socially responsible business, innovative nonprofit work, and reinventing government. It's really about putting the ...

‣We know how to prepare our homes for each seasonal change, but do we know how to prepare for climate change? Violent weather events like floods, tornadoes, ice storms and hurricanes only tell part of the story. Climate change is frequently more subtle but its effects on our homes and properties can still be devastating.

Nearly 50 ...

‣Building an Ark: 101 Solutions to Animal Suffering is a first-of-its-kind, inspiring look at practical solutions to the impact humans have on animals and the natural world.

Factory farms, habitat destruction, animal product testing, the abuse and neglect of companion animals, the illegal trade in endangered species, unsustainable ...

‣Lead in lipstick, carcinogens in baby shampoo – the cosmetics industry needs a makeover! Discover what happens when a group of breast cancer activists and environmentalists knock on the doors of the world's largest cosmetics companies to demand safe, non-toxic products.

‣Who says that all possible social and political systems have already been invented? Or that work-or marriage, or environmentalism, or anything else-must be just what they are now?

This book is a conceptual toolbox for imagining and initiating radical social change. Chapters offer specific, focused, and shareable techniques:

• Seeking ...

‣Green building is the fastest-growing trend to hit since the Internet, bringing with it an enormous range of new products, systems and technologies. Green Building A to Z is an informative, technically accurate and highly visual guide to green building, for both decision-makers and interested citizens. It begins with an introduction ...

‣The village green is the focal point of any community; a gathering place where the best ideas take root and the brightest voices are heard.

The New Village Green gathers some of the best ideas and brightest voices of the green community; some famous and familiar, others fresh and unknown. Each tells an absorbing story, and collectively ...

‣What if it were possible to combine energy and water in a way that would contribute to the reversal of global warming and the restoration of the planet? What if it were possible to have a better quality of life, without having to give anything up? What if that plan made such economic sense that governments and large corporations ...

‣Abandoned lots and litter-strewn pathways, or rows of green beans and pockets of wildflowers? Graffiti-marked walls and desolate bus stops, or shady refuges and comfortable seating? What transforms a dingy, inhospitable area into a dynamic gathering place? How do individuals take back their neighborhood?

Neighborhoods decline when ...

‣We all know that money can't buy you love…or happiness, but we have been living our lives as though the accumulation of wealth is the key to our dreams.

Why, in spite of increasing economic prosperity over the past 50 years, are many conditions of well-being in decline and rates of happiness largely unchanged since the 1950s?

Why ...

‣In an era of dwindling resources, water is poised to become the new oil as the entire world now faces the reality of a decreasing supply of clean water. To avert a devastating shortage, we must not only look at alternate water sources for existing structures, we must also plan our new developments differently.

Design for Water is ...

‣Making responsible social and environmental choices has not always been a first priority for many corporations, but recent history has changed all that. Small but mighty NGOs, using 21st Century global communications, are nipping at the heels of corporations caught in unethical and irresponsible practices.

NGO "market campaigns" ...

‣In 1950, only thirty percent of the world's population lived in cities. By 2007, the planet's population has now doubled and today, as many people live in cities as populated the entire planet in 1950. Eighty percent of the planet's greenhouse gases are created by these energy-intensive urban centers. Thus, the key to creating ...