The Blogging Bookworm

Autophobia

2010-06-21T11:59:00.000-07:00

I finally finished reading Autophobia over the weekend. It wasn't a hard book to get through - the writing is very engaging, but the book gave me so much to think about that, long periods of deep thinking were needed on a regular basis. I read this book over the course of nearly 8 months - so when I state that I spent a lot of time thinking about the 200+ pages, I really did spend a lot of time thinking about what I was reading.

If it isn't evident from reading this blog, I have a love-hate relationship with the automobile with my feelings leaning more on the hate side. I personally love driving and I especially love driving large pickup trucks. I find driving to be very enjoyable, relaxing and a luxurious activity. My general attitude toward the automobile is often the result of feelings I cannot control despite my attempts to do so - my animal instinct, if you will. My feelings stem from my inability to accept reality as it exists: my refusal to acknowledge that the automobile has provided many people with many benefits, provided much comfort and security.

My inability to accept this reality and the knowledge that many people want to drive stems from my knowledge that the automobile is still a very new invention, but one that has changed history in numerous ways.

Brian Ladd's Autophobia, has finally allowed me to accept reality. I've finally gotten to a place where I don't have to hate the automobile, where I can acknowledge the power, the convenience, the troubles and its influence it has had on the world I'm currently living in. The book has allowed me to gain a deeper understanding into human beings and our complex relationship with the world around us.

In other words, I no longer feel smug when I read about people complain about increasing gas prices - I have managed to develop genuine empathy. Yes, I'm the ass who used to gloat when people suffered.

For the longest time, I think a lot of my hate stemmed from the fact that I had a visceral belief that those who owned and operated an automobile were happier than me. I was blinded to the fact that the automobile is both a blessing and a curse to the owner. I allowed myself to engage in thoughts that aren't very nice. And those thoughts made me feel terrible about myself as a human being.

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Unless you're living under a rock, you're probably aware of the oil spill that has been ongoing for a while now. You've probably seen the photos depicting birds and animals drenched in oil, about the destruction of Grand Isle and all the other things being written about and lamented over.

For the first few days, I avoided reading or watching anything about the oil spill. Then I did, and temporarily spiraled into depression and then snapped out of it just as quickly.

The reason I snapped out of that pit was because I began to see my own implicit role in the disaster. I am equally to blame in the mess. My life and lifestyle and my very existence contributed to the disaster in untold ways. While I do try to be mindful in how I live, I have done things that would not be possible in a world without (still) cheap oil. Actions that would not be possible if companies all over the world were not drilling into the depths of the earth. Blaming some third party justifies and elevates my own consumption patterns without acknowledging my implicit role in this oily mess.

Putting the blame on external entities allowed me to engage in a perverse combination of self-hate and smugness. The mess happened because of our collective desires and wants and inability to let go of all the comforts, conveniences and cheap goods that make our lives more comfortable and convenient. Autophobia allowed me to understand and accept my role in how everything around me operates.

So when I state that the Autophobia has affected profound changes in the way I view the world, it is not an exaggeration. I feel that as long I'm living in a world where my daily world is surrounded by the automobile, I will be much more at peace acknowledging their power and presence and ubiquity, rather than not.

And so I'll end this post with Autophobia's conclusion,

It does make sense - if we understand the automobile to be a fundamentally benign (or desirable) tool. It makes sense if we assume that the earth and the market and the cities will somehow accommodate hundreds of millions of additional cars in China and India. It makes sense if we believe that our increasingly car-centered lives are indeed the lives we want. It makes sense if we can agree that the dark side of automobility is a price worth paying for its blessings. But we have never agreed about these matters, and we never will.

I originally posted this review, on my bike blog.

Crude Awakening

2010-05-14T20:51:00.000-07:00

I'm spinning off the printed path to post a trailer for an excellent documentary that I just watched called Crude Awakening. I ordered it before the Gulf Spill and it seems especially relevant now. What can we do to get off oil, and on to non-polluting and clean energy options? I think the first step is to truly recognize the problem.

This documentary explores the history of oil as well as the known and associated problems with ongoing use. Politics, pollution, wars, and economics are all explored in a straightforward documentary style.

Sewing Green

2010-03-10T20:10:00.000-08:00

Sewing Green: 25 Projects Made with Repurposed and Organic Materials by Betz White caught my eye on the hot new bookshelf at my local Library and I quickly snatched it up. It holds a variety of projects that the sewing novice may be able to approach and use. At the least it gets the creative juices flowing for how one may be able to repurpose existing resources.

The introductory chapter has information on how one can start to think with a repurposed mindset as well as a few tips of keeping vs. cluttering. Author Betz White also gives handy tips on types of materials, and intersperses the book with green tips of an interesting nature. She includes a wealth of links for more information and resources, and introduced me to the concept of fabric swaps and swap-o-ramas.

My favorite project in the book is the Take it Easy Lounge Pants, and one that I may actually try. They look comfy and light, perfect for some old sheets that I have been hanging out in my closet. I actually seem to back burner buying things like nightclothes and jammies for myself, so this seems like a nice project to try that would be guilt free. The wool shrunken socks look like a great way to make slippers off the thrift store sweater that we all encounter at the end of season.

I'll admit that I might not try the Capri Sun auto shade, but some of the other projects like Reusable Sandwich Wraps seem right up my alley. Plenty of pillows, a leaf themed scarf, draft blockers and napkin rings are just a few of the other projects included in the book.

This is a book that I would recommend for some concrete projects, good for the crafty seasoned or a nice jumping off point for the Greenie seeking ideas. 143 pages, indexed, lots of additional resources and ideas, beautiful photography and patterns.

Book Review: Practically Green

2010-02-21T15:15:00.000-08:00

Practically Green: Your Guide to Ecofriendly Decision-Making by Micaela Preston is a colorful, easy to read, green guide you will use over and over. It has great pictures and DIY projects anyone can do.

I couldn't put this book down. Each chapter gives you information on buying greener products and making your own. This book is great no matter what shade of green you are. Micaela is not preachy and understands you can't do it all. She is totally honest about what she does in her own life and let's you know she isn't perfect either.

My favorite chapter is the one on cleaners, she not only gives you cut out guides for what to look for in cleaners but how to make your own. I can't wait to try her "recipe" for Lavender Orange Room Spray.

Practically Green is a must have for anyone trying to be greener. It's amazing all the information that is packed in this book. Be sure to check it out as well as Micaela Preston's blog, Mindful Momma.

Here ya go FTC: I was not paid for this review. I was given sample products for the review but these are my honest views.

Book Review: Smart Mama's Green Guide

2010-01-30T12:08:00.000-08:00

Smart Mama's Green Guide: Simple Steps to Reduce Your Child's Toxic Chemical Exposure by Jennifer Taggart is a valuable resource for parents and those just wanting to reduce the toxins in your life. While the topics are often scary, like learning there may be lead in your kids' toys, Jennifer does a good job of not getting you too worried and giving you options to fix the problems. Jennifer knows we can't do it all so she helps to let you know what is most important and cheaper ways to fix problems.

You will learn what dishes are safe, ways to find out if your house has lead paint, which organic foods are most important and, of course, you will learn all about BPA and how to avoid it.

With learning that costume jewelry may now have cadmium (which is replacing lead) the chapter "Busy Baby, Busy Mom: The Playroom and Baby Gear" could be very helpful. She gives simple steps to reduce exposure to toxic jewelry. One tip that is highly important is to "check the recall list." This is a good reminder for everyone right now.

I just finished the book a week ago and have already found myself checking it before buying some items like the cookware I just got. Well, for most books borrowing is best, but this one may be one you want to think about owning as it is a wonderful resource book. I know I will be going back to it often.

Here ya go FTC: I was not paid for this review. I was given sample products for the review but these are my honest views.

Book Review: Shop Class as Soulcraft

2009-12-28T03:47:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work by Matthew Crawford. A friend had lent me the book and the title alone had excited me.

The book talks about a lot of topics that we environmentally-conscious bloggers have been writing, reading and talking about these past few years. The books talks about the decline of shopclass in high schools and the move to create "knowledge workers". It discusses the distance between where something consumable originates from and where it finally winds up. It also discusses the disappearing handmade goods industry that is now slowly making a comeback, and the lack of pride in work. In other words, the topics in the book was something that would really appeal to all readers of this blog.

The book is also a narrative of the author's own life to date. The author, Matthew Crawford, obtained a PhD from the University of Chicago and then moved to Washington D.C. to head a conservative think tank where one of his duties was denying the existence of global warming (if I understood him right). Besides ethical dilemmas with his job, Crawford also missed working with his hands on motorcycles - a task that given him much satisfaction in the past.

He eventually quits his job at the think tank and moves into other cubicle jobs for very little pay. These jobs continue to bring him dissatisfaction until he decides to go back to working on motorcycles, and thus working with his hands to create a tangible result for which he can feel honest about the living he is earning for himself.

Crawford has an essay on The New Atlantis that covers the message of Shop Class as Soulcraft well.

When the ladies here at the Blogging Bookworm initially invited me to post to this blog, I was excited to post a review of Shop Class as Soulcraft. I thought I would enjoy it and that I would highly recommend it to everyone.

Unfortunately, I thought that the book was very poorly written. I enjoy books that are well written and impart information in an easy to digest manner. This book was written by a former academic containing loads of academic jargon that people hardly use outside of a university funded research paper. The entire message in the book could easily be boiled down to a single page. As such, the book was a real struggle to finish. I wouldn't recommend the book, but I do highly recommend the message. To conclude, I'll quote an excerpt that state the message well:

To live wakefully is to live in full awareness of this, our human situation. To live well is to reconcile ourselves to it, and try to realize whatever excellence we can. For this some economic conditions are more favorable than others. When the conception of work is removed from the scene of its execution, we are divided against one another, and each against himself. For thinking is inherently bound up with doing, and it is in rational activity together with others that we find our peculiar satisfaction.

Rated: 2 out of 5 (I'd give it a 4 for message, but the writing was not to my liking. If you are an academic, the writing will be more to your liking.)

Recommended: To anyone interested in reading about one person's perspective on making and fixing things with one's own hands.

Another plug for The Way We Eat, Why Our Food Choices Matter

2009-12-15T07:03:00.000-08:00

Heather recently reviewed this book here, and based on her recommendation, I requested it from the library. In the meantime, I read Eating Animals, and reviewed it here. Both books are on the same topic, and I gave Eating Animals 4 out of 5 stars, mostly because I felt it wasn't well organized and was very hard to refer back to. I've since read The Way We Eat, Why Our Food Choices Matter, and wanted to say I second Heather's assessment of 5 out of 5 stars. If you read just one book on food, I say this is the one to read. As Heather says, it does go deeper than Pollan, and is just a fantastic book. Disturbing, but fantastic. I got really inspired to clean up my eating after reading this. I won't say much more, since Heather's review is great - go read it, then request this book from the library. The only thing I'll close with is noting that at the very end of this book, the authors say something I've never read before in an ethical eating book. They say that if we make our choices about eating ethically (according to our own standards so different people can make different choices) then we shouldn't feel that it has to be a 100%, all or nothing deal. If we want it to be, great, but many a vegan or vegetarian has been derailed by one moment of weakness. They're saying - if you have an occasional moment, recognize it for what it is (or even create a structure to allow for planned moments) and then go back to your choices. Better to be a 99% vegan or vegetarian, or be committed to sustainably produced and harvested animal products, and recognize that once in a while you eat outside that framework, than to do it 100% for a while and then totally fall off the wagon. I felt that was important since I personally do slip up, and then I feel like a failure and the next thing you know I've bought bacon at Costco for my daughter! I need to remember that what I do most of the time is what matters.

Book Review: Eating Animals

2009-12-09T08:28:00.001-08:00

I just finished reading Eating Animals, by Joanathan Safran Foer. This is a thick, long book that is not always easy to read, yet I'm really glad I did. Foer starts the book by talking about eating animals of all type (ie why we think it's ok to eat cows but not dogs) and how different cultures are very different in this respect. He talks about the words we use to describe how we eat animals - organic, natural, CAFO, etc. and what they may or may not mean (which is often different from what consumers think they mean). He describes factory farming in great detail, which is unsettling even if you already know how awful it is. He also describes the situation in slaughterhouses, which also terrible.

There are separate sections on how chickens, pigs and cows are treated. The section on chickens was particularly disturbing, since in addition to the inhumane treatment the birds receive, you see how fecal contamination gets everywhere and how it is impossible to buy "clean" chicken if it came from a factory farm. There is a lot of detail on the different kinds of flus that humans can contract, and how the way we process animals can contribute to the spread of those flus. For each type of animal, if there is a farm that does it better, he also talks about that, and discusses why some aspects might be better but some aren't very good at all.

He concludes with a big section on the choice to eat animals or not. He acknowledges that there are many points of view on this, and there is a lot of detail on both sides. He also talks a lot about how it is very difficult to eat meat, but only meat that was not grown on a factory farm or processed in a slaughterhouse that does not adhere to the standards he'd like to see. Reading this book renewed my wish to be vegetarian. One thing he did not go into in a lot of detail is the treatment of animals that are raised for their non-meat products (eggs, milk, cheese, etc.) From other reading I have done, I'm pretty sure that the animals in factory farms producing eggs and dairy are going through the same awful stuff. Ideally, I'd like to be vegan except for the rare instances when I can get products from small farms that are treating the animals humanely, feeding them food which makes them more nutritious, and processing them humanely and cleanly. Getting food like that is very difficult though, so I think I'll aim to eat an absolute minimum of animal products.

Whether you eat meat or not, or other animal products, this book would be a very thought provoking read. It is at times discouraging, since it's hard to see how much of this is going to change, but it's a start to know about it. I'd give this book 4 out of 5 stars. At times, it felt disorganized, and hard to look something up if you wanted to go back to it. I would have liked the sections to be more clearly marked. This book is best read from start to finish, as it's difficult to look up a particular topic.

Big-Box Swindle: The true cost of mega-retailers and the fight for America's independent businesses

2009-12-07T06:08:00.000-08:00

Following on the tails of my latest read, The Way We Eat: Why our Food Choices Matter, Stacy Mitchell's Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent Businesses (2006), was not an intentional companion to Singer and Mason's book on food ethics, but certainly a fated one. Both published in 2006, where The Way We Eat was a primer on all that encompasses the ethics of eating, Big-Box Swindle tackles the hard-core realities of what chain stores do to our local communities and economies... and it isn't pretty.

Here are some highlights. Big-Box (aka chain) stores:

increase resource demand on local government (fire, police, utility, roads) – studies show that small, local businesses make far less demands on community infrastructure, infrastructure for which its citizens have to pay
decrease a sense of community - citizens of towns without big box stores are more active in their communities and local governments
decrease job opportunities – contrary to popular opinion, after initial jobs are gained, small businesses are forced to close their doors and in the end more jobs are lost than gained because of the efficiency of big-box stores (they can do more with less people - not to mention less skilled, lower paid people)
decrease the amount of revenue changing hands in a community - at least 3 times the amount of money stays in a community when you shop at a locally-owned store; more if you shop direct from a farmer or eat at a local restaurant
decrease product quality and push jobs overseas – the incessant demand for lower prices forces suppliers to lower their standards and move jobs overseas or else lose a significant source of income when the big-box refuses to sell from that particular supplier (keep in mind Walmart now accounts for 10% of all retail sales. That's serious power!)
increase urban sprawl leading to increased car use and pollution – big-box stores operate on the fringe of communities, unlike small local businesses which tend to be central to the community, located near homes and restaurants.
increase the tax burden on local citizens – big-box stores use their size to manipulate local governments into tax breaks which means local businesses and citizens must make up for lost revenue
decrease the quality of living – big-box jobs are lower in pay and benefits than jobs at local businesses
increase the threat to the environment – every big box stores comes with its own massive parking lot, one of the biggest sources of highly-concentrated water-way pollutants; big-boxes are famous for clear-cutting land and destroying natural habitats
decrease individuality by creating cookie-cutter communities
decreases personalized customer service – salespeople were once experts on their products and knew their customers likes and dislikes, taking the time to get to know their customers, helping best meet individual customer needs. Big-box associates are reprimanded for spending too much time with customer. Their job is to move product as quickly as possible.

Disgusted? Even knowing some of these things, I felt despondent at all the havoc these chain-stores leave in their wake, the manipulation they calculate behind doors at board meetings. And we're not just talking about Wal-Mart here (though they are the easy fall-guy), but Target, Costco, Barnes and Noble, Kroger, Bed Bath and Beyond, Home Depot, Old Navy, Best Buy, PetSmart - you get the idea - are all culprits.

Interesting to note, was that today's growing anti-chain movement is not the first. In the 20's and 30's politicians actually ran on platforms of preventing big-box expansion.

Opponents argued that chains threatened democracy by undermining local economic independence and community self-determination. As they drove out the local merchant – a “loyal and energetic type of citizen” – the chains replaced him with a manager, a “transient,” who was discouraged from independent thought and community involvement, and who served as “merely a representative of a non-resident group of stockholders who pay him according to his ability to line their pockets with silver.

Wow! Sounds familiar, doesn't it? The bottom line is we've reached that time again, where we as citizens (not consumers) need to take a stand on the future of our communities. Thankfully, the book concludes on a positive note, citing examples of successful anti-chain campaigns. There is hope. But like anything else, the first step is awareness, and that awareness is sorely lacking in the U.S. today.

Big-Box Swindle is a powerful ally in the buy-local movement and a must read for those wanting to live a life of mindful consumption. Don't set foot in another chain-store until you read this book. You (and your community) will be glad you did.

Rated: 4 out of 5 (I'd give it a 5, but it was so full of data, it was at times hard to concentrate - you have to take your time on this one)

Recommended: to anyone who wants to live a more mindful, citizen-driven (not consumer-driven) life

Garbage Warrior

2009-11-29T21:51:00.000-08:00

I'm going to veer off the traditional book path and review a movie that I recently ordered for my Library. I first read about the concept of Earthships from Chile's blog, Chile Chews, and do want to make sure I give credit where credit is due! As part of my initiative to bring Green books and movies into my Library I've kept an eye out for materials on the concepts and work of eco-friendly housing as it is an increasingly important topic.

Over a year later I encountered reviews of a movie describing the work of renegade eco-architect Michael Reynolds in the wonderful move Garbage Warrior. A brief trailer of the movie is featured above.

Two definitions are important for an understanding of the film's contents:

Earthship n. 1. passive solar home made of natural and recycled materials 2. thermal mass construction for temperature stabilization. 3. renewable energy & integrated water systems make the Earthship an off-grid home with little to no utility bills.

Biotecture n. 1. the profession of designing buildings and environments with consideration for their sustainability. 2. A combination of biology and architecture.

Now both of those definitions sound rather easy to understand in my opinion. We are searching to find ways to develop sustainable housing that use less energy, and perhaps may use readily available ingredients along the way. Unfortunately part of this film documents Reynolds incredible struggle to be allowed to experiment, research and develop concepts that may be crucial to architectural revolutions needed in our coming years with shrinking resources and climate destabilization.

Want to make things much more difficult? Throw in politicians and lobbyists that may have hidden agendas of which we are not aware that decidedly swing our ability to move forward in the opposite directions. Though Reynolds is obviously more the builder than spokesperson to politicians (creative thinker meets a few Type As) he perseveres and manages to make some headway through a restrictive maze of regulations.

There were a few key points that came out during the film that really made me stop and ponder how much we, as regular people, must stand up and support research revolutions. Creating homes that do not contribute to the "grid" of economy, challenging building and construction unions that want maintain the status quo (if you build homes out of recycled ingredients you may be challenging the bricklayers union) and creating a push to allow innovation is incredibly important.

Are safety and building regulations important? Absolutely yes. However part of the struggle is the film is even the right to research and develop beyond our current norms. Obviously we have to start changing how we build both for now and for our future, and without experimentation we will have no success.

Warrior documents the building crew as they take their radical ideas into areas of natural disaster to create self-sufficient housing out of ingredients that are readily available. One home built is made from recovered plastics and features an external lip that will catch and drain water into an underground storage area - also serving as a cooling mechanism for the household above.

The movie is entertaining, nicely paced and ties into our topics of sustainability. The documentary was eventually picked up and supported by the Sundance channel, and you may most likely find it in your local Library. If not, just ask!

I won't give away the ending, but I was left cheering because big change does come in the face of our everyday heros.

The Way We Eat: Why our Food Choices Matter

2009-11-27T18:51:00.000-08:00

There's just no beating around the bush with this one. The Way We Eat: Why our Food Choices Matter (2006) by Peter Singer an Jim Mason is an intensive look at the ethics of eating, something that seems almost lost in our modern Western culture, but that is gaining ground once again.

Singer and Mason explore every last nook and cranny of our food system from factory farming to the organics and local food movements, to vegetarian and vegan lifestyles, even into dumpster diving and obesity - all far deeper than even Pollan dares to tread. Because contrary to what we'd love to believe about food, it's not just about what we do to our own bodies. Our food choices affect the rest of the world around us, far beyond what we could ever imagine.

The authors have done extensive research, but the best part is that they come at each ethical question as a non-believer, asking tough questions; but more importantly, demanding that you take the information, analyze it, and decide for yourself where your ethical lines are drawn.

When we buy food we are taking part in a vast global industry. Americans spend more than a trillion dollars on food every year. That's more than double what they spend on motor vehicles, and also more than double what the government spends on defense. We are all consumers of food, and we are all affected by some degree by the pollution that the food industry produces. In addition to its impact on over six billion humans, the food industry also directly affects more than fifty billion nonhuman land animals a year. For many of them it controls almost every aspect of their lives... Through the chemicals and hormones it puts into the rivers and seas and the spread of diseases like avian influenza, agriculture indirectly affects all living creatures. All of this happens because of our choices about what we eat. We can make better choices. [emphasis mine]

Whether you're a meat eater, a devoted organic foodie, a locavore, a vegetarian/vegan, or simply a conscientious consumer, this book will challenge what you believe about food. Put plainly, this is not an easy book to read. There were times I felt sick about the treatment of animals and farm workers; there were times I felt defensive, particularly of the local food movement; and at other times, to be honest, I felt the need to reform some of my views on ethical food choices.

Again, it's not a quick and easy read, but it's a must read for anyone looking to live a more mindful life.

Rated: 5 out of 5 stars
Recommended: Do you eat? You need to read this book!

And the winner is...

2009-11-20T13:18:00.000-08:00

I put all your names in a bucket and had my 4-year-old pick one. The winner is... Bev! Please email me at ThePurpleElephantBook@gmail.com with your address and I'll put your book in the mail!

Just in time for Christmas (Update!)

2009-11-16T21:29:00.000-08:00

Hi fellow bookworms! I'm doing my first ever book giveaway by giving away a free copy of my new book, The Purple Elephant! The book would make a great gift for the gradeschooler in your life.

To find out more, check out The Purple Elephant Blog or leave a comment below to enter. I'll announce the winner on December 1. (Update! Silly me -- I thought Dec 1 was next week! I'll hold the drawing this Friday, Nov 20. Sorry!)

Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating

2009-11-06T01:28:00.000-08:00

When a friend mentioned that Mark Bittman's new book had made it to our local library stacks, I immediately added my name to the queue. Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating is an easy-to-read, well-written guide to eating for the benefit of our health AND the environment; far from mutually exclusive, he argues.

Bittman's writing style reminds me of what would happen if food advocates Michael Pollan and Marion Nestle got together to write a book. Food Matters presents eating in a way we can all understand: more plants, fewer animals, and as little highly processed food as possible, combined with advice on navigating your market in spite of confusing health claims on food packaging. Sounds easy, so what's the catch?

Absolutely nothing! Bittman explains this "diet" is meant to be long-term; one that relies on common sense, not confusing (and often conflicting) scientific studies or national food guide pyramids designed to make "Big Food" industries fat and happy. Best of all, Bittman gives you his own story, only to tell you to do what works for you. There's no one, single way about it.

The key is to exercise what he calls "Sane Eating." Eat lots of plant-based foods - LOTS. But most importantly, enjoy food! Don't eliminate anything entirely. For instance, have some cake - just limit it to rare occasions or have a much smaller piece.

This is not about deprevation or ironclad rules, but about being sensible.

In the end, not only is this better for our health, but it's better for our pocketbooks and the environment too! In other words, eat as though "food matters" - because we have an amazing amount of power as individuals over our health and even global warming. In fact, studies show our food choices make more of an impact than our driving choices.

[E]ach time you make a decision to support an alternative to the industrial meat complex, you're rejecting that type of agriculture in favor of something far better for the planet, and for you.

After explaining the whys and hows of "eating as though food matters," Bittman offers us Part II, which includes tips on saving time in the kitchen, tips on eating out, a list of items to keep stocked in your pantry, examples of dynamic meal plans, and recipes that range from simple dishes and snacks to more elaborate (though easy to fix) meals.

And to further whet your appetite, here are a couple of the recipes I'll be trying:

Nut-Wich: Lightly mash something delicious, smear it on toasted bread, then sprinkle chopped nuts on it. Some excellent combos: banana, honey, and almonds; avocado and peanuts... (page 198)

Vegetable Spread: Baba ghanoush, the classic middle-eastern eggplant dip, is the model for this dish. However, I've turned the procedure into a master recipe that applies to nearly any vegetable... (page 222)

Convinced? Check out Mark Bittman's Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating today and discover the ease of eating for two: you and Mother Earth.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Recommended: for newbies to the sustainable food realm or those wanting to be re-inspired

Texas Wildscapes: Gardening for Wildlife

2009-11-03T05:31:00.000-08:00

Quite unexpectedly, I had the opportunity to enjoy Kelly Conrad Bender's Texas Wildscapes: Gardening for Wildlife (Texas A&M University Press, 2009). Bender, an urban wildlife biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has definitely done her homework, for what began as a series of pamphlets has become an extensive guide into transforming your property into a wildlife habitat.

Don't have 1000 or even 100 acres? It doesn't matter, a series of "wildscapes" throughout a neighborhood can still create a sanctuary for an amazing variety of plant and animal life. Similar to other contemporary authors like Heather Flores (Food Not Lawns), Bender challenges us to rethink sprawling suburbia and gives us all the tools to do it!

Of course, first thing's first - Texas actually has 10 ecological regions, each vast and varied as to rainfall, temperature, and plant/wildlife. Bender describes each one, helping you determine in which you live and what plant and animal life naturally thrives there.

Next, the sky's the limit. Bender takes you through step-by-step instructions on designing your own wildscape, from mapping your property to prepping your soil to building a backyard pond, and of course includes the most important features of your wildscape - food, water, and cover.

The book concludes it's final chapters describing the native wildlife of Texas (including birds, reptiles, mammals, amphibians, insects, and spiders), how to attract them to your wildscape, and how to keep unwanted pests out. And if you still can't get enough, attached to the inside back cover of the book is a DVD that includes more extensive brochures on Texas wildlife.

To be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect when I first laid eyes on Texas Wildscapes. It wouldn't have been something I would have picked up on my own. But I was quickly entranced by this alternative to the standard lawn, the opportunity to lighten our ecological footprint by truly sharing our living space with the nature suburbia seems so intent on pushing out. Not to mention, I could immediately think of quite a few friends and family that would love to get their hands on a copy of this book. And hey, the holidays are coming, so check it out!

Rated: 5 out of 5 stars

Recommended: to the naturalist or environmentalist (or both) interested in rethinking lawn space

NOTE: In compliance with FTC regulation, I disclose that I received this book free of charge from the publisher as a review copy. However, this review is my own evaluation of the material, with no influence by the publisher or author.

Monday Roundup

2009-11-02T02:24:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Halloween! Life was crazy at our house as we witnessed more than 700 kids trick-or-treating as well as enjoyed the evening with good food and friends.

Despite the craziness of the season (and it's only going to get crazier, isn't it?), I have a couple great reviews for you this week, one of which I believe should be on the "must-read" list for those new to the world of sustainable food consumption.

What books have you read that you consider "must-reads" for newbies to sustainable food?

Appetite for Profit

2009-11-01T19:41:00.000-08:00

Appetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines our Health and How to Fight Back by Michelle Simon is a book that explores social, economic, political and health related topics of the United States food industry. Published in 2006 it exposes many of the issues of Big Food that we've seen in the other likes of Big Pharma or Big Tobacco in that there is an element of government involvement that runs counterproductive to the health and sustainability of our planet and citizenry.

In 2006 Simon writes that the processed food industry is a $500-billion-a-year money motor that has a great deal more cogs in the wheel then we realize. Specific examples include the MyPyramid nutritional guidelines that are heavily influenced by corporations, nutritional information manipulated and distributed by the industry itself (think nutritional discussion on a cereal box) and nutriwashing processed foods so that consumers think that they may be healthy.

Of particular interest to me was the chapter on attempts to regulate junk food marketing to children. Topics such as the "nag factor" for children, the extend of commercial free speech under First Amendment law and how parents can fight the tide were points of key discussion. In 2005 specific large giant food industries formed the Alliance for American Advertising in an effort to protect their right to market specifically to children. The absolute free speech right to market to children is a topic that has many layers - do companies have the right to nutriwash, nicktritional, and use captive audiences as in children in schools? Spongebob Pop-Tart or Spiderman Macaroni anyone?

Simon's book is a bit harsh, abrasive in facts, and clear political call to action that we are responding to in ever increasing numbers in 2009. If you've been interested in topics of food in relation to our health and sustainability, Appetite is a clear and easy to approach start to learn about the topics.

Wednesday Roundup

2009-10-28T18:40:00.000-07:00

It seems as if I need to follow suit with another "Wednesday Roundup" for comments and suggestions as another Wormer did last week. I'm a bit behind with birthdays, fall and the upcoming sugar attack Saturday known as Halloween. We are also out enjoying the last bit of warm weather where we can roam, explore, and do things like (as pictured above) lay on our backs in the grass and imagine what may be in the clouds. Is it a bird? A laughing donkey?

Do you have any good titles or reviews to suggest for this week? Any hot reads to give us guidance and nurture our own curiosity? What is in your cloud of suggestions. Leave some comment love if you have suggestions or thoughts.

Tomorrow and Friday I will be doing a little smatter of reviews for books I've been skimming to see if I can make something out of my clouds of titles swirling in my head.

Wednesday Roundup

2009-10-21T09:38:00.001-07:00

Here in Oregon the trees are turning, the pumpkins are ripening and the mornings are getting awfully dark. It's a great time to curl up with a cup of something hot and a good book.

Sadly, I've been so busy that I haven't had time to pick up from the library any of the books I've placed on hold! They have all most certainly been returned to the shelves or passed on to the next reader in line. Life for us is going to get crazier before it gets better. We've sold our house (again) and will very soon be packing to move. We still haven't found our new place, so in between we'll probably have to live somewhere else. With our 4-year-old. Who loves to get into other people's stuff. But other than that little stress, life is good and I'm going to try a new recipe tonight with the butternut squash we got in the CSA box.

What about you? Read any good books lately? Also, if you're a new reader to this blog, please drop us a comment and we'll add you to the list on the sidebar.

Righteous Porkchop

2009-10-16T23:09:00.001-07:00

The first time I heard anyone talk about industrial pig factories it was Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. What he described was so unfathomable I reasoned it must not be true or he was exaggerating. Or something. The speech was likely made at the same time the author of Righteous Porkchop, Nicolette Hahn Niman, worked for Kennedy at Waterkeeper Alliance as a staff attorney and head of a national campaign to combat pig factories.

Maybe I haven't been paying attention between the time of that speech half a dozen years ago and two weeks ago when I picked up Righteous Porkchop. I thought the pork industry had cleaned up its, please excuse me, cleaned up its shit for all I heard about it.

They haven't.

Righteous Pork may change that. NHN spends the first half of the book describing her work with the pig factories and the people and communities who worked alongside her. Which is why I didn't want to put the book down. It's not all pretty reading but the people and communities affected by the factories are.

In some ways the story is an unfolding drama. I found myself more than once, okay, a lot, routing for the local communities but NHN also shows the corner the factory owners have gotten themselves into and I couldn't help but route for them too; that they could find a way out. No one is having a good time.

There's a little bit of spying; quite a few bad politicians. There's a guy hired by the pork industry to tail NHN to community meetings. Eventually someone does have a good time and there's romance too.

The later part of the book visits industrial chicken and fish, factory dairies and beef. Did you know that it's a widespread practice to feed factory hens red dye to make the yolks of their eggs yellow? I had no idea. I also learned the correct terminology for the animals on a dairy. They are not all cows.

There's a lot to learn from Righteous Porkchop. It's a smart book with history.

My only criticism is Niman Ranch beef comes across too precious in Niman's telling. In one example she praises a retailer for carrying Niman beef, overlooking the foreign imports in their produce department. That would have been fine but she goes on to knock the produce department of another retailer that doesn't carry Niman beef.

And I loved this book. It's an important read revealing the truth that corporate meat producers don't want us to know. It's to their benefit to keep us ignorant. Righteous Porkchop's changes that though, one knowledgeable page at a time.

Rated: Four and a half stars.
Recommended: For everyone; vegetarian and meat eaters alike.

Monday Round Up

2009-10-12T20:39:00.000-07:00

We weren't exactly lost, but we also didn't know where we were when we came across Florence Street in Sebastopol. Each yard has a sculpture made from discarded metal, the Organic Farmer being only one of many. It is seriously the happiest street I've ever been on.

None of which has a thing to do with books, or reading books, or reviewing books but diversions are sometimes good. I finished Righteous Porkchop - Finding a Life and Good Food Beyond Factory Farms last night. It was a good one; not for the thin skinned however. The realities of factory farming definitely got under my skin and into my dreams too. And I'd read it again in a second. I didn't want to put it down.

First I'm going to read Tracy Kidder's new book I picked up from the library, Strength In What Remains. I loved his last book, Mountains Beyond Mountains, so much I may be setting myself up for disappointment though.

What's up in the world of diversions and books at your house? Any new ones or old ones you want to share? Let us know.

And if you find yourself in Sebastopol, California, don't miss Florence Street. It's happy.

Diet for a Small Planet

2009-10-09T01:23:00.000-07:00

I first became aware of Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappé when it was referenced in Samuel Fromartz's Organic Inc.: Natural Foods and How they Grow. It turns out, Diet for a Small Planet is an almost 40 year-old look at the connection between world hunger and how we eat; and, more importantly, what we can do about it. It has also, I found out, been updated in a 20th Anniversary Edition, which is the one I picked up at our local library.

Lappé begins by walking us through her personal journey into third world countries as she sought to get to the bottom of world hunger. She finds that it is not, as many think, a shortage of food, but rather the imbalance of power between people and a wealthy few (whether government or corporation). A trend, she notes, that she sees more and more in the United States as only a few corporations monopolize the entire food system.

[W]e can see where this blind production imperative has taken us - away from values that Americans have always associated with democracy, and toward a "landed aristocracy"; away from dispersed control over land, and toward a highly concentrated pattern of control; away from a system rewarding hard work and good management, and toward one rewarding size and wealth alone. As I suggested earlier, ours is becoming the kind of farm economy that I have see at the root of so much injustice and misery in the third world."

The book can then be divided into three themes, the problems with food currently gracing our supermarket shelves, what we can do about it, and a near 150 pages of recipes to inspire change in your own diet.

Problems with our food infrastructure and diet

First thing's first. We can't change our food habits if we don't know what's wrong. Interestingly enough, much of what Lappé discusses are food infrastructure pitfalls in 1971 is still true today. First, she delves extensively into how the cheap cost of meat and processed foods mask the true cost of goods (ground water depletion, soil erosion, government subsidies, etc) and how grains are fed to animals instead of a hungry population (so that it can be sold for more money to wealthier populations). And second, that there have been dangerous changes to the US Diet that make it unhealthy for our bodies, the environment, and the world. Check this out...

Protein from animals instead of plants
More fat
Too much sugar
Too much salt
Too little fiber
Too much alcohol
More additives, antibiotic residues, and pesticides
Too many calories

Wait, just sec. Yep, originally written in 1971. Any of this sounding familiar?

What we can do about it

But as is so often the case, the question really comes down to, what can I do about it? And here's what I loved most about this book: Lappé believes in the power of the individual to change the world.

[H]ow can we take responsibility for the future unless we can make choices now that take us, personally, off the destructive path that has been set for us by our forebears.

We don't have to be anyone special, she tell us. We just need to use the talents we have to make changes in our lives and in our communities. Change is happening, she says, "we don't have to start the train moving. It is moving! Our struggle is to figure out how to board that train, bringing on board all the creative energy we can muster."

If you are reading this blog, chances are you are already on this train. The trick, though, is that to continue our journey, we must be ever vigilant, learning each and every step of the way. She reinforces this as she advocates not a vegetarian diet (which is what I would have expected), but rather one of mindful awareness.

[F]reedom is not the capacity to do whatever we please; freedom is the capacity to make intelligent choices. And that is what this book is all about - gaining the knowledge we need to make choices based upon awareness of the consequences of those choices.

May you read and be inspired.

Recommended: to those interested in world food infrastructures as well as how our diets affect our bodies and the world around us

Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Organic Inc: Natural Foods and How They Grew

2009-10-08T11:02:00.000-07:00

Having spent the summer reading books that have fueled my private meditation sessions, I decided a nice eco-read was in order for the next review. And, really, how can you go wrong with a title like Organic Inc.?

Samuel Fromartz's Organic Inc: Natural Foods and How They Grew (Harcourt Books, 2006) is a look into the history, and in fact evolution, of organics in the United States. Why? Fromartz, a dedicated Whole Foods shopper and buyer of organics was fascinated by the movement and curious as to its roots. A business writer by trade, Fromartz travelled the country meeting with industry leaders, historians, and farmers to discover the true roots of the organic movement.

What he discovered is that although organics began with growers, dedicated to the nourishment of body and Earth, the movement quickly became a big-business sensation where large companies like Archer Daniels Midland, Coco-Cola, ConAgra, General Mills, Kraft and others own the bulk of the organic market.

For the path that agrarian idealists had taken in the 1970s - to farm in concert with nature and sell organic food outside the dominant food system - became compromised by its success. Organic food had become too popular to remain in a backwoods niche, morphing into yet another food industry profit center.

The result has pitted industry vs. small farmer in the creation of government regulation. Purists want organics to be focused on fresh, whole foods, but industry needs processed food to maximize profits. The battle continues today with standards continuously under attack. Can heavily processed foods truly be called organic or does that defy the intention of the organic movement?

In the meantime, organic regulations change seemingly to whim - at times allowing any number of synthetic ingredients, wavering over the definition of "access to pasture" (for the meat and dairy industries), and are compromised when companies are repeatedly caught fraudulently packing conventional produce in organic packaging. What's a consumer to believe? How are we to make educated choices?

As for the book itself, it was an interesting read, though I almost gave up in Chapter 4, a 40 page section dedicated to Spring Mix. Maybe it was me, but I had a hard time staying focused. The faithful reader's perseverance will pay off however, as Fromartz lays out the politics of organics in the last half of the book, leaving it up to us, the reader, to decide: What should organic mean?

Recommended: to those interested in the history and politics of the organics movement
Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Monday Roundup

2009-10-05T01:44:00.000-07:00

Fall is in the air and I have a good book in hand. Does it really get any better than that?

As the weather continues to cool off here in Central Texas, I'm finding my favorite times of the day are sitting on the front porch with a book, waving at the neighbors as they pass. It's a slower paced life than the usual American household, but it's one I love.

Where is your favorite place to read? Any good books capturing your interest this October?

The Solution is You

2009-10-02T14:03:00.000-07:00

Laurie David is a widely known activist promoting citizen awareness and involvement as we cope with climate destabilization prompted by global warming. For quick read on the subject readers will enjoy The Solution is You from Speaker’s Corner Books. This is a short title good for a rapid introduction to the science and activism surrounding global warming in a format that I would say most suitable for teens, older adolescents or those that just want a lickety split read.

The Solution doesn’t devour you with verbiage and facts, but gives a rapid overview of the topic as well as a slicing view of many of the well known naysayers. She cuts the right wing capitalism saviors, pseudo journalists (Jon Stossel anyone?) and even former President Bush no slack in exposing how they have portrayed, naysayed and skewed actual science in order to promote a non-environmentalist agenda. I liked that she was quite funny about it too. Riiight.

I think one of the most valuable components of the book is the recommended reading, websites, DVD selections and environmental or activist group listing. This selection led me to a rich list of further selections if I want a meatier read that might give me more facts, figures, and statistics. Her sidebars have very nice snippets of information, commentary and of course the celebrity quote or two, and jazzy chapter titles that will motivate readers such as "The Civil Rights Movement of Our Time."

All in all a quick easy read for a very light green reader. This book doesn’t really dive in deeply to explore how to make change, but does provide a catalyst nudge to get readers headed in the green direction.

Rated a 3 our of 5 for light green readers.

Monday Roundup: Welcome Fall!

2009-09-28T17:52:00.000-07:00

Right about now I start looking for signs of change in the winds, leaves and natural elements. Fall seems to come quickly here in the North/Midwest, and blusters in with quick winds and playful colors in the leaves. This weekend we took several nature walks to collect items for our home nature table and look for signs that change is upon us.

Right now I'm reading several titles that will help promote positive change in our lives. Stay tuned for a review or two this week as I've found books of interest as fall brings about fresh rounds of newly published books. Ah, we lovers of books like fall for the fresh releases - - and new opportunities to explore "leaves" of all types.

What are you reading this week? Anything you would care to share with other Wormers? Are the winds of change blowing through your house?

Winner of Mom's Guide to Growing Family Green

2009-09-26T20:29:00.000-07:00

And the winner is . . .

Abbie of Farmers' Daughter. Abbie, shoot me an email at greenbeandreams(AT)gmail(DOT)com so I can get your address. Thanks everyone for entering the drawing.

Review & GIVEAWAY: The Mom's Guide to Growing Your Family Green

2009-09-24T00:01:00.000-07:00

Several months ago, I received an email from Terra Wellington, an author, wondering if I wanted to read and review her book, The Mom's Guide to Growing Your Family Green: Saving the Earth Begins at Home.

I quickly accepted because I was low on books and this one sounded up my alley. But summer came and with it camping trips and lazy days by the community pool and a crazy harvest of tomatoes and I promptly forgot about Ms. Wellington and her book, until last night.

The Mom's Guide is about as thorough a book as I've read on how to live more lightly. Ms. Wellington covers it all and tells it like it is. When I first "went green", no one wanted to tell you that you should stop buying - except maybe Annie Leonard of The Story of Stuff. Instead, it was all talk about green consuming, throwing out the old and replacing it with bamboo or organic. Well, Ms. Wellington doesn't hold back. Buy less, she advises, or buy second hand.

I really enjoyed the garden section. It not only covers greening your lawn, growing your own produce and other "green yard" standards. There's a lot of talk about getting your kids outdoors and getting their hands dirty, which warms any green mom's heart. Moreover, there's some nice tips about inviting wildlife into your yard.

Some of the sections, I felt were very "beginner green". They covered things I had done in my own home right when I first started trying to live more lightly. In addition, I've got a bone to pick with Ms. Wellington over the fact that she listed Target as one of the top four resources for reusables (e.g., reusable bags). Ikea was in the list too. Really!! Target. Certainly she could have found a more environmentally friendly company than Target. Last time I was there, the cashier looked at me as if I had four eyes when I said that I had my own bag.

All in all, though, The Mom's Guide is a useful and thorough book, highly recommended for moms looking to begin their green journey. I rate it 4 out of 5 stars.

If you are interested in winning my (signed) copy of this book, please leave your name in the comments. Winners will be announced on Saturday, September 26.

Monday Roundup

2009-09-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday, fellow bookworms! I hope everyone's life is less crazy than mine at the moment, although we did sell our house last Friday and so I can check that item off of my to-do list. I haven't had time for much reading, lately, but I did start The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It's not particularly green, at least the part I read, but it's well done. The book is a first novel for author Mary Ann Shaffer, which impresses me since my first novel has sold maybe 30 copies. :)

Anyway, The Guernsey etc. is a story entirely told through letters from one character to another. If it wasn't so well written, a reader could become hopelessly lost,. I'm keeping oodles of details straight in my brain right now and I didn't have enough space left to keep track of the characters, but that is not an indictment on the book. It actually makes a lot of sense and I'll read the rest of it some time when I'm more relaxed. Can't give it a rating since I've not finished the book, but it seems to be very good. Anyone else read it and want to comment?

Knowing I'm swamped right now, Green Bean generously offered to post a review later this week. Look for it soon and drop us a line if you've anything to share!

No Impact Man - The Movie

2009-09-20T11:16:00.001-07:00

It's been a long time since I've cried at a movie. But that's exactly what I did last night watching the new documentary, No Impact Man. Not crying really but weeping, appreciation and laughing tears. I fell in love with the whole family it's about; Colin, Michelle and Isabella.

While I was aware from news bites that there was a guy in NY that had given up everything (I never considered what he was gaining) I didn't read his blog or follow. Then Beth at Fake Plastic Fish had an interview post with the guy, Colin, which had me take notice. After that the Green Phone Booth posted a review of his book. I was interested.

I went to the movie with a friend who has never carried a canvas bag; not unlike Colin's wife, Michelle. While I learned new low impact tips from him I was his choir in the audience. More importantly, Michelle related to the audience that had yet to hear the siren's green call. Her distaste for worms, choice words for bike riders; her melt down at giving up caffeine. She spoke from the beauticians chair getting her hair colored and from her air conditioned office at Business Week sucking on ice. And then she cooked her first dinner. We were all changed.

On the way out of the theater my friend asked, "Do you think the growers would refill the plastic shells I buy berries in if I return them to the store?"

I tried not to cry again.

The big ahhh factor is their daughter, Isabella. She was a mimicking sprite; as happy in the dark as she was in the garden.

Admittedly I was biased toward the documentary from the beginning as Colin shopped for local food with flour sack towels and cloth produce bags. He spoke all my favorite things about sourcing food from near by. But he didn't overload our plates with food. He moved on to transportation, household cleaning products, cosmetics; the source of our power. He polished himself up for politics, volunteering, for talking to audiences. And while people were watching him, he was listening to the people doing the watching. Which is where he earned my final respect. He didn't flinch at the truth of criticism but neither did he give up in the face of it.

I'll likely read the book, but the movie was instant gratification, a night out; it was entertainment and inspiration. I give it a five out of five stars and recommend it to any audience. It's a love story, a comedy, drama and adventure. And strange enough to the way most of us live to nearly be considered sci fi.

I'd love to know how the movie impacts you if you have a chance to see it ( here's the schedule). And take a friend. They'll thank you.

Monday Roundup

2009-09-14T20:34:00.000-07:00

My hairdresser said, Mercury is in retrograde. Communications may be skewed." I'm sure that explains the reason I can't make it all the way through a book lately.

I started Blue Gold, The Battle Against Corporate Theft of the World's Water. Very interesting. Depressing. I lost all hope for future civilizations. For some reason I never considered all the water we'll ever on the planet is already here. I thought God renewed it every few years. Or something. It's embarrassing. I returned the book to the library.

Next I checked out Eugenia Bone's book, Well Preserved, Recipes and Techniques for Putting Up Small Batches of Seasonal Food. Nice pictures. The recipes were mostly not food I would eat though. Fresh asparagus and squash blossoms are great; but canned? I did however make two of her recipes from the newspaper; brandied peaches (I used rum) and poached pears. Not my usual fare but they were easy to make. And good. The asparagus are probably good too. I returned the book the next day.

Two weeks later I'm 36 pages into Cheap, The High Cost of Discount Culture. So far it's about the history of retail. I'm sticking with it. I read a mean spirited review of it in an LA newspaper that stunned me. The writer justified the destruction that went along with cheap, claimed it as our American right to pay less. I lost all hope for future civilizations. Again.

My lapses in hope are short lived however. The fact that authors devote their time to study, research and lifting the veil on the myths that surround us is cause for hope. Regardless of how the planets are aligned.

Have you read anything hopeful? Helpful? Despairing? Let us know.

Growing Good Things to Eat in Texas

2009-09-11T01:49:00.000-07:00

Growing Good Things to Eat in Texas (Texas A&M University Press, 2009) is more than a stunning pictorial of the vast and varied farmlands of Texas. It's an opportunity to experience farming the way nature intended. Author Pamela Walker brings readers along for the ride as she travels the great state of Texas, profiling 10 organic farms in their efforts to live and work in step with nature rather than in spite of it as has become typical of modern commercial farming.

These 10 farms, whose products range from fruits and vegetables, to shrimp and meat, and finally to dairy, are merely examples of the extensive efforts being done around the state to farm sustainably. More importantly, they are proof that not only is organic farming better for man and earth, it's also profitable.

Walker, will the help of photographer Linda Walsh, takes you inside the operations of each location where readers meet the family, discover what first attracted them to organic farming (certified or not), and experience the triumphs and challenges of growing organically in Texas.

But like reading Joel Salatin, popular sustainable farming author and owner of Polyface Farms in Virginia, these 10 entrepreneurs are far from the exceptions to the rule. They are meant to be a beacon of hope that sustainable farming is alive and well; that it is meeting the demand of a growing community of mindful consumers; and that real people like you and me are making a difference today, right now.

Whether or not you call Texas your home, Growing Good Things to Eat in Texas is a must read. Both farmer and consumer will find the future of farming within its pages. It is this future towards which each and every one of us must strive, supporting sustainable farming one forkful at a time.

The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map to True Riches

2009-09-09T01:47:00.000-07:00

I first heard about The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map to True Riches: A Practical (and fun) Guide to enjoying Life More by Spending Less, by Jeff Yeager, when it was recommended by fellow blogger, Beany. Like Beany, I was super impressed with the fact that Yeager completed his book tour via bicycle. I mean, seriously? This was definitely a book I needed to read.

As I read through the book, I noticed the theme was wonderfully familiar: Voluntary Simplicity. That's right! Although with Yeager's sense of humor and relaxed manner, he makes being a "cheapskate" (aka living frugally) the cool thing to do - which it is, it's just hard to convince the rest of the consumers of the world. But Yeager shows us just how easy it is... kinda like riding a bicycle.

How about some excerpts?

What I Really Believe: Living on less is a good thing to do. It's the only financial advice that will work for almost everyone. It's about quality of life you cannot buy, a sense of satisfaction you cannot fake, and an appreciation for others that gives life value. It's also about helping save the planet and sharing with those in need. Living on less can be funny, but it's not a joke.

This book is about two things: getting more for less and, even more important, understanding that less is often more. It's about the fact that you probably already have everything you could ever really need or want, if only you'll slow down long enough on the Road to Riches to think about it.

Although I just loved this book (I chuckled my way through most of it), I have one caution. Yeager's books is strictly about being frugal and I believe frugal doesn't always mean it's the right thing to do. For instance, he talks about picking things up at Walmart because it's so inexpensive and warns people that farmers' markets aren't as cheap as they used to be. Even so, sometimes cheap is just cheap. Sometimes cheap detracts from our communities, closes local businesses, and can damage the environment.

So, for those of you taking your very first baby steps into a life of Voluntary Simplicity, this is definitely the book to get you started. But for those of you a little further along in your adventure, it's important to keep in mind that cheap is not always the answer.

Recommended: to anyone looking to simplify life, live more frugally, and laugh while doing it

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Monday Roundup

2009-09-07T01:40:00.000-07:00

Summer has drawn to a close and a beautiful fall awaits. For some of us that means admiring the fall colors and for others, we're just happy to lose those 100 degree temps (or the constant threat of heat stroke). Either way, it's a new season with new fresh local foods and some exciting new reads - don't forget No Impact Man's book just came out...

I enjoyed a couple wonderful books this past month to share with you this week. But what about you? Any good books to share?

Book Review: Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything

2009-09-01T04:00:00.000-07:00

When I posted yesterday that I didn't have a review for the week, SusanB graciously offered one. I'm definitely going to request this from the library. Thanks, Susan, so much, for offering your review! Stop by The Blogging Bookworm any time.

I didn’t plan on reading Daniel Goleman’s Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything but the title caught my eye. Goleman has had bestselling books about emotional intelligence and social intelligence. I haven’t read any of them. And this book is a mixed bag and probably a repackaging of a lot of other people’s material. Plus, being an ex-academic, I’m kind of a snob about footnotes and bibliographies, and his is the most basic of supporting references to odd facts, statistics and quotes that he uses as illustrations.

Goleman postulates another nontraditional but necessary intelligence for the future of the human race, one based on the interrelationship of environment, biological impacts, and human (labor and social) impacts of what we buy or consume. The tool that he advocates for developing this intelligence is Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and “radical transparency.”

The first third of the book is a bit of a snooze, even though buried within are the swarm rules and other thoughts about hidden assumptions and how we avoid knowing what we don’t know. I love his “swarm rules” for affecting a more fully efficient market: Know Your Impact; Favor Reductions; Share What You Know. If you are substituting glass jars for plastic containers, you will find his use of the LCA for glass jars as an example eye opening. But he also cites examples familiar to anyone reading green blogs for a year and writes in this portion with a style that had me mentally editing his writing for wordiness and clarity.

The latter two-thirds of the book is a quick and interesting read in a less pedantic style about ways to implement radical transparency, about types of information collecting for various products, and how information can affect decisions at the purchase level and how those decisions can change how institutions do things. As current examples of this process in its infancy, he discusses the GoodGuide, the SkinDeep website, and LEED certification. This part of the book seems particularly well-suited to anyone working in a business that sells or manufactures or harvests physical goods. I used to do work in calculating the environmental impacts of utilities so personally I’m a little skeptical about whether any all-encompassing attempt to categorize and rate impacts is feasible at the consumer level. And Goleman acknowledges that the affluent are those most in the position to actually be able to make decisions using this information. Nonetheless, the illustrations of what industrial giants and information startups are doing is thought-provoking.

So why read, let alone review this book? It has one great strength. As a whole, it contains the best argument I have read as to why individual actions make a difference and how consumer actions aggregate.

Three stars, or maybe two and a half. Recommended if you have any concerns about whether individual actions matter, if you are looking for a more eloquent way to shoot down that question when your neighborhood embroiler (okay, I just like that word) poses it while you are discussing why you are taking some green action, or if you are a product line manager. I recommend the swarm rules to all. Light green to mid green; get it from your library.

Monday Roundup

2009-08-31T06:12:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,
Welcome to the last week of summer. For us, school starts Wednesday, for many, it starts next week. I know in the Midwest (and maybe other places) it's already in full swing, but the cooler temperatures we've been having definitely make it feel like the end of summer. Perfect weather to relax with a good book. What have you been reading lately? I have to confess, I have not read too many environmental books this summer. I read a lot for my book groups, and I was on vacation a lot (the busy, crazy kind of vacation that didn't leave time for more than magazines) and since I've been back the only two books I've read are one Green Bean just reviewed, A Nation of Farmers, which you can find here which I absolutely loved and it made me feel like expanding my garden and starting to bake bread again! The other one was a book about organizing and decluttering that I can't find anywhere on the blog, even though I know I saw it there and I left a comment that I requested it! And now I can't even remember the exact name of it - I tell you - it's hard getting older!!! But in any case, I really enjoyed it and my takeaway tip was to use square containers instead of round for maximizing storage, so I recycled all my Trader Joe coffee containers that I had saved for grains and legumes because they were pretty and free, and used canning jars instead, which are basically square with rounded edges. Presto - I could fit twice as much on one shelf! So if this tidbit rings a bell with you and you know what book I'm talking about - please leave a comment and I'll look up the review and link to it!

I don't think I'm going to be posting a review later in the week - it's a bit crazy here with two kids starting school and although I have books on request at the library - none look like they're going to be in on time to read them and do a review. So if there is anyone out there who wants to do a guest review - please leave me a comment. If not, enjoy this week, peruse the book list, and request a few for yourself from the library.

Happy Reading!

Monday Roundup

2009-08-17T07:56:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday, everyone. I've spent the past couple weeks camping in Montana and then returned home to a whirl of activity while we get our house ready to sell. Whew! What a change of pace!

While at Glacier National Park, I started reading Farm City. I was really enjoying it and was going to renew it from the library when I got home, but it turns out that someone else requested it. It wasn't going to get read any time soon with major projects and contractors buzzing around like bees, so I returned it. I guess I'll have to find out what happens when she gets the rabbits when my turn comes up again.

So anyway, no review this week. I'm swamped. And I'm supposed to be on vacation! How about you? If you've read a good book or written a review, please drop in a comment!

A Nation of Farmers

2009-08-15T00:01:00.000-07:00

Before I began blogging, I lurked at other people's blogs. I roamed the green blogosphere and soaked up everything I could on Climate Change, mass extinctions, Peak Oil, and such. One of my favorite blogs to hang out was at Sharon Astyk's Casaubon's Book.

At that time, Sharon had not yet become a published author. Then, she was just a prolific blogger. Very prolific. Every other day or so, she wrote a long tome about Peak Oil, living on a farm, low energy living and all other kinds of topics that made me think but even more made my stomach hurt. And, while I thought Sharon was probably right when she intimated that "this is the end of the world as we know it", I got tired of walking around with a burgeoning ulcer and a overheated heartbeat.

I quit reading Casaubon's Book (though I do take a peek from time to time). She's still writing those wonderfully long and thoughtful posts that will make you lose sleep . . . or plant a vegetable garden that can adapt to climate change or can something or learn a new skill like knitting or sewing. Any way, I moved on to other bloggers and began writing my own blog. I planted a Victory Garden in my front yard. I flexed my cooking muscles. I started knitting again. I trimmed my waste line. And I didn't question where some motivation might have come from.

Sharon has published two books since I abandoned Casaubon's Book. I reviewed the first, Depletion and Abundance, here earlier this year. It was vintage Sharon. Easy to read. Prolific. A little "end of the world" for me. Felt like a compilation of her blog posts rather than new material.

I hesitated to pick up her second book, A Nation of Farmers, from the library last month. I sort of figured that I could just stop into Casaubon's Book for my Sharon fix.

I'm glad I ignored my first instinct.

A Nation of Farmers is far from the heavy rhetoric and instructional root cellaring of Sharon of old. Instead of focusing on how to grow food on several acres in upstate New York, this book brings food growing - and even more importantly food cooking - to all of us. Even me on my oh so tiny lot in the urban Bay Area. Sharon and her co-author, Aaron Newton detail why it is so important for this country, this planet, to have a million new farmers and two million new cooks. Where we, as a nation, went wrong and how far off we really are. How we can grow and cook our own in urban, suburban and country settings. How we start over.

The book even comes complete with fantastic, frugal, low energy and high nutrition recipes from various bloggers including our very own Chile!

The book was realistic, easy to read and, considering the subject matter, relatively optimistic. Moreover, it was inspiring. I'm not sure anyone could finish this book and not go outside an plant a garden or into the kitchen and cook a meal from scratch. It instills meaning and pride in much of what we already do and motivation to do more. Note: I am no longer a Victory Gardener. I'm a full fledged farmer . . . and quite possibly a chef.

I recommend A Nation of Farmers to all shades of green. It's not too heavy for those of us on the lighter side but still plenty informative for those forest green types. I rate it 4 out of 5. Read it and then go grow something.

Novella Carpenter/Farm City Audio Interview

2009-08-12T21:26:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted to do this. To post an audio link of an author of a book I love. The link isn't a review, which is what we mainly do here, but there are so many ways in addition to a review to enter a book, a story or to gain new information. And I loved this book so I'm going to do it. Here's the link.

Last Friday Novella Carpenter, the author of Farm City, The Education of an Urban Farmer, was interviewed on KQED, The Forum. Listening to her was as fun as reading the book. I laughed, I learned, I clapped for her while sitting alone in my office.

I hope you do to.

If you've heard a good author interview lately let me know and I'll put a live link to it at the bottom of this post.

Monday Roundup

2009-08-10T00:03:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've looked at the Bookworm list of reviews. There's a million of them. Really. Check it out.

The next review will be the one millionth one. Is it you?

It won't be me. I've only five page into Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop The Corporate Theft of the Worlds' Water, which Theresa at Pondering the Myriad Things reviewed here last year. Already I consider water wildly more precious than before.

The sailor at my house is reading A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World - cod, which means I'm getting a daily outline of it. And happily so. Did you know that the guy who first marketed frozen food was named Birdseye? And back in the day it wasn't unusual to hook a cod the size of a man. The ocean was a different place than today. I may read cod for myself when he's done.

What are you reading at your house? Anything good? Bad? Anything new?

Whatever you're reading I hope you're enjoying the time spent doing so.

Zen Heart: Living with Mindfulness and Compassion

2009-08-07T01:54:00.000-07:00

I had originally planned on reviewing Zen Heart: Living with Mindfulness and Compassion (Ezra Bayda) for July, but from the moment I started reading, I realized I'd be spending quite a bit of time nestled between the covers of this insightful read.

After completing the book once, I took my time the second time through allowing myself to meditate on each chapter. Bayda engages and challenges us to look deep within and find our practice not only in formal meditation, but in each and every moment of each and every day. Most notable, for me anyway, was the continual insistence that we must also reform our way of thinking about life events we would normally label "bad" - Asking ourselves, "Can I welcome this as my path?" to heated disagreements, health problems, failure, etc; turning them into instruments of learning and personal growth.

So this first question, "Can I welcome this as my path?" reminds us that our difficulties are not an obstacle on the path, but the path itself.

and later in the book:

Usually, when these difficulties arise and we get upset, we automatically believe that something is wrong. Then we jump to the belief "I have to fix this." But in doing so, we're missing a crucial point, which is seeing that these obstacles, these difficulties, can themselves be a step on the path of awakening. They are not in our way so much as they are our way.

Look, we all know the disappointment in misleading headlines (like the recent study on organic vs. conventional produce); and we all know the hard work (and sometimes failure) involved in changing local and national policy. But rather than become angry and frustrated at the slow (or stagnant) progress of the green movement in the US, can we instead accept these things as part of our path; as part of the journey; as opportunites that make us more educated, stronger, and dedicated?

I have no doubt, that to read this book a third time, it would move me in a different way, new passages catching my eye and challenging my heart. Zen Heart: Living with Mindfulness and Compassion is not a book to be quickly read, it's a book you digest slowly and mindfully; allowing time to absorb it's beautiful message.

Recommended: To anyone ready to explore an open and loving heart
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Monday Roundup

2009-08-03T01:52:00.000-07:00

Even in the summer heat, there's always a few good (and often air conditioned) places to curl up with a good book - lounging at the beach, relaxing in the cafe, or stealing a few moments before bedtime. Of course, I can find an excuse to read during any time of year...

Lately, I've been drawn to books on the mindfulness of my simple-green-frugal journey and I have another great one for you later this week. But what about you bookworms? What's in your book bag?

Monday Roundup

2009-07-27T23:57:00.000-07:00

Welcome Monday! Just thought I would see if there were any new books "rolling around" inside of you that you might like to share. Anybody want to "recycle" a suggestion, so we can "reuse" your knowledge? You can "reduce" our efforts at looking for books if you share ideas!

Just call us the great composter of books.........creating new soil for the Green scene. Share your book goodness!

My Light by Molly Bang

2009-07-24T19:29:00.000-07:00

So what provides the energy for your lights? Do you find yourself struggling to explain what electricity is, how we get it and why do we need to save it?

Molly Bang has provided a must read picture book for children that explains the energy of solar, wind, fossil fuels, water power and more in a style that will help grown-ups explain what energy is and how we acquire it. She explores a few of the pros and cons of different types of energy and their impact on our world.

She received mixed reviews as her explanatory task was enormous, but I think that if you just change the lens on the target age range the book is much more successful. I'd gear it for preschool through second for a successful delivery. Parents that are using the book (as opposed to just the reviewers) are giving it top marks as they are also able to paraphrase.

I'm rating it as a top pick as an important introductory tool to the environmental dialogue. I'm finding that kids get the reduce part more when they understand what the heck we're talking about in the first place. Turn off the lights carries more impact when kids are starting to "get it" vs. blind habit.

I've reprinted this from a prior review on my blog......as my own little light is weary this week. Enjoy!

Monday Roundup

2009-07-19T22:24:00.001-07:00

The pic is from an interesting wall hanging made from sticks, twigs, rope and leaves. Just a beautiful piece of art from nature's scraps! Taken at Brookfield Zoo.

It's that time again! Time for Monday postings about what we are working on, or what we would like to read. Please drop a line in the comment section if you would like to tell us about a title - and hint - we *heart* guest reviews! Let me know if you've recently reviewed a title and would like to share on the Worm.

Round it up for Roundup Monday!

Bothered By My Green Conscience

2009-07-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

Not too long ago, another blogger suggested I read a book called Bothered by My Green Conscience by author and artist, Franke James. She even hooked me up with Ms. James who sent me a copy of her book for free. (Details on how to get my copy at the end of this review).

One sunny afternoon, I plodded down to the post office to see if my copy had arrived. Inside the post office box was a tiny little package, tightly wrapped and addressed to yours truly. When I opened it, I was surprised to find a small, brightly colored paperback filled with more doodles than words.

What I hadn't grasped, when I agreed to "read" the book, was that Ms. James is as much an artist as she is an author. Her "book" (or illustrated essay) documents her journey from caring less about the earth to fighting city government to go greener. Artwork illustrates her thoughts and steps as she moved toward a lighter and lighter footstep.

The book isn't ground breaking. There isn't much here that is new, that hasn't been experienced by most of us on our road to green (though her idea of replacing her driveway with plants was fairly revolutionary).

Still, I enjoyed Bothered By My Green Conscience and I enjoyed it immensely. Ms. James doesn't offer a new vision so much as a vision through different glasses. For the more visual learners amongst us, this book is a must. Her drawings are intriguing, unique, thoughtful and thought provoking. The book is small and a quick read. It offers just a little jolt of green-ness to get us over the next hump in our own personal journeys. I recommend it for the light and medium greens, especially those who think in pictures, and rate it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

And, now that I've absorbed my copy, it's time to share its wonderful uniqueness with you. To be entered to win my copy, pop over to The Green Phone Booth and leave your name in the comments. The winner will be announced next Friday, July 24.

Farm City: The Education Of An Urban Farmer

2009-07-15T23:16:00.000-07:00

(First posted on 6/25/09 at kaleforsale)

I finished the perfect summer read, Farm City, by Novella Carpenter. The trouble is I finished it on the first day of summer. Now what do I do? I don't think anything is going to beat this book.

Farm City is a memoir but it's also bits and parts of how to, or how not to make a garden in the ghetto; on squatted land with an eventual farm yard of animals. The story reads like a novel. The characters are naturally characters; I fell in love with everyone. Except the prostitute looking butcher - there has to be someone not to like.

Novella is quirky, smart, driven and she has a seriously good heart. She made me laugh a lot and look at my own neighborhood with new eyes. There's a deserted house nearby with a sunny front yard that would be a perfect urban garden. The idea had never crossed my mind before. That's what this book does. Novella finds possibility and assistance in places generally looked away from. All is not pretty on the urban farm. Even when I was laughing.

To start with she's farming in Oakland, not Mayberry. A homeless man watches over the garden and offers constant advice. She hauls in free horse manure, forages from local dumpsters to feed the animals. She meets the neighborhood in the garden, invited and not. Even with the weeds and fish heads, I have to admit though, it sounded like fun.

The cute guy is nearly done with Farm City. He laughs out loud too. Stays up too late reading. "Where are you now?" I hungrily ask him. He tells me and we talk about it. It's almost like getting to read the book again.

Which is what I'm going to do - read the book again. That is unless I find an empty lot I can garden.

Rating: Definitely five stars
Recommended for: Gardeners, Gleaners, Memoir Readers, Social Activists and People-that-like-to-laugh

Monday Roundup

2009-07-13T22:27:00.000-07:00

Ahem. Seems I'm lollygagging on the job. I've only now realized it's my turn to post the Monday call for new books, old books, reviews. I seriously looked at the blog and thought, someone must be on vacation and forgot to post.

But it's still barely Monday and I've got a couple of books around the house I pick up periodically. The first is Coop: A Year of Poultry, Parenting and something else I can't quite remember. It may be a great book but I'm not that into it. If I pick it up fine, but if not that's okay too.

The other book is Salon.com's Wanderlust. I bought it at the library for $2. Reading the introduction by Pico Iyer on travel was worth many times more than what I paid. Then I found a contribution to it by Taras Grescoe, the author of Bottomfeeder. What a great find! The travel stories are exactly the length of my attention span this time of year too - short.

What kind of summer vacation reading are you doing? Any new green stories or books we haven't about out there? Any opinions on the books we have heard about?

Whatever your reading status I hope you're finding plenty of time for summer lollygagging. It's way fun.

Voluntary Simplicity

2009-07-10T00:50:00.000-07:00

Personally, I had chosen a life of voluntary simplicity years before I knew there was a name for such a lifestyle or that authors like Duane Elgin were leading the way, helping others discover a balanced, mindful, deliberate way of life. And although Elgin is surely one of the most recognized names in modern Voluntary Simplicity, it was only last month that I sat down to enjoy his almost 30 year old work, Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life That is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich.

Voluntary Simplicity (the book), I felt, could be divided into two parts:

The personal transformation in living a life of voluntary simplicity
The broader, environmental and economical impacts of our world should we choose or not choose simplicity

The first two-thirds of the book (what I call Part 1) begins by explaining what voluntary simplicity is and is not. It's not about living in abject poverty, but about living lightly, reducing our ecological impact on the earth, and sharing the world's resources with the whole world (not just the industrialized portions of it). It's not about denying ourselves the things we treasure most, but about de-cluttering our minds and lives so that we can concentrate on what's most important to us. It's not about withdrawing from life, but being empowered to transform the world around us by becoming intimately involved.

Particularly moving are the testimonials presented that illustrate a life of voluntary simplicity to be a slow, but amazing evolution wherein decisions of an individual, when made with mindfulness, have power to change the world:

The character of a whole society is the cumulative result of the countless small actions, day in and day out, of millions of persons. Small changes that may seem unimportant in isolation are of transformative significance when adopted by an entire society.

and

...our individual well-being is inseparable from the well-being of other members of the human family... [it] is the example of each person's life, much more than his or her words, that speaks with power. Even the smallest action done with a loving appreciation of life can touch other human beings in profound ways.

Unfortunately (for me, anyway), the book progressed into the final third (my "Part 2") which felt more like reading an economic text on what happens to the world if we do or do not choose voluntary simplicity. Personally, I preferred the discussion on how lives are transformed when we begin making deliberate and mindful choices, and how to go about making those choices.

Well, we can't win them all. I was glad to have finally sat down to read this book and it reinforced a lot of what I think about a life of voluntary simplicity. I'm looking forward to checking out some other books that might go further into how we, as individuals, can make informed, mindful, deliberate choices giving each and every one of us the power to change the world.

Recommended: To those interested in exploring the idea of voluntary simplicity
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Monday Roundup

2009-07-06T00:48:00.000-07:00

Welcome July! While we're broiling here in the Texas heat, I'm "escaping" through my old photo albums (that's a photo from my house-sitting adventure in southern France) and a few new books.

What do you do to escape the summer heat? Any good books keeping you company?

The Ten Trusts

2009-07-02T16:25:00.000-07:00

Acclaimed author, primatologist, ethologist, and anthropologist Jane Goodall presents us with a book rich in guidance for conservation and environmental efforts in The Ten Trusts: What We Must Do to Care for the Animals We Love. I found it extremely interesting that not only are the Ten Trusts geared to help only animals, they recognize and appreciate our role in the humanity of our world and the care we must give our environment.

The Ten Trusts are:

Rejoice That We Are Part of the Animal Kingdom
Respect All Life
Open Our Minds, In Humility, to Animals and Learn from Them
Teach our Children to Respect and Love Nature
Be Wise Stewards of Life on Earth
Value and Help Preserve the Sounds of Nature
Refrain from Harming Life in Order to Learn About It
Have the Courage of Our Convictions
Praise and Help Those Who Work for Animals and the Natural World
Act Knowing We Are Not Alone and Live with Hope

Coda: After all is said and done, silence is betrayal.

In each chapter there is information as well as moving stories that seek to personalize animals – without turning them into creatures that must mimic or entertain us in order to garner our protection. Stories of animals on land and sea, in flight and in our hearts will move you to consider the deeper meaning of our role in each trust.

What one must consider for each of these trusts is that we are also part of the environment, and each trust spoke to me in a way of how we should treat other humans as well as our natural world.

The Sixth Trust, Value and Help Preserve the Sounds of Nature “concerns the immense damage we have already inflicted on the complex web of life on Earth.” Goodall explores the poisons we have deposited on Earth including oil, chemicals, water pollution and more. Her brief comments on captive breeding programs resonated with me – as a former volunteer of the Carnivore Preservation Trust (feeding crew – whoo hoo!) I’ve looked into the eyes of some of the last of these beautiful creatures and seen how important breeding programs can be to restore even the possibility of some of our endangered species. Nowadays I have only to walk around a subdivision to realize the dim call of natural wildlife as even general wildlife habitat diminishes.

I found the Ten Trust to be a simple and inspiring read, one that prompted introspection of many pressing issues that affect not only animals, our ourselves the animal and the environment that we life in. Rated 4 out of 5 stars for Green Readers.

Monday Roundup

2009-06-29T13:38:00.000-07:00

Do you have any fantastic new books tucked away in your bag for the holiday? Planning on a three day weekend as you vacation, or even stay-cation? Let us know what is on your bookshelf or traveling along with you as we have other readers that may be interested.

Please post a comment to recommend a title, or let us know if you have reviewed a title that you would like to share. I hope everybody has a nice weekend planned!

Environmentally friendly book publishing

2009-06-25T21:17:00.000-07:00

Ten years ago, my dad decided to take his best photographs, add some text and publish a nice hard-bound book. He found a local printhouse that could do the job. This was before everything was in digital, so it wasn't cheap. For the sake of cost and also because he didn't want to waste resources, he decided to only print 400 copies of his book.

The book turned into a family project and my primary job was to help with logistics, including the press check. I spent one whole evening up until about 2 o'clock in the morning visiting the print shop and looking at the pages as they came off the press. The pages all looked fine, but I was horrified at the waste. For every page printed in color, the shop ran a stack of oversized paper through the press about three feet high, just to make sure the ink was coming out correctly. That's not a misprint -- for 400 copies, they wasted approximately three feet of stacked paper per page. I was stunned.

Fast forward ten years and like father, like daughter, I decided to self-publish a book. I wanted it in color, but besides the fact that the cost would have been prohibitive, no way was I going to generate that kind of waste. Luckily for me, a new type of printing now exists called print-on-demand (POD). I honestly don't know if they waste feet of paper at the start of the day when they turn on the presses, but with the printing method you can print any number of copies, starting at one. It's slightly more expensive per copy than the traditional method, but here's no inventory to store in your garage or to buy back from a distributer when they don't sell.

If I looked into it further, I'd probably find POD companies that use recycled paper or soy ink or something even friendlier. I didn't go that far -- I was just excited that I could print my book without all that waste and without needing to guess how many copies I'd someday need.

If you've ever thought of publishing your own book, you should check this out. There is a range of services that various companies offer. Beware of those that charge too much or don't leave you with full rights to your work. I decided to go really simple, so I landed at CreateSpace. I had to provide everything in pdf form including the cover. I keep all rights to my work; they print, sell through Amazon and send me royalties. I can order books wholesale as needed and resell them. I've received several shipments of my book already and I couldn't be happier with the quality.

I know on a site like our Bookworm there's a bunch of readers who wish you could publish your own book. You should look into this! Rating: 5 out of 5.

Book Review: Seedfolks

2009-06-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

I first heard about Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman from a post or comment right here on the Bookworm. Anybody want to take credit so I don't have to search the archives? Anyway, I am so glad I was able to find a copy in my local library.

Seedfolks is a short work of fiction about a community garden in Cleveland. The writing is amazing in that the story is told by 13 individuals, each with their own chapter and each in the first person. Fleischman strings these 13 stories together into a whole in such a way as to explain how he once won a Newberry award. The literary technique is amazing.

More than that, though, I found the book to be both pleasant and entertaining. Fleischman explores different cultures and how different people find healing through their work in a garden. In reading the story, I only wished that it had actually happened. But maybe Fleischman's work will inspire people somewhere out there to be seedfolks themselves. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars for gardeners and those who enjoy a light read.

Monday Roundup

2009-06-22T20:34:00.000-07:00

Good Monday evening, everyone! School's out and summer has officially started here in Oregon. In the spirit of lazy days, my review later this week will be pure fluff! I've just finished a nice little read that's perfect for an hour in a lawnchair (if your kids will let you get away with that!). Also, a little more seriously, I'll share an environmentally friendly way to publish a book.

What about you? Read any fluff lately? Or something more challenging? Leave a comment and let us know! Also, if you would like to be included on the list of bookworms and are not already there, please leave your request in a comment and we'll add you in.

Food, Inc.

2009-06-17T00:46:00.001-07:00

I have a crush on Eric Schlosser. I know he's not a movie star or even a farmer but he's got a way of talking about farm workers rights and corn that makes me soft inside. And then when he says, "Monsanto," and his hand flexes into a fist; what can I say?

I'm his.

I didn't read the book but I saw Food, Inc.. Not only does the movie star Eric Schlosser but Michael Pollan was there too. And so was Joel Salatin. They're the three stooges of the know-your-food movement. And I mean that with the utmost respect. These guys were awesome but they're funny too.

The movie was everything a sustainable food girl could want and yet it was just a taste of how food makes its way to the plate. There was a vignette on factory farmed animals, on the treatment of farm workers, of the growing rates of diabetes as a result of cheap food. There was a vignette on GMO's, on government subsidies, on the source of ingredients in food. The movie stayed succinct but could have taken off in any direction for hours. And I would have stayed for all of it.

There were a couple of times I covered my eyes, a couple of times I covered my heart. And a few times my own fist flexed into a fist and I wanted to punch the air and yell, "Yeah. Tell 'em. Way to go!" And then I would get all googley eyed when Eric Schlosser returned to the screen.

The most surprising information was related to the treatment of the migrant farm workers. Forget about how we treat the animals we eat, or the pesticides and fertilizers being flushed into our water ways. Forget about the destruction of top soil and the inability of farmers to save seeds because a patented GMO seed has blown onto their property. Forget about all of that and there are the human beings that handle the food. I wanted to cover my eyes, my heart and ears all at the same time.

The movie is not doom and gloom however. The Stoneyfield Farms guy is one happy dude. And the guys from Walmart? Complete comedic relief. Sure, there are challenges. When hasn't there been? But Food, Inc. is hopeful for the mere fact that it was made. That it's being distributed to major markets. That's it's been reviewed and talked about and linked all over the place.

A friend told me a year and a half ago that the sustainable food movement would never go mainstream. "It's just a trend," this friend said. This movie is not however a trend. It's ambitious, it's smart and hopefully it will whet the appetite for mainstream to start lifting the veil between kitchen tables and food producers everywhere. Hopefully it will raise the momentum of people voting with their forks for fair food that is considerate of all beings.

But mainstream better stay away from Eric Schlosser. He's mine!

Recommended: For people who eat.
Rated: 4 Stars (I don't want to set expectations too high and parts of it are a bit corny!)

Monday Roundup

2009-06-15T10:49:00.000-07:00

It's nearly officially summer and time for summer vacation. Or not. We're usually winter vacation people but are heading out this week for North Carolina and Nashville to visit family. And I have a couple of farm books already sitting next to the door.

Just released this week, Farm City, The Education of An Urban Farmer by Novella Carpeter is my first read. She's local, in Oakland, a former student of Michael Pollan's, and from the reviews and first sentence of the book, "I have a farm on a dead-end street in the ghetto," she's already a hero. I can't wait to get on the plane, plant myself in a window seat and eat this book up.

The second book is from a friend, Apples and Oranges by Marie Brenner. It's a memoir more about sibling rivalry than farming but the brother, the apple or the orange, I'm not sure which, is a farmer in Washington. What is it about farmers' these days? I can't get enough of them.

I hope to get to an independent book store while traveling too and bring home at least one new title.

How about you? Are you heading out for a family camp out, reunion, or time away from the family? Where to? And our favorite question, what are you reading?

Wherever you find yourself, be safe and be well.

Book Giveaway - The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget

2009-06-13T06:40:00.000-07:00

As promised, it's time to announce the winner of the book giveaway. After assigning everyone a number and using a handy-dandy random number generator, the winner of The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget is... (drumroll please)...

Dina!

Dina, please email me with your full name and address and I'll get the book out to you this week.

And a special thank you to all who participated in the drawing!

Crisis and Opportunity

2009-06-12T01:44:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be upfront about this and say that this is the ABSOLUTE BEST non-fiction book I have EVER read. EVER. I'm completely serious. Think about what Michael Pollan is to the food movement - then put him on steroids. THAT is what John Ikerd is to the sustainable agriculture movement.

Crisis and Opportunity: Sustainability in American Agriculture is a series of inspirational essays by John Ikerd, professor of agricultural economics at the University of Missouri. From the very first paragraph, I was drawn to his words, thinking as I read each word, "Yes, that's it exactly. I just couldn't put it into words myself."

Ikerd, while taking a look at the large-scale, big-picture crisis of American agriculture, takes an entirely different approach than contemporary eco-authors. Rather than addressing the culprits in the big picture (business, government, etc), he challenges each and every one of us to make change happen.

A farmer can make a difference in the land on his or her farm and in the land of others downstream. A farmer can make the difference in the lives of his or her customers and neighbors. We can all have an influence on the other people in our families, in our places of work, or in our communities. As we change our own lives in positive ways, we begin to influence those who share our little piece of the world. One by one, as we influence our little pieces of the world, the world begins to change.

Ikerd calls upon us to use common sense instead of relying strictly on impersonal technology. He calls us to do what is right, instead of what will make us the most money. Although making money (being economically viable) is certainly part of sustainability, our current industrial model focuses only on this component - consuming more for less. But the future, the sustainable model focuses on physical, mental, AND spiritual components, giving us a balance by being not only economically viable, but also ecologically sound and socially responsible.

Honestly, I've never read a book so full of inspiration, insight and hope. This isn't just a "must read." Crisis and Opportunity is a handbook for daily living and the beautiful awakening to a bright, new future.

Recommended: To anyone who lives and breathes.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars!

The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget

2009-06-10T01:47:00.000-07:00

When I speak to people about my personal local diet experiment, I'm often asked "What have you found most challenging?" It's an easy question for me. The answer? By far, the greatest challenge in eating locally is identifying local food resources. But I also believe that this challenge is understood by anyone attempting to follow a "greener," more eco-friendly lifestyle. We WANT to leave a lighter footprint. We just don't know HOW or WHERE to get help.

And as I've worked hard to make eating locally less of a challenge for anyone following in my footsteps, so has the Lazy Environmentalist himself - Josh Dorfman - made living a greener life both more accessible and affordable.

In his newest book, The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget, Josh Dorfman provides readers an amazing array of wallet-friendly resources for our eco-mindful lives. Whether you're a dedicated non-consumer or looking for greener alternatives to every day purchases, Dofman provides a little something for everyone.

To read it cover to cover, The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget is a light read, but more than anything, it's meant to serve as reference material - offering detailed information on programs around the country where individuals, governments, and companies and thinking outside-the-box providing green solutions that range from the basics like Reduce-Reuse-Recycle, to water conservation, transportation alternatives, and transforming our homes and offices. Each chapter concludes with a list of the programs or websites discussed and how to find more about each one mentioned.

The bottom line is, there are people out there (just like you and me) who are making a difference in our world, people who have initiated programs, developed products, and formed companies in the effort to make it easier for you and I to live a greener lifestyle. The challenge is connecting with those people so that we can either take part or be inspired to transform our own home towns. Well, Dofman has done all the work for us so that we can be, well... lazy environmentalists.

Recommended: as a reference guide to a greener lifestyle
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

So here's the best part... I'll be mailing a copy of The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget to one lucky winner. All you need to do is add a comment to today's post (by Friday, June 12) telling me about the easiest change you ever made in your "green" journey. I'll select a winner at random and make the announcement on Saturday, June 13. Good luck!

P.S. Entries for the drawing must have a U.S. mailing address...

Monday Roundup

2009-06-08T01:42:00.000-07:00

It's rare to find a book that actually changes your life and inspires a new way of thinking. But isn't that why we read and share these eco-book reviews? This week's review is a gem, in fact I think it just might be THE gem - A book to challenge our thinking; a book to inspire us and give us hope; a book to live by. I'll be sharing it with you a little later this week. In the meantime, I'd love to hear more about what your reading now? Also, what's your favorite eco read of all time?

Book Review: The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It

2009-06-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

I recently read about John Seymour's The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It: The Complete Back-to-Basics Guide over at Chile's Blog. I've just been searching and can't find the post where she mentions it, but it inspired me to get it out of the library. It's one of those huge DK books that makes you just want to sit down and flip through it. The book is divided into sections, such as food from the garden, food from animals, in the dairy, brewing and wine making, energy and waste, and crafts and skills.

This book makes you want to plan a garden, not just something small out back, but a proper garden with sheds and hoop houses and all sorts of stuff! Seymour lives in Ireland, so some of the information on which plants are good are not always appropriate to every area, but it's a great read.

If you read the whole book carefully and really tried to follow it, you'd go a long way towards being totally self-sufficient (assuming you had enough land to do it all on). As I live in the suburbs and can't do most of what he talks about (nor do I really want to), I treated the book mostly as a great read. There are parts I marked to show my gardening husband, and parts I read thinking how great they'd be if I could do them (spinning wool, dyeing and weaving) and parts that I read just marveling that people really did do all these things on their homesteads not all that long ago.

This book is interesting to read, and I'm sure would be a great resource for those who want to do more by themselves on their own land. I suspect if you really want to homestead you'd want to own it, otherwise get it out of the library like I did. 4 out of 5 stars

Book Review: Cradle to Cradle

2009-06-02T07:07:00.000-07:00

I just read Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things by William McDonough and Michael Braungart. It is a very interesting look at a new approach to creating stuff, whether it be buildings, things we buy in stores, or parts for manufacturing processes. First of all, the book isn't printed on paper, it's printed on a plastic that can be recycled into a new book of the same quality. While this is great if it does get recycled, I wonder how many will.

The premise of the book is that instead of thinking of a product's lifecycle from cradle to grave (from when it is made to when it is disposed, or thrown away), we should look at products from cradle to cradle - from when they are made to when they are finished with that life, and made into something new, or completely returned to the earth. It is a great idea, and the authors talk about how it isn't necessarily more expensive to design and create that way, it just takes a new way of thinking.

This book is pretty high level - great for budding designers and architects, and interesting to others, but not necessarily providing anything that "regular people" can do in their daily lives. In some ways it is very inspirational - there are ways out there to do things better, and some people are doing them, and in a way, it's discouraging - you realize how many people are not doing them, and how the concept of returning something to the earth rather than throwing it in a landfill, is very foreign to a lot of people.

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars for the average reader, 5 out of 5 if you want to go into design or production. It's worth it to find it in the library and feel it's heft (due to the plastic pages) and see what you think of this book material!

Monday Roundup

2009-06-01T07:19:00.000-07:00

Hey there Blogging Bookworm readers. I bet since it's June 1 you were expecting a post from Heather (if you are keeping track of who posts during what week)! But here at The Blogging Bookworm we say the week starts on Sunday, so technically it's the 5th week of May so it's my week. (Confused yet? Don't worry - you'll get Heather next week.) So anyway, what's going on with everyone out there? Do you have any good books in the works? Up here near Boston, we get a few days of gorgeous spring weather, and my thoughts turn to garden books, then we have a few days of freezing cold weather where I have to break out the jeans and sweaters again and that makes me want to get back to my knitting instead. I even had to turn the heat back on last week during two days (only for an hour each day, just to warm up the house, and my older daughter was really sick, so I couldn't bear to see her shaking with cold, even all bundled up). Oh well, as we like to say here up North - it beats 95 all the time! Drop us a comment and tell us what you're reading - we love to hear from you!

Green Housekeeping

2009-05-30T18:04:00.000-07:00

Green Housekeeping by Ellen Sandbeck has proven to be a book packed with tips, tricks, and practical advice on how to approach cleaning, mess, and clutter in the household. She tackles her subjects in neatly written chapters that deal with clutter, kitchen cleaning, bathroom, bedroom, general cleaning, air quality, hazardous materials, and gardening. The index at the front is most helpful as allows for easy flipping to a topic of choice.

Her reasons for writing such a handbook are compelling, in that the chemicals we use in our everyday cleaners carry a host of side effects for human and environment. She begins her book with an introduction that cites a variety of studies that have shown that as we've evolved how we clean, we've introduced a veritable whirlwind of chemicals without fully testing them. One simple example of concern is an EPA study that "looked at a set of 491 chemicals found in commonly used consumer products and found that only 25% of them had been tested for toxicity." (p.6) Sandbeck points out that in the United States chemicals are considered innocent until proven guilty, a practice that is working against us for health and humankind.

Sandbeck proposes simple solutions to many of our cleaning and life problems that induce us to grab for a container on a grocery shelf. Examples fo a few simple things I've learned form the book include:

Mosquito Control - She evaluates our different common options for mosquitoes and shows that most all of regular treatments are either harmful to us; Sandbeck states Deet has been shown to cause agitation, weakness, disorientation, ataxia, seizures, coma and death in children and bug zappers actually zap insects that aren't mosquitoes while exploding the bug bacteria up to six feet away. A solution she proposes is a repellent called Bite Blocker made from soybean oil available in Europe or using the essential oil in catnip, shown to be 10x more effective than DEET. I'm outdoors all the time with kids, and frequently have to use a mosquito product!

Laundry - I was happy to read that somebody else feels like we need to lower our laundry standards. Since our grandmother's time we've actually increased the time we spent washing because we wash too much! She has an excellent segment on what actually is toxic in our detergent selections with alternatives for use as well as information about how often we should actually wash things.

Floor Care - Floor care is a thorn in my side as I have hardwoods and carpets. Well, let it also be known that I have two small children and hate to vacuum as well. Per Sandbeck I should be only using a dampened cloth and not wet mopping - but I don't know if I can live with this one. My little one has a penchant for messy eating - and I seem to really need to mop. She has good suggestions on products, technique and frequency.

Carpet Care - I was fascinated to learn about Snow Cleaning for Carpets. If you live in an area with very cold weather you can experience snow cleaning each winter. Roll your carpet up and stand on end, let cool down (garage maybe?) before trying. Unroll and place pile side down on clean sugar snow. Beat the back of the carpet with a broom or stomp on it until the snow beneath gets dirty. Move to a clean patch of snow, and continue until the snow appears clean. Sweep all the snow off the rug, roll up and bring inside. Interesting!

I do highly recommend this book, and also found it easy to use as well as read. It has a general index in front, extensive index in back as well as a wonderful bibliography and link list. I found that she has information on a huge range of cleaning issues and will be using this as a resource in my home. Recommended with 4 out of 5 stars, and happy cleaning!

Roundup..........Thursday?

2009-05-28T16:11:00.000-07:00

I'm a terrible eco-blogger this week in forgetting to post my roundup! I'll break tradition and offer a Thursday roundup and hope that all can forgive. We've had and graduation and Memorial Day brain lapse, and I think somehow all holidays always seem to fall on the last week of the month, my week. No grousing there, but I do want to offer up a paltry excuse for forgetting.

So what is on your shelf? Any new reads? Any titles to share? It isn't too late to share! I'll be posting my review up shortly.

Book Review: Why We Buy

2009-05-22T09:33:00.000-07:00

I caught a snippet of a recent TV interview of Paco Underhill, the author of Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping. I was immediately intruigued and I checked out the book from the library. My hope was to gain an understanding of some of the psychology of why I buy stuff -- so I'd know how to better avoid buying stuff. I'm afraid that's not what the book was about at all.

The main thrust of the book is intended for retailers who wish to increase their sales. Underhill runs a consulting business with some big-name clients and he helps them figure out how to sell more stuff. I found many of the case studies interesting, even amusing. He talks about the problem of "butt-bump" in which retail sales racks are placed too close together and people get jostled as they look at the merchandise. People don't like that. Some things should be obvious, but he addresses practicalities such as the fact that shoppers have only two hands and the retailer has to provide a place for shoppers to set things down when necessary.

After the novelty wore off, I found the book pretty boring. Underhill's whole focus is how retailers can make it easy for people to buy more stuff. It was written in 1999, so the chapter on internet sales was woefully out of date. I gave up on the book before I finished it. I hesitate writing a negative review, but sometimes it's nice to cross off a book instead of add it to a list of books to be read. I'd give this book 1 out of 5 stars unless you own a retail store, in which case you just might want to read it!

Monday Roundup

2009-05-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

Rather than reading new books recently, I seem to be revisiting old favorites. Recently I had the privilege to hear Greg Mortensen (3 Cups of Tea) speak at a local event. It was fun, and the musical ensemble was the only western group who play a certain type of Pakistani music. I hear that when they play in Pakistan, they draw crowds of 15-20 thousand.

Greg Mortensen was remarkable in his un-remarkableness. If you've read the book, you know all about this extraordinary man who is making such a difference. (If you haven't read it, check out the reviews from our sidebar.) To see him in person and to hear him speak, you'd think he was just an ordinary middle-aged businessman who could stand to lose a couple pounds. He is an unpolished, not particularly charismatic speaker and he comes across as completely average, except that he really believes in what he's doing. It's amazing, and maybe the point, that someone that normal could achieve what he has. They announced at the event that a bipartisan group in the Senate has just nominated Mortensen for a Nobel.

Fans of The Tightwad Gazette will appreciate that recently I accidentally fell in love with a pre-1900 farmhouse with attached shop. We're crazy, but my husband and I are actually considering it.

Lastly, I have published my book! I'll talk more about it next month, but if you're curious, check out The Purple Elephant.

So how was your week?

Book Review: Seedfolks

2009-05-13T00:00:00.000-07:00

Time began in a garden. So too did community, according to the beautiful novella, Seedfolks, by Paul Fleischman.

Seedfolks documents the journey of an inner city empty lot, clogged with old refrigerators, bed springs and beer bottles, from trash pit to community garden. Various members of the community garden - all from different backgrounds, ages, ethnicities - tell how they came to be involved in the garden and what it meant to them. Some find new life in the garden, new purpose. A pregnant teen mother uses it to come to terms with her child while a young man leverages the garden to court an old flame. Some find business opportunities and others sanity.

A short book, Seedfolks is just what the doctor ordered. And just what my blogging cohort promised me it would be. The global crises we face - climate change, mass extinction, an ocean of plastic - are often overwhelming and even paralyzing. The answer, for me, is to instead focus on what I can affect. To build local connections, to make changes that empower one's self and one's community, and to build hope. Seedfolks offers all those three things in abundance.

The book is appropriate for older children but I think adults would treasure it just as much. I give it 5 out of 5 stars and urge you to check out a copy from your local library and then get growing - a garden, a community, a home, anything.

Monday Roundup

2009-05-10T22:37:00.000-07:00

The library continues to be one of my favorite places but I still don't have a green centered book to report on. I've thumbed through a couple but didn't bring them home. Maybe this week will be different.

How about you? Any new reads carried home from the library, borrowed from a friend or picked up at the bookstore? Or any new reviews you've posted that we should all know about?

Let us know.

In any event, I hope you're taking time to literally stop and smell this perfume scented season. It's one of the most fragrant I can remember.

The New Farmers' Market - A book review

2009-05-08T01:53:00.000-07:00

If you're involved in founding, managing, promoting, or selling at a farmers' market, The New Farmers' Market is a MUST read! It came to my attention when a friend and market vendor suggested I read her copy. Somethings, she told me, I'd want to skim through, but she was convinced I'd like this book.

She was right! There's a section in this book for just about everyone. The New Farmers' Market is divided into 3 sections

Selling at the market
Starting, Managing, & Promoting the Market
The New Farmers' Market (embracing the community and expanding the vision)

Touching on everything from obtaining insurance, to pricing strategy, to writing a catchy market newsletter, this how-to guide is full of practical ideas including tips from market vendors all over the U.S. Whether your market is large or small, new or established, you're sure to find inspiring ideas to reenergize your market team.

Personally, my favorite section was on promoting the market where I found a host of suggestions on bridging the knowledge gap between market and community. My favorite is for a monthly market newsletter. Fellow Friends Volunteers, guess what's we're doing next?

Look for The New Farmers' Market in your local library, or better yet, buy a copy to be shared among your market vendors, volunteers, and staff. The market of your dreams is only one book away...

Recommended: for anyone looking to work with a farmers' market
Rated: 5 out of 5 stars (for page after page of fabulous ideas)

The Botany of Desire

2009-05-06T01:50:00.000-07:00

Having read and thoroughly enjoyed both of Michael Pollan's newer books, The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defence of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, I was eager to delve into Pollan's past to discover his many other insights into the wonderful world of food. I was not disappointed.

The Botany of Desire is the historical recounting of four plants that for Pollan represent mankind's greatest desires: sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control. However, rather than use the four corresponding plants (the apple, tulip, cannabis (aka marijuana), and potato) merely as symbols of desire, Pollan takes us on a journey to discover how our desires compliment and compete with those of these four plants on an evolutionary scale; in other words, how we have co-evolved.

How easy to assume that mankind has manipulated nature throughout his history, yet Pollan hypothesizes that these plants have taken their turn in manipulating us throughout the millennia as well. Could it be true that are but a pawn in the evolutionary scheme to spread the seed of living things that have existed far longer than we? Pollan remarks that although we are in awe of the wolf, it is the "domesticated" dog that has it's every need met by man. Have we domesticated the canine, or have they domesticated us?

Perhaps his deepest insight was the idea of perception. Deeming ourselves the grand masters of the universe, we falsely assume we manipulate it at will, choosing for ourselves which forms of life are valuable and which are not. But stepping back into the larger picture, we must ask ourselves if this is fact or simply our perception, which can be greatly misguided as we see but our own egotistical interpretations of what is and is not. How beautiful though that for some 250 pages, we can delve deep into the world we so rarely consider, what Pollan refers to as "the plant's-eye view of the world;" a world that is far more vast, wonderful, and inspiring when we "imagine a very different kind of story about Man and Nature, one that shrinks the distance between the two of us, so that we might again begin to see them for what they are and in spite of everything will always be, which is in this boat together."

Recommended: for the environmental philosopher in all of us.
Rated: 4 out of 5 stars.

Monday Roundup

2009-05-04T01:48:00.000-07:00

For the first time in my life, the arrival of spring has taken on a new image - the allure of the harvest. Beautiful isn't it? This year's first tomatoes. My garden inspired me to read the book I'll be sharing with everyone later this week, but what about you? What books are you reading? Are you finding inspiration in your latest eco-read?

Soul Currency: Investing Your Inner Wealth for Fulfillment and Abundance

2009-05-01T13:23:00.001-07:00

I'm your average American right now, struggling with a downturn in financial income and housing related issues. But I honestly refuse to participate in the emotional frenzy and other emotional stresses that surround our national pulse. I've become extremely aware that the focus on trying to be Greener both in ways, means, and outlook as radically altered my perspective on issues like finances, frugality, and life outlook. I think that I've realized that "going greener" isn't just about buying the right products, it is about making the right choices and choosing my attitude.

With that mindset going, I snatched Soul Currency: Investing your Inner Wealth for Fulfillment and Abundance by Earnest D. Chu off my Library's new book shelf. Right now I'm seeking books that green my attitude as much as much actions - and this seemed to fit the bill. As you begin to explore this book one realizes that Chu doesn't write necessarily from the platform of a preacher, teacher, or self-help guru but rather one that has made millions as the founder of nine companies, lost millions and lived off the help of friends only to make much more money back.

Chu explains the term soul currency in his introduction in that "It's a medium for exchanging value. Like money, soul currency can be shared, traded, donated and invested. But unlike money, it is not a symbolic object. It is spiritual energy that resides in everyone." (p. 3) But take heed, this isn't a book only about spirituality, moreso it is a work about finding spirituality in ourselves to encourage the flow of soul currency in our lives to heal other peripheral issues like work satisfaction, compensation, life investment.

Chu incorporates the studies, quotes, and philosophy of everybody from Budda (quote: Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart give yourself to it) to Studs Terkel (quote: Most people's jobs are too small for their spirits) as he weaves information about the fabric of the American working life together. Statistics and studies he brings into play show that most of us are only a paycheck or two away from hardship, and many people trade their job satisfaction in for job security when possible.

Chapter four, on Eliminating Counterfeit Currency is the best chapter in my opinion. To me it related very well to the current economic crisis and how much of America has hedged their bets on creating a currency that is false, and doesn't lend itself to satisfaction in many respects. The sub chapter on downsizing your false beliefs about success and money was important - and perhaps what many of us are doing now was we try to return to some of the simple pleasures in life, and step outside satisfaction based on acquisition that ultimately only leads to stress.

Now for the downside of the book, that in my opinion I felt just kind of "meh" when I read it. I think I'd do a disservice if I raved about every book that I read or reviewed. For many of the points in the book I felt like I'd get a greater level of enlightenment to just read the parts of Budda the author liked to quote rather than just reading what the author had to say about the quotes. He seemed to have a great love of pulling out case studies to illustrate his concepts, but I have little faith in reading case study parables and liken them many times to the likes of Dr. Phil. Just didn't really work for me in that respect.

My eyes seemed to glaze over at several points of the book - and I felt like his salient points were made in the chapters and sub chapters rather than the text of the book. Under each sub chapter there was usually an excellent nugget such as "when you invest your spiritual capital in positive ways, you make a choice to live in a world of possibility rather than limitation and fear." (p. 201) The excellent point was the Jerry McGuire moment of "you had me at hello," but everything else written beyond that pivotal statement was filler rather content that kept me engaged.

All in all it was an interesting read, and his concepts are profound though the rest of the material didn't work for me on many levels. Can I be so crass as to suggest a bullet pointed Cliff Notes for Soul Currency? I'd rate it as a 2 out of 5 for Green Readers.

Monday Roundup

2009-04-27T21:27:00.000-07:00

Welcome Spring! I've missed you! As the season changes I'm getting ready for more attempts at growing food, and a chance to expand upon Green endeavors as suddenly we can return to outside. Last year about this time my husband build me a nice double sized above ground garden to supplement the pots, containers, and one side garden I had. Round about this time I'm exploring books to get more ideas one how to do more, use less, and return to what is simple.

Are you reading any tasty books about Spring or planting? Any new Green titles on your shelf - or maybe just feedback on books you are enjoying from our list? Spring into action and give up some comment love for our Monday roundup.

Book Review: The Green Collar Economy

2009-04-24T20:17:00.000-07:00

Last fall I won the book The Green Collar Economy by Van Jones in a give-away right here on The Bookworm. I intended to read it and pass it along, but when I received the book, I was thrilled to see that it was a signed copy. Sorry, guys, I’m keeping it!

The Green Collar Economy is a blueprint for how to solve two problems at once: help the environment by increasing conservation and green power generation while creating of hundreds of thousands of green jobs, mostly filled by people at the lower end of the economic scale. The proposal is idealistic, but it is a real solution and if we could do it, it really would solve both problems.

I was particularly impressed by Jones’s understanding and commitment to helping less advantaged groups. He correctly points out that the environment cannot be saved solely by those with higher incomes who care about saving polar bears. We have to reach everybody in order to make a real change. Corporations know this, and they exploit the poor for their own purposes by scaring them that environmental legistration will cost them their jobs.

This book and the proposals in it would make great reading for every member of Congress and the current administration. By some things I’ve heard, I wonder if Obama has already read it. I would recommend, even require that everyone in elected office and their staff read The Green Collar Economy. 5 out of 5 stars.

For some reason, it took me months to get through the book and just as long to write my review. I don’t think that’s a commentary on the book, but rather I’ve observed that when books get too heavy into economics, I slow down. If you enjoy reading about economics, by all means you should read this book. If not, check it out from the library and skim. It’s good stuff.

Monday Roundup

2009-04-20T00:01:00.000-07:00

It's Monday again -- how does it come around so quickly? Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed a nice weekend. I just got back from a lovely time -- my husband and I went to Hood River (Oregon) and took the fruit blossom train on Sunday. It was perfect except that the trees won't blossom for about another two weeks.

I've been very busy this past month preparing my book to go to print and so I've not done much reading (well, except for numerous books on firemen and astronauts which I've read to my 4-year-old son). However, I finished Green Collar Economy a while back and will post a review later this week. I read it after winning a give-away on this very blog. You know, we should do that again sometime. :)

What about you? Read any good books lately? And are the fruit trees in blossom where you live?

Books at the Farmers' Market

2009-04-16T21:09:00.001-07:00

I found this bit of independent book store news about Powell's in Portland in a digest at the Ethicurean.

Powell's is setting up a table at the Portland Farmers' Market with books to match the season. Planting in the spring, harvesting and canning in the fall. You get the picture. It's a smart idea.

But I wonder if I'd spend my cash on a book instead of tomatoes. It would be a tough choice.

Do independent booksellers sell books at your farmers' markets? Do you think it's a good idea?

Monday Roundup

2009-04-13T00:02:00.000-07:00

I'd like to say I've been thinking about gardening but I haven't. The pots on the deck remain empty. Instead I'm reading a travel memoir about Zen and China. Not a green book really except it's interesting to read about people living with so few possessions and yet have everything they need.

Is anyone reading a new green book? An old one? Do you have a review about to come out? Let us know and Chile will add the book or review to the list that never stops growing.

I heard of a book a couple of weeks ago that I'm curious about, Dirt, The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth. Has anyone read or reviewed this? It seems appropriate for the planting season.

Any books you're curious about?

In any event, I hope you're enjoying spring at your house; whatever stage it's in.

Welcoming a New Worm to the Worm Bin

2009-04-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

I'm delighted to announce that one of my favorite bookworms has agreed to wiggle around with us wormers. After devouring her reviews over at Simple-Green-Frugal, we've managed to entice Heather into the worm bin. She'll take over the first week of the month, starting in May. Make sure to stick around for her Monday roundups and green book reviews. Welcome Heather! We're so happy you're here!

Book Review: Who Is In the Garden

2009-04-09T00:00:00.001-07:00

As much as I love to find a great green read for me, even more I love it when I come across an excellent eco book for the kids. I've long had favorite fall books for the kids but this week came across a beautifully illustrated and artfully told journey through a summer garden. While not yet summer, my boys and I are talking about what to plant where and why. Vera Rosenberry's Who Is In The Garden? put pictures to our summer-time dreams. Following the garden-loving child, we skipped past butterfly bushes, snuck peeks at sleeping turtles and a sly mantis, and burrowed into a teepee of beans. Just a little inspiration for budding gardeners.

Happy Spring!

Book Review: Mrs. Meyer's Clean Home

2009-04-08T00:00:00.000-07:00

A couple months ago, I was contacted and asked review a new book on green cleaning - Mrs. Meyer's Clean Home: No-nonsense Advice That Will Inspire You to Clean Like the Dickens. Knee deep in Green Housekeeping, a green book club book, I was truly in the spirit for spring cleaning and happily agreed.*

The disadvantage of reading and reviewing two books on the same topic back to back is that it is nigh impossible to escape comparisons. So I won't even try.

Let's assume you are in the market for a book on green cleaning. Green Housekeeping is dense, well documented, covers nearly everything imaginable that relates to being green or cleaning. Mrs. Meyer's Clean Home, by contrast, is less encyclopedic, easier to maneuver and, well, less green.

In many ways, the book is not so much about green cleaning but about cleaning the way our grandparents did. For certain, those of the older generation cleaned their home without all of the chemicals and disposables in which our generation indulges. Vinegar, baking soda, a little vodka, some rags and a whole lot of elbow grease got everything clean.

They also did things like line their toasters and everything else within reach with aluminum foil that was thrown out every couple weeks. Or refuse to remove their shoes when entering a home (theirs or one in which they were a guest) because it is "inhospitable." Thelma (as I came to think of her) believed the latter was a reflection on a home owner worrying more about keeping a clean home than making a guest feel welcome. Well, sorry, Thelma, but more and more of my friends (and my family included) leave our shoes - and the toxins they collect - at the door. It is, apparently, a modern eco-phenomenon.

All in all, it was a quick and easy read. Skimming through it felt more like tea with my great aunt Thelma than an actual book. I emerged with a better picture of how my grandmother cleaned and a few gems - like washing a burned pot by boiling equal parts water and vinegar with a little salt and letting the whole mess sit overnight. Works like a charm, I swear it!

Recommended: for those interested in lifestyles of past generations and folks looking for cleaning tips.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars.

*You may be familiar with the Mrs. Meyer's name, which the author's daughter adopted for a line of green cleaning supplies sold at Whole Foods and other outlets.

Monday Roundup

2009-04-06T00:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome spring! I've had my hands dirty this month - transplanting overgrown perennials, tucking seeds into the ground, chopping down cover crop. Not much time for reading, really, though I did manage to squeeze into this dirty month a book about getting clean. Look for a review and giveaway of that book later this week.

In the meantime, do you have any new treasures to share? An enticing green read you found in the back of a bookstore or borrowed from a friend? A review you published on your own blog or read somewhere else? Please do share. It is officially spring, after all.

Monday Roundup

2009-03-30T09:31:00.000-07:00

Everyone else seems to post a beautiful spring picture to be inspired by - not me! Up here just outside of Boston, we still have some ice and snow in parking lots (although most of it is gone) and I have 2 crocuses that have just started to show a hint of color, but they're not open yet by any means. It was beautiful on Saturday, and if I had thought of it I probably could have gotten a nice picture somewhere, but I didn't, and it's pouring now (although it's 40 so we're all glad that it's not snow)! That's being a New Englander - whenever it rains you shrug and think - could be worse, could be snow.

In any case, it's a great day to snuggle up (with the heat still on, unfortunately) and read a book! What are you reading? Leave a comment to let us know.

I'm in the middle of a fantastic book right now - Sarah's Daughter, by Ruth Bass. Not technically a green read, it's the story of a 14 year old girl in the late 1800s who has to cope with life after her mother dies in an accident. She has a father who expects her to run the household, two siblings to take care of, and dreams of becoming a school teacher. It is so detailed and well written that it makes you feel like you're right there with her. Like the Little House series, it is a green read in the sense that you learn how people survived and thrived with so much less than we feel we need today. But mostly it's just a great book. I got halfway through and decided to read it aloud to my 10 year old daughter, so I'm not going to read ahead on my own - once we catch up to where I got to, we'll discover it together. I do realize how many small details I miss by reading quickly - when I have to read aloud I remember a lot more of the finer points, plus we really enjoy our nightly read and snuggle.

Any great books you can share with us - green or otherwise? And if you've read any books and reviewed them on your blog, please leave us the link and we'll put them up here so everyone can link to them easily. Have a great week!

Ecology of a Cracker Childhood

2009-03-25T21:06:00.000-07:00

I dived headfirst into Ecology of a Cracker Childhood by Janisse Ray and barely came up for breath until I finished. It magically combined several of my favorite themes including nature, childhood, ecology, Southern lore and family angst, trees, trees, and more trees.

Ray interweaves the story of her childhood growing up dirt poor amongst her family junkyard. We have the phrase "poor trash" in our society to denote those souls that grow up in our back country rural places, and Ray lived the story on the soil of Georgia as they survived to make it day by day. The interesting thing about the trash - both in human and physical items - is that there are jewels of interest for things that we might normally throw away.

She played school and wrote with chalk on the sides of abandoned automobiles, made a raft of car gas tanks to sail on tree rimmed ponds, and her Daddy could pull a vacuum out of a heap and tinker with it a bit and soon it hummed just right. Pieces of things would have a second life and provide an meager income for a family growing up in the 1970's.

As a naturalist author Ray intersperses her story with information about trees of the South, mostly the longleaf pine. One of my favorite parts of the book describes the birds partial to nesting in the trees of a longleaf pine, and how they like old growth trees the best. The Red Cockaded Woodpecker is a unique little bird that nests in the nooks and cavities of a live pine tree and carves it's nest out year through year. Ray weaves an eloquent chapter on this little bird and incorporates many of the facts about the species in this chapter. She includes tidbits about the threats to the habitat of this breed of Woodpecker, and I found myself captivated by the information. If you investigate the link above you will journey to the Cornell site that tells you more of this interesting little bird.

Incorporated into the book are nuggets that stay with you, such as the commentary on clear cutting forests. She writes, " If you clear a forest, you'd better pray continuously." " God doesn't like a clear cut. It makes his heart turn cold, makes him wince and wonder what went wrong with his creation, and sets him to thinking about what spoils the child. You'd better be pretty sure that the cut is absolutely necessary and be at peace with it, so you can explain it to God, for it's fairly certain he's going to question your motives........" And she goes on to describe clear cutting, the impact, and the effects on the diversity of the forest with replanting.

Her novel (slash) non-fiction (slash) autobiography is almost a snapshot of many of my experiences in the South. Her descriptions of her grandmother mirror my own Grandmaw in many ways that I was startled. The food, the cooking, the heart of a Southern woman are captured in her descriptions of family and relatives. Add a dash of mental illness in the family history and it makes for a mighty interesting story.

The book won the American Book Award, the Southern Book Critics Circle Award, and the Southern Environmental Law Center Award for Outstanding Writing on the Southern environment. It was also chosen for the "All Georgia Reading the Same Book" project by the Georgia Center for the Book. (info from Wiki) Ray went forward beyond her junkyard childhood to become a noted author, naturalist and environmental writer. Her works have been published in Audubon, she is a known environmental activist and has been featured on NPR.

I'm quite intrigued to discover an author that blends many of my favorite elements together so well while prompting me to learn more, to go further, to dive deeper into the environment around me. She blends her facts and narrative elements together so well that I feel she would be a wonderful author for our Green readers to explore - and the combination of a book non-fiction readers will enjoy while satisfying the desire for just a good 'ole read adds up to a 5 out of 5 stars on my tally sheet.

Monday Roundup

2009-03-23T20:44:00.001-07:00

Welcome Spring! I'm glad for clover holidays and eggs (almost!) peeking in baskets, a hope for fresh air and sunshine coming our way. I know there are gardening books sitting on the bedside table, seed catalogs scattered about and maybe even a few of the new Green themed publications that are hitting our shelves.

Share what you are working on in the comments section to give us some new "fresh air!"

P.S. Picture of little clover taken on a walk on my lunch break last year. I'd like to start a photo set of little peaceful moments that provide natural connections through our day. It seemed like a fitting picture for the month of clover and start of the season.

Book Review: Big-Box Swindle (a second opinion)

2009-03-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

Big-Box Swindle by Stacy Mitchell is a revolutionary book in the style of Omnivore’s Dilemma. Mitchell investigates the effect of big-box stores on the economy and her discoveries range from illuminating to infuriating. Big-Box Swindle covers about 100 years of retail business history. I am too young to remember a time before there were malls, but I found Mitchell’s observations to be fascinating since I live in a place that perfectly illustrates many of her points. She traces the history of retail sales from the time of "Main Streets" lined with locally-owned shops, to the addition of strip malls farther away, to the development of shopping malls, to big-box stores, to bigger-box stores and malls of big-box stores. At each stage, the retail business moves farther out from the city center and customers move from the previous stores to the newest stores, leaving empty stores behind. Each stage also requires a longer drive to get there. This book goes a long way towards explaining why our lifestyle uses so much more oil than that of the Europeans.

Big-Box Swindle covers what has happened to our country and briefly touches on how the big-box retailers have moved into other countries like Mexico. This section left me livid since I can imagine the suffering Wal-mart, particularly, has caused to the indigent cultures. Even Costco, who I’ve always regarded as one of the "good" boxes because they pay their employees better, ought to be ashamed of itself. Beyond that, Mitchell writes about how the big-box stores treat their domestic and overseas suppliers (not good). The way they use predatory pricing to drive their competitors out of business should be illegal and the laws should be enforced. I don't know how these people sleep at night.

The last part of the book concerns how our government at all levels has actually helped the big-boxes take over. The short-sightedness is so bad it’s baffling. But then Mitchell outlines strategies that cities have used to successfully take back control of their communities and she devotes a chapter to successful strategies that independent retailers are using to fight back. I think this book ought to be required reading for all members of city councils and planning commissions. It might even help the officials in my own city understand why they’ve been unsuccessful in their numerous attempts to revitalize downtown.

So I thought the book was really valuable and important. It’s well researched with a blend of facts, figures, legalities and case studies. It’s a little thick, but it's readable and it kept my interest. All the way through, though, I kept thinking it was missing something. I could summarize the whole book in four words: Chain = bad, Independent = good. I think there's a lot of middle ground that is completely overlooked. Mitchell isn't just against Wal-mart, she's also against shopping malls, Starbucks, and every chain business from the beginning of time (somewhere in the early 1900's). She gives illustrations so I will, too.

Case 1: One of the biggest criticisms of chain stores is that the dollars don’t stay in the community. My son’s first babysitter was a highschooler who happened to be one of my students. I was aware that her father owned several fast-food franchises here in town, but it wasn’t until we visited her house one day that I realized how well off they were. I didn’t even know that such a mansion, on such an estate, existed in my town! I don't mean to endorse fast-food chains -- I ususally avoid them because of where they source their food -- but believe me, in this case a lot of the profit stayed right here.

Case 2: Mitchell praises communities that put limits on the size of stores and limit the numbers of "formula (chain) businesses." One of my favorite grocery stores is over 100,000 square feet, a size condemned in the book, and it is an employee-owned chain. My town's beloved hardware store is locally owned, and bigger than a Home Depot. For nearly everything else, I shop at Bi-Mart, a box chain here in the pacific northwest. Bi-Mart was acquired by an out-of-state developer a while back, but the employees banded together to buy it back and now it's employee-owned, which means a couple family friends are part owners. My favorite restaurant is Burgerville, a pacific northwest fast-food chain that works hard to source their ingredients from local farmers. By Mitchell’s logic, all of these businesses are bad. Maybe I'm being a little too hard on her, but she never acknowledges a case where a box store or a chain might actually be good.

Case 3: About seven years ago, our out-of-work next-door neighbor went to a garage sale and inquired about a double-wide refrigerator. He was told that it was being sold with the business, an independent restaurant that happened to be on our neighbor’s speed-dial. So he bought the restaurant. How local is that! He changed the location and business took off. So he opened another, and another. Some are in other communities and often someone asks him if they can purchase a franchise. If he becomes a chain, does that make him a Bad Guy?

These are some of the questions that bothered me as I read Big-Box Swindle. So yes, I thought it was good and I got a lot out of it. I already knew many of Wal-mart's transgressions, but now I will also avoid Target and the like (although I'll still shop at Staples since it's so much more pleasant than being stared at by the people in the local stationery store). And I agree with most of what Mitchell said. I encourage everyone to read this book, but consider that life might not be quite so cut-and-dried as the author makes it out to be. I’ll give it 4 out of 5, and I’d love to hear some more feedback. If you'd like to read another review, check out Green Bean's right here.

Monday roundup

2009-03-16T00:01:00.000-07:00

I hope this Monday finds everyone well. I’ve been battling a cold for the past week. Sigh. But my cold has a silver lining in that I’ve had a lot of time when all I’ve wanted was to curl up with a book! I’ve just finished "Big-Box Swindle" and I’m hoping to get a review up tomorrow. Interesting book.

So what about you? What have you been reading? Or reviewing? Please drop us a comment and let us know.

Book Review: Serve God, Save the Planet

2009-03-13T09:26:00.000-07:00

I recently requested Serve God, Save the Planet, A Christian Call to Action, by J. Matthew Sleeth, MD from the library on the recommendation of a few fellow bloggers. Jaime, at Green Resolutions, wrote a review of it for us at The Blogging Bookworm - read it here. Joyce, at TallGrassWorship, also wrote a review of it - read that one here. And Donna, of Chocolate Crayons & More, wrote one on her blog - find it here. Maybe that's already enough reviews of the same book, but I read it and enjoyed it, so here goes. I think all three of the above reviews are great, so please go and read them too - I'll try to concentrate on other stuff in my review so that I am not too repetitive.

I wasn't sure if the book would be too religious for me, but figured it was worth a read since all three reviewers recommended it and I could get it out of the library. I'm really glad I did. The cover of my book looks different from the one above - I'm guessing it's been republished to look more modern. The author was an emergency room doctor who has become a minister, and he draws on many stories from his ER days, as well as from his family and personal experiences to highlight his points.

While Sleeth does use bible verses to illustrate his chapters, and while he absolutely looks at everything with a Christian take on things, you do not have to be religious to enjoy this book and get a lot out of it. Much of what he says about honoring God's creation can be thought of in the same terms in honoring Mother Nature and the earth. There are chapters on limiting the amount of stuff we have, the amount of energy we use, and trying to control the earth's population - all pretty standard stuff for an environmental book, and these chapters are interesting and full of good ideas. But Sleeth goes further - there is a lot of discussion on parenting, part of which applies to stuff (TV, toys, etc.) and part of which applies to modeling good behavior and creating good people. Again, in a Christian way, but I don't think non-Christians would disagree with his ideas or techniques.

There is a discussion about people using their fair share of resources. Americans, even the most spartan, use far more than their global fair share, but his point is to talk about how we can reduce our share given where we live. One example was about medical care, and how so many people try absolutely everything when the end of life is near and there is no hope of survival. He jokes that his kids know when to "pull the plug" on him, but his point is a good one - why don't more people choose pain medication to ease them through death rather than doing extreme treatments up until the end when all they might gain is a few weeks or months? He also gives an example of a spoiled, over privileged family demanding excessive medical care for a minor accident.

When I read the chapter, I found it humorous and felt superior to the family described. But then when I thought about it, I recalled last year, when my daughter split her chin open ice skating. On the way to the hospital (you could see bone in there!) the paramedics told me I had the right to ask for a plastic surgeon to sew her up. Sitting in the ER, I called my sister to see what she thought, and she agreed - I should ask for a plastic surgeon. The ER staff tried to convince me that they sewed up hundreds of chins (and I should know - I have a scar in the exact same place) and that they would do a great job, but I insisted. So we sat there for four more hours while they called in a plastic surgeon. She sewed up my daughter, and did a great job, but maybe too great of a job - when I took her to the pediatrician to get the stitches out, they were so tight and so tiny that the nurse had to dig and dig to get them out (yes, you can wince - I still do when I think about having to put my daughter through that). So, although it's too late to make a long story short, I feel now that I took more of my fair share of medical care that day - certainly there was more monetary cost (all borne by insurance) to have the surgeon, there was an unnecessary interruption to her Sunday evening, and there was more pain (a week later) to be suffered by my daughter, all because I felt like I "deserved" the best, instead of just taking what was surely good enough. In hindsight, I would do it differently.

Serve God, Save the Planet is a really pleasant book to read, and it inspired me to keep going down the path of using less, even when it's difficult. It also inspired me to be a better parent, and to be a better person myself, by thinking about how I can help others rather than worrying about myself. It's the kind of book that even though I've just read it, I will skim again before I return it to the library, so that I can keep Sleeth's ideas fresh in my mind. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars, and recommend it to everyone, especially those with kids. I give a special recommendation to people who normally wouldn't read it because of its religious tone - if you read it for its environmental message, and its urgings to be kind and fair and good, I think you will really enjoy it.

Book Review: Finding Beauty In A Broken World

2009-03-11T23:09:00.000-07:00

This is the first book I've read by Terry Tempest Williams although I've heard her name in the distance for years. And the truth is I set the book down after the first 35 pages and it was only by chance I picked it up after two weeks and began again. The second time I barely set it down until I turned the last page though.

Finding Beauty opens with TTW's experience with making mosaic in Italy, the metaphor of which is carried through the remainder of the book. I could have done without this part but the art ties the remaining two seemingly disparate sections of the book together.

The first half, after the opening, is about prairie dogs. Yeah, I know. Prairie dogs. I saw one once and have never given them another thought. Given their shrinking numbers I'll likely never see one again either. And I was fascinated with them.

TTW spends two weeks with a leading prairie dog researcher in the Utah desert observing the dogs 14 hours a day. Her observations are all over the map. They're part memoir, part poetry, part educational, humor, despair, part hope. I fell in love with prairie dogs. They live in communities, communally nurse the young and are brilliant in their contribution to the natural landscape. And they have language. It's amazing.

The second half of the book is about the author's experience in Rwanda with a group of artists building a memorial in a survivors town. It's a world away from the Utah desert but TTW ties it in with the mosaic metaphor. I appreciated reading the ways in which the Rwanda people are healing. And it was hard to read what individual people went through, are still going through. But there's beauty; the never ending beauty of spirit, of community, of courage and renewal. A miracle really.

I not only learned about prairie dogs and the people of Rwanda from reading this book but it reminded me to look for beauty in the broken places too. My only disappointment is I can't read it for the first time again.

I recommend this book to all people. It's our story regardless of landscape or borders.
I rate it 4.5 stars only because the beginning nearly kept me from the remaining beautiful stories.

Monday Roundup

2009-03-09T08:23:00.000-07:00

The cute guy and I have started haunting the library after work on Mondays. It's an old building with arched wooden framed windows, a door that creaks and hard covered books from a time when there were no pictures on the cover. We carry home poetry, pages of images, books we think we might want to read or ordered; books that we wonder what the hell were we thinking. And then we carry them back. It's a privilege.

And finally after so many months of barely reading I devoured a book that I plan on reviewing this week, Finding Beauty in a Broken World by Terry Tempest Williams. I loved the book but even more I loved remembering the magic of getting lost in a good read, of letting the routine go, of learning something new, of getting inside an author's head and going where they take me. Another privilege.

Second best only to what I manage to read is reading reviews of the books I'd like to read or know I'll never read but want to know about. It makes the library and the bookstore juicier recognizing a title and then flipping through it, often bringing it home while remembering a blogger's enthusiasm. Or the other side, setting it back on the shelf with a nod of agreement remembering a tepid commentary.

What's going on in your reading life? Have you gotten lost in a good book? Learned something new? And new reviews to lure us to the library or bookstore?

Let us know. Books are even better when they're shared.

Book Review: Big Box Swindle

2009-03-07T00:00:00.000-08:00

Last December, I wrote an article on the importance of buying local for my city's green newsletter. I played up the importance of supporting neighbors in a bad economy, the fact that local businesses give 350% more support to non-profits than do non locally owned businesses, and the value of preserving local culture.

Within hours of sending out the newsletter, a very active and very green citizen shot me a blistering email. She found my article divisive and offensive. What was more, she hated our downtown. It was too expensive and didn't carry some of the items that her 17 year old niece wanted for Christmas. She scoffed at donations made by local businesses to our schools and community organizations. They couldn't possibly compare, in size, to the 5% that Targets allegedly give back to their communities. And she wanted a Target in our town, darn it! A green one, that she could walk to. Never mind that there is a Target the next town over. She needed one here.

I put together a lengthy and, I hoped, eloquent response, declaring my allegiance to Main Street. The other green task force members piped in with positive thoughts about buying within the city limits but it was the response from the task force's fearless leader that made the biggest impression.

"Mary, have you read Big Box Swindle? Let me send a you a copy so that you can better understand the importance of supporting locally owned businesses and the impact of big box stores."

Here I sat, a green bookworm if ever there was one. Heck, I even blog at a place devoted entirely to green reads and yet I'd never heard of this book much less read it.

I immediately logged into my library's online reservation and reserved a copy of Big Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight to Save America's Independent Businesses by Stacy Mitchell.

Before reading it, I had intuitively known that local businesses provide more interest, more diversity in the marketplace and I had supported other bloggers who felt the same. I had read, with great interest, the chapter in Affluenza that pointed out how chain businesses erode our communities and ship our dollars to corporate headquarters instead of to city hall. I had nodded in agreement with Bill McKibben when he explained, in Deep Economy, that, when chain stores come to town, the individual benefits (through cheaper socks and shampoo) but the community suffers. Indeed, I had immediately agreed with Katrina, from Kale for Sale, when she suggested that, at The Blogging Bookworm, the book list link to independent bookstores instead of Amazon. And the first ad we ever put up at The Green Phone Booth was for IndieBound, an online cooperative of independent bookstores across the country.

But knowing, or suspecting, that it is better to support local businesses is one thing. Having the marketplace laid bare, with all its secrets and swindles set forth, is another.

For me, Big Box Swindle is the next The Omnivore's Dilemma. It rocked my world and opened eyes in a way no other book has since I plodded along with Michael Pollan through factory farm feedlots and the fields of PolyFace Farm.

In Big Box Swindle, the author systematically explains how chain stores have changed American culture. They've moved us out of our downtowns, into our cars, and out to the fringes where we buy things shipped from Asia, made with toxic ingredients by people paid unethical wages, and rung up by a cashier who works full time but lives below the poverty line.

They've ripped up our forests, torn down our historic buildings, and polluted our rivers and streams as they pave over more and more of the country.

They've limited our selection. We wear the clothes, dance to the music, and read the books that an ever-shrinking group of people choose for us. "The pressure [the mega retailers] place on manufacturers to lower costs has sharply curtailed investment in product research and development." (138).

They've taken subsidies from well meaning but ill informed city councils and demanded tax breaks in return as they bring in lower paying jobs and drive local businesses out of business.

They've stripped our country of its meeting places, whittled away at the idea of community and left us paying the same price for shampoo as we did before - but with a smaller paycheck, fewer community amenities and for a lesser product.

If you care about rebuilding your community, about rebounding from this economic collapse, about preserving those beautiful natural spaces and those binding community places, if you want to have more choice in what you use to wash hair or paint your walls, if your city is struggling to pay it teachers or keep its park and rec classes open, this book is for you.

It is impossible to move forward without truth. And of truth, this book offers plenty. But it also offers solutions. Ways to overcome the big box syndrome sweeping the country. Ways to fight it within your own community. And ways to support those independently owned businesses the provide our country with the beauty, the diversity, the flavor the heart that makes up America.

The politicians have bickered enough about bailouts and stimulus packages. This book provides the blue print for the only one that matters but the only folks who can do it. Together, we can bail out Main Street and get back the community we all want.

Rating: 10 out of 5.
Recommended: For everyone who has ever paid for anything.

Book Review: Twinkie, Deconstructed

2009-03-06T05:48:00.001-08:00

I'm back with another very quick review, this time of Twinkie, Deconstructed, by Steve Ettlinger. My husband picked this up at the library because he knows how interested I am in eating healthy, unprocessed foods, and he thought that the cover blurb sounded like it might be right up my alley - "My journey to discover how the ingredients found in processed foods are grown, mined (yes, mined), and manipulated into what Amercia eats".

He was right - this was a very eye-opening book! Ettlinger starts by explaining why he wrote the book - his kids were asking him what polysorbate 60 was, after finding it on an ingredient label. He realized there were so many things in the foods we eat for which he did not know the origin, and decided to look into it. He chose the Twinkie because not only is it full of unpronounceable things, it has a reputation for being the quintessential American snack food, and although a lot of us might make fun of it, flavor experts actually rank it extremely highly for all the things people want in a food - flavor combinations, mouth feel, appearance, and more.

The book has a chapter on every ingredient, starting with the first, flour, and also has chapters on things that we don't think of as ingredients, like bleach, which are necessary to make the flour. The entire process is described, from grinding the wheat, to the details of the production lines in the plants. Did you know, for example, that flour dust is extremely flammable? Work can only be done on the line when everything is shut down since a spark could make the whole place go up in flames! There are chapters on vitamins, sugar, corn sweeteners and all the other things made from corn (syrup, thickeners and more). There are chapters on soy, eggs, cellulose gum, and more, all in incredible detail.

I have to confess while I read the first third of the book intently, by the time I got to whey, I started skimming, since so many of these processes were so complicated, but by then I had a pretty good idea of how much work it is to create the ingredients for processed foods. I had a couple of conflicting feelings while reading this book. On the one hand, I was upset by how many awful things are either in our foods or used to make them (bleach, poisonous chemicals and more), but on the other hand I was amazed at the lengths that humans have gone through to create all these things. The level of precision and complication in these factories shows the unbelievable creativity and understanding that has happened to make this all possible. While I don't like that flour is bleached, and reading the chapter on vitamins is disturbing in many ways, there is no doubt that adding B vitamins and folic acid to flour has saved many lives. The incredible difficulty that is gone through to produce something as simple as baking soda is just amazing - I had no idea how it was created.

Ettlinger writes this book in a very factual way. There is no discussion of "this is terrible" or "this is great for you"; he presents what he found very neutrally. There is an element of "wow, I never knew it was all so complicated" which I think is totally justified. I definitely finished the book resolved to eat even fewer processed foods than I do now, but it did give me a new respect for the industry for the level of difficulty in creating all this. And, as the author pointed out, it is all created because Americans want it - if nobody bought this stuff they wouldn't make it. He discusses changes that have been made due to pressure from the public or the government - the elimination of trans fats, for example. Of course it's also true that Americans buy this stuff because it's what's out there - so in many respects it's a circular argument. It is true that the industry makes changes to suit itself which are not necessarily what Americans want or what is better for them (high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar, for example), and he talks about that too.

There were a few interesting stories about the history of the Twinkie (did you know that the original flavor was banana, not vanilla?) All in all, this was a fascinating book, although you have to want to read all the technical stuff. You'd get a pretty good idea for how processed foods are made if you only read a few chapters however, so if you can get this book out of the library it would be a real eye-opener. I'd rate this book 3 out of 5 stars for moderate to dark green readers.

Book Review: Green Housekeeping

2009-03-03T21:00:00.000-08:00

My green book club recently met to discuss the book, Green Housekeeping by Ellen Sandbeck. The book was a breezy read - more how to and encyclopedia on green cleaning techniques than book, really. Ms. Sandbeck touches on nearly every aspect of cleaning a home from doing the dishes (Yes, Greeen Sheeep was right! You can use a combo of washing soda and borax in lieu of dishwasher detergent!) to mopping to organic gardening.

The group's number one take away? Throw our your sponge! It's nooks and crannies are full of all kinds of icky stuff that you really can't kill (even in the dishwasher or microwave) and you certainly don't want to spread that stuff around your kitchen table, counters and sink. The author's suggestion, and I think it was a good one, is to switch to soft towels to use as dish rags. For those stubborn pots and pans, fold your dish rag up in a square and use it inside of a mesh bag (like the ones onions or oranges come in). Works like a charm! Then, remove the mesh, rinse it out and set to dry, while tossing your dish rag in the laundry.

The book is chock full of useful little tips like the ones above - ways to chip away at your dust and grime as well as any chemicals still residing in the dark depths of your cupboards. For the most part, the tips are helpful and make sense. Less clutter results in less cleaning time. Vodka shines, vinegar cleans. And so on.

Ms. Sandbeck does go a little overboard here and there, She drones on and on about fire safety and about botulism. Still, the book is a worthwhile resource for anyone looking to keep a greener, cleaner home.

Recommended: for the green homemaker in all of us

Rating: 3 out of 5

Monday Roundup

2009-03-02T00:00:00.000-08:00

March brings spring and the awakening of our yards and gardens, the vacant lots, the untended fringe along the suburbs and the forests along with it. March is a time when I usually leave books behind - just for a bit - to rush outside, tuck dainty seeds into the ground, turn under cover crop, count fluttering white butterflies over the peas, and ogle the quiet worms temporarily unearthed by a carefully applied trowel.

I suspect this March will be much of the same. The books on my bedside table boast titles like Carrots Love Tomatoes, Gaia's Garden and Golden Gate Gardening. But that doesn't mean I don't have reviews of some over-wintered books to share. Stay tuned this week for, hopefully, reviews of Big Box Swindle and Green Housekeeping.

Are you too sucked outside in spring? Or have you found a great green read that can compete with the sunshine and soft breezes? Did winter leave you well-read and ready to share some reviews? Please leave a comment and let me know.

Zen Heart: Simple Advice for Living with Mindfulness and Compassion

2009-02-28T08:24:00.000-08:00

What is the answer to your question of what it means to be you, in all of your beauty and even in fault? Zen Heart by Ezra Bayda gives us exactly what it intends to do, give us simple lessons on how to embrace your life and live openhearted.

Living in our modern world and coping in our modern world can sometimes put us at odds. It is a rush, rush, hurry, hurry, go, go, and one thing that Zen Heart encourages is a slowdown and recognition of ourselves. We are encouraged through pointers, practices, and exercises to recognize our inner spirituality and how it connects to our psyche.

You have to take the time to work through the steps to realize the true lessons. There is a three step process:

Me-Phase - becoming aware of our patterns of thinking
Being Awareness - expand upon our awareness with greater scope
Being Kindness - connecting to who we truly are, and the compassionate nature of ourselves

In keeping with the spirit of the clean simplicity of the book I'm going to keep my write-up very small and honest. This book is transformative, it is calming, it is a gentle read to help your spirit. I'm not putting it all into practice, but I walked away with inspirational thoughts that will help me along my journey, especially in relation to being a compassionate person to others.

Monday Roundup

2009-02-24T18:27:00.000-08:00

Ah, the end of winter draws near for many of us. It is a time when we seek books on greening our households, planting in our gardens, freshening our lives and dreaming of warmer weather. Well, at least many of us in the colder climates start dreaming about these things 'round about this time.

Is this reflected in your book selections? Do you have a title suggestion to share for this week? Let us know in the comments so that we can dream of a greener read as well.

Book Review: The Tightwad Gazette

2009-02-18T19:36:00.002-08:00

Years ago, Parade Magazine did a feature on a lady from Maine named Amy Dacyczyn who went by the title "the frugal zealot." She published a monthly newsletter filled with ways to save money, and by the time the article ran in Parade, she had already compiled the first couple years of newsletters into her book: "The Tightwad Gazette." There was a money-back guarantee on the book - if you didn't save more than the cost of the book from ideas in the book, you could get back your purchase price.

At the time, I considered myself an expert in ways to save money (ha!) and so I bought the book, fully expecting to ask for my $9.95 refund. Shortly after reading the book, I received a coupon from a long-distance carrier offering me $50 to switch to them. I called my current carrier and offered to mail the coupon to them instead for a $50 credit on my account. They happily agreed. It wasn't until my roommate asked me how I knew to do that that I realized I'd gotten the idea from "The Tightwad Gazette." I promptly subscribed to the newsletter and remained a customer until 1996 when the newsletter run ended. The original book I purchased covered only a few years, but the current book has been updated to contain the entirety of the newsletters.

"The Tightwad Gazette" is much more than just a list of ideas on how to save money, although I'd dare anyone to not learn something new. Amy covers almost every method of saving money imaginable, and in this economy that might be very helpful. I think the biggest strength of the book is the philosophical articles interspersed throughout that cover everything from how blackbelt tightwaddery can help you achieve your dreams, the effect of frugality on the environment, how a little savings put to use wisely (rather than put in the bank!) can snowball into big savings, to how to painstakingly calculate the best deal when comparing, for example, medium vs. large eggs. Some of the articles are hilarious. One of my favorites is Amy's retelling of a contest between herself and her husband as they competed by preparing air popped vs. microwave popcorn.

"The Tightwad Gazette" is not perfect by any means. Many things are dated and I expect most readers will find a lot that is irrelevant. Mention of environmental issues is infrequent. You'll not find a guide to saving money while trying to purchase organic produce, and many times it seems the only consideration is actual dollars spent. I've changed my thinking a lot since I first purchased the book and now I care how the cow was raised or how the workers were paid. That's not in the book. That said, though, every time I reread "The Tightwad Gazette," I gain something new that I can use. Just this week, I marked the recipe for making homemade pancake syrup and I got some great ideas for lunch box fillings, which was timely since my son just started preschool.

I'd give the book 3.5 out of 5 stars and recommend it for light green to medium green readers, and anybody who is looking for ways to save money.

Monday Roundup

2009-02-16T00:01:00.000-08:00

Well, Happy Monday everyone! For those of you whose jobs actually take a Presidents' Day holiday, I hope you're enjoying your time off.

I've not done a lot of reading lately, but I did finally finish "Green Collar Economy" and I've been rereading for the umteenth time "The Tightwad Gazette." I'm going to review one or the other this week -- I guess you'll just have to check back to see which one. :)

Anyway, what are you all up to? Read any good books lately?

Book Review: Little Heathens

2009-02-12T22:14:00.000-08:00

I've never read any of the Little House on the Prairie books or even been drawn to them to tell you the truth. And that's why the first time I saw this book, Little Heathens, Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression, I returned it to shelf. It looked too little housish.

A couple weeks later I picked it up again though. It was on sale as a benefit to our local library; for two dollars. I bought it. From the introduction I was interested and became more so with each successive story. I liked the author's, Mildred Armstrong Kalish's, voice. She tells her story of growing up during the depression honestly, not making it more or less than what it was.

Each chapter could be read without the others although I kept wanting more. There's a chapter about farm food, one on chores, another on outhouses, gardening, animal tales, gathering wood. There's humor, heart, courage; there's inspiration to be a better person.

My favorite chapter was about medicine. For cuts the kids knew to get cobwebs from the barn and wrap them over it; exactly like the tales from my Grandparents. There's also stories of curing warts that defies logic. I've witnessed this remedy, which made it even more fun to see it in print, though it's still unbelievable.

I enjoyed the stories of foraging, the relationships with the animals, the landscape, the seasons. The way everyone intimately knew where their food came from. It was a different time; not to be romanticized, but full of wisdom that I'm glad is not forgotten but skillfully put into print.

I give this book four out of five stars for its inherent adherence to sustainability. And I'd recommend it to Little House lovers as well as those that get hives just considering the prairie.

This is an enjoyable and thought provoking fast read. Perfect for a long holiday weekend.