Big Green Purse, written by Diane MacEarchern, is a great resource for women wishing to shop greener. By changing our spending habits, Diane believes we can create a "cleaner, greener world", and I agree.
It's simple, but potentially revolutionary. When we buy green products, we encourage manufacturers to reduce pollution, save energy and water, use less packaging, and protect natural areas like rain forests. With this book, women everywhere can learn how to shop smart and change the world.
The book begins by recapping environmental problems and discusses principles for green shopping and avoiding greenwashing. The majority of the book then discusses specific ways you can shift your spending on common commodities to positively impact the environment.
Go Green-simple suggestions of immediate, green lifestyle changes
Make the shift-eco-friendly product recommendations
Ecocheap-ways to save money and shop green
Shop talk-suggestions for encouraging local merchants to carry more green goods
Green at work-how to make your work place more eco-friendly
Thumbs up-a rating for products, services, and practices that really live up to their green claims
Thumbs down-greenwashing
In my house-a green reality check for your home
The power of the purse or wallet cannot be denied, as companies respond to what people spend money on. This is already evident by the increase of organically grown products available in today's market. Consumer spending power is a powerful force in a capitalist society.
Sure, "Michael, recycle!" could be a command, but in the children's book Michael Recycle, he is a super-green hero. Written by Ellie Bethel and illustrated by Alexander Colombo, this book takes readers on a rhyming adventure to save a town where garbage piled up and people were "lazy". Despite his zany colander cap, Michael tells the people they must recycle, and they listen to his advice.
They recycled their paper,
Their plastic and cans,
And even old junk Like used pots and pans!
They also began
The "Be Greener Campaign." They grew their own kumquats
And saved up the rain.
The book ends with several simple "Michael Recycle's Go Green Tips" for children to implement. Michael Recycle does not address the complexities of climate change, like The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming; however, children will enjoy the rhyming text and illustrations.
The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook is the quintessential cookbook for vegans and vegetarians, similar to Betty Crocker for those just learning to cook. This cookbook is loaded with basic recipes from sloppy joes to cinnamon rolls. You can learn to make your own seitan and soymilk in this cookbook filled with basic recipes, from the quick to the more complicated. My copy of The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook is so torn and tattered that is held together with a rubber band now. The Farm is an intentional community in Tennessee, famous for their midwives.
Whole World by Christopher Corr and Fred Penner is a new children's book based upon the gospel spiritual originally sung by African American pianist and composer Margaret Bonds (1913-1972). You probably sang this song in childhood, chanting aloud, "She's got the sun and the moon in her hands...She's got the whole world in her hands!" Carr and Penner's version of this classic song, that embraces the world as a whole, ends with an environmental message. Readers are given brief descriptions of the geography of the different areas featured in the verses of the song, followed by some "Ways to Reduce Global Warming":
Eat less meat. Forests of trees that reduce carbon dioxide in the air are cut down to make way for cows that will be used for food.
The artwork is delightful in Whole World, and it comes with an audio cd. One track on the cd includes vocals of "Whole World", and another is a dub version for your sing along enjoyment. Personally, I have heard better versions of the song than on the cd; however, I do enjoy children's books based on songs, especially if there is a green message! Oh yea, Whole World is printed on "ancient-forest friendly" paper, and 10 percent of net sales go to conservation organizations!
7 Tips to Reduce Carbon Footprint: Grist Founder on Today
And speaking of Grist, founder Chip Giller (a former classmate of mine!) was interviewed on Today earlier this week and offered viewers seven tips to reduce their carbon emissions by 10% in one week. Among the tips:
- Wash your clothes in cold water
- Eat no meat one day a week
- Lower the heat in your house by two degrees
- Unplug appliances when they're not in use.
Chip took some flack on the Grist message boards for focusing on baby steps instead of recommending radical changes to our culture of consumption. Personally, though, I think he'll catch more flies with honey, and that the impact created by these small changes would be pretty significant if they were implemented by a big enough audience.
Now that you've looked into the heart of the food system and been into the belly of the beast, how should I eat, and what should I buy, and if I'm concerned about health, what should I be eating? I decided I would see what kind of very practical answers I could give people.
Speaking of Fair Trade Month, why not pick up a copy of Fair Trade: A Beginner's Guide by Jacqueline Decarlo. Here's the description from Amazon:
Grounded in the inspiring power of Fair Trade as a positive alternative to poverty, environmental destruction, and human exploitation, this enlightening book explains how we can make a difference. Providing an accessible explanation of the principles behind the movement and tracing its development into the powerful economic and social justice tool it is today.
Earlier this week, we mentioned Building the Green Economy: Success Stories from the Grassroots. Written by Kevin Danaher, Shannon Biggs and Jason Mark, the book includes essays and interviews describing how community groups, families, and individual citizens have taken action to protect their food and water, clean up their neighborhoods, and strengthen their local economies.
They excerpt an interview with Anuradha Mittal, Founder and Executive Director of the Oakland Institute, a non-profit research and advocacy organization that works to ensure public participation and democratic debate on crucial economic and social policy issues. Her take on the biggest problem in the U.S.:
(F)ood, instead of being about communities, is now about commodities. It is controlled, not by the family farm, growing food for families and communities, while maintaining bio-diversity; it has come to mean large corporate industrial agriculture farms, where machines have replaced farmers, where monocultures have replaced biodiversity, where corporate agribusiness has replaced family farms. What we see as a result is a disconnect between us and the food system where we have been reduced to mere consumers. So we have to rethink our relationship with the food system before we can effectively challenge that.
In another sign that eating less meat has become mainstream, Mark Bittman, author of The Minimalist column for The New York Times offers up How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.
We're big fans of Bittman's How to Cook Everything cookbook, which features tasty recipes using minimal ingredients and prep time. Bittman offers up simple recipes and easy-to-follow instructions, followed by numerous variations. How to Cook Everything Vegetarian includes more than 2000 recipes and variations.
Weekend Reading: Adventures of an Italian Food Lover by Faith Heller Willinger
Admit it. Summer's over. Time to head back to school, back to work, back to everyday life. But that doesn't mean you can't dream about being somewhere else.
Personally, I'm headed to Italy, with a copy of a beautiful cookbook and set of stories from Faith Heller Willinger called Adventures of an Italian Food Lover.
Willinger, a contributor to Epicurious who lives in Florence, has compiled stories and recipes from friends across Italy into a sophisticated and highly readable book that pays tribute to warm, talented people, fresh local ingredients and the meals you can enjoy when you bring them together. With listing information for restaurants and buying information for products as well as recipes, it comes off as part cookbook, part guidebook, and part love letter to a country that Willinger has gotten to know through its cuisine.
For our baby shower, Nicole gave me a copy of The Diaper-Free Baby by Christine Gross-Loh. I've been reading through it while I'm feeding him, and I have to admit I'm intrigued.
The book's premise is that babies are aware from birth of their need to go to the bathroom, and that they give off certain cues - just as they give cues when they want to eat or need to be burped. By learning those cues, and responding to them - a process called elimination communication - parents can toilet train their kids at a very young age (even as infants).
Practicing elimination communication takes a lot of work and a lot of patience. But the book argues that there are benefits (financial, ecological and emotional) to using it even just periodically -- and offers advice for full-time, part-time and occasional practitioners.
She's got the whole world in her hands,
She's got the whole world in her hands,
She's got the whole world in her hands,
She's got the whole world in her hands.
Hey, why not? Whole World, the popular children's song, released as a book and CD set with singing by Fred Penner and illustrations by Christopher Corr.
The book includes tips on making the world a better place. A portion of proceeds benefit global environmental conservation.
Use Your Spending Power to Save the Earth
![Chip-on-Today_h240[1].jpg](http://www.reallynatural.com/archives/Chip-on-Today_h240%5B1%5D.jpg)
Michael Pollan, author of 
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