Grow: Plant the Seed of Environmental Responsibility in Kids
February 15, 2009
Here’s a cute gift for the little ones in your life: a book that “plants the seed of environmental responsibility in young children through a fun and interactive daily routine.” It’s called ‘Grow: An Environmentally Friendly Book’ and it’s full of playful graphics and typography that help build awareness of the environment, community, health and the child’s awareness of self in the larger world.
From Featherproof:
KJ Bradley and Alyson Beaton created Grow to take a child (2-5 years of age) through a typical day, implementing a “normal” routine that is environmentally and socially sound. The sharply designed book helps parents teach children very early on how easy it is to take steps for a cleaner earth. The text focuses on words like “share” and “grow” to instill basic social concepts that resound in larger impacts, and the images encourage the child to actively participate in the daily routine and timeline that follows along the bottom of the pages. The book was based on the developmental findings of Clotaire Rapaille, which say that as a child’s vocabulary develops he or she makes connections to specific items. For example, if a child associates the word “coffee” with “starbucks” the word “starbucks” will likely be an association for life. Grow hopes to instill brandless, positive routines that can benefit community, health, and an awareness of self that’s connected to the larger world.
This book meets two essential needs for kids in the modern world: implementing a routine, and helping to shield them from the constant barrage of advertising that is directed at them. It’s being published by Featherproof books and will be available in March (both the offset version and a limited edition letterpress version are available for pre-sale now!). Both books are hand bound, printed using vegetable inks on 100% recycled paper using the greenest printing practices available.
Check out GrowBook.org for more info and to purchase.
Link [Featherproof Books]
Who’s Who in Green: Rachel Carson
December 19, 2008
Rachel Carson is regarded by many as the godmother of the environmental movement. It was her book, Silent Spring, that sowed the seeds of passion for protecting the environment – and she wrote it in 1962, years before hippies brought the concept of ‘saving the earth’ to mainstream consciousness.
Carson grew up in the rural river town of Springdale, Pennsylvania and earned degrees in marine biology and zoology before becoming a federal scientist and Editor-in-Chief of all major publications for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1936. The job combined both of her lifelong passions: nature and the written word.
Much as she loved science, the work she did for the government must have been a bit dry; she began turning her government research into lyrical prose in her free time, first as an article entitled ‘Undersea’, which was published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1937, and then in a book, Under the Sea-Wind (1941). Two subsequent books, The Sea Around Us and The Edge of the Sea, made her famous as a naturalist and science writer. In 1952, Carson resigned from her post at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to devote her time to her writing.
Through the remainder of the 1950s Carson wrote two more books about the wonders of nature, Help Your Child to Wonder and Our Ever-Changing Shore. In 1957, Carson began closely following federal proposals for the widespread spraying of pesticides, and her then-unpopular belief that such human actions could have an intense negative effect on the earth led her to focus the remainder of her career on pesticide overuse.
Carson had been concerned about the use of synthetic pesticides since the 1940s, but it was the USDA’s 1957 fire ant eradication program that led her to devote her research and her next book to pesticides and other environmental poisons. She began by gathering examples of environmental damage attributed to DDT and found a community of scientists who were documenting the physiological and environmental effects if pesticides.
Unsurprisingly, Carson was attacked by the chemical industry and some government officials as an alarmist when her book, Silent Spring, was published in 1962. In the book, Carson argued that pesticide use had effects far beyond the mere eradication of harmful insects from croplands. Silent Spring addresses the effects pesticides have on natural ecosystems as well as human poisoning, cancer and other illnesses attributed to pesticides.
Despite the efforts of the industry, Silent Spring went on to gain a wide audience. Angry critics launched attacks on her personal character, with one calling her “a fanatic defender of the cult of the balance of nature” and another, former Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson, concluding that the fact that she was attractive yet unmarried must mean she was a Communist.
But, such criticism didn’t hold back Carson’s book. Silent Spring became a rallying point for the budding environmental movement in the 1960s, opening many people’s eyes to the fact that progress did not need to come at the expense of the environment. It also inspired the campaign to ban the use of DDT in the United States.
Today, Carson’s name also lives on in the form of the Rachel Carson Prize, awarded to women who have made a contribution to the field of environmental protection.
Rachel Carson’s Green Score: 96,331
Will Oprah’s Endorsement Help Kindle E-Reader?
October 29, 2008
Traditionally, anything Oprah touches turns to gold. Get your product into her ‘favorite things’, or even mentioned in passing on her show, and you’re in for a tsunami of sales. So, the makers of electronic reading device Kindle are undoubtedly salivating with the sales prospects after she recommended their product last week and offered a special $50 discount with the promotional code “OPRAHWINFREY”.
From Eco Geek:
But can Oprah do for the Kindle what she’s done for her book club selections? Even with the promotional discount, the gadget costs more than $300 and the e-reader has had a tough time catching on. The environmental benefits are obvious, but it’s hard to justify the purchase when checking out books from the library is also an eco-friendly choice. And that’s free. Plus there’s the fact that most people are holding their dollars pretty close right now. All this could equal a moderate increase in sales, but not an overwhelming response.
That does seem awfully expensive, but as Hank Green mentions in his overview of the Kindle, it’s a virtual pocket library. For a bibliophile like myself, the idea of having literally hundreds of books at your fingertips at any given moment is incredibly attractive. The EV-DO wireless broadband lets you download books anywhere, too – so you’re never without reading material. Ultimately, I’m too much of a romantic to give up buying actual books – especially since I collect old, used ones. But it seems like a cool idea nonetheless.
We’re definitely in an economic downturn where people are less likely to run out and spend money on frivolous things, but I think that with Oprah’s endorsement, the Amazon Kindle could still get a huge bump in holiday sales.
‘Green Collar Economy’ by Van Jones Flying Off the Shelves
October 23, 2008
When Van Jones wrote ‘The Green Collar Economy’, the Wall Street collapse hadn’t yet happened and Americans weren’t nearly as cynical about the future of America’s economy as they are today. The release of the book just happened to coincide with the meltdown, coming at a time when people are desperate for hope. That propitious timing combined with a brilliant viral marketing strategy resulted in copies of ‘The Green Collar Economy’ flying off the shelves: the book debuted at #12 on the New York Times bestseller list this week.
Jones and the environmental organization he founded, Green for All, didn’t have much money to get the word out about “The Green Collar Economy”, but they did have the drive to get the book in as many people’s hands as possible. So, they improvised, and their strategy paid off big. As Jones told The Huffington Post, “Usually to get to number 12 the first week as a new author you’ve got to spend a million bucks or be on Oprah.”
From The Huffington Post:
Through a combination of emails and phone calls to friends, bloggers, and a network of activists, Jones estimates that the viral campaign he and his co-workers launched resulted in emails being sent to millions of people, many of whom surely forwarded it along. The initial commercial success of “Green Collar Economy” proves that Internet buzz combined with online activism can push a book onto the best sellers list.
It also helps to have something original and important to say, which Jones clearly does. His book is an innovative and impassioned account of how transforming America into a greener society would not only address the global warming crisis but also generate enough jobs to help turn the around the economy around and provide work for the Americans who need it most.Jones and Green for All contacted around 150 organizations, national and local, reaching out to everyone from community gardening groups to the Hip Hop Caucus. They even got the owners of the domain name greencollareconomy.com to promote the book on their website. All of this hard work means that hundreds of thousands of people across the country are learning right now about how the environmental movement can help them, their companies and their families prosper well into the future while also aiding in the fight against global warming.
Learn more about Van Jones’ efforts to jump-start a green collar economy by reading his recent interview with The Huffington Post.
Link [The Huffington Post] + [Amazon]
Buy Van Jones’ New Book!
October 19, 2008
Watch this pair of great videos and you’ll understand just how important programs like Green Corps are. Green Corps trains organizers, provides field support for today’s critical environmental campaigns and produce activists with the skills and commitment to win the environmental battles of tomorrow.
Green for All founder Van Jones knows that programs like Green Corps represent the future of jobs in America. In fact, his new book, ‘The Green Collar Economy’, explains how we can use the green movement to create a clean energy revolution in the United States, resulting in an instant economic stimulus. Why are you still reading this? Go buy his book!
NYT Columnist Thomas Friedman Discusses Energy Technology
September 12, 2008
New York Times columnist and author Thomas Friedman appeared on “Meet the Press” earlier this week to discuss the need for ‘energy revolution’. Friedman is currently on a book tour in support of Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution – and How it Can Renew America. Friedman discusses the need for competitive, innovative work in alternative energy across the world to get things back on the right track.
“ET, energy technology, is going to be the next IT. The next great industrial revolution. And I’m a big believer that which country dominates that economic revolution, that industry, is going to have the most security, the most respect, the most competitive industry, and the most healthy population. I want that to be our country.”
Friedman makes a number of excellent points. Green can lead this country into a golden age of productivity and happiness. Let’s hope that more people begin to realize how important energy technology really is to the future of America and the world.
Link [Grist]
Book Review – The Urban Homestead: Your guide to self-sufficient living in the heart of the city
July 2, 2008
Ever since I happened upon the Path to Freedom website a few years ago, I’ve been very interested in urban homesteading. I’m eager to drink in as much information as possible for use now, as a renter, and in the future, once I own my own home. So, I was excited to read The Urban Homestead: Your guide to self-sufficient living in the heart of the city, by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen of the ‘Homegrown Evolution’ blog.
Urban homesteading is all about reducing your dependence on our consumerist, mindless-television-watching culture. When you think about it, many of us are incredibly reliant on grocery stores, the power grid, city water and gas-powered transportation. Our food is typically grown thousands of miles away, so we have no real connection to it. And, what would happen if the power went out, grocery stores closed down, ‘peak oil’ actually happened, or any other scenario that left us without all of the conveniences we’ve grown accustomed to? We’ve lost the power that our ancestors held, which has been transferred to faceless corporations.
As an urban homesteader, you take that power into your own hands by growing your own food, saving (and sometimes producing your own) energy, water catchment systems and plain ol’ riding a bike. You can take it further by raising chickens and other animals, foraging for edibles and even making your own alcoholic beverages. All of these things are possible in city environments, and The Urban Homestead explains how to do it.
What I love most about this book is the authors’ refreshing attitude about the amount of work it takes to be an urban homesteader (and the occasional joking references to using these skills in the event of a zombie attack). From the outside looking in, urban homesteading is an awful lot of hard work, but Kelly and Erik make it seem far less overwhelming with a ‘work makes work’ and ‘just do what you can’ take. It gives you the confidence to start your own journey toward self-sufficiency, even if you start in very small ways.
The Urban Homestead isn’t meant to be a one-volume instruction manual for every single skill you need to be more self-sufficient. Rather, it gives an excellent overview of the skills you should learn – along with many helpful tips – and lists of resources where you can find more in-depth information on each topic. Think of it as a primer that points you in all the right directions for each skill set. It’s an engaging read, and it will get you excited about the possibilities of living a better, more self-reliant life no matter where you live.
Link [Homegrown Evolution] + [Amazon.com]
Are You Chelsea Green’s Next Author?
June 21, 2008
We’re a little late reporting this, so there’s not a whole lot of time left, but Chelsea Green has an awesome contest going right now that could be a big opportunity for the right person. All you have to do is submit a book proposal for their Green Guide Series, and you have a chance of winning $1,000 and a publishing contract with Chelsea Green.
From Chelsea Green:
Our Green Guide series is a collection of big ideas in small packages. Current guides convey the basics you need to know to confidently get started composting, biking to work, greening your office, lowering your energy footprint, recycling to the max, and conserving water. And they convey it all in a small, 92ish-page format. In fact, our guides are small enough to travel in pockets, concise enough to make green practices seem as easy as they are, and useful enough to help their readers actually change they way they live and work.
So, about that contest.
Write to us, tell us about a Green Guide you would like to research and write, why you’d like to write it, how it should be illustrated, and a bit about yourself. If you’re one of up to five winners we’ll offer you a publishing contract that includes an advance of $1,000 against royalties.
Check out the contest guidelines here. The deadline for entries is July 4th, 2008.
Link [Chelsea Green]
