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The Dumb Architect's Guide to Glazing Selection
by EcoTone Publishing

The Dumb Architect’s Guide to Glazing Selection will serve as an excellent introduction for architects wanting to make intelligent decisions on how to pick glazing for their building designs in order to lower environmental impact, save money and increase comfort. This glazing guide is the first in a series of books that will teach technical green building subjects in a fun-simple to understand manner.

A $14.95 Value FREE!

Other Featured Titles

The Green Parent
by Independent Publishers Group

Developed for those who would like to teach their children about green living, this guide offers parents hints for things they can do for and with their kids to lead more environmentally friendly lives. From how to save energy to how to reuse and recycle everything, this resource offers advice for getting children involved in ecology as well as products and services that can help parents raise more environmentally conscious children. Through a series of fun activities—how to start a “light patrol," make a waste-free school lunch, and build a green bird house—parents and kids will learn ways to make the biggest impact, save the most money, and discover how making even the smallest of changes can make a big difference.

For a review from The Green and Clean Mom, check out this.

Retail Price: $14.95 Our price: $9.95

Compost By Gosh
by Flowerfield Enterprises

A wonderful adventure where a young girl and her Mom convert a storage box to house their new pets, pets with a purpose. The box becomes a vermicomposting bin and the pets are redworms. Poetic, rhyming couplets provide a grand explanation of the process of vermicomposting in a manner that the youngest reader/listener will enjoy, which is supported by adorable illustrations. The book ends with How To and Resources sections to encourage further exploration of vermicomposting.

Retail Price: $16.95 Our price: $12.75

The Green Belt Movement
by Lantern Books

2004 Nobel Peace Prize-winning author Wangari Maathai's book offers a compelling insight into the internationally acclaimed tree-planting movement founded by Kenyans and run by and for Kenyans.

While Maathi was involved with of the National Council of Women of Kenya, of which she was chairwoman from 1981 to 1987, she introduced the idea of planting trees through citizen foresters in 1976, and called this new organization the Green Belt Movement (GBM). She continued to develop GBM into broad-based, grassroots organization whose focus was women’s groups planting of trees in order to conserve the environment and improve their quality of life. Through the Green Belt Movement, Wangari Maathai has assisted women in planting more than 20 million trees on their farms and on schools and church compounds in Kenya and all over East Africa.

In Africa, as in many parts of the world, women are responsible for meals and collecting firewood. Increasing deforestation has not only meant increasing desertification, but it has also meant that women have had to travel further and further afield in order to collect the firewood. This in turn has led to women spending less time around the home, tending to crops, and looking after their children. By staying closer to home, earning income from sustainably harvesting the fruit and timber from trees, women not only can be more productive, they can provide stability in the home. They can also create time for education opportunities—whether for themselves or their children.

Wangari Muta Maathai was born in Nyeri, Kenya in 1940. In 1960, she won a Kennedy scholarship to study in America and earned a master’s degree in biology from the University of Pittsburgh and became the first woman in East Africa to earn a Ph.D.

Our price: $16.00

As Long As It Takes: Meeting the Challenge
by Bunker Hill Publishing

Top Choices of Eco-Moms

By Laura Roe Stevens

Are you concerned about the environment and global warming, yet feel overwhelmed by the topic? Likely you already recycle and cut lights off when you leave a room. But luckily, there are more ways for moms to go green. There are simple steps and choices you can make that really will make a difference. I interviewed some eco-moms to get their easiest-to-adopt tips that just about anyone can try.

• Wash clothes on the cold cycle and during off-peak times such as after 7 p.m. and incorporate the sniff test. If clothes aren’t completely dirty, wear them again before washing.
• Switch to energy-efficient light bulbs. According to the EcoMom Alliance, “if every household in America changed out just five light bulbs to energy efficient (compact fluorescents lights) CFLs, it would be equal to taking eight million cars off the road.”
• Switch from plastic to glass baby bottles. It’s good for your baby to avoid toxins leached from plastic when it is heated. Try also to filter water and not buy plastic bottles of water to cut down on plastics waste. To learn more, see: Plastics and Your Health.
• Switch from store-bought to cloth diapers. Yes, cloth! They aren’t more work according to Patti Ghezzi who uses the Fuzzi Bunz brand and swears they are easy to use! See her review: Fuzzi Bunz Diapers Can’t be Beat.
• Buy from farmer’s markets. Not everyone can afford to buy organic all the time, but at your local farmer’s market, the prices are usually better than what you’ll find at the grocery store and you’ll support locally-grown food!
• Walk! If you live a few blocks from school, walk with your child. It’s a great way to chat—you’ll be amazed at how your children will open up during a stroll—and it’s good for your figure. If you live far from school, consider other ways to incorporate walking with your children. Can you walk to the post office or corner store or even a local park? Find ways to keep the car parked, or car-pool with another mom.
• Make your own baby food. Now before you scream, “I thought this was a list of easy steps!” hear me out. A good friend has made baby food for all three of her children and uses a few Sundays to do so. Cook and mash your own and freeze in ice cube trays. Not only will you help the environment by not buying all the baby food containers, you’ll save a lot of money! (And it will be healthier for your baby too!). See: How to Afford Staying Home Baby’s First Year.
• Turn in the SUV. This may be hard for moms of multiple children to do, and if you can’t afford today’s hybrids, consider buying a used Volvo or Subaru station wagon. They get better gas mileage and still have room in the back for soccer cleats or Fido.
• Recycle your plastic food containers to hold crayons, markers, or to organize all the little bits and pieces that come with today’s toys or crafts. Every time I get take-out, I save the plastic ones with lids just for this purpose.
• Take your kid to an ecology center or a museum with an ecology focus. It’s fun, teaches you and your child about conservation, and supports a good cause. For more ideas, see: How Do You Teach Your Children to Care About the Planet.

The Climate Change - Green Building Connection

Your family, the sun, water, pollution, the economy, the environment - everything is connected. Climate change caused by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is now widely recognized as the most significant issue facing our planet. Rising sea levels, escalating temperatures and altered and extreme weather patterns will affect all aspects of our lives. Our food supply, air and water quality, and ecosystem integrity will eventually fail without a global mid-course correction from all sectors of society. A major source of GHG is the combustion of fossil fuel for industry, construction, transportation, and electricity generation. All of these sources are connected directly and indirectly to the built environment. Enter “green building” as an effective response to mitigating climate change.

The development of sustainably designed buildings and communities can help considerably in alleviating global warming by reducing our consumption of finite resources. Green building techniques increase the efficiency of buildings and their use of energy, water, and materials while lessening impacts on human health and the environment. It is possible with off-the-shelf technologies to reduce building energy use by as much as 60-70% with minimal first cost implications. Net zero energy buildings (buildings that generate all the energy they need from solar or wind) are increasingly on the rise. The average green building has been documented to use 30% less energy and water than conventional structures with a zero - 2% cost premium. (Source Cascadia Green Building Council) Through thoughtful building design that considers regional climate and integrates high-efficiency systems, we can considerably reduce the impact on the environment.

Green design is both good design and responsible design. Green building is quickly becoming the means by which private, public, and government entities decelerate climate change. Many cities in North America are demonstrating leadership by setting high environmental standards for the design, construction, and operation of their municipal buildings. San Francisco, Vancouver and Seattle were among the first cities to require environmental certification for all new municipal buildings. This approach of 'doing well by doing good,' has translated to lower operating costs, lower emissions, healthy and productive workspaces, and a reduced strain on city infrastructure; particularly power utilities and water resources. Many other municipal and provincial authorities, private companies and citizens are following suit, embracing green building, and reaping the economic and environmental benefits while addressing climate change head on.

Global climate change threatens our livelihood as we know it. Already our water supply and land use patterns are formidable issues. The telling symptoms of warmer winters and drought have left pine forests highly susceptible to attack by the mountain pine beetle. When trees succumb, the potential for wild fires escalates. As the ever-increasing effects of climate change are realized, we can expect further destabilization of our weather, damaging storms, extended drought, and diminished snow pack. Green building is an appropriate and responsible response to climate change - holding personal, environmental and planetary health as its highest tenets.

Sustainable communities are only possible through thoughtful planning that employs green building practices and buy-in from individuals, organizations and all levels of government. The scientific evidence on climate change--its cause and its effect-- is indisputable and we have the technical knowledge to address the associated challenges. It is time for Canada, the United States and the world to rise to the challenge and respond responsibly to climate change by building green. Remember - everything is connected.

Michael Berrisford is the Chief Operations Officer of Washington State based, Ecotone Publishing, a company dedicated to delivering authoritative and accessible books on sustainable design, and green building. He sits on the executive of the Thompson – Okanagan Branch of the Cascadia Green Building Council and on the National Communications Committee of the Canada Green Building Council. Mike is a dedicated naturalist and environmental advocate that enjoys living, working and playing in the ecologically diverse Pacific Northwest. Contact: mikeeco@telus.net.