More than a dozen years ago, Ted Bernard travelled to nine communities across the United States to meet residents who were working collaboratively to solve natural resource conflicts. While there may have been different perspectives over process, their common goal was to achieve higher levels of sustainability as vibrant communities. He visited places as diverse as tiny one-mile-square Monhegan Island in Maine and cities as large as Chicago and Chattanooga, and with Jora Young, wrote about their findings in 1997 in The Ecology of Hope.

Now Bernard has caught up with these communities again to discover their progress, and see what a difference their collaborative conservation has made in 15 years. Hope and Hard Times chronicles that journey; the successes, the speed bumps, and the remarkable tenacity and persistence of the partnerships and initiatives driving change during exceedingly hard times. Overall, community-based sustainability initiatives have proved resilient, despite the down-spiraling of the global economy and the looming problems of global climate change. Their quest points to the need for new perceptions of nature and of humankind, more guidance from nature, and less consumption and materialism. They offer advice on how to live on pieces of land without spoiling them.

Offering hopeful roadmaps for other communities working toward a sustainable future, this book will appeal to community activists, natural resource professionals, educators, and environmentalists.

Ted Bernard is a professor of environmental studies in the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs at Ohio University. He has studied community-based conservation in Africa and North America for more than three decades. He lives on a ridge-top farm with his wife Donna Lofgren, their two Maine Coon cats, and an array of wild critters, which is located ten miles upstream from the Ohio River in the Shade River watershed.

In today's challenging financal times, take full advantage of the Social Media revolution to research, market and promote your product or service. This ebook will show you how to develop a powerful business model using two of the best free social media websites, Twitter and Ning.

There are three reasons to use the Twitter and Ning business model to promote and sell your product or service. They are:

• Inexpensive to setup - This model is completely free to setup and use.
• Quick and easy to implement - Your sites can be online in less than an hour.
• Latest technology - Both Twitter and Ning are on the cutting edge of existing technology to reach the largest possible audience.

Using Twitter and Ning together creates a very easy to use and powerful business model that can produce global revenue for you and your business. This model is applicable to any size business, from the single person consultant to the multi-international corporation. What is astonishing about this model is that it is free to develop and use. The only cost associated with it is an internet connection and your time. In addition, using Twitter and Ning business model is completely compatible with any websites, blogs and other online presence that you may have. On-line and off-line sales and marketing strategies you use can be made more productive using this model.

You can't afford to procrastinate. The social media sites are taking over the internet. You need to prepare your business today to keep ahead of your competition and reach a global market of over 1 billion potential customers.

Practically Green takes the guesswork out of reading labels and will show you how to make smart, healthy purchases for your family without spending tedious hours researching the pros and cons of all of the products available on the market today. Each chapter is broken down into "Buy It" and "Do It" sections. The "Buy It" section provides key information about everyday purchasing decisions and includes clip-out checklists for you to reference while shopping. The "Do It" section gives DIY ideas for how to make things that are good for your family and good for the environment, such as simple sewing projects, non-toxic cleaning products and luxurious, homemade beauty products. Plus, the author shares some of her favorite recipes that are sure to please the entire family!

Because children truly learn what they live, more adults are taking an eco-conscious attitude to the youth of today. This one-of-a-kind guide delivers 101 forward-thinking activities and projects that teach children sustainable living habits. Readers will discover hands-on projects in cooking, crafts and science that address global warming, saving energy, recycling and reusing packaging and bags, and growing and eating locally-grown foods, among others.

You're interested in going green and, lucky for you, the opportunities for environmentally skilled workers are skyrocketing. Green Jobs will help you to find a job you like-and that'll make the world a better place. This one-of-a-kind handbook shows you how to:

• Identify the greenest jobs in every industry
• Break into the fastest growing eco-friendly fields
• Go for extra training if needed
• Start your own eco-friendly businesses

Going green just isn't for recycling any more. With this comprehensive guide, you can be sure to find the job of your dreams-and sleep better at night!

A. Bronwyn Llewellyn, M.A., is a veteran writer and editor who has written several books and museum exhibitions on technology, natural history, climate change, green design and architecture, and the environment. She is the editor of The Healing Touch of Horses and the author of The Everything Career Tests Book. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

James P. Hendrix, Ph.D., has spent most of his career as an educator, at both the university and secondary levels. He presently works part time as a fly-fishing guide, educational consultant, and lecturer on the Lewis and Clark expedition. He has published numerous articles and book reviews and is a long-standing advocate of environmentalism and sustainability. When not backpacking in Colorado, he lives in the mountains of western North Carolina.

K. C. Golden, M.A., is policy director for Climate Solutions, a research and advocacy organization pioneering practical and profitable solutions to global warming. Before this, he served as a special assistant to the mayor of Seattle for clean energy and climate protection initiatives. Golden was a Fellow at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he received a master's degree in public policy. He lives in Seattle with his wife and two teenagers and is an insatiable river enthusiast.

You can make money and be socially responsible. In Green Investing, Jack Uldrich profiles 100 of the world's leading green companies and offers readers a model portfolio for investing in clean, sustainable products. This book offers:

• Guidelines for smart investing
• Long- and short-term trends in green investing
• The bullish and bearish aspects of each investment
• A sample portfolio of green stocks

If you want to save the planet and make money, Green Investing is the book for you.

Jack Uldrich is the author of Investing in Nanotechnology, Jump the Curve, and the bestselling The Next Big Thing Is Really Small. He is president of the Nanoveritas Group, a consultancy in nanotechnology. His daily column on investing in emerging technology appears on the Motley Fool's Web site, www.fool.com. He lives in Minneapolis.

As green awareness spreads over middle America, more and more people want to have a fun, environmentally responsible holiday. This book shows how to enjoy the Christmas season while leaving a smaller carbon footprint. Readers will learn how to do the following: choose between a real tree and an artificial one; find alternatives to holiday cards; avoid the holiday catalog crunch; find or make gifts that are green or teach green; have warm, cozy green fires; create eco-responsible lighting displays, and more! Readers can have a great holiday celebration—while caring for the planet and setting a great example for generations to come.

More and more homebuyers and homebuilders are focusing on "right-sizing" their dream home instead of mortgaging their dreams away. Building Today's Green Home gives you instruction and advice on best practices for building a smaller, more cost effective house without compromising comfort or quality. Building a right-sized, energy-efficient home can free up your investment capital for the retirement years, and this book gives you the information you need to build to the right home for your needs, offering both how-to and descriptive methods to guide you to the right home for your needs.

365 Ways to Live Green will educate, inspire, and motivate you to do your part. With easy-to-implement tips, you'll learn how to:

• Create biodegradable home cleaning products
• Find the hidden ingredients in bad-for-you-foods
• Invest in green technology and stocks
• Buy eco-friendly clothes and accessories
• Choose the right plants to nourish your yard

Saving the world is as easy as changing the way you think-so take the green movement's motto to heart. With 365 Ways to Live Green, you will learn what it really means to "think globally and act locally."

Diane Gow McDilda has been covering environmental issues for more than twenty years. She earned a master's degree in environmental engineering from the University of Florida and earned honors with a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering. McDilda has been an environmental journalist for the Florida Specifier since 2005; she has written technical articles on engineering and excavation projects. She lives in Gainesville, Florida.

Sustainability at Home is a toolkit that helps homeowners understand how to apply sustainable development concepts to everyday household decisions. The guide covers an explanation of sustainability; root causes of un-sustainability; questions to ask while making household decisions; concrete and simple suggestions for every room in your house; renovations; resources for further information and ideas; and more. Originally designed for Alberta, this guide will be useful for new and experienced homeowners alike.