Something Old, Something New...

...Something Recycled, and Something Green

--by Hanje Richards

I have some great, fun, and useful books to share with you which deal with a greener, healthier and more economical lifestyle.

If you want the straight scoop on how to live a greener and healthier life you will find Sara Snow’s Fresh Living: The Essential Room-by-Room Guide to a Greener, Healthier Family and Home very useful. Sara Snow, green-living expert and host of TV shows Living Fresh and Get Fresh with Sara Snow, has dozens of simple, affordable ways to create a healthy, environmentally friendly home.

I love this book because some of us are not ready or able to make all the changes at once, but we can pick and choose things we can do now, and then add more things to our green repertoires as we're able.

Fresh Living is filled with lists, tips, and tricks that will make you, your family, and your home healthier and greener. The room-by-room format is a useful organizational tool and helps to make it accessible to everyone. Fresh Living can now be found on the New Non-Fiction Shelf and will soon be shelved upstairs in Adult Non-Fiction (at 648.22 SNOW).

Perhaps scavenging is your thing. Or maybe it could be. Or will be. If so, you will want to take a look at The Scavenger’s Manifesto: A Guide to Freeing Yourself from the Endless Cycle of Buying More and More New (Though Not Necessarily Improved) Stuff, and Discovering How Salvaging, Swapping, Repurposing, Reusing and Recycling Can Save the Earth, Your Money and Your Soul (you may think I made that title up, but I absolutely did not!)

Authors Anneli Rufus and Kristan Lawson invite readers to discover one of the most gratifying (and thrifty) ways to go green -- scavenging. The first chapter of the book is "Free Your Minds: The Philosophy of Scavenging." Chapter two is "In The Beginning: The Evolution of Scavenging," and the final chapter is "The Scavenger Code of Ethics: The Twelve Commandments of Scavenging."

I am not sure if I am ready for full-time scavenging, but this book is very interesting and has some excellent ideas. This book is currently shelved on the New Adult Non-Fiction Shelf and will soon be shelved upstairs in Adult Non-Fiction (at 640 RUFUS).

Finally, and possibly most intriguing of my three eco-friendly picks, is Sleeping Naked Is Green: How an Eco-Cynic Unplugged Her Fridge, Sold Her Car and Found Love in 366 Days (another great title!)

Author Vanessa Farquharson takes the reader along with her on an intense personal journey of making one green change to her lifestyle every day for a year. In twelve chapters, covering the twelve months of Farquharson’s life-changing year, we watch this woman transform her life, one day at a time. In the end she decides which of these changes she can maintain.

Great fun and very thought provoking. I wonder which of these changes I could make in my life on a permanent basis...

By the way, don’t forget that using your library is a green choice!