Sustainable Home

The green-building movement has produced hundreds of "how-to" books and websites that are filled with tips about green building and what homeowners should do to go green. While helpful and informative, when it comes to making actual purchasing and installation decisions, these books do not make it any easier for a homeowner to prioritize against a budget. Here, Melisssa Rappaport Schifman shares her knowledge and experience for others to use in their journey toward a greener way of living.

Over half a century ago, John Rowlands set out by canoe into the wilds of Canada to survey land for a timber company. After paddling alone for several days, he came upon "the lake of my boyhood dreams", which he named Cache Lake because there was stored the best that the north had to offer-timber for a cabin; fish, game, and berries to live on; and the peace and contentment he felt he could not live without.

We are exhausted. There's so much to do, and way too much to buy. Whether it's through late night TV ads, social media, or other sources of influence, we seem to be addicted to buying and then storing things. Sometimes we consume with no regret and other times we realize that we're doing more harm than good to our wallets and our homes. It's a constant cycle - one that many are longing to break. Who wants their hard-earned money to go toward something that soon ends up in a landfill?

Mini Farming describes a holistic approach to small-area farming that will show you how to produce 85 percent of an average family's food on just a quarter acre - and earn $10,000 in cash annually while spending less than half the time that an ordinary job would require.

Do you ever feel strange, gross, chaotic, underappreciated, or like you don’t quite fit in? Great news: you might be a goblin! That means your imperfections and idiosyncrasies are the most awesome things about you, and you can build a more balanced, comfortable, harmonious life by accepting and honoring them—taking inspiration from the frogs, fungus, moss, rocks, and dirt that goblins love.

Two manuscripts in one audiobook: Composting: The Ultimate Guide to Creating Your Own Organic Compost in Your Backyard and Using It for Organic Gardening to Create a More Self-Sufficient Garden and Worm Farming: An Essential Guide to Vermiculture, Vermicomposting, and Making Worm Bins. With this audiobook in your hand, you’ll be going from basic gardening to advanced techniques in no time!

Are you tired of being bombarded by toxins at every turn? Do you want a more natural, "crunchy" approach to the world (with or without the beige aesthetic)? Well, grab your kombucha and join Emily Morrow on a journey to a more wholesome existence with Really Very Crunchy: A Beginner's Guide to Removing Toxins from Your Life without Adding Them to Your Personality.

From farmer Joel Salatin's point of view, life in the 21st century just ain't normal. In Folks, This Ain't Normal, he discusses how far removed we are from the simple, sustainable joy that comes from living close to the land and the people we love.

Imagine a world where you don't have to pay a fortune on energy bills, waste energy and water, and destroy the planet piece by piece only to make your living more comfortable. A world where you have access to the tools and techniques essential to facilitate your daily routine while living in harmony with the planet. This audiobook is your guide to this world.

Compact Farms is a guide for anyone dreaming of starting, expanding, or perfecting a profitable farming enterprise on five acres or less. The farm plans explain how to harness an area's water supply, orientation, and geography in order to maximize efficiency and productivity while minimizing effort. Profiles of well-known farmers such as Eliot Coleman and Jean-Martin Fortier show that farming on a small scale in any region, in both urban and rural settings, can provide enough income to turn the endeavor from hobby to career.

What's more, Lightly is a complete philosophy of life. When you're tempted by an impulse purchase, trying to resist a chocolate donut, or struggling to say no to another obligation, all you have to remember is one word - "lightly" - to boost your resolve and make beautiful choices. It doesn't get any easier than that. Lightly is like a recipe book for minimalism, designed so you can dip into it anytime for advice and inspiration.

Food & Wine editor Ray Isle does for wine what Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma did for food—showing listeners how to choose more delicious, interesting, and environmentally friendly wines without breaking the bank.

Prepare your home and family for any life-threatening catastrophe with this step-by-step survivalist guide filled with techniques, strategies, and DIY projects from a lifelong prepping expert. Government pamphlets and other prepping books tell you how to hold out through an emergency until services are restored. This book teaches you how to survive when nothing returns to normal for weeks, months, or even years, including water collection; storing, growing, hunting, and foraging for food; first aid and medical treatment; fortifying and defending your home; and community-building.

Building Your Permaculture Property offers a revolutionary holistic method to overcome overwhelm in the complex process of resilient land design. It distills the authors' decades of experience as engineers, farmers, educators, and consultants into a five-step process complete with principles, practices, templates, and workflow tools.

We’ve been told that a vegetarian diet can feed the hungry, honor the animals, and save the planet. Lierre Keith believed in that plant-based diet and spent twenty years as a vegan. But in The Vegetarian Myth, she argues that we’ve been led astray - not by our longings for a just and sustainable world, but by our ignorance. e truth is that agriculture is a relentless assault against the planet, and more of the same won’t save us. In service to annual grains, humans have devastated prairies and forests, driven countless species extinct, altered the climate, and destroyed the topsoil - the basis of life itself....

In these uncertain times, more and more of us have given great thought to the idea of living "off the grid". The notion of self-sufficiency and being able to live off the world around us without leaving a huge carbon footprint is more than just tempting. If this is something you have given great thought to, this is exactly the book for you.

Off Grid Living Ultimate Survival Bible is a collection of four books that are focused on aiding you to thrive away from the grid. The practical tips gained from the combination of the following four books will help you live self sufficiently off grid. Each book is bursting with effectively simple tips to prepare you for the move from an overly populated city/suburban life to the tranquillity of a fulfilled life away from the grid.

Go Gently is a guide for sustainability at home that offers simple, tangible steps toward reducing our environmental impact by looking at what we consume and the waste we create, as well as how to take action for environmental change. The title reflects Bonnie Wright’s belief that the best way to change our planet and ourselves is through a gentle approach, rather than a judgmental one. This is a book of do’s rather than don’ts. It’s also an invitation to Wright’s followers to join her on this journey to sustainability.

Have you ever wanted to experiment with growing your own food but didn’t think you had the space, the time, or the knowledge? Justin Rhodes thought the same thing—until after years battling systemic illness and struggling to provide the kind of wholesome food he wanted for his family, he bought a seed packet at the grocery store and was hooked.

Like many people, Beth Terry didn't think an individual could have much impact on the environment. But while laid up after surgery, she read an article about the staggering amount of plastic polluting the oceans and decided then and there to kick her plastic habit. Now she wants to teach you how you can too.