Sustainable Home

What happens to our trash? Why are our oceans filling with plastic? Do we really waste 40 percent of our food and 65 percent of our energy? Waste is truly our biggest problem, and solving our inherent trashiness can fix our economy, our energy costs, our traffic jams, and help slow climate change—all while making us healthier, happier and more prosperous. This story-driven and in-depth exploration of the pervasive yet hard-to-see wastefulness that permeates our daily lives illuminates the ways in which we've been duped into accepting absolutely insane levels of waste as normal.

If 20 percent of the population implemented half the solutions in this book, it would solve the biggest global problems. All without writing to politicians, joining protests, signing petitions, or being angry at the people that are causing the problems. Good solutions are often different from conventional environmental wisdom. The average American adult has a carbon footprint of 30 tons per year. Replacing a petroleum car with an electric car will cut 2 tons. But if you live in a cold climate and you switch from electric heat to a rocket mass heater, you will cut 27 tons!

In this four-manuscripts-in-one audiobook, learn the five different ways to preserve your food: canning, freezing, pickling, fermenting, and dehydrating; understand the basics and nuances of smoking meat; learn what root cellars are and how they work; and discover the importance and benefits of fermentation, with 75 healthy recipes to help you make tasty kombucha, sourdough, pickles, and more.

Charles Dowding puts feeding the soil at the heart of his No Dig method of growing. He explains how to use your kitchen and garden waste to make homemade compost so that your plants can truly flourish. Discover what you can compost, how to get the perfect balance, and different ways to compost whatever your space with this beautiful, infallible guide.

Permaculture is more than just a way to design gardens; it is a way of life centered around building an ecosystem that thinks and behaves just like nature. Not only does it favor reusing and recycling, but it also limits potential waste, allowing you to design a slice of nature in your own backyard. In fact, permaculture makes nature your partner in going green… And all you need to do in order to get started is open your eyes and observe.

Get off-the-grid and become self-sufficient without leaving your backyard! Cultivating a sustainable homestead off the grid has become more and more popular as many people are searching for alternatives to the trappings of modern society. Off-Grid Living and the Self-Sufficient Backyard is your complete guide to transitioning off the grid. It doesn't matter if you are just getting started or are already an experienced homesteader. This audiobook will serve as your guide for creating your backyard mini-farm and planning for your off-grid life.

Do you long for the country life? Hobby Farming For Dummies is a practical guide that will show you how to handle all the basics of small-scale farming, from growing healthy crops to raising livestock and managing your property. You'll see how to decide what to farm, provide shelter and utilities, select plants, and protect your investment. It's all you need to dig in and start growing!

Discover how you can be prepared for any scenario, by learning basic prepper skills. Another important qualification you need is to be able to fix your own food without going to the store, i.e. the life of a homesteader. A lot of famous and successful people are embracing the life of a homesteader. Homesteading has become a catharsis for people who finally want to live the life of a producer rather than a mere consumer. This book will give you the necessary information and tools.

The Backyard Beekeeper, now in its 4th edition, makes the time-honored and complex tradition of beekeeping an enjoyable and accessible backyard pastime for urban and rural beekeepers of all skill levels. With this completer esource and the expert advice of Bee Culture editor Kim Flottum, your bees will be healthy, happy, and more productive.

To grow produce of the highest nutritional quality the essential minerals lacking in our soil must be replaced, but this re-mineralization calls for far more attention to detail than the simple addition of composted manure or NPK fertilizers. The Intelligent Gardener demystifies the process, while simultaneously debunking much of the false and misleading information perpetuated by both the conventional and organic agricultural movements. In doing so, it conclusively establishes the link between healthy soil, healthy food, and healthy people.

Having two books in one allows you to go beyond just living off the grid, but also knowing how to live a self-sustainable life with homesteading. No matter if you are new to homesteading or you are an established farmer, whether you’ve lived off-grid before or have been stuck in the city the whole of your life, this book will catapult you into the life of your dreams. So, what are you waiting for? Pure happiness and satisfaction are waiting for you on the other side of your life-changing decision.

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 audiobook for you. There is no real reason holding you back from becoming an off-the-grid whiz and taking that brave and adventurous step towards self-sufficiency. So, buy this audiobook now and turn your life around today!

We have a system in crisis, but Annie Leonard shows us that this is not the way things have to be. It's within our power to stop the environmental damage, social injustice, and health hazards caused by polluting production and excessive consumption, and Leonard shows us how. Expansive, galvanizing, and sobering yet optimistic, The Story of Stuff transforms how we think about our lives and our relationship to the planet.

Dive into a transformative journey with not just one, but TWO enlightening manuscripts in one powerful audiobook, designed for those yearning to embrace the serenity of country living, the art of homesteading, beekeeping, raising livestock, and mastering natural parasite management.

Looking for easy, budget-friendly ways to reduce your environmental impact and save money? Authored by award-winning environmental journalist, Candice Batista, Sustained takes you on an eye-opening journey towards sustainability and eco-friendly living-starting at home. This step-by-step, eco-living guide offers simple yet powerful ways to turn each room in your home into a hub of sustainability, while pocketing impressive savings every step of the way.

The Abundance of Less captures the texture of sustainable lives well lived in these ten profiles of ordinary—yet exceptional—men and women who left behind mainstream existences in urban Japan to live surrounded by the luxuries of nature, art, friends, delicious food, and an abundance of time. Drawing on traditional Eastern spiritual wisdom and culture, these pioneers describe the profound personal transformations they underwent as they escaped the stress, consumerism, busyness, and dependence on technology of modern life.

Solar power is a great way to reduce your dependence on the grid and save money on your electricity bill, but it can be expensive and confusing to set up a solar system yourself. You might not know where to start or what kind of equipment you need. There are a lot of choices out there and it can be hard to know which one is right for you.

Essential Green Roof Construction is a comprehensive, in-depth guide to building simple green roofs for houses and small buildings. Packed with detailed photos, illustrations, case studies, and code compliance advice, it offers clear step-by-step instructions necessary to create your own living roof on a new build or as a retrofit. Where common sense meets beauty—a green roof is a system of layers that work together to support plant life, insulate homes, and make the world a greener place.

Marine algae are the supreme eco-engineers of life: they oxygenate the waters, create habitat for countless other organisms, and form the base of a food chain that keeps our planet unique in the universe as we know it. In this audiobook Josie Iselin explores both the artistic and the biological presence of 16 seaweeds and kelps that live in the thin region where the Pacific Ocean converges with the North American continent - a place of incomparable richness.

Written for novice and experienced DIY enthusiasts, this is an A-to-Z guide to ensure your success in turning a plain shipping container into a beautiful home.