green – Peaceful Reader

Vacation waste

I love vacations! It’s tough being a super green person while you travel though. There is a lot of waste in the journey and it’s painful. One quick stay at a hotel can yield a ton of waste. I tried to research about hotel waste and all I could find was statistics in the U.K.

Driving, off course, uses gasoline to get to your destination. And while you can bring healthy snacks along the way you can’t eat a main meal. Well, I can because I’m a snacker, I can eat a lot of little meals and be just fine but others in my family have to eat a bigger real meal. My husband begins to snarl if he doesn’t eat a real meal along the road and his preferred sandwich shop is Subway. We are anti-most-any-fast-food places but there are a few we are willing to stop at through any trip. Meals here are made for throwing into the trash. Gross. None of the containers are bio-degradable or recyclable (and if they were, they don’t provide a place to recycle it at the restuarant!) This could change-and wouldn’t that be great. So road trips create waste as you dine along your journey.

Hotels now provide breakfast which is a newer and good feature so you aren’t pushed out into your new location searching for a breakfast place every morning. My husband would never do that anyway-we pack cereal in that case. We’ve been to one amazing hotel in Minneapolis that used real plates, cups, and silverware for their breakfast and we loved it! Most places have styrofoam or paper plates, all meant to be tossed away, and the trash can, after a breakfast with many sleepy people, is overflowing! It’s kinda gross to us. You’ve all been there and many don’t even give it a second thought. We think about it and try to figure ways around it. One trip we actually packed our own plastic picnic plates for everyone to use. Our teens were a tiny bit mortified but they used them amidst the stares of other diners. We were only trying to impress ourselves and to not add to the huge overfilled garbage can.

Our last trip we forgot the plates until we had our first hotel breakfast and my husband and I both looked at each other and groaned. To be fair it was our first trip in our newer Prius and packing was an issue. Plates were not high on the list. Next time though I will bring them no matter what especially if it is more than a one day trip. A small thing we did to appease ourselves was to save our little plastic juice glasses and used them all three days we were there.

On the other hand when my two friends and I traipsed off to Greer’s Ferry for our reading retreat we made minimal impact on the environment. Our compost waste was bigger than the small trash bag we barely filled. That kind of travel lifted me up and made me realize how much this way of life is just part of me. I use cloth napkins everyday. I don’t use any excess paper products at home and it makes it very difficult to be that way out in the greater world. I bring my own travel mug to the coffee/tea shoppe.

Our trip was great though and it was wonderful to visit with friends for a few days. The reading retreat, our meal at The Root in LR, Mary Poppins at The Rep, the fantastic bluegrass in Mountain View and The Old Mill in Little Rock were just a few highlights.

How do you deal with this on the road? Any tricks you can pass on…

First day of Spring!

I went for a walk-about in my yard today to see if I could find any hints of Spring. Today is Spring Equinox and deep in my soul I needed to see a little sign that it would come. There are birds on the feeder flitting about, more than usual. I’ve seen squirrels getting extra friendly with each other but no real signs of Spring out there to me. I wanted to see sprouted green things as I marched around the yard in short sleeves, hopeful, but I froze and didn’t see one hint of sprouts. It is still dang cold out there even though we are seeing the sun a bit more and for longer in the day.

I had to search elsewhere for Spring. I read this Farmer’s Almanac article about the Spring Equinox which made me just want to see the “rebirth of flora and fauna.” I discovered this adorable dress growing over at Macy’s-it that made me think of Spring.

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I unearthed these gorgeous tulip blossoms at Terrain that make me feel like Spring could be around some corner (not this corner but somewhere). My grandmother loved tulips and I loved to see hers pop up. I have bulbs planted and I can’t wait to see them shoot up soon, with deep hope that the squirrels did NOT dig them up for winter snacking.

I found these DIY projects that make me want to get down on my knees and dig in the dirt especially this fairy-looking bird house arrangement. Groovy Girl will love to help with this.

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Isn’t that pretty! I’m going to gather the materials now so the first warm (really warm) day we can head out and put this together. I already have one bird house that needs a new home as it got knocked down during a winter storm.

What has you thinking Spring in your neck of the woods?

Reducing Your Foodprint; Farming, Cooking, and Eating for a Healthy Planet

by Ellen Rodger
(2010)
Energy Revolution Series from Crabtree Publishing

My husband loves bananas and I love pineapple! Both fruits require a lot of shipping miles and too many chemicals to grow. As this book explains, our foodprint is calculated by how farming practices and how far food has to travel to get to our table. Knowing this I choose pineapple as a delelicate treat to be savored and not purchased often. My husband, as a runner, eats bananas everyday. We do purchase organic when we can but even those have to travel miles and miles to arrive in our fruit bowl in Iowa. It’s tough to consider how we can decrease our foodprint and become more earth-minded with our grocery money. This book helps to raise awareness.

From the publishers website:
Reducing Your Foodprint teaches children that what they eat and how they eat is important to the environment. Most of the food served in restaurants and stocked on grocery store shelves travels many thousands of miles by airplane and truck. The further food travels, the more harm to the environment. This enlightening new book explains how to eat locally and responsibly. Special case study sections highlight how others have reduced both their carbon foodprints and footprints just by making changes in their diets.

Topics covered include Eco-Awareness, History of Cultivation, Food from Afar, Being an Ecovore, Eating Local, Green Cooking, and Fair Trade Food. Ecovore, a new term to me, is described as” someone who shops , cooks, and eats with the environment in mind. It is a term first used by cookbook author Kate Heyhoe to describe someone who makes sustainable food choices that are as environmentally friendly as possible.” (14) I’m going to add it to my vocabulary and find out more about Kate Keyhoe.

This book could be a great teaching tool but more likely will be used by eco-minded parents to open more awareness. It would make a great Earth Day gift for a child. I checked this one out from the library and will look for the other books in the series, Energy Revolution, for my school library. Crabtree has lesson plans for the series.

To purchase a copy of this perfect book for Earth Day, click on the the title…

Reducing Your Foodprint; Farming, Cooking, and Eating for a Healthy Planet

Om Baby-Green Books Campaign

by Shamet Horsfield

2010

This is a bright and colorfully-done book with a small, elfin-like, one-eyed creature. “Hi, My name is Om Baby. I am an Om Being from a small community called Omville. I have only one eye because I see the world and all beings as one.” Om is the Sanskrit word and symbol meaning “all that is.” The book has a beautiful fluidity to it, with each picture accompanying simple text.

Om Baby is peaceful.

Om Baby is kind.

Om Baby believes in the power of his mind.

I like what Horsfield was going for but I wanted more. Even the youngest reader can understand so much more and I felt she was just touching the surface of this one-eyed beings feeling toward the earth and the world around us.

I loved this one:

Om Baby eats his greens.

Accompanied by a picture of a green garden, growing carrots, sunflowers, radishes or beets, corn, pumpkins with a sun blazing down. Om Baby is shown eating his greens-like arugula!

Check out Shamet Horsfield’s interesting website. You can sign a petition for peace while you there. She has a good story to tell and as someone on the outside edge myself, I can understand her need to create a book that represents her philosophy. I hope she continues to create, pulling more peaceful ideas into a deeper story.

This review is part of the Green Books Campaign. Click on Green Books to find the list of 200 books being reviewed by participating bloggers today.
This review is part of the Green Books campaign.

Today 200 bloggers take a stand to support books printed in an eco-friendly manner by simultaneously publishing reviews of 200 books printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper. By turning a spotlight on books printed using eco- friendly paper, we hope to raise the awareness of book buyers and encourage everyone to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books.

earthgirl

by Jennifer Cowan

(2009)

232 pages

Earth Girl, while interesting, left me unsure. When I first picked it up the inside liner intrigued me in that the main character, Sabine is on a going green personal journey but also because there was a statement about getting plastered with plum sauce from a McDonald’s to go bag. Hmmm. In the U.S. we don’t get plum sauce with Mickey D’s. Because it takes place in Toronto-perhaps they do or maybe that’s what they call Ketchup. This odd little fact stuck in my brain and for some reason this made me check the book out.

It’s written in very short snippets-good for teens but felt a little like texting, to me. Sabine shares her thoughts by blogging and we read her rants and the comments, which is an interesting twist. And unlike Hippie Chick this one gets a little preachy-even though I’m in her corner. I think it is because she is so new to the whole eco-movement, everything is so like, “OMG, did you know people who make all that cheap stuff earn next to nothing a day…” I’m not in this age-bracket but I think the book and the character, Sabine serve a very big purpose…to alert teens of these little known facts that many should pay attention to-facts that paint a bigger picture of the world. That fact alone makes this book a should-read. Maybe if it turned one teen toward a more eco-friendly existence it would be worth it.

Synopsis: Sabine, after getting pelted by before-mentioned plum sauce, has an aha-moment of what’s important in the real world. As she researches and discovers more about the environment, third-world markets, and green living she bores her two best friends, who are way more into purchasing cheap junk froom street vendors. She does gain a hunky earthy boyfriend who appears to have all the right answers. Vray, the boyfriend, is an interesting character but seemed less than real. The one character I adored was Ruby-Sabine’s co-op coworker, who has all kinds of good karma advice. If I had to play a character in this made-for-tv-movie, I’d want to be Ruby.

Favorite Quote:

“I’m pretty sure Vray is for me,” I sighed. “I think that’s what’s freaking me out.”
“That’s awesome. I love that feeling.” Ruby said, doing a little twirl in the aisle. “Better than drugs. Love’s the elixir of life. Wish we could bottle it and give it away to everyone in the world.”
“So then I’m not overreacting?”
“I hate that expression,” she answered emphatically. “You’re not overreacting. You’re feeling what you’re feeling and it’s totally fine.” (135)

I love the twirl in the aisle as much as the good advice! Go Ruby!

Read EarthGirl by Jennifer Cowan if you are remotely interested in making the earth a better place-or if you have a teenager who needs a push in that direction. The plum sauce thing still bugs me though…so if you know anything about plum sauce and McDonald’s, enlighten me.

Happy Reading, earthlings.
p.s. Library Reading Challenge
More info:

Shameless Mags interview with Jennifer Cowan-who previously wrote for the tele.
SKPL Teens review
Sabine/Earthgirl’s own blog

Shop Indie Bookstores

BlogFest 2010

Way back, oh so many weeks ago when we were still in the heat of the summer, I signed up to participate in Cinnamon’s BlogFest 2010 Big Giveaway. That was when September loomed far in the future and whoop there it is, smack in my lap-September 10th!

What is BlogFest? (from a Journey of Books)

BlogFest is a massive carnival of giveaways with a great collection of participating blogs. Each blog has a giveaway and the idea is to hop from blog to blog, entering all the giveaways your little heart desires. Hopefully you might even come across a few blogs you might want to bookmark and continue visiting.

My giveaway is a brand-new and unopened copy of Food, Inc, Michael Pollan’s Food Rules; An Eater’s Manual and a copy of Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Home. All very green and eco-friendly prizes.

To enter leave a comment on this post including your email address.
For extra entries (leave a separate comment for each entry):

+1 Follow this blog (via Google Friend Connect, RSS Feed, email subscription,etc.)
+1 Follow me on Twitter and Tweet about this giveaway (include @peacefulreader in your tweet)

3 entry maximum. (Not open internationally.)
The next stop on the hop is Inspired by Fiction. Keep clicking and entering…

The deadline for entry is Midnight (Eastern Time) September 12th.

And as if that wasn’t enough great stuff…

Please don’t forget about the massive BlogFest 2010 grand giveaway! Head on over to http://ajourneyofbooks.halfzero.net and click on the Tracking Site link to head to our own exclusive tracking site. Once there you can register with a valid email address (to be used solely for the purpose of contacting the winner). This site will allow you to track your progress through BlogFest 2010! You can log on from anywhere at any time and continue where you left off. The best part is that every blog that you visit and mark off through this tracking site will give you one entry into the massive giveaway! We have a great collection of books, goodies and other swag that is looking for a new home!

Keep it real-

Restoring Harmony

by Joelle Anthony

(2010)

Never has a book made me want to pull up my American roots and transplant myself in Canada. Restoring Harmony did! Anthony, a Canadian, has done an amazing job of highlighting the U.S.’s decline against the more agrarian and successful Canadian landscape. This is a dystopian novel for a middle grade audience and a glimpse into a future that I can imagine much more readily than the worlds created in Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games or Michael Grant’s Gone series, both more shocking and scary societys.

Synopsis:

Molly McClure lives with her family on a secluded Canadian island where they grow their own food, rely on solar panels for energy, and horse-drawn wagons and boats for transportation. It’s a simple life with a happy family where Molly begins her days playing fiddle on the front porch. Through a cyberspeak conversation (skype-like) Molly’s mom, who happens to be pregnant, has reasons to believe her own mother may have died. Molly’s dad and siblings hold a meeting in the barn and elect her to be the one to travel to Oregon and bring her grandfather back to the safety of the island. Along her travels she meets a cast of very interesting and likable characters, including a handsome ruffian nicknamed Spill.

My thoughts:

Reading the inside jacket cover of this book inticed me so much I read it within days of opening the envelope it came in. I loved how the title and the cover illustration matched so well. I was drawn to Molly’s character and the way she handles her adventurous trip to the states after the Collapse of 2031. I love having a book in my hand that keeps me reading and commenting (out loud) as I progress. While the U.S. of 2041 is not in great shape (I loved how train travel was slow and erratic but really the only means to get anywhere) it still has vestiges of community. It shows, without being overly didactic, how important simple skills might be: like tending your own garden.

Molly’s ability to adapt, improvise and think made her a true heroine of the future and in this way she did remind me of the great Katniss (The Hunger Games). I loved how it dealt with real problems of today-oil is gone, the infrastructure is crumbling and big cities are in greater trouble than small communities. Even though there are easy solutions within the story structure I think Anthony raises very real issues born from our own self-centered, enviormentally -abusive ways. Our dependence on crude oil will eventually get the better of us. I hope Anthony has a sequel in the works so I can read more about Molly and her extended family.

Rating:
5/5 stars
highly recommended
for middle grade and above

Other reviews to enjoy:
Jen of Devourer of Books
S. Krishna’s Books
Tina’sBookReviews
Jessica at Shut Up! I’m reading
***I won this book in a giveaway hosted by Joelle Anthony at The Debutante Ball. Thank you, Joelle, for personally signing and sending my copy! I’m glad to have my own copy because I think I’ll reread this one, even though I’m not a rereader.

My Life in Pink and Green by Lisa Greenwald

This book resonates with the idea that young people will be the ones to change the world!!

Lucy, a twelve-year-old, helps out at the family pharmacy. Her mother and grandmother are constantly at each other over bills and whether or not the pharmacy and their family home are going to survive. Lucy’s mom loves causes and the grandmother loves the pharmacy but neither one can see anyway to save it. Lucy, on the other hand, is brimming with fabulous ideas. She knows her products and one afternoon she helps an older student with a really bad hair plan gone wrong. Soon others are coming to Lucy for advise and beauty tips. Through an afterschool Earth Club she locates a Going Green Grant from the mayor. All she has to do is figure out a way to tweak the pharmacy’s business to fit it into a green plan. Lucy’s older sister, Claudia, a first-year college student at Northwestern, helps her fill out the grant information. This is such a great idea for a story with so many important themes running through (green businesses, eco-friendly products, as well as what can happen when bills are a struggle, girl power) to make the book timely and relevant. Lucy’s friend Sunny is a great addition as a multi-cultural character who suffers from her very first boy crush-Lucy gives her wonderful advise here as well. Lucy is all about being yourself and she passes this message out very well.

That said it wasn’t my favorite read so far this year. I loved Lucy-she was a great character but her mom and grandmother fell short for me. They were slightly wooden and spent way, way too much time in the back room of the pharmacy. There were also the little inconsistencies like when I’m broke I can’t go out for pizza (they do) and even though they are broke, Claudia, the older sister, heads to a third-world country to help out on a Spring Break trip. Usually college trips are only partially funded by the university and it seemed an odd choice because of their financial crisis. It would have made more sense for me if they would have just made mention that Claudia wanted to come home to help but couldn’t because of flight prices or homework. It was far-reaching for me to keep hearing allusions to expensive things when in the next chapter their power goes out because the bill hasn’t been paid.

My thoughts are that a younger audience is not going to pay any attention to that-they are going to see Lucy as an energetic, smart character, with great life tips and not worry about these minute inconsistencies. Even though I saw this listed as a YA title on Titlewave and in my local library I really think a younger girl audience would read it.

Highly Recommended

Middle Grade Fiction

4/5 peaceful stars

YA Books Central-good review-a 10-year-olds review!!!

Laura Mercier’s website-Lucy idolizes her and hopes to be as successful as her one day!!

This one I picked up at the public library, counting for J. Kaye’s

2010 Support Your Local Library Challenge

Another useful reading challenge

I found out about this challenge while reading Jenners post over at Find Your Next Book Here, which sent me over to Bibliophile By the Sea.

This challenge is about reading books that you already have on your bookshelves (I’ve got plenty of those!) and then passing them on to someone else (great recycling). It runs from January 1, 2010 until December 31, 2010.

If so, feel free to join in:

grab the button
decide how many books you want to read from your shelves (minimum of 20 – no maximum)
find a new home for the books once you read them
post the titles and the authors of books you’ve read and passed on
project runs from January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010
crossover challenge books are allowed

I have several bookshelves that beg, plead, implore to be unburden so I take this challenge and add to it that I will not purchase any new books until…I have read the books I choose for this particular challenge. It probably will take me all year, but that’s okay.

Stay tuned for the list of books I will extract from my bookshelves. If you have lots of books needing to be read perhaps you want to join this challenge as well.