Can anyone recommend a book to get me started?

[Hulla]

I have decided that our family don't live in the most sustainable way, with not as much thought to ethical issues or the impact we're having on our environment.

I'd like dd to grow up with a greater awareness but no idea where to start.

Can anyone recommend a book or a website which might be a good starting point for us?

Bumping for you - will also have a think of what might be good when I'm not supposed to be doing accounts

Good luck . . .

Thank you, I found a couple of websites today which are interesting. I'll try and link them on here over the weekend.

If you haven't found them, this and this website are quite good.

Also, he is (IMO) amazingly annoying, but even so, George Monbiot's book Heat is quite good background in terms of identfying what the major problems are - so where is the best place to start tackling things IYSWIM.

And, if there is a transition town near you that might be worth a look?

I guess the thing to avoid is the books/websites which imply that if you just recycle more & don't use plastic bags all will be ok . . .

Thanks so much Takver! I am going to look at those links now. I've really changed the way I think about the way we live but my family & friends just think Im a crazy "hippy".

It's difficult to get support but I'll plough on!

Thanks again!

One of the best books I read was 'Not Buying It' (from the library obviously). It's American but reads great; basically she decides not to buy anything for a year and keeps a diary. It inspired me to do the same and it was much easier than it sounds.

That sounds great, I'll look out of for it today. Thanks QueenofWhatever. Takver those links were really interesting. I like the idea of transition towns and it looks like there is one in the area we're hoping to move to this year.

If it helps the people in our local transition group are definitely not 'crazy hippies' (well apart from me ), there are a lot of farmers and generally very 'normal' people

sorry, should point out - there are a lot of farmers because we live in west Wales and there are a lot of farmers in general - of course you don't have to be a farmer to join a transition group!

QOW

I hate to link to the DM but have you seen this?

Interesting article, even if she does sound a tad lifestyle and annoying. She saved £5k! Just how much shopping was she doing?

very interesting have been woondering where to start myself, we recycle and reuse bags but thats about it. REALLY need and want to do more. will look through links later.

If anyone has more they would also be appreciated

I'd like to offer some advice on where to get started if I may. There are so many things you can do - and many that save you money. Some of them might not be for you but I'll try to set out where your biggest impacts are so you can see where being more sustainable will have the greatest effect.

You're three areas of biggest environmental impacts are probably:

• Household energy consumption
• Transport
• Animal produce consumption

If you own your house insulating it as much as you can is the most important thing. The best thing about it is it's cost-effective - within a year or two it will have saved you more money than you spent. There's a whole host of info on what you can do to your home at www.energysavingtrust.org.uk

Transport's a pretty obvious one - walk and cycle more, get public transport when you can't, drive and (especially) fly less. One return long haul flight would make up roughly three times the rest of my annual carbon emissions!

Do you think you could reduce your family's meat consumption? I'm certainly not suggesting you go vegetarian - I'm not! More than this though, I'd recommend changing the types of meat. Eat more wild game and less factory produced meat, which is often fed on grain from deforested Amazon. And if you're concerned at all about animal welfare, a little known fact is that organic animal welfare standards are far higher than 'free range' as well as having lower environmental impact.

Best of luck with the greening of your household - let us know how you get on. I don't suppose you're planning to blog about it are you? It would make for a really interested read to see how you and your family adapt to the changes.

x

Thanks TheChangeSpiral that's really useful.

I'm not sure I could blog, I tend to waffle more than is necessary and my life is a little too dull for a blog. Dylsmum1998 might be a braver!

thats interesting thechangespiral, only just found my way back to this thread- have moved home and been a little pre-ocupied with that!

I don't have very good internet at the moment, am using mobile internet with poor signal whilst waiting for bt to discover my house (new build and post code issues ). once i get proper internet up and running will look into blogging, if i can find enough interesting things to say.

Am planning a veggie patch now we have a garden. Will only be small but could be interesting to see how we get on. Also putting my name down for an allotment along the road, not sure yet how long waiting list is though.

We do have an apparently eco boiler now (if only I could work it!)

Here's two possible books you might find interesting:

How To Live a Low-Carbon Life by Chris Goodall is very clear and thorough. He goes through pretty much everything an individual can do to be more environmentally friendly, and explains which are the most important things and which are red herrings, and why.

For a good answer to the question 'What would climate change actually do to the world?', Mark Lynas's 'Six Degrees' is well worth reading. He goes through the research and explains what it means for ordinary people. It doesn't have so much about what can be done about it, but if you want to understand why climate change is scary, this is a good book.

Hiya. Hope this thread isn't too old to suggest some stuff.

Even though it's really painfully right-on at times www.guardian.co.uk/environment is (imo) the best of the national press for staying up to scratch on the latest news/issues/developments.

And I had this book kicking around on my desk for ages at work and it was really good for picking up and having a flick through and sparking some new ideas www.mygreenerhome.co.uk/books-16/little-book-of-big-ideas-86.html

src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=littlefamilyo-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=1405317752&fc1=000000&IS2=1&l t1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"> i like this book I got today

thanks for those suggestions too Greenellie will look at those books to

ok my link didn't work will try again sorry. hopefully here

I also started a blog on my families journey to a more greener life, we have so far to go still, but it we have made a start here

Lots of useful green lifestyle articles from Friends of the Earth:

www.foe.co.uk/living/articles_index.html

'L' is for Lifestyle is a good book. It doesn't just cover environmental stuff but things like fairtrade as well. It's written by a Christian, presenting a Christian way of living but it would be relevant to anyone.