Earth Day 2011: A Billion Acts of Green®

As Earth Day approaches, the price of gasoline increases again and the government once again starts talking about an energy plan it seems like a good time to gather some knowledge on the environmental state of the world. The library offers several resources that you may find helpful:

The Kill-a-watts are now available for checkout. Test your appliances and see how much energy each is using. Maybe you can cut back and save some money.

The April featured databases are:

Home Improvement Reference Center: contains repair information for all your projects including decorating, electrical, maintenance, outdoor, plumbing, remodeling, and woodworking. See our tip sheet.

Garden, Landscape & Horticultural Collection: Gardening hobbyists, master gardeners and biotechnologists alike will find practical tips as well as the scientific theories of horticulture studies in this searchable collection of books and articles. See our tip sheet.

Some books that I found interesting:

Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas Friedman

This book looks at how warming temperatures, increasing population and a worldwide desire to live like middle class Americans are worsening environmental problems and some suggestions on what needs to be done.


Running Dry by Jonathan Waterman

National Geographic writer Jonathan Waterman makes his way down the Colorado River from its beginnings in the Colorado snowpack to it’s dry end in Mexico. Along the way he compares the current health and flow of the river to observations recorded in the late 1800s and talks to local people, park rangers and river managers about their use and needs of this dwindling resource.


A View From Lazy Point by Carl Safina

I really enjoyed this book because of its poetic and vivid descriptions of wildlife throughout the year and the framing of environmental damage in terms of future generations.


Other environmental books I hope to soon read:


Bird Cloud by Annie Proulx

The Quiet World: Saving Alaska’s Wilderness Kingdom 1910 -1960 by Douglas Brinkley

There's more information on "A Billion Acts of Green®: Personal, organizational and corporate pledges to live and act sustainably" at the Earth Day Network website.

Also check out the Earth Day Celebration at the ABQ BioPark tomorrow!!

 

Written by Laura of the Cherry Hills Library staff.