Sustainability Starts At Home

Are You Overwhelmed by "Going Green?" You read the news about worsening air and water pollution, climate change, droughts and diminishing natural resources, and you worry if your family will have a healthy future. The problem seems so big and overwhelming. What can you do? Why bother? You have the power and it starts right at home. Change starts with each of us, right where we each live. By making a series of small, doable changes, in aggregate, you will make a big difference--in your budget, and in the world. Are You Ready to Make A Difference? In this book, top eco-blogger Dawn Gifford shares her extensive research into why today's environmental problems exist. She gives you all the facts and data you need to understand the issues, then shares simple, succinct actions that you can easily implement right away. You can start saving hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year, be empowered to greater self-sufficiency, reduce your carbon, water, energy and consumption footprints and have a tangible sense that you ARE making that difference. What are You Waiting For? Discover how to save up to $200 a year simply by lowering your thermostat to this setting. (Chapter 8) Learn how to save 7,500 gallons of water and $140 in electricity costs every year, just by installing these inexpensive plumbing items. (Chapter 12) Get your home or business electricity from solar for less than the cost of your current utility bill--and lock in those prices for years to come. (Chapter 11) Follow these steps to buy all your organic produce and pasture-raised meat, dairy and eggs at wholesale cost (Chapter 21) Sustainability Starts at Home will show you how to do all of this, plus give you hundreds more inspiring tips that will save you thousands of dollars a year--simply by making adjustments to how you maintain your home and make your day-to-day purchases. This book pays for itself (and then some) with the first tip you implement! You Can Change the World, One Little Step at a Time If you are here on this page, you are most likely deeply concerned about the state of the world, and you worry about where we are headed if we keep doing things the same old way we always have been. And, you care a lot about this beautiful earth and your family's future. You feel passionate about making a difference. But it can often be challenging to know where to start. And if you've already started and gotten comfortable with things like composting or making your own non-toxic housecleaning solutions, you might want to know how to take your passion for green living and self-sufficiency to the next level. This book has just what you need! Sustainability Starts at Home has 338 pages of ideas, tips, facts and inspiration to help you live a simpler, more sustainable and frugal life--no matter what level of knowledge you are starting from. You CAN do it, and every little effort does make a difference!

This book unveils 10 essential secrets to implementing sustainable practices in the average households. Providing a practical guide for the average family to embrace sustainability. This book gives you simple ideas to begin to live greener as a family.

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, Schifman shares her knowledge and experience for others to use in their journey toward a greener way of living. Whether the reader is building a new home or doing a minor remodel, a homeowner needs a framework by which to guide their decisions. These decisions are based on values, and the author posits that there are really only three reasons to go green: For Our Health: By building more sustainably, we reduce our exposure to harmful chemicals and toxins. For Our Wealth: By building a more durable home and being more efficient with resources like water and electricity, we reduce our monthly utility bills and ongoing maintenance expenses. For Our Soul: Collectively doing the right thing for our planet does make a difference—and that is soul-nourishing. Learn the logistics of choosing windows, insulation, appliances, and lighting. Find out about FSC certified wood and about using reclaimed materials. Here is everything you need to make your home sustainable.

Sustainability Made Simple is an introduction to sustainability and sustainable living that explores the relationship between everyday life and the intricate global environmental issues of today, including air and water pollution, deforestation, and climate change. Rosaly Byrd and Laurèn DeMates offer an optimistic yet realistic perspective on our impact on the environment, giving much needed guidance to those who are interested in finding new and relatively easy ways to incorporate sustainability into daily life. An excellent resource for those who are interested in learning what sustainability is about and picking up habits to be more sustainable, Sustainability Made Simple shows that adopting a sustainable lifestyle doesn’t require “going off the grid” or making drastic life changes that take time and cost money. Instead, Byrd and DeMates focus on the advantages and transformative changes associated with sustainability, demonstrating that although society is facing unprecedented environmental challenges, working towards sustainability is an opportunity to do things differently and do things better, enhancing aspects of life, such as health, work and community.

With "Sustainability: A Comprehensive Foundation," first and second-year college students are introduced to this expanding new field, comprehensively exploring the essential concepts from every branch of knowldege - including engineering and the applied arts, natural and social sciences, and the humanities. As sustainability is a multi-disciplinary area of study, the text is the product of multiple authors drawn from the diverse faculty of the University of Illinois: each chapter is written by a recognized expert in the field.

The Aspiring Minimalist’s Guide to Living Consciously and Contributing to a “Greener” Tomorrow “This is the perfect book for people that want to find a realistic roadmap to sustainable living.” ?The Holistic Millennial Eco-minimalism is a hot-button issue right now, and for good reason.Living a life with less can be the key to saving our precious planet. Break the consumption cycle. 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 are 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? A guide to eco-minimalism with a plan that is realistic. Manufacturing "stuff" exploits Earth's precious (and finite) resources. And then there's the harsh reality of where it all goes. Our discarded possessions ultimately head to landfills and contribute to environmental pollution, releasing greenhouse gases during breakdown and decomposition. Sustainable Minimalism is the solution. Empower yourself to incrementally incorporate the tenets of sustainable minimalism into your home and life. Learn to master the easiest tasks first and build upon your successes?a practical and stress-free process. Now that’s sustainable! A blueprint for sustainability and stress management: How to gain greater mental clarity and increase your free time with fewer possessions Environmentally friendly ways of decluttering and organizing Ways to improve your financial stability, while going green at the same time How to get organized and operate a zero-waste home If you enjoyed books like Zero Waste Home, The Minimalist Home, or The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, you’ll love Sustainable Minimalism.

Sustainability applies to everybody. But everybody applies it differently, by defining and shaping it differently—much as water is edged and shaped by its container. It is conceived in absolute terms but underpinned by a great diversity of relatively “green”—and sometimes contradictory—practices that can each make society only more or less sustainable. In Practicing Sustainability, chefs, poets, music directors, evangelical pastors, skyscraper architects, artists, filmmakers, as well as scientific leaders, entrepreneurs, educators, business executives, policy makers, and the contrarians, shed light on our understanding of sustainability and the role that each of us can play. Each contributor addresses what sustainability means, what is most appealing about the concept, and what they would like to change to improve the perception and practice of sustainability. What emerges from their essays is a wide spectrum of views that confirm an important insight: Sustainability is pursued in different ways not only due to different interpretations, but also because of varying incentives, trade-offs, and altruistic motives. Practicing and achieving sustainability starts with a willingness to look critically at the concept. It also means enabling rich and vigorous discussion based on pragmatism and common sense to determine a framework for best ideas and practices. With time and the much needed critical thinking, sustainable development will become a more integral part of our culture. By sharing experiences and crisp insights from today’s savants, Practicing Sustainability serves as a stepping stone to the future.

Over 85 percent of Americans today express concern about health and the environment, yet only a small fraction say they know where to begin. If you are concerned about climate change, personal health, or simply wish to tread more lightly on the earth, this book is for you. It wil help you get past the worry adn take positive action to improve both your health and the health of the planet. Based on a lifetime of research and practice, Greg Horn provides the ultimate primer for living sustainably.

Who says living a green lifestyle has to be a chore? Part reference, part lifestyle—with a dash of inspiration—Green Living is full of approachable, accessible, and easily implemented strategies to quickly and easily bring sustainability into all areas of your life and home.