All Books

The complete how-to guide for growing herbs indoors for health, vitality, and culinary zest

Learn how to grow herbs for health, for taste, and for life with Your Indoor Herb Garden, a comprehensive guide to growing herbs indoors. Featuring all the tips and guidance you'll need to grow and harvest organic culinary and medicinal herbs right in your own home. Coverage includes:

• Techniques for successfully growing herbs indoors
• Equipment, soil types, and feeding
• Why indoor herb gardens are an important part of life, from cooking to healing
• Herbal medicine
• Herbal history and lore
• An annotated glossary of herbs, including their common uses, growing requirements, cautions, and more.

Growing herbs indoors leads the list of the healthiest and most useful indoor activities we can do. Herbs can clean the air of toxins, provide oxygen and humidity, and help vanquish our psychoses. And they're tasty!

This is the ideal practical guide for gardeners and cooks with an interest in healthy living and fresh flavors looking to create their own indoor herb garden anywhere.

Building a Revolution, one handful at a time.

In the face of widespread burnout and a world gone crazy, how do we find things to say "yes" to, rather than a resounding "no"?

On North America's West Coast, there's a group of rebel women who ten years ago chose to break free from a rigged economic and social system. They didn't take to the streets to lobby banks and governments to change their ways - they didn't have time for that. They had babies to feed and house. They reckoned that if nobody else was going to change the rules to support basic human needs and respect the biosphere, then we are all free to make our own rules.

They chose action. They decided to teach themselves how to build houses using the most abundant material on earth - mud. They'd learn by building, gathering skills and allies. They'd have fun, sharing whatever they learned with whoever wanted to come along for the ride. The Mudgirls revolution was born.

Part story of rebel women, grassroots self-governance, and community-building, part incendiary political and economic tract, and part practical guide to building natural homes for real people. Mudgirls Manifesto is about respecting the earth, each other, and crafting meaningful lives.

A powerful, positive antidote to troubled times.

Become a more effective and powerful communicator in today's highly polarized and polluted public square

The most pressing problem we face today is not climate change. It is pollution in the public square, where a toxic smog of adversarial rhetoric, propaganda, and polarization stifles discussion and debate, creating resistance to change and thwarting our ability to solve our collective problems.

In this second edition of I'm Right and You're an Idiot, James Hoggan grapples with this critical issue, through interviews with outstanding thinkers and drawing on wisdom from highly regarded public figures. Featuring a new, radically revised prologue, afterword, and a new chapter addressing the changes in the public discourse since the 2016 United States election, his comprehensive analysis explores:

• How political will is manipulated
• How tribalism shuts down open-minded thinking, undermines trust, and helps misinformation thrive
• Why facts alone fail and how language is manipulated and dissent silenced
• The importance of dialogue, empathy, and pluralistic narrative reframing arguments to create compelling narratives and spur action.

Our species' greatest survival strategy has always been foresight and the ability to leverage intelligence to overcome adversity. For too long now this capacity has been threatened by the sorry state of public discourse. Focusing on proven techniques to foster more powerful and effective communication, I'm Right and You're an Idiot will appeal to readers looking for deep insights and practical advice in these troubling times.

An easy-to-use guide for local leaders working to engage their community in growing a more equitable, healthy, and sustainable future

Building Community is the easy-to-use guide that distills the success of healthy thriving communities from around the world into twelve universally applicable principles that transcend cultures and locations.

Exploring how community building can be approached by local citizens and their local leaders, Building Community features:

• A chapter on each of the 12 Guiding Principles, based on research in 27 countries
• Over 30 knowledgeable contributing author-practitioners
• Critical practical leadership tools
• Notes from the field – with practical dos and don'ts
• A wealth of 25 case studies of communities that have learned to thrive, including towns and villages, inner-city neighborhoods, Indigenous groups, nonprofits, women's empowerment groups, and a school, business, and faith community.

Building Community is essential reading for community leaders, activists, planners, policy makers, and students looking to help their communities thrive.

Strong local communities are the foundation of a healthy, participatory, and resilient society. Rather than looking to national governments, corporations, or new technologies to solve environmental and social problems, we can learn and apply the successes of thriving communities to protect the environment, enhance local livelihood, and grow social vitality.

Garden-fresh recipes from an island retreat.

Imagine a educational retreat center nestled in the tall forest of an island paradise where the sea laps at the beach below. Now add the most delicious food imaginable, created by a host of talented artist-cooks using vegetables and flowers gathered from the center's lush gardens, and presented with delicate care. Then think of the most well-known names from the body, mind, and soul circuit who frequently teach here, and the guests who hail from the furthest reaches of the continent.

This is Hollyhock. Located on Cortes Island in British Columbia's Georgia Strait, Hollyhock is about nourishing those who work to make the world a better place. It has been attracting visitors like bees to honey for the past twenty-five years-partly because of its delicious food.

Now, for the first time, Hollyhock Cooks showcases the best of its globally influenced cuisine, with over 200 recipes including everything from soups and salads to entrées, sauces and spreads, desserts, and drinks. Special chapters focus on how to combine garden with kitchen, and on secrets for cooking for a crowd. And interspersed throughout are comments from the famous Hollyhock presenters-Ram Dass, Eckhart Tolle, Robert Bly, Joan Borysenko and more-on their very favorite dishes.

"Maharaji said that we should eat only food cooked with love. The food at Hollyhock is tasty, cooked with care and love. I take away a soft sweetness and a fat stomach!"-Ram Dass

Although there is nothing complicated about constructing healthier homes, building for health is still not standard practice, and in fact there are many aspects of conventional home construction that are detrimental to human wellbeing.

From foundation to rooftop, to home care and repair, Prescriptions for a Healthy House takes the mystery out of healthy-house building, renovation and maintenance, by walking the owner/architect/builder team through the entire construction process. Chapters include:

• Frame construction alternatives
• Thermal and moisture control
• Finishes
• Flooring
• Furnishings

The authors -- an architect, medical doctor and restoration consultant -- bring a singular combination of expertise and perspectives to this book. The result -- now in its third completely updated edition -- is a unique guide to creating healthy indoor and outdoor spaces, including many new resources, as well as specialized knowledge from several nationally recognized experts in the field of building biology.

This unique guide will appeal to architects, designers, contractors, medical professionals and homeowners.

Cordwood construction - log-ends set in insulated mortar - is a versatile, economical, low-impact, and beautiful building method. Its durability and performance has been proven in beautiful, centuries-old buildings in North America and Europe.

Yet until now, there has been no trusted, practical guide to cordwood construction using the material in a wide variety of construction projects.

Distilling decades of experience and best practices, Essential Cordwood Building is the first fully illustrated, step-by-step guide to cordwood building. Ideal for the DIYer and professional designer and builder alike, it covers:

• Wood species selection, log-end length, and seasoning
• Cement, lime putty, and cob mortar options
• Wall cavity insulation options
• Budgeting and estimating
• Highly illustrated, step-by-step building techniques
• Window and door frame installation
• Pointing and chinking, finishing, and plastering
• Special designs and decorative features
• Code references, compliance, building science, and best practices
• Troubleshooting and maintenance

The only metric that tracks how much nature we have – and how much nature we use

Ecological Footprint accounting, first introduced in the 1990s and continuously developed, continues to be the only metric that compares overall human demand on nature with what our planet can renew — its biocapacity — and distils this into one number: how many Earths we use.

Our economy is running a Bernie Madoff-style Ponzi scheme with the planet. We use future resources to run the present, using more than Earth can replenish. Like any such scheme, this works for a limited time, followed by a crash.

Avoiding ecological bankruptcy requires rigorous resource accounting — a challenging task, but doable with the right tools.

Ecological Footprint provides a complete introduction, covering:

• Footprint and biocapacity accounting
• Data and key findings for nations
• Worldwide examples including businesses, cities, and countries
• Strategies for creating regenerative economies

Whether you’re a student, business leader, future-oriented city planner, economist, or have an abiding interest in humanity’s future, Footprint and biocapacity are key parameters to be reckoned with and Ecological Footprint is your essential guide.

AWARDS

• SILVER | 2020 Eric Zencey Prize
• SILVER | 2019 Nautilus Book Awards: Ecology & Environment
• FINALIST | 2019 Foreword INDIES: Ecology & Environment

Produce your own milk, cheese, meat, fiber, fertilizer, and more

Incorporating dairy goats into a diversified homestead can be the key to greater self-sufficiency. Responding to questions and concerns from readers from all over North America and beyond, this fully revised and expanded edition of Raising Goats Naturally will help readers work with nature to raise dairy goats to produce milk, cheese, meat, fertilizer, leather, fiber, and soap – all without relying on drugs or following the factory farm model.

By observing your own animals closely and educating yourself about their specific needs, you can create an individualized plan for keeping them healthy and maximizing their productivity. This unique, fully-illustrated guide will teach you to help your herd thrive with:

• Breed-specific descriptions to help you choose the right goats for your goals and lifestyle
• Detailed information on housing, fencing, breeding, health, milking, and nutrition
• Complete recipes and instructions for making your own cheese, dairy products, and soap, as well as cooking with goat meat.

Packed with personal experiences and backed up by expert veterinary advice and scientific studies, Raising Goats Naturally brings together a wealth of practical information on raising goats for the love of it and using their milk and meat to become more self-reliant.

Immerse Yourself in Nature and Nourish Your Microbiome for Optimal Health

For too long our bodies have been viewed as capsules, sealed off and protected from 'bugs' by our immune systems and an arsenal of antibiotics, pesticides, processed foods, and antibacterial soaps. The more insulated from nature, the better.

The Secret Life of Your Microbiome shatters this deeply held myth, presenting a revolutionary new paradigm, backed by vast science; we're deeply connected to the biodiversity of nature through our microbiomes, the rich microbial ecosystem of our guts and skin, and this connection is essential to health and happiness.

From sugar-rich diets wiping out good gut bacteria and exacerbating depression, to microbes mediating phytonutrient absorption in the brain, to inflammation and cancer, the influence of biodiversity on our bodies is everywhere. The great communicator is our immune system, a 'mobile brain' that interacts with micro-organisms in and around us with profound health consequences. Written with pace, clarity, and humor by world-renowned scientists in immunology, nutrition, and environmental health, The Secret Life of Your Microbiome makes the irrefutable case that health and happiness depends fundamentally on the health of biodiversity, and shows how we can nurture this nature.

Dr. Susan L. Prescott, MD, PhD is an internationally acclaimed immunologist and pediatrician. She has authored 250 scientific papers and The Allergy Epidemic , The Calling , and Origins .

Dr. Alan C. Logan ND is a naturopathic doctor and researcher, a trusted media commentator, and co-author of Your Brain on Nature and The Clear Skin Diet . He and Prescott live in New York and Perth, Australia.

Powerful tools for spreading peace in your community

Unfounded beliefs and hateful political and social divisions that can cascade into violence are threatening to pull the world apart. Responding to fear and aggression strategically and with compassion is vital if we are to push back against the politics of hate and live in greater safety and harmony.

But how to do it?

Are We Done Fighting? is brimming with the latest research, practical activities, and inspirational stories of success for cultivating inner change and spreading peace at the community level and beyond. Coverage includes:

• An explanation of the different styles of conflict
• Cognitive biases that help explain polarized and lose-lose positions
• Practical methods and activities for changing our own and others' minds
• When punishment works and doesn't, and how to encourage discipline in children without using violence
• The skill of self-compassion and ways to reduce prejudice in ourselves and others
• Incredible programs that are rebuilding trust between people after genocide.

Packed with inspiration and cutting-edge findings from fields including neuroscience, social psychology, and behavioural economics, Are We Done Fighting? is an essential toolkit for activists, community and peace groups, and students and instructors working to build dialogue, understanding, and peace as the antidote to the politics of hate and division.

AWARDS

• SILVER | 2019 Nautilus Book Awards: Social Change & Social Justice

Cured meat products arose from the need for preservation, in a time when cooking and refrigeration were not always available. Today, charcuterie is an embodiment of art in the kitchen, combining precision, balance, patience, and creativity; an economy of ingredients, as poetry is an economy of words. The confluence of these elements, along with the purest of ingredients, can enable anyone to craft cured meats in their home.

Pure Charcuterie is a practical and artistic look at the techniques for curing meat at home both as a creative hands-on craft and as a fantastic and sustainable way to preserve highly valuable food. This accessible, beautiful, visual guide walks the reader through the process of making charcuterie, including:

• sourcing ingredients
• clear explanations of charcuterie technique
• creative recipes balancing tradition and invention
• smoking meats and building your own smoker

The analogies drawn between art and food, along with creative and accessible photographic discussions of charcuterie technique, make this book an essential primer on the basics of charcuterie: the mystery, the science, the art, and the technique. Ideal for home cooks working in small spaces, Pure Charcuterie is a must-have for experienced and new cooks alike — and any home artisan.

Help build a world based on flourishing well-being for both the human family and nature

In the face of political, financial, and environmental upheaval, it's difficult to slow down and build lives of mindfulness and joy. These things are within reach, but how can we go about creating a new world, using common-sense economics?

In An Economy of Well-being, author Mark Anielski presents a practical guide for building a new economy of well-being to help communities and nations become more flourishing and happier places to live. In this follow-up to his best-selling The Economics of Happiness, Anielski addresses key questions including:

• How can our personal and family assets be strengthened for a more fulfilling life of meaning and purpose?
• How can neighborhoods and cities become flourishing economies of well-being by making the best of abundant community assets?
• how can organizations, communities and financial institutions measure, manage and finance assets to achieve high levels of well-being?

An Economy of Well-being responds to a common yearning for common-sense tools to orient our lives, our businesses, and our communities towards well-being. This is ideal reading for anyone who wishes to contribute to building happier, more mindful communities, and ultimately lives of joy and meaning.

Throw off the shackles of formal schooling and embark upon a rich journey of self-directed, life-long learning

After over 100 years of mandatory schooling in the U.S., literacy rates have dropped, families are fragmented, learning "disabilities" are skyrocketing, and children and youth are increasingly disaffected. Thirty years of teaching in the public school system led John Taylor Gatto to the sad conclusion that compulsory governmental schooling is to blame, accomplishing little but to teach young people to follow orders like cogs in an industrial machine.

He became a fierce advocate of families and young people taking back education and learning, arguing that "genius is as common as dirt," but that conventional schooling is driving out the natural curiosity and problem-solving skills we're born with, replacing it with rule-following, fragmented time, and disillusionment.

Gatto's radical treatise on public education, a bestseller for 25 years, continues to bang the drum for an unshackling of children and learning from formal schooling. Now, in an ever-more-rapidly changing world with an explosion of alternative routes to learning, it's poised to continue to shake the world of institutional education for many more years.

Featuring a new foreword from Zachary Slayback, an Ivy League dropout and cofounder of tech start-up career foundry Praxis, this 25th anniversary edition will inspire new generations of parents and students to take control of learning and kickstart an empowered society of self-directed lifetime-learners.

An entertaining, scientifically rigorous exploration of the social and biological effects of our wireless world

The way we use i-technology is affecting our health and happiness. While programs, devices, information, and constant connectivity can offer us ease, liberation, and efficiency, they can also rewire our brains to feel restless, disconnected, unable to sleep, anxious, and depressed, with new illnesses like FOMO (fear of missing out), and electro sensitivities appearing.

Engaging and entertaining yet scientifically rigorous, this fully revised and updated second edition of i-Minds comprehensively explores an era of screen-based technology's assimilation into our lives, pondering it as both godsend and plague. Addressing theory, popular media, and industry hype, i-Minds demonstrates:

• How constant connectivity is changing our brains
• The dangers of unchecked connectivity
• Positive steps to embrace new technologies while protecting our well-being and steering our future in a more human direction.

i-Minds is a must-read for anyone interested in fostering health and happiness, or who is struggling with the role of screened technology in our lives.

Maximize your water harvesting potential with efficient, cost-effective earthworks

In the face of drought and desertification, well-designed, water harvesting earthworks such as swales, ponds, and dams are the most effective way to channel water into productive use. The result can be increased food production, higher groundwater levels, reduced irrigation needs, and enhanced ecosystem resilience.

Yet, due to a lack of knowledge, designers, and landowners often build earthworks that are costly, inappropriately sized and sited, or even dangerous. The Permaculture Earthworks Handbook is the first dedicated, detailed guide to the proper design and construction of water harvesting earthworks. It covers the function, design, and construction methods for nine main types of water harvesting earthworks across a full range of climates.

Coverage includes:

• Swales, ponds, dams, hugelkultur, net-and-pan systems, spate irrigation, and more
• Cost versus benefit of different earthworks
• Assessing site needs and suitability
• Soil types and hydrology
• Designing for maximum efficiency and lowest cost
• Risk assessment and safe construction
• Stacking functions and integrating earthworks into a design

This practical handbook is the essential resource for permaculture designers, teachers and students, landowners, farmers, homesteaders, landscape architects, and others involved in maximizing the water harvesting potential of any landscape at the lowest cost and impact.

Douglas Barnes is a permaculture designer trained in Australia by Bill Mollison and Geoff Lawton. He has designed and built earthworks in North America, Japan, and Andra Pradesh, India. He lives in Tweed, Ontario in a passive solar house he designed and built, and he blogs at permaculturerelections.com.

A veritable cookbook of natural plaster recipes and techniques for beautiful, durable finishes

Natural plasters made of clay, lime, and other materials mixed with sand are beautiful building finishes. Fun to work with, low-impact, and allowing infinite creativity, they are high performance and provide proven, centuries-long durability.

Yet until now there's been no resource that has pulled together the best North American plaster recipes and how-to into one place. Essential Natural Plasters covers it all:

• Sourcing and selecting materials, including site-soils
• Clay, lime, and gypsum plasters as well as fibers and amendments
• Interior and exterior use and specialty plasters such as tadelakt for bathrooms
• Preparing substrates, from straw bales and cob to lath and Sheetrock
• How to set up a safe, efficient worksite
• Mixing, testing, tinting, repairing, and applying plasters
• Coveted recipes from leading plasterers in Ontario, Vermont, New Mexico, France, and New Zealand.

Richly illustrated and deeply researched, Essential Natural Plasters is the must-have resource for owner-builders and professionals alike.

Skyrocketing energy costs and constant reminders of the impacts of conventional energy sources are making homeowners and businesses look at different ways to use energy more efficiently and to generate their own electricity to reduce fuel bills and their carbon footprint.

Power From the Wind is the completely revised and updated edition of the go-to guide for individuals and businesses interested in installing small wind energy systems. Written for the layperson, this practical guide provides an accurate and unbiased view of all aspects of small wind energy systems, including:

• Wind and wind energy system options
• Ways to assess wind resources at your site
• Wind turbines and towers
• Inverters and batteries
• Installation and maintenance of systems
• Costs and benefits of installing a wind system.

Readers will gain the knowledge they need to make wise decisions during the design, purchase, and installation of small wind energy systems and to communicate effectively with wind system installers, and will be empowered to help make the smartest, most economical choices.

Learn how to use natural no-till systems to increase profitability, efficiency, carbon sequestration, and soil health on your small farm.

The Organic No-Till Farming Revolution is the comprehensive farmer-developed roadmap showing how no-till lowers barriers to starting a small farm, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, increases efficiency and profitability, and promotes soil health.

Farming without tilling has long been a goal of agriculture, yet tilling remains one of the most dominant paradigms; almost everyone does it. But tilling kills beneficial soil life, burns up organic matter, and releases carbon dioxide. If the ground could instead be prepared for planting without tilling, time and energy could be saved, soil organic matter increased, carbon sequestered, and dependence on machinery reduced.

This hands-on manual offers:

• Why roller-crimper no-till methods don't work for most small farms
• A decision-making framework for the four no-till methods: occultation, solarization, organic mulches grown in place, and applied to beds
• Ideas for starting a no-till farm or transitioning a working farm
• A list of tools, supplies, and sources.

This is the only manual of its kind, specifically written for natural and small-scale farmers who wish to expand or explore chemical-free, regenerative farming methods.

The essential guide to prefab straw bale panels - an innovative spin on a widely used natural building method

Prefabricated straw bale wall panels combine the performance and low environmental impact of traditional straw bale with reduced labor and more consistent results. These structural insulated panels (SIPs) are built offsite and transported to the job site, or built onsite and "tipped up" into position. Essential Prefabricated Straw Bale Construction is a fully illustrated practical guide to this affordable, scalable method.

This indispensable manual includes a complete introduction to the use of prefabricated bale walls, packed with all the information you need to determine whether they are the right choice for your project. It covers:

• Specifications, engineering details and building code references
• Comprehensive step-by-step instructions and detail drawings
• Finishing and maintenance techniques
• Budgeting and labor estimates
• Additional resources

Essential Prefabricated Straw Bale Construction is part of New Society's Sustainable Building Series. Written by the world's leading sustainable builders, designers and engineers, these succinct, user-friendly handbooks are indispensable tools for any project where accurate and reliable information are key to success. Get the Essentials!

Chris Magwood is a sustainable builder and designer specializing in green and natural building techniques, the co-founder and co-director of the Endeavour Centre, and the author of several books on sustainable building including Making Better Buildings , More Straw Bale Building and Straw Bale Details .

Liberate yourself by understanding and mastering power dynamics

All social relations are laden with power. Getting out from under dominant power relations and mastering power dynamics is perhaps the most essential skill for change agents across all sectors seeking to ignite positive change in the world.

This concise action manual explores major concepts of power, with a focus on the dynamics of domination and liberation, and presents methods for shifting power relations and enacting freedom. The Power Manual:

• Clearly distills the major theories of power from post-modern and feminist theory to business management and developmental psychology, and beyond
• Examines key ways that power is deployed and transformed in society
• Presents a new theory of power based on enactment-the bringing of something to life through one's actions
• Explains how to refuse powerless identities and enact powerful ones
• Helps readers choose egalitarian interactions over domination
• Demonstrates mastering the process of power expansion
• Features workshop games and group activities for identifying and shifting power relations.

This accessible action manual is ideal for change agents, leaders, and activists across all nonprofit and business sectors aiming to understand, master, and shift power relations.

A different kind of hope for living in these turbulent times

Climate disruption. Growing social inequality. Pollution. We are living in an era of unprecedented crises, resulting in widespread feelings of fear, despair, and grief. Now, more than ever, maintaining hope for the future is a monumental task.

Intrinsic Hope offers a powerful antidote to these feelings. It shows how conventional ideas of hope are rooted in the belief that life will conform to our wishes and how this leads to disappointment, despair, and a dismal view of the future. As an alternative, it offers "intrinsic hope," a powerful, liberating, and positive approach to life based on having a deep trust in whatever happens. The author, a hopeful survivor, shows how to cultivate intrinsic hope through practical tips and six mindful habits for living a positive, courageous life in these troubled times.

Whether working directly on ecological or social issues or worried about children and grandchildren, this book is for everyone concerned about the future and looking for a deeper source of hope for a better world.

AWARDS

• GOLD | 2018 Nautilus Book Awards: Social Grand Prize Overall Winner
• GOLD | 2018 Nautilus Book Awards: Personal Growth

The essential guide to hempcrete - a strong, versatile, environmentally friendly, energy-efficient natural insulating material

Hempcrete is a versatile, energy-efficient natural insulation material, useful for walls, roofs and floors. Made from the inner stem of the hemp plant mixed with a lime-based binder, it is a very strong, lightweight and breathable alternative to manufactured insulations. Essential Hempcrete Construction is a fully illustrated practical guide to this affordable, renewable method, from procurement to finishing.

Going well beyond the scope of many natural building books, this indispensable manual includes a complete introduction to hempcrete, packed with all the information you need to determine whether it's the right choice for your project. It covers:

• Material specifications, testing and building code references and climate data
• Detail drawings for design reference
• Tool lists, and complete step-by-step instructions for mixing and placing hempcrete
• Finishing and maintenance techniques
• Budgeting and labor estimates
• Additional resources.

Essential Hempcrete Construction is part of New Society's Sustainable Building Essentials Series. Series editors Chris Magwood and Jen Feigin have scoured the world of sustainable building to bring you the techniques and systems that deliver measureable benefits in terms of greater energy efficiency and reduced environmental impact. Written by the world's leading sustainable builders, designers and engineers, these succinct, user-friendly handbooks are indispensable tools for any project where accurate and reliable information are key to success. Get the Essentials!

Strategies and techniques for making a living with intensive food production in small spaces

There are 40 million acres of lawns in North America. In their current form, these unproductive expanses of grass represent a significant financial and environmental cost. However, viewed through a different lens, they can also be seen as a tremendous source of opportunity. Access to land is a major barrier for many people who want to enter the agricultural sector, and urban and suburban yards have huge potential for would-be farmers wanting to become part of this growing movement.

The Urban Farmer is a comprehensive, hands-on, practical manual to help you learn the techniques and business strategies you need to make a good living growing high-yield, high-value crops right in your own backyard (or someone else's). Major benefits include:

• Low capital investment and overhead costs
• Reduced need for expensive infrastructure
• Easy access to markets.

Growing food in the city means that fresh crops may travel only a few blocks from field to table, making this innovative approach the next logical step in the local food movement. Based on a scalable, easily reproduced business model, The Urban Farmer is your complete guide to minimizing risk and maximizing profit by using intensive production in small leased or borrowed spaces.

The first practical, hands-on guide for female farmers

Women in agriculture are sprouting up in record numbers, but they face a host of distinct challenges and opportunities. Blending What Color is Your Parachute -style career advice with sustainable agriculture practices viewed through a gender lens, Soil Sisters provides a wealth of invaluable information for fledging female farming entrepreneurs.

The first manual of its kind, this authoritative and comprehensive blueprint presents practical considerations from a woman's perspective, covering everything from business planning to tool use and ergonomics to integrating children and family in farm operations. Key topics include:

• Finding your niche: mid-life encore careers, young & beginning, boomerangs and more
• From concept to crop: diversified farm start-up basics
• Resources, grants & loans for women farmers.

Soil Sisters also contains case studies, inspirational ideas and savvy advice nuggets from over 100 successful women farmers and advocates. Targeted specifically to members of the fastest-growing demographic in local agriculture, this highly readable guide is practical and pragmatic "Chick Lit" for today's food scene.

Non-toxic beauty products and eco-fashion to help you be magnifeco!

In the wake of the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh—the worst garment industry accident in recorded history—the words "fashion disaster" acquired a new and much more sinister meaning. Commentators suggested that the tragedy was completely predictable in a sector with a shocking track record of rampant environmental damage, the use of toxic chemicals, and chronic human rights abuse.

Now the industry is undergoing a shift, and many of us are questioning our buying habits. The rise of socially and environmentally responsible retailers like Patagonia and The Body Shop has led to dramatic changes in the eco and ethical fashion landscape. Magnifeco is the Fast Food Nation of the fashion world—your guide to making a difference too. In this guide, author Kate Black:

• Examines non-toxic beauty and ethical fashion
• Recommends a multitude of ways for consumers to make better decisions
• Introduces the brands and designers leading the way along this socially responsible path.

With this complete head-to toe guide covering everything from hair and beauty products to shoes and footwear, you can feel better about everything you put on your body and be— magnifeco!

Kate Black is the founder and editor-in-chief of Magnifeco.com, the digital source for eco-fashion and sustainable living. She has lived and worked in the major fashion centers of the world, has written over 1,000 articles about designers and ethical fashion, and speaks regularly at regional and national green living events.

Get out! Seasonal activities, information, stories, games and observations to foster engagement with the natural world

The Big Book of Nature Activities is a comprehensive guide for parents and educators to help youth of all ages explore, appreciate and connect with the natural world. This rich, fully illustrated compendium is is packed with crafts, stories, information and inspiration to make outdoor learning fun!

• Nature-based skills and activities such as species identification, photography, journaling and the judicious use of digital technology
• Ideas, games and activities grounded in what's happening in nature each season
• Core concepts that promote environmental literacy, such as climate change and the mechanisms and wonder of evolution, explained using a child-friendly, engaging approach
• Lists of key species and happenings to observe throughout the year across most of North America

Perfect for families, educators, and youth leaders wanting to help children connect with nature!

Is global fashion a wolf in sheep’s clothing? An industry insider takes a hard look at the apparel trade.

With sales of more than five hundred billion US dollars a year, the fashion industry is one of the most important sectors of the global economy, employing millions of men, women, and often children in the developing world. And yet its record is far from pretty. The collapse of Bangladesh's Rana Plaza with some thirty-five hundred desperately underpaid garment workers inside was a shocking example of what can go wrong when manufacturers ruthlessly cut costs while turning a blind eye to labor rights and workplace safety.

Written by an apparel industry insider, Fixing Fashion argues that the true legacy of Rana Plaza is increased awareness of how cheap, disposable clothing has led time and time again to serious community, environmental, and labor rights abuses. Ethical supply chain professional Michael Lavergne explores:

• The birth of the global apparel trade, from colonialism and slavery to today's neoliberal trade agenda
• How the infamous race to the bottom has led to some of the worst social and environmental excesses in the global apparel industry
• The rise of a new breed of entrepreneurs and stakeholders driving change and transparency across international supply chains

By taking a hard look at the very real impacts of our consumer culture's addiction to disposable fashion, Fixing Fashion challenges each of us to take full responsibility for understanding the hidden cost of our clothes.

Michael Lavergne is an ethical supply chain professional committed to sustainable fashion industry and the protection of labor, environmental and human rights in the developing world.

A guide to creating community-based art installations using green waste, invasive species and natural materials

Disposing of unwanted natural materials can be expensive and time-consuming, or it can present a tremendous opportunity for creating collaborative eco-art. Invasive-species control, green-waste management, urban gardening, and traditional crafts can all be brought together to strengthen community relationships and foster responsible land stewardship. Simple, easily taught, creative techniques applied with shared purpose become the modern-day equivalent of a barn raising or a quilting bee.

Common Threads is a unique guide to engaging community members in communal handwork for the greater good. Sharon Kallis provides a wealth of ideas for:

• Working with unwanted natural materials, with an emphasis on green waste and invasive species
• Visualizing projects that celebrate the human element while crafting works of art or environmental remediation
• Creating opportunities for individuals to connect with nature in a unique, meditative, yet community-oriented way

Combining detailed, step-by-step instructions with tips for successful process and an overview of completed projects, Common Threads is a different kind of weaving book. This inspirational guide is designed to help artists and activists foster community, build empowerment, and develop a do-it-together attitude while planning and implementing works of collaborative eco-art.

Sharon Kallis is a Vancouver artist who specializes in working with unwanted natural materials. Involving community in connecting traditional hand techniques with invasive species and garden waste, she creates site-specific installations that become ecological interventions. Her recent projects include The Urban Weaver Project, Aberthau: flax=food+fibre, and working closely with fiber artists, park ecologists, First Nations basket weavers, and others.

Community-based initiatives to preserve and protect our food supply

Historically, seed companies were generally small, often family-run businesses. Because they were regionally based, they could focus on varieties well-suited to the local environment. A Pacific Northwest company, for example, would specialize in different cultivars than a company based in the Southeast. However the absorption of these small, independent seed businesses into large multinationals, combined with the advancement of biotechnology resulting in hybrids and GMO seeds, has led to a serious loss of genetic diversity. The public is now at the mercy of the corporations that control the seeds.

In the past few years, gardeners have realized the inherent danger in this situation. A growing movement is striving to preserve and expand our stock of heritage and heirloom varieties through seed saving and sharing opportunities. Seed Libraries is a practical guide to saving seeds through community programs, including:

• Step-by-step instructions for setting up a seed library
• A wealth of ideas to help attract patrons and keep the momentum going
• Profiles of existing libraries and other types of seed saving partnerships

Whoever controls the seeds controls the food supply. By empowering communities to preserve and protect the genetic diversity of their harvest, Seed Libraries is the first step towards reclaiming our self-reliance while enhancing food security and ensuring that the future of food is healthy, vibrant, tasty, and nutritious.

Cindy Conner is a permaculture educator, founder of Homeplace Earth and producer of two popular instructional gardening DVDs. She is also the author of Grow a Sustainable Diet .

From commune to ecovillage — an in-depth look at the past, present and future of the world’s best-known intentional community

In the Summer of Love in San Francisco's Haight-Asbury, a charismatic young hippie by the name of Stephen Gaskin launched "Monday Night Class"—a weekly event which drew together an eclectic mix of truth-seekers and flower children. Soon the class became a caravan, and after touring the country this colorful crew decided to seek a plot of land and found a commune based on their shared values. Thus was born The Farm in Summertown, Tennessee.

The Farm Then and Now presents the story of a group that has defied the odds, blending idealism with a practical approach to intentional community and creating a model for sustainable living. Just as the Monday Night Classes taught students to open their hearts and minds, The Farm continues as a School of Change, demonstrating ways to operate collectively in terms of:

• Land, water, and stewardship
• Health care, building, and infrastructure
• Cooperation, compassion, and spiritual values

For humans to survive as a species, we must relearn the skills needed to work together; the lessons of The Farm can be applied in any community or organization. The Farm Then and Now addresses both the successes and shortcomings of this unique ongoing social experiment, showing how what was once the largest commune in the world has evolved into an exceptional example of living lightly on the earth.

Douglas Stevenson has been a member of The Farm Community for forty years. His company Green Life Retreats hosts the Farm Experience Weekend and other instructional seminars about sustainable living.

Local, diverse and resilient – the new culture of food

Long embraced by corporations who are driven only by the desire for profit, industrial agriculture wastes precious resources and spews millions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere each year, exacerbating climate change and threatening the very earth and water on which we depend. However, this dominant system, from which Americans obtain most of their food, is being slowly supplanted by a new paradigm.

The Emergent Agriculture is a collection of fourteen thematic essays on sustainability viewed through the lens of farming. Arguing that industrial food production is incompatible with the realities of nature, science, and ethics, this lyrical narrative makes the case for a locally based food system which is:

• Stable in the face of economic uncertainty
• Resilient in the face of environmental variability
• Grounded in stewardship of the land, on attaching value to food and the craft involved in producing it, and on respecting the dignity of farmers, consumer,s and livestock

A revolution in food production is underway. Written from the vantage point of an ecologist who is also a farmer, The Emergent Agriculture is essential reading for anyone interested in food security and the potential for growing local economies. Food for thought about the future of food.

Gary Kleppel is a professor of biology at the SUNY Albany, where he focuses on sustainable agriculture, conservation-based grazing, and the ecology of human-dominated landscapes. He and his wife Pam are owners of Longfield Farm, where they produce grass-fed lamb, wool, free range chickens and eggs, and artisanal breads

The safe, clean, and convenient way to compost all your food scraps.

Bokashi is Japanese for "fermented organic matter." Bokashi composting is a safe, quick, and convenient way to compost in your kitchen, garage, or apartment, using a specific group of microorganisms to anaerobically ferment all food waste (including meat and dairy). Since the process takes place in a closed system, insects and smell are controlled, making it ideal for urban or business settings. The process is very fast, with compost usually ready to be integrated into your soil or garden in around two weeks.

While bokashi has enjoyed great popularity in many parts of the world, it is still relatively unknown in North America. From scraps to soil, Bokashi Composting is the complete, step-by-step, do-it-yourself guide to this amazing process, with comprehensive information covering:

• Background-the history, development and scientific basis of the technique
• Getting started-composting with commercially available products or homemade systems
• Making your own-system plans and bokashi bran recipes using common materials and locally sourced ingredients
• Growing-improving your soil with fermented compost and bokashi juice.

This essential guide is a must-read for gardeners, homeowners, apartment dwellers, traditional composters, and anyone who wants a safe, simple, and convenient way to keep kitchen waste out of the landfill.

Landscape Urbanism and New Urbanism - negotiating the relationship between cities and the natural world

In contemporary Western society, urban development is regarded as an unfortunate blight from which nature provides a much-needed respite. This apparent dichotomy ignores the interdependence between human settlement and the natural world. In fact, one of the most pressing problems facing urban theorists today is determining how to resolve the tension between the built and natural environments, in the process creating truly sustainable cities.

Landscape Urbanism and its Discontents is a collection of essays exploring the debate over urban reform, now polarized around the two competing paradigms of Landscape Urbanism and the New Urbanism. Landscape Urbanism is conceived as a more ecologically based approach, while New Urbanism is more concerned with the built form. Well-known and influential urban theorists such as Andrés Duany and James Howard Kunstler delve into the impact of the tension between the two perspectives on:

• Smart growth
• Neighborhood design
• Sustainable development
• Creating cities that are in balance with nature

While there is significant overlap between Landscape Urbanism and the New Urbanism, the former has assumed prominence amongst most critical theorists, whereas the latter's proponents are more practically oriented. Given that these two sets of ideas are at the forefront of sustainable urban design, the analysis– and potential reconciliation—offered by Landscape Urbanism and its Discontents is long overdue.

Andrés Duany is a leading proponent of the New Urbanism and is a founding principal at Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company.

Emily Talen is a professor at Arizona State University and the author of four previous books on urban design.

Raise a gaggle of geese, the unsung heroes of the small farm

While chickens preen in the spotlight, geese are the historic unsung heroes of small farms and homesteads. Providing weed control, large eggs, and entertainment, and acting as "security" over other animals, geese are the ultimate modern homesteading companion.

The Modern Homesteader's Guide to Keeping Geese covers everything you need to know to raise geese, including:

• Profiles of breeds and how to select the best one for your needs
• How to "imprint" goslings on a person
• Feeding, housing, animal health, and cold weather care
• Using geese for weed control, soil improvement, and as "watch-geese"
• Cooking with goose eggs and meat

Additional coverage includes a look at the rich history of geese on farms in North America and Europe that will enhance any goose keeper's enjoyment of these intelligent and unique birds.

This practical guide is a must-have essential for the kitchen table of homesteaders, small farmers, permaculturists, and professional farmers looking to add the power of geese to their land.

A Volcano in My Tummy: Helping Children to Handle Anger presents a clear and effective approach to helping children and adults alike understand and deal constructively with children's anger. Using easy to understand yet rarely taught skills for anger management, including how to teach communication of emotions, A Volcano in My Tummy offers engaging, well-organized activities which help to overcome the fear of children's anger which many adult care-givers experience. By carefully distinguishing between anger the feeling, and violence the behavior, this accessible little book, primarily created for ages 6 to thirteen, helps to create an awareness of anger, enabling children to relate creatively and harmoniously at critical stages in their development.

Through activities, stories, articles, and games designed to allow a multi-subject, developmental approach to the topic at home and in school, A Volcano in My Tummy gives us the tools we need to put aside our problems with this all-too-often destructive emotion, and to have fun while we're at it.

Elaine Whitehouse is a teacher, family court and private psychotherapist, mother of two and leader of parenting skills workshops for eight years. Warwick Pudney is a teacher and counsellor with ten years experience facilitating anger management, abuser therapy and men's change groups, as well as being a father of three. Both regularly conduct workshops.

Soak up carbon into beautiful, healthy buildings that heal the climate

"Green buildings" that slash energy use and carbon emissions are all the rage, but they aren't enough. The hidden culprit is embodied carbon — the carbon emitted when materials are mined, manufactured, and transported — comprising some 10% of global emissions. With the built environment doubling by 2030, buildings are a carbon juggernaut threatening to overwhelm the climate.

It doesn't have to be this way.

Like never before in history, buildings can become part of the climate solution. With biomimicry and innovation, we can pull huge amounts of carbon out of the atmosphere and lock it up as walls, roofs, foundations, and insulation. We can literally make buildings out of the sky with a massive positive impact.

The New Carbon Architecture is a paradigm-shifting tour of the innovations in architecture and construction that are making this happen. Office towers built from advanced wood products; affordable, low-carbon concrete alternatives; plastic cleaned from the oceans and turned into building blocks. We can even grow insulation from mycelium.

A tour de force by the leaders in the field, The New Carbon Architecture will fire the imagination of architects, engineers, builders, policy makers, and everyone else captivated by the possibility of architecture to heal the climate and produce safer, healthier, and more beautiful buildings.

The first highly illustrated, comprehensive guide to light straw clay - a high performance, low-impact, durable building material

Light straw clay - straw mixed with clay slip - is a versatile, easy-to-use wall building material. Also called "slip-straw", its durability has been proven in beautiful, centuries-old buildings across Northern Europe and in modern high-performance buildings in North America.

Building code compliant in the US and using "waste" materials with high insulation value and excellent moisture handling qualities, it's both high-performance and low-impact. Yet until now, there has been no practical guide to using the material in a wide variety of construction and renovation projects.

Distilling decades of experience, Essential Light Straw Clay Construction is a fully illustrated step-by-step guide, ideal for both the DIYer and professional designer and builder alike. It covers:

• Material specifications, performance, and when and where to use it
• Estimating quantities, costs, and sourcing
• Illustrated, step-by-step guidance for mixing and installation, including "slip-chip" variations
• Detail drawings for various wall systems including stud, timber, and pole framing, Larsen trusses, I-joists, plus retrofits
• Code references, compliance, and best practice
• Finishing and maintenance techniques
• Additional resources.

Lydia Doleman , a licenced contractor, taught carpentry and natural building at Solar Energy International in Colorado and was lead ecological builder for Portland's City Repair project. She's created beautiful, high-performance, low-impact buildings across the Northwest, from Portland's first permitted straw bale home and The Rebuilding Center's cob entryway, to a 3,300-sq. f light clay straw brewery. She's written for The Last Straw Journal and Permaculture Activist and appeared on NBC News and HGTV's Off Beat America . Lydia lives in southern Oregon.

Today's global economy is yesterday's empire. Imperialism in whatever guise is the same through time, penetrating every area of our lives, affecting whole cultures as well as the deep core of individuals. And maps have been the tools of empire, defining the territory to be exploited.

Off The Map is a unique exploration of globalization. Part history, part autobiography, and part fiction, it weaves together the history of the last 300 years of Western imperialism, the author's own story of sexual abuse in the 1950s, and a present-day horseback ride through the recently colonized Chicano world of New Mexico. The author takes us with her as she travels 'off the map' through the ancestral lands of her friend and traveling companion Snowflake Martinez, describing the Chicano people's struggle to survive the onslaught of a globalized world, and the ways in which that struggle has been replicated countless times. In a different voice, she reveals scenes from her childhood, her grandparents adorning themselves with artifacts symbolic of the British Empire, and her medical doctor father raping both her and her brother for twelve years. The political is deeply personal. And hope, according to Glendinning, resides in our creating new maps that chart worlds fashioned by love and respect for community, place and nature.

"A dazzling contribution to the critical study of globalization (qua imperialism)." -- Devon Peña, author of Chicano Culture, Ecology, Politics: Subversive Kin

A visionary case for a new monetary system that is interest-free, just and stable

As a medium of exchange, money is one of the most ingenious inventions of mankind, as it facilitates the trade of goods and services and allows for specialization and the division of labor. However, compound interest and inflation have caused our monetary system to balloon to the point where bailing out banks, large corporations, and even entire countries will not prevent a complete breakdown of the global economy-unless we change the system in fundamental ways.

It's time for a grassroots movement to knock conventional money off its pedestal and replace it with a fresh paradigm that puts people before profits. A guide not only for the 99% but also for the 1%, Occupy Money demonstrates that the creation of a stable and sustainable monetary system will reflect real wealth rather than the smoke and mirrors of speculative profit, thus providing an alternative to the Age of Austerity. This vision can be realized through such creative initiatives as:

• Establishing time banks and complementary currencies geared to specific services such as health and education
• Eliminating interest through interest-free loans and "demurrage", which rewards currency circulation
• Re-localizing economies through regional currencies.

For many years financial insiders have hidden economic truths by describing them in arcane terms that no layperson can understand. Occupy Money uses clear, simple and concise language to explain how money will serve people instead of people serving money, and in doing so it issues a challenge to the very foundations of conventional economic doctrine.

Discover your role in the $50-trillion "clean money" revolution that is bringing true prosperity to the world.

By 2050, $50 trillion will change hands in North America in the largest generational wealth transfer ever. It will remake the world and be the biggest money-making opportunity in history.

"Business as usual", founded on exploitation and environmental ruin, is over. Climate catastrophe, reactionary politics, and widening inequity have put the world on edge. Meanwhile innovations are shifting the economic ground, and an entire generation is pounding the table for real change. Capitalism is evolving into a force that can restore the planet, transform the global economy, and bring justice to people.

Joel Solomon, impact investor and change agent, lays it on the line. The Clean Money Revolution is part memoir of an inspiring thought leader's journey from presidential campaigner to pioneering investor, part insider's guide to the businesses remaking the world, and part manifesto for a new vision of profit, power, and purpose.

Meet some of the people behind this massive shift, and discover the role you can play in the $50-trillion movement toward true prosperity. A must-read for investors, wealth advisors, aspiring entrepreneurs, and all who want their values and money to work together to transform the future.

The Clean Money Revolution is on. Join it!

It's time to make money and give a damn

You give a damn, right?

You want your money to do good, but your pension is riddled with oil and defense companies. Besides, investing is a pain in the ass. It's tedious, and most sustainable and responsible investing books are as much fun as a root canal. You're fighting the urge to bury your head in the sand. What to do?

There is a better way.

Invest Like You Give a Damn is a different kind of investment book. It tells real life stories of people just like you. People who give a damn but who have stomped the devil of inertia and chosen to align their money with their values. Coverage includes:

• Why you need to give a damn about your investments
• Engaging investor stories to guide financial planning and investment decisions
• A ground-breaking financial and socially responsible investing asset allocation tool for profit and sustainability impact maximization
• Money makeover profiles
• How-to investing from one-click to deep-dive portfolio building

Authored by a leading socially responsible investing expert and replete with humor and irreverence, Invest Like You Give a Damn is for everyone from college graduates waiting tables, to mid-life generation Xers, to baby boomers who want to live their ideals.

Get it, read it, give a damn!

Marc de Sousa-Shields is co-founder of the Social Investment Organization (SIO), a UN and World Bank advisor, and contributor to online corporate sustainability magazines including Triple Pundit and Sustainable Brands . He's worked in eighty countries, blogs at The Sustainable Century, and when not on the road, he lives in Mexico.

Sustainable building from the ground up - the pros and cons of the latest green and natural materials and technologies

From foundation to finish, a wealth of information is available on sustainable construction methods-entire volumes have been published on individual green and natural building techniques. But with so many different ideas to choose from, there is no single resource that allows an owner or builder to quickly and objectively compare the merits of each system for their particular project.

Making Better Buildings cuts through the hype and provides the unvarnished facts about the upsides and downsides of the most widely discussed materials and technologies. Drawing on the real-world experiences of designer/builders, this comparative guide systematically and comprehensively examines each approach in terms of:

• Cost, sourcing, labor intensity, and ease of construction
• Energy efficiency, embodied energy, and environmental impacts
• Availability/accessibility
• Viable applications and future potential.

Each chapter is rounded out by a chart which summarizes the material in a quick and accessible manner.

Whether you are an owner preparing to build a green or natural home, or a conventional contractor determined to integrate sustainable alternatives into your existing construction practices, this up-to-the minute resource will help you make the best decisions for your project, while meeting your energy, efficiency, budgetary, and site-specific needs.

The illustrated guide to profitable, vibrant and sustainable permaculture-based market gardening

Permaculture tends to be very much in the domain of home gardeners and property owners. But what if we could take it all a step further, and merge the fields of permaculture and market gardening?

In The Permaculture Market Garden , author Zach Loeks brings together his passion for sustainable permaculture food production systems and beautiful, vibrant illustrations to provide a highly visual guide to the smooth integration of permaculture into the market garden, in ways that are scalable to specific situations. Profiling crops and ecosystem-based techniques, Loeks demonstrates a profitable, sustainable and approachable model for the future of market gardening.

Along the way, Loeks introduces his own system of PermaBeds, season extension techniques, intensive and rotational interplanting, in-depth discussions on soil health, and more, bringing activities, designs and prospects of farming to life through illustrations, so the reader can be immersed within the world of permaculture farming. Playful, informative and curious, inspiring and beautiful and packed with accessible practical information, The Permaculture Market Garden will inspire both the seasoned market gardener as well as anyone aspiring to start a business.

Zach Loeks is a market gardener, farm consultant and educator living in the Ottawa Valley. Winner of two regional awards for sustainability and innovation in agriculture, he shares his expertise in farming, design and business through a successful series of on-farm workshops, conferences and schools, as well as a successful year-round CSA.

Increasingly, people working in teams face complex issues that need resolving in an efficient, participatory manner that honors the group's diverse perspectives and individual creativity. The Workshop Book outlines the best practices of the workshop method, based on the Institute for Cultural Affair's Technology of Participation ^TM , and its use in consensus formation, planning, problem solving and research. It also discusses workshop preparation and design, leadership styles, dealing with difficult behaviors, and special applications such as its use in large groups and for planning purposes.

In 2016, the president-elect of the United States openly called for segregation and deportation based on race and religion. Meanwhile, inequalities in education, housing, health care, and the job market continue to prevail, while increased insecurity and fear have led to an epidemic of scapegoating and harassment of people of color. Yet, recent polls show that only thirty-one percent of white people in the United States believe racism is a major societal problem; at the same time, resistance is strong, as highlighted by indigenous struggles for land and sovereignty and the Movement for Black Lives.

Completely revised and updated, this fourth edition of Uprooting Racism offers a framework around neoliberalism and interpersonal, institutional, and cultural racism, along with stories of resistance and white solidarity. It provides practical tools and advice on how white people can work as allies for racial justice, engaging the reader through questions, exercises, and suggestions for action, and includes a wealth of information about specific cultural groups such as Muslims, people with mixed heritage, Native Americans, Jews, recent immigrants, Asian Americans, and Latino/as.

Previous editions of Uprooting Racism have sold more than 50,000 copies. This accessible, personal, supportive, and practical guide is ideal for students, community activists, teachers, youth workers, and anyone interested in issues of diversity, multiculturalism, and social justice.

Paul Kivel is an award-winning author and an accomplished trainer and speaker. He has been a social justice activist, a nationally and internationally recognized anti-racism educator, and an innovative leader in violence prevention for over forty years.

The transformation of schooling from a twelve-year jail sentence to freedom to learn.

John Taylor Gatto's Weapons of Mass Instruction , now available in paperback, focuses on mechanisms of traditional education which cripple imagination, discourage critical thinking, and create a false view of learning as a byproduct of rote-memorization drills. Gatto's earlier book, Dumbing Us Down , introduced the now-famous expression of the title into the common vernacular. Weapons of Mass Instruction adds another chilling metaphor to the brief against conventional schooling.

Gatto demonstrates that the harm school inflicts is rational and deliberate. The real function of pedagogy, he argues, is to render the common population manageable. To that end, young people must be conditioned to rely upon experts, to remain divided from natural alliances and to accept disconnections from their own lived experiences. They must at all costs be discouraged from developing self-reliance and independence.

Escaping this trap requires a strategy Gatto calls "open source learning" which imposes no artificial divisions between learning and life. Through this alternative approach our children can avoid being indoctrinated-only then can they achieve self-knowledge, good judgment, and courage.

Once we could fill our grocery carts with cheap and plentiful food, but not anymore. Cheap food has gone the way of cheap oil. Climate change is already reducing crop yields worldwide. The cost of flying in food from far away and shipping it across the country in refrigerated trucks is rapidly becoming unviable. Cars and cows increasingly devour grain harvests, sending prices skyrocketing. More Americans than ever before require food stamps and food pantries just to get by, and a worldwide food crisis is unfolding, overseas and in our kitchens.

We can keep hunger from stalking our families, but doing so will require a fundamental shift in our approach to field and table. A Nation of Farmers examines the limits and dangers of the globalized food system and how returning to basics is our best hope. The book includes in-depth guidelines for:

• Creating resilient local food systems
• Growing, cooking and eating sustainably and naturally
• Becoming part of the solution to the food crisis.

The book argues that we need to make self-provisioning, once the most ordinary of human activities, central to our lives. The results will be better food, better health, better security and freedom from corporations that don't have our interests at heart.

Critical reading for anyone who eats and cares about high-quality food and food sources.

Build a natural pond for wildlife, beauty, and quiet contemplation

Typical backyard ponds are a complicated mess of pipes, pumps, filters, and nasty chemicals designed to adjust pH and keep algae at bay. Hardly the bucolic, natural ecosystem beloved by dragonflies, frogs, and songbirds.

The antidote is a natural pond, free of hassle, cost, and complexity and designed as a fully functional ecosystem, ideal for biodiversity, swimming, irrigation, and quiet contemplation.

Building Natural Ponds is the first step-by-step guide to designing and building natural ponds that use no pumps, filters, chemicals, or electricity and mimic native ponds in both aesthetics and functionality. Highly illustrated with how-to drawings and photographs, coverage includes:

• Understanding pond ecosystems and natural algae control
• Planning, design, siting, and pond aesthetics
• Step-by-step guidance for construction, plants and fish, and maintenance and trouble shooting
• Scaling up to large ponds, pools, bogs, and rain gardens.

Whether you're a backyard gardener looking to add a small serene natural water feature or a homesteader with visions of a large pond for fish, swimming, and irrigation, Building Natural Ponds is the complete guide to building ponds in tune with nature, where plants, insects, and amphibians thrive in blissful serenity.

Robert Pavlis , a Master Gardener with over 40 years of gardening experience, is owner and developer of Aspen Grove Gardens, a six-acre botanical garden featuring over 2,500 varieties of plants. A well-respected speaker and teacher, Robert has published articles in Mother Earth News , Ontario Gardening magazine, the widely read blog GardenMyths.com, which explodes common gardening myths and gardening information site GardenFundamentals.com.

The girls' guide to giving the cosmetics industry a makeover.

Lead in lipstick? 1,4 dioxane in baby soap? Coal tar in shampoo? How is this possible?

Simple. The $35 billion cosmetics industry is so powerful that they've kept themselves unregulated for decades.

Not one cosmetic product has to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration before hitting the market.

• The European Union has banned more than 1,100 chemicals from cosmetics. The United States has banned just 10.
• Only 11% of chemicals used in cosmetics in the US have been assessed for health and safety – leaving a staggering 89% with unknown or undisclosed effects.
• More than 70% of all personal care products may contain phthalates, which are linked to birth defects and infertility.
• Many baby soaps are contaminated with the cancer-causing chemical 1,4 dioxane.

It's not just women who are affected by this chemists' brew. Shampoo, deodorant, face lotion and other products used daily by men, women and children contain hazardous chemicals that the industry claims are "within acceptable limits." But there's nothing acceptable about daily multiple exposures to carcinogenic chemicals-from products that are supposed to make us feel healthy and beautiful.

Not Just a Pretty Face delves deeply into the dark side of the beauty industry, and looks to hopeful solutions for a healthier future. This scathing investigation peels away less-than-lovely layers to expose an industry in dire need of an extreme makeover.

15 percent of the purchase price of each book sold benefits the national Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, administered by the Breast Cancer Fund, through December 31, 2012.

The Zen approach to mowing lawns, wacking weeds, harvesting crops, and building modern homesteader abs!

Dreading the weekly law mow? Need to whack the weeds in your orchard? Cringing at the drudgery and incessant blare of the mower? Imagine instead long sweeps of an elegant scythe cutting your grass and pesky weeds in blissful, meditative silence.

That is the power of the "scythe revolution" sweeping North America.

Written by a master of the scythe, professionally trained in Austria, and drawing deeply on research into original German texts, The Scything Handbook brings centuries-old scything techniques into the twent-first century.

Detailed illustrations cover scythe assembly, perfecting the stroke, blade selection, honing, peening, and aftercare, as well as background on how scythes are forged. Also covered are the basics of making hay and mulch by hand, and how to grow and harvest gains at the home and homestead scale for self-sufficiency.

Scything promotes health, flexibility, mind-body connection, and a meditative contemplation of the natural world while producing beautiful lawns and luscious mulch for the modern gardener and homesteader. This is truly an heirloom tool to master.

Join the scythe revolution!

Ian Miller followed a career in music with a degree in Agroecology from UC Santa Cruz. During a two year stint on a biodynamic farm in Austria he learned how to scythe and delved into historic scything texts in German. He has worked for Seed Savers Exchange in Iowa and is developing a twemty-acre scythe-based homestead near Decorah, Iowa, where he grows his own grain for bread making and makes hay by hand.

Written for the novice home gardener as well as the seasoned pro, this fully illustrated, comprehensive guide to container gardening will show you how to save up to 70% on your produce bill—wherever you live!