Slow Death by Rubber Duck

The information in Slow Death by Rubber Duck doesn’t make for relaxing reading, even though the authors, Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie, do a masterful job of translating statistics and technical data (sometimes very technical) into highly readable prose. The problem is, the book is about a very unsettling topic.

When I first received my review copy and read the introduction, I was struck by the experiment that forms the basis for the book: The authors voluntarily and quite deliberately exposed themselves to toxic chemicals — lots of them.

Now, why would these men risk their health by loading their bodies with toxins? Isn’t that irresponsible? I wondered. It sounded so dangerous. And, from the way they tell it, their families were none too thrilled by their participation, either….

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Why You Should Read THE WORLD PEACE DIET (and Buy It March 12)

The first, and most important reason to buy The World Peace Diet March 12 (or any time) is that it will very likely reshape your thinking about the foods you choose to consume. Unless you’re already bypassing meat and dairy products, your diet isn’t as healthy as it should be….

The second reason is that for purchases made on March 12 only, many sponsors have donated excellent bonus gifts and prizes to anyone who buys The World Peace Diet….

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Healthy Child Healthy World – Inspiring Positive Action for Kids’ Sake

Whatever question you may have about the environment and its health effects on children, Healthy Child Healthy World is a place where you’ll find well-researched, thoughtful, and practical answers. We are impressed by the work that the folks at Healthy Child Healthy World are doing, and are pleased to share with you our interview with Christopher Gavigan, CEO. He and his team are continuing the work Nancy and Jim Chuda began when they co-founded the Children’s Health Environmental Coalition, following the death of their only child, Colette, to environmentally caused cancer.

GAVIGAN: It doesn’t take much in a conversation with any parent, no matter how old the child, to see that their top priority is their children’s health and, certainly, their happiness. If you ask any pregnant mom, she says, “I just want it to be a healthy baby.” That sentiment is so powerful, and every new set of parents can rally around this thought.

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World Peace Diet: Eating for Spiritual Health and Social Harmony

When it comes to eating, the majority of Americans confuse complicity with simplicity. The term “meat” encompasses a vast array of products: poultry, pork, beef, all terms that mask its origin. We don’t call cabbage or celery by another name, there is a celery stalk, or celery root, or celery leaf. On the other hand, food from a pig is called bacon, pork chops, or ham. World Peace Diet: Eating for Spiritual Health and Social Harmony, by Will Tuttle, Ph.D., seeks to explain what meat is, and what its impact is on the environment and our bodies.

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The World Without Us

When I read a book about the environment, I usually come away depressed. Sure, there are some uplifting books out there, but most environmental books concern coming or current catastrophes. Global warming, extinction, horrific pollution — these are common topics, and they make for dismal reading. Though Alan Weisman’s The World Without Us addresses all of these familiar issues and more, upon completing it, I felt the strangest sense of hope. It was one of the most interesting and oddly affecting non-fiction books I have ever read.

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Harming Environment Leads to Societal Collapse

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jared Diamond addressed a crowd of about a thousand at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on February 3. Dr. Diamond, a professor of history at UCLA, held us in rapt attention while he talked about the subject of his 2005 book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. “That doesn’t seem like the most cheerful subject to write about,” he wryly pointed out, causing a fair amount of laughter among the crowd.

“The real question,” Diamond said, “is, why do some societies collapse, having failed to solve problems that other societies succeeded in solving?”

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Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence: Revised and Updated for the 21st Century

“There is a way to live an authentic, productive, meaningful life—and have all the material comforts you want or need. There is a way to balance your inner and outer lives, to have your job self be on good terms with your family self and your deeper self. There is a way to go about the task of making a living so that you end up more alive. There is a way to approach life so that when asked, ‘Your money or your life?’ you say, ‘I’ll take both, thank you.’ ” — Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin, in Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence: Revised and Updated for the 21st Century

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The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Green Living

If you’re a beginner at going green, take heart! This book will show you an abundance of ways to begin your journey. It’s an easy read, but not one that you’ll want to do all at once. Pick it up and put it down. Each time, you’ll find tips that are both easy and useful ways to reduce your footprint, save money, and live an ecologically sound existence.

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Almost Green: How I Saved 1/6 of a Billionth of the Planet

I have trouble making even little decisions about how to help the environment. Say I find a mucked-up glass jar hiding in the back of the refrigerator. Should I rinse it out so that I can recycle it? Or should I toss it in the trash and save the precious fresh water it would take to clean it?

If a small decision like that has me stymied, I can only imagine how difficult it would be to figure out how to build a truly “green” building. James Glave, author of Almost Green: How I Saved 1/6 of a Billionth of the Planet, decided to do just that.

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A Tree Hugger for Book Lovers: Amazon’s Kindle

I love books. I love new books, old books, the smell of books, the feel of pages in my hands, holding books, and reading. Reading… I LOVE to read. I also LOVE trees. Trees make the world beautiful. Trees inspire me. Trees are the oldest living beings on the planet.

Amazon’s Kindle is perfect for book lovers, and tree lovers. No trees are sacrificed for my reading pleasure!

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