Ecology

Two founders of the Rhizome Collective have created an incredible practical guide for DIY urban sustainability.

There are hundreds of great books on sustainable living, but they tend to have a few stark shortcomings. They spend a lot of time selling the reader on the green vision instead of simply saying how to enact it. They often focus on efforts that are either consumer-oriented ("let's buy our way out of ecocide") or electorally oriented ("if only we had voted for Al Gore the oceans wouldn't be dying and our cars would be powered by rainbows"). The DIY steps are often expensive and out of reach for folks who don't own their own property or houses. Even if you do, not many people can simply decide to throw down $30,000 for a hybrid car or design their own green house.

There was a fairly recent Harper's article that described the impending doom of the world's oceanic life. It shocked me. I know humanity has been laying waste to ecological health, but the idea that we'll probably live to see the ocean's mostly dead is macabre in its implications.

I was thinking about this and found a nice piece from Conservation Magazine online, describing ways to reduce the destruction of marine ecosystems. They have a list of ten major remediable issues (damn metric system) some of which are very revealing.

Here's the piece:

10 Solutions to Save the Ocean

Someone done gone and made a thinga-ma-whatzit that sucks dead dino gas outa the air.

Scientists Develop Air "Scrubber" Capable of Sucking Up One Ton of CO2 a Day

What if it were possible to combine energy and water in a way that would contribute to the reversal of global warming and the restoration of the planet? What if it were possible to have a better quality of life, without having to give anything up? What if that plan made such economic sense that governments and large corporations would buy into it?

As it turns out, it is possible to create an energy source by using key technologies that are already available. Most cities have enough rain and sun to meet their water and energy needs, by using simple technology.

Building on current mainstream trends in solar energy and wind power, Electric Water offers a clear vision of how the world's energy and water infrastructure could be transformed. The book provides:

* an outline of the major issues that need addressing, including global warming
* a fascinating explanation of key technologies in plain water
* a vision of business and job opportunities in restoration

*What ecovillagers, permaculture teachers, and others are saying about Creating a Life Together :

“The indispensable, state-of-the-art, ‘how-to’ book on starting a community from scratch.”

— Richard Heinberg, Peak Oil activist and author, The Party’s Over and Powerdown

“Every potential ecovillager should read it. This book will be an essential guide and manual for the many Permaculture graduates who live in communities or design for them.”

— Bill Mollison, co-founder of the Permaculture movement, and author, Permaculture: A Designer's Manual

“On my top three 'must-read' list for cohousers. I wish I'd had it when I started my first cohousing community!”

— Ann Zabaldo, Takoma Village Cohousing

“The book is a godsend....a serious book in a spritely style that packs a wallop!....Useful also to anyone already involved with community, Creating a Life Together will be the prime reference in its field for many years to come.”

"In this DVD Craig introduces you to each part of his bio-fuel conversion so that you can convert your own vehicle to run on used cooking oil. If you want to stop paying outrageous gas prices and cut your emissions, then this DVD is for you."

This is a very short, approachable guide to using used vegetable oil (i.e., cooking oil) to power a diesel engine car. Very practical instructions from local author Craig Sommers. If you've been itching to get out of the petroleum economy affordably, this book is for you.

Table of Contents:
Foreword
Dedication

Chapter 1
History of the Diesel Engine
Biodiesel or Strait Vegetable oil
How the Conversion Works

Chapter 2
My Conversion Story
Los Angeles to New York, How We Gathered the Fuel

Chapter 3
What You Need To Know About Filtering Veggie Oil Before It Goes In The Tank
Collecting Veggie Oil

Chapter 4
The Components You’ll Need
Conclusion

Chapter 5
Resources
Which Vehicles Have Been Successfully Converted

From the publisher: Micro eco-farms are part of the new renaissance to restore beauty and nature to the world. They thrive in cities, backyards, and they make rural living profitable again. They are "design-your-own" rather than generic formula farms, and their design depends on your local culture, bio-region, and your own passions. There is not one copycat formula to follow, but this title gives an overview of the micro eco-farming movement, including universal traits that assure each farm's success, such as: Beyond organic growing methods, awareness of the big picture, community connection, adaptability, diversification, selling the farm's "story," … along with real life examples of successful micro eco-farms that make these concepts quickly graspable and adaptable to your very own one-of-a-kind micro eco-farm.

A plan for building a sustainable and ethical global economy. On sale for $5.

by D'Arcy Thompson
From the publisher: Classic of biology and modern science sets forth seminal "theory of transformation" — that one species evolves into another not by successive minor changes in individual body parts but by large-scale transformations involving the body as a whole. Rich literary style. Over 500 photographs