New books on environmental topics arrive every week at your library! Check these out for inspiration and information.

Eco Amazons: 20 Women Who Are Transforming the World by Dorka Keehn

An inspirational and motivating collection of stories of some of the women who are transforming, healing and protecting our world including L. Hunter Lovins, Annie Leonard and Alice Waters.

How Bad Are Bananas? The Carbon Footprint of Everything by Mike Berners-Lee

Read this book and get a sense for how our carbon footprint adds up – from text messaging to transatlantic flights and everything in between. (Then use this knowledge to help inform your choices). This book is humourous, engaging and very readable, despite all the numbers.

Climate Capitalism by L. Hunter Lovins and Boyd Cohen

Through hundreds of case studies from international corporations, small businesses, NGOs, and municipalities, Lovins and Cohen show that energy efficiency and renewable resources of a low carbon economy lead to increased profits and economic growth, whether you believe climate science, or not.

The Young Activists’ Guide to Building A Green Movement and Changing the World by Sharon J. Smith

Learn how to turn your ideas for a greener community, country and planet into action through youth success stories and advice from Sharon J. Smith, program advisor of Earth Island Institute’s Brower Youth Awards.

With a new book comes new ideas. Salad For Supper. Patricia Wells, inspirational cooking teacher and author, tantalizes with her new cookbook Salad As A Meal, a concept that speaks of ease, freshness, light meals, casual concoctions. Don't approach this with notions of a messy hodgepodge thrown into a salad bowl. No no no. Here we have lovely, gentle tossings of elegantly simple elements that work together to build a sum greater than its parts.

Then, there are the things that go with salad for supper, some gentle soups, homemade crackers, the wines we may like to enjoy. Salad As A Meal takes us by the hand and invites us inside Patricia Wells' charmed life in the south of France, enabling our participation in the creation of sun-drenched foods and easy living. Cookbooks like this promote the fullfillment of a fantasy, a portal to a kinder, gentler world where people sip wine and eat canapes under the canopy of an oak tree. While some elements of our own lives may differ, we can adapt the themes and menus to our own circumstances and get one step closer to creating our own happy retreats within our own homes.

So, which salad should I tell you about? Thai Beef? Potato Salad With Capers, Spring Onions and Mint? Pear, Blue Cheese, Fennnel, Endive and Salted Almond? Vietnamese Chicken and Green Papaya? Marinated Shrimp? You may have noticed that some of these creations are not particularly French, as are many of Patricia Wells' notable recpes. No matter. They are inspired and fresh, trademarks of Wells' casual, elegant style. The more I browse Salad As A Meal, the more enthralled I am with this book. Here is a salad that calls out to me:

Crab, Avocado and Quinoa Salad With Technicolour Tomatoes

3 cups water or stock; 1/2 tsp. kosher salt; 1 cup quinoa, well rinsed and drained; 2 bay leaves; 1 pound (2 cups) lump crabmeat, cooked; 1/4 cup minced fresh tarragon or Italian parsley; 1/2 cup minced fresh mint leaves; 1 large rip avocado, halved, pitted, peeled and cubed; 2 cups mixed red, yellow and green cherry or pear tomatoes, halved.

In a large saucepan, bring water or stock to a boil. Add salt, quinoa and bay leaves. Bring back to a boil and then reduce heat to low, cover the pan and simmer until the quinoa is tender and translucent, about 15 minutes. Drain and return quinoa to pan. Cover with a clean dish towel, replace the lid and let it sit for 10 minutes. Discard bay leaves and let quinoa cool.

Place cooled quinoa in a large, shallow bowl. Add crabmeat, tarragon, mint and avocado. Toss with a dressing of your choice. Patricia likes this Yogurt and Lemon Dressing:

Combine 1 tbsp. lemon zest and 1 tbsp. fine sea salt in a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder. Take 1/4 tsp. of this lemon salt and combine it with 1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt and 2 tbsp. of fresh lemon juice. Shake well to blend. Adjust seasoning and add pepper if you like. Serve with quinoa salad.

Let your days be salad days:

I recently came across this new title, There's Lead in your Lipstick: toxins in our everyday body care and how to avoid them. I approached it with trepidation as I usually like to have makeup on when I go out the door, not being able to rely on the fresh-faced flush of youth. According to author Gillian Deacon, lead, a known neurotoxin, long banned from use in paint, ends up on our mouths frequently. It is considered a contaminant rather than an additive and therefore doesn't have to appear on ingredients lists for cosmetics or other personal care products

Deacon deals extensively with the subject of greenwashing. She lists the products that have organic or botanical ingredients, but are not necessarily non-toxic because they contain widely-used controversial contents such as parabens. This section was a real eye-opener as many such products are sold in health food stores.

As scary as the concept of toxic personal care products is, I was pleasantly surprised by Deacon's positive approach. She lists plenty of safe alternative brands for shampoo, shaving cream, lotions, anti-perspirant and cosmetics. Her book is Canadian so these products are readily available on-line and in stores here... you can still wear your mascara if you must. Deacon even provides home recipes for simple, pure personal products for do- it-yourself-ers and those on a budget.

by Mel

These are some of the new books on environmental topics on our shelves. Place a hold to pick them up at the branch of your choice!

Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril Kathleen Dean Moore & Michael P. Nelson, Editors

Over eighty visionaries—naturalists, theologians, activists, scientists, business leaders, elected officials, and writers—join together in Moral Ground to urge moral responsibility to the planet in the face to daunting environmental destruction. Their stories, letters, economic analyses, poems, essays and proclamations call us to do the right thing for the planet, its animals, plants and people.

Sustainable Event Management: A Practical Guide by Meegan Jones

Jones takes you through all aspects of event planning—energy, transport, water, waste, supply chains and communications—with a green lens. You’ll find checklists and tools for measuring performance, along with real-life case studies from various events like Burning Man (US), Glastonbury Festival (UK), and Big Day Out Festival (Australia).

The Locavore’s Handbook: The Busy Person’s Guide to Eating Local on a Budget by Leda Meredith

Learn how to incorporate more locally grown foods into your meals, affordably and conveniently with this New York City locavore and edible and medicinal plant instructor.

The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability by Lierre Keith

Keith examines the myth of vegetarianism: that a plant-based diet can feed the world and save the planet and argues that if we are to “save this planet, our food must be an act of profound and abiding repair: it must come from inside living communities, not be imposed across them.” Well written, and deeply personal, it’s another manifesto to eating locally.

rebar: modern food cookbook by Audrey Alsterberg and Wanda Urbanowicz

This book has been around since 2001, but we’ve just purchased some shiny new copies. The original rebar opened in 1988 in Victoria. More than two decades later the restaurant is going strong in new digs and is a west coast institution. Recreate their legendary dishes with this cookbook.

The Hybrid House: Designing with Sun, Wind, Water and Earth by Catherine Wanek

Hybrid houses incorporate smart design, energy-sipping construction techniques and home-generated power. The houses in this book, from across North America and Europe are also jaw-droppingly gorgeous. They feel healthy just to look at, never mind live in.

Don’t let the small size and the cute cover of this book deceive you. The Grizzly Manifesto: In Defence of the Great Bear calls for nothing short of a revolution in how we manage wildlife and ourselves through law and government in order to save the grizzly bear and other species at risk from extinction.

Calgary author Jeff Gailus worked as a journalist at The Canmore Leader, often covering wildlife issues, before joining the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative and cofounding the Bow Valley Grizzly Bear Alliance in the early part of this decade.

Due to his experience in the Bow Valley and the connections he’s made, his new book paints an intimate and focused look at the problems that threaten the recovery of this iconic species in Canada.

His assertion that the U.S. is way ahead of Canada in terms of grizzly protection and environmental laws will surprise many. Canada’s and Alberta’s desperately poor track records of protecting our threatened species from the effects of industrial development will enrage many more.

The author’s personal experience with bears, in addition to stories about the fates of bears in and around Banff National Park give the book its heart and remind you of what’s at stake.