Category Archives: books

Captain Compost is learning more and more about her food and where it comes from and how it affects our planet.  Watching Food, Inc. was eye opening and now she has a long list of books to read to find out more!

She just started reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma and is finding it fascinating.  She also has a few other books on her reading list for this summer and wanted to share so all you Eco~Warriors out there can bone up on where your food is really coming from and what it’s really doing to our planet.  Check them out:

Michael Pollan’s newest book: Food Rules sounds fascinating, as well as In Defense of Food.  CC added them both to her PBS wish list!

Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is next on Captain Compost’s reading list.

While doing some research, CC discovered another interesting looking book: Confessions of an Eco~Sinner: Tracking Down the Sources of my Stuff which sounds fascinating as well as Sleeping Naked is Green: How and Eco~Cynic Unplugged Her Fridge, Sold Her Car, and Found Love in 366 Days.

This book looks fun, too: Don’t Throw It, Grow it!  68 Windowsill Plants from Kitchen Scraps.  CC will be adding that to her “To Read” list, too!

Captain Compost is wondering if you have read any good Green books lately?  What’s on your “To Read” list for this year?

Recycla recently read Everything I Want to Do is Illegal and thinks this is a must-read for any Eco Warrior who is interested in eating locally and seasonally.

Written by Virginia farmer and food guru Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms, the book draws upon his decades of experience as a farmer.  Salatin writes with great passion and not a little humor about why Americans do not have the freedom to choose the food they purchase and eat. He discusses how the official system favors industrial farming and corporate food, which makes it all that more difficult for the small farmer to make a living.  Salatin also talks about how child labor laws impacted his children’s work on the farm, surprise food inspections, and the great lengths he’s had to go to in order give his clients the freshest and highest quality food possible.

As with any book that talks about beef, swine, and poultry farming, there are a couple of anecdotes that might or might not turn your stomach a bit, but overall it’s not disgusting.  (Well, unless you’re a vegetarian…)

Everything I Want to Do is Illegal is an excellent addition to any Eco Warrior’s library.  (And by “library” Recycla means all the books you read, not just the ones you buy; Recycla is a big fan of her local public library.)  If you are looking for other books about local farming and local foods versus industrial farming, Recycla also recommends Fast Food Nation, Don’t Eat this Book, and Animal Vegetable Miracle.

Tell the Eco Women:  What good eco books have you read lately?

Recycla recently read Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon and recommends this book to her fellow Eco Warriors.

During a meal foraged from the land around their rustic cabin in British Columbia, the authors decide to spend a year eating only foods that come from within 100 miles of wherever they are.  For most of the year, that is their Vancouver apartment, although their work does take them to other places along the way.

The authors discover that some foods were easy to find (fresh produce, dairy products), whereas others (such as wheat) presented a challenge that they spent months resolving.

Along the way, the authors learn more about their local food systems, both modern and historic, as well as develop a network of resources to feed themselves.  They go to the farmers’ market, visit new farms, and even forage in unusual places.  They learn how to can and freeze, as well as make their own cheese.

This project was very similar to the one described by Barbara Kingsolver in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, although the choices made along the way in the two experiments differ.

For more information about the authors’ project and the 100 mile diet, go to their website.

Tell the Eco Women:  Have you ever considered switching to a diet that is solely local?  Why or why not?

Recycla recently read a book that you might find interesting — Bottlemania:  How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It by Elizabeth Royte.  Royte is also the author of Garbage Land, which the Eco Women reviewed last year.

Royte investigates why Americans buy so much bottled water and what, exactly, is in all those millions of clear plastic bottles that are used daily.  Is bottled water better or cleaner in any way?

Contrary to what you might think, Bottlemania is not a scathing expose of the companies who sell bottled water, nor is it an indictment of municipal water systems.  Instead, the book is a reasoned and rational look at all sides of the equation.  That’s not to say that Royte doesn’t tell it like it is, including the underhanded marketing tactics that some of the beverage companies will use to get you to drink their products.

Best of all, Bottlemania is not preachy, nor is it long-winded and overly-detailed.  It’s an interesting read that won’t take too many of your evenings to gulp down.