Elizabeth Rogers, co-author of The Green Book, has a new book being published this week called Shift Your Habit, and we've been given a review copy.  Shift Your Habit is more of a resource book or a toolkit of ideas, rather than something that you would read on a snowy day, but I guess you could do that, too.  The premise is that moderation is revolutionary, or more specifically, that living greener doesn't just help the planet but it helps you save money. 

Thus, save money and save the planet at the same time.  It's a theme that's been played out quite regularly in the media with headlines like "Earn green by going green."  But that's not to say there's no value in the message. 

Rogers actually quantifies the incremental, monetary benefit to shifting your habit from one behavior to another.  And she does this with hundreds and hundreds of eco-friendly tips, just like this one:

Read more »

We are giving away one (1) copy of this book to a random commenter, so make sure to comment before the end of Friday, January 29, 2010.*

There's no question that the big topic in the industry these days is greening existing buildings.  Whether through the LEED-EBOM program or something else, the existing building stock requires a sustainable update.  And if you're looking for a thorough and authoritative book on the topic, I'd like to recommend Greening Existing Buildings by Jerry Yudelson.  Published by McGraw-Hill, the GreenSource Series book includes over 25 case studies of successful green building renovations. 

Read more »

We are giving away one (1) copy of this book to a random commenter at the end of Friday, December 18, 2009.*

Recently, Harper Collins was kind enough to send a review copy of a new book called The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.  It's the story of William Kamkwamba, a youngster in Malawi who built a home-made wind turbine to light his home.  Before reading the book, I thought it was going to be about William's discovery of wind power and how that changed his family and life.  It was that.  But the discovery of wind power was really only a fraction of this touching story.  This is one of the top books of the year.

Read more »

Ray Anderson is one of the most prominent business leaders in the country and his story is incredible.  Growing up, he learned to grit it out on the football field and in the classroom.  Several years later, he applied those lessons to start Interface, the world’s largest manufacturer of modular carpets.  Now, in his new book, Confessions of a Radical Industrialist, which was released late last week, Anderson challenges the business community to share a goal he set for his company: to take nothing from the earth that cannot be replaced by the earth.

If you’ve read Anderson’s previous book, Mid-course Correction, you know his story.  Anderson was tasked with giving a speech about sustainability and really didn’t have much to say.  At the same time, someone had placed a copy of Paul Hawken’s widely influential The Ecology of Commerce on his desk.  In reading this book, Anderson was hit with the magnitude of the challenge facing business.  He was also excited by the opportunity.

Read more »

We have three copies of this book, which we will give away to three random commenters at the end of Friday, September 25, 2009.*

What kind of school did you grow up learning in?  During those formative years, did you have the opportunity to learn in a sustainable and architecturally significant environment?  Think back to those days when your mind wandered.  Would you ponder the exposed woodwork?  Or the expansive windows?  Or the structural steel?  Like many students, maybe you didn't have the opportunity to learn in a green school or anything of the sort, and that's where the Green School Primer comes in.  The Green School Primer is a new book that's been written to educate anyone — whether a board member, teacher, student, or parent –  about the benefits of green schools.

Read more »