Green Environment

This books looks at what happens to old clothes when you throw them in the trash, and then looks at alternative things that the listener could make out of them instead of throwing the old clothes away.

Grab an old pair of jeans and get to work. Create a fashionable pocket purse. Braid a belt. Decorate your room with denim. Learn how to make all of these projects and more when you reuse what you already have. Who knew you could do so much with an old pair of jeans?

Why would a successful American physician choose to live in a twelve-foot-by-twelve-foot cabin without running water or electricity? To find out, writer and activist William Powers visited Dr. Jackie Benton in rural North Carolina. No Name Creek gurgled through Benton’s permaculture farm, and she stroked honeybees’ wings as she shared her wildcrafter philosophy of living on a planet in crisis. Powers, just back from a decade of international aid work, then accepted Benton’s offer to stay at the cabin for a season while she traveled.

What happens when the trash you throw out is picked up by the garbage truck? Where does it go? Once the garbage truck picks up the trash in your neighborhood, it goes on a journey to be broken down. A recycling truck might pick it up and make new things or it may be used for a compost heap, or maybe it goes to a landfill where it’s covered with dirt. Find out what happens when a landfill is full!

Travel through Rumpke’s recycling center to find a plastic jug? Trash that can be recycled takes a ride on the conveyor belt to become something new! Try to find the milk jug on the conveyor belt! Trash at the factory goes through many machines to make sure it can be recycled. Can you guess what the milk jug will help make once it leaves the factory? What other types of trash go on the conveyor belt?

What happens to trash after the garbage truck picks it up? Where does it go? The problem of too much trash is hurting the planet. Recycling, reusing, composting and creating new ways to make less trash is a start! Learn to recycle old furniture, and how safer materials are being developed that can easily decompose. People are working hard every day on new ways to have a trash-free future! Are you?

Making a compost pile is a simple way to dispose of waste—like leaves, grass clippings, fruit, and vegetable peels—and turns them into healthy food for plants! Cece notices how nice Jane’s flowers are and wants to make a compost pile, too! Jane and Click show their friends how to make compost and you can learn too! What else is needed to help the compost decompose?

Yo helps his father recycle garbage and learns what types of trash go into the recycling bin. Yo learns his fleece vest is made of plastic and that special factories recycle the plastic and melt it down into new things like toys and his favorite fleece vest! Can you guess which trash goes into the blue bins? Yo wants to surprise his mother with a special present–knowing how to recycle!

Did you know about 8 million tons of plastic enter the ocean each year? Learn about the Washed Ashore project that helps to clean up beaches through re-use of collected plastic—and then is recycled into art! Which sculpture in the project is your favorite?

Reusing your trash to make toys can be lots of fun–and decrease pollution and waste! Things we use around the house get old and we throw them away. What if you use them to make toys or gadgets that make life better? Experts think reusing things may be better than recycling! Learn how to make a piggy bank from a plastic can or a train with egg cartons. What things can you create by reusing?

Introduces early listeners to environmentalist concepts including recycling and composting, and what they can do to help the environment. Features real-life examples of kids who have made a difference.

Introduces early listeners to environmentalist concepts including greenhouse gases, carbon footprint, and air pollution, and what they can do to help the environment. Features real-life examples of kids like Greta Thunberg who have made a difference.

Introduces early listeners to environmentalist concepts including deforestation, animals and their habitats, and conservation, and what they can do to help the environment. Features real-life examples of kids who have made a difference.

Introduces early listeners to environmentalist concepts including urban gardening; locally sourced food options, and the safety of pesticides, and what they can do to help the environment. Features real-life examples like the Houston East End Greenbelt, which have made a difference.

Introduces early listeners to environmentalist concepts including single-use plastics and upcycling, and what they can do to help the environment. Real-life examples of kids who have made a difference are featured.

Whether you already have the experience, or you are looking to learn the basics to live off-grid, part one of this audiobook offers over 50 ways to become a successful off-grid dweller. You’ll learn how to live off-grid without sacrificing the things you love. You will feel closer to your family and to the land, where you know you are doing your part to reduce climate change and help to create a more sustainable life.

Got a pair of old tights, an empty can or a plastic bottle that you plan to throw away? You can upcycle those old things and turn them into new items you can use! Upcycling is recycling in a better way! Learn how to make a decorative pencil holder, a draft dodger to keep the cold out, or turn plastic bottles into bowling pins. What things can you create to reduce the use of plastic and metal?

Introduces early listeners to environmentalist concepts including drought, water conservation, and wetlands conservation, and what they can do to help the environment. Features real-life examples of kids who have made a difference.

Why would someone who cares so deeply about ecological change want to stop talking about it now? At Work in the Ruins is the book that grew out of Dougald’s attempt to answer that question. He delves deeply into what he discovered during the globally shared isolating Covid moment, why the virus and the measures taken against it drove so many of us to despair, and how we can re-find our bearings if the pandemic is not the big event that changes everything but simply one in a chain of emergencies that are bringing about the end of the world as we knew it.

Our world runs on energy! But traditional fossil fuels are doing great damage to the environment, and they will eventually run out. How might solar, water, wind and geothermal power come to our rescue? Listeners can discover how different the world could look in the future with energy sources that are clean and renewable.