CLEAN ENERGY, COMMON SENSE

An American Call to Action on Global Climate Change
By Frances Beinecke
with Bob Deans

With a lovely forward written by actor, activist and nature loving Robert Redford, we are asked to look at global climate change as an overall environmental ill that we can change. And, the time to act is now. Pressing for clean energy legislation will create jobs, reduce reliance on foreign oil and create a healthier planet.

There is a connection between what happens to our planet and what happens in our lives. Climate change affects each of us, as well as our children, every day. Here we have a strong call to action to recognize climate change as the single most important threat in our lives, yet a threat that can serve to unite us as we seek solutions.

The authors, journalists and leading members of the National Resources Defense Council, share with us many statistics as to the danger in the here and now, specific stories and facts about ice melts, as well as the increase of fires that have devastated many areas of our country.

They go on to include and show how this is affecting not only our country, but the entire planet. Ending on a positive note, we are then presented with the "Greenprint" as a blueprint for change.

Published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., this book is available at your local bookstore or on the website at www.rowmanlittlefield.com.

Reviewed by Sonia von Matt Stoddard

THE SELF-SUFFICIENT HOME

Going Green & Saving Money
By Christopher Nyerges

Did you know that even on an overcast day, a solar-heated water tank can reach 100 degrees? One chapter is devoted to alternatives to grid electricity, including ideas, like xeriscaping, composting and using natural herbicides that can be easily implemented, with little to virtually no cost. And it's not even hard to do on your own! Self-reliance begins with a concerted effort and a plan to start earning our comforts like food, lighting, and water, directly through natural resources. While some changes may seem a bit radical, others simply provide common-sense solutions, like adding insulation, cleaning filters more often, and recognizing some simple facts, like hot air rises and cold air drops. Where would you want to sleep on a cold day?

Also included are tips with regard to specific appliances, features and manufacturers, some low-tech solutions like using basic Amish building practices to keep energy costs at a minimum when there are periods of extreme cold or heat. And finally, there is a clever section that discusses our love affair with electric gadgetry and how going back to a simpler style of living may be a lot better for our souls and for the environment, with perhaps one less power tool and a bit more elbow grease instead.

Published by Stackpole Books, this book is available at your local bookstore or on the website at www.stackpolebooks.com.

Reviewed by Sonia von Matt Stoddard

SMART MAMA'S GREEN GUIDE

Simple Steps to Reduce Your
Child's Toxic Chemical Exposure
By Jennifer Taggart

From whole-house issues, like having a smoker in the house to asbestos to the lead exposure through crystal dishes, decorations, and even your older enamel bathtub, this is truly a dedicated guide to just about everything you can do to reduce and/or eliminate toxins in and around your home.

Beginning with an overview of the most common issues, like your home, your school and your water, author Jennifer Taggart, an environmental lawyer who focuses on consumer product labeling, compliance and litigation, does not leave anything out when it comes to explaining the danger in our immediate environment, along with the solutions for not only determining what is safe, but how to reduce those hidden toxic chemicals that seem to lurk all around us.

Finally, in addition to pointing out the problem areas, the author provides detailed instructions called "smart mama's tips" (as well as "smart mama's scary facts) on how to substitute natural and organic products for those we most often use, such as wall paint that may release latent, potentially harmful gasses into the atmosphere, to simpler, yet effective cleaning products, personal care & grooming products to completely safeguarding your baby's and child's living areas.

Published by Center Street/Hachette Book Group, this book is available at your local bookstore or on the website at www.centerstreet.com.

Reviewed by Sonia von Matt Stoddard

BRINGING NATURE HOME

How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants (Updated & Expanded) By Douglas W. Tallamy

The illustrations in this book are so clear and beautiful; you can literally take it out to the yard with you in order to identify good and bad bugs, as well as the type of damage they may be causing to your plants.

Especially if you already have an interest in gardening with a look to sustaining the balance of nature, you will find information here that is not generic, but rather enlightening.

As with the introduction of a water-loving plant, like rice, to an arid soil, not paying attention to the specific biodiversity for your micro-geographic area, or ignoring it, is not the best use of the natural resources all around us.

Understanding the link between native species and native wildlife, and their symbiotic relationship offers you a way to provide a food source for birds and other animals, but to eliminate the need for herbicides, since your local ecosystem will feed off itself.

Author Tallamy is a professor and chair of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware and even though he gets very specific on some of the scientific issues, it is still clear and easy to understand. There is much to learn in the field of biodiversity and this is a perfect place to start and continue that education.

Published by Timber Press, Inc., this book is available at your local bookstore or on the website at www.timberpress.com.

Reviewed by Sonia von Matt Stoddard

OUR CHOICE

How We Can Solve the Climate Crisis (Young Readers Edition) By Al Gore

Practicing what is preached is evident even in the production of this book. The pages are printed on 100% recycled paper and the printer was chosen because of its proximity to the publisher's warehouse, thus minimizing the use of fuel and related CO2 emissions. At the end, we are asked not to throw the book away when we are finished, but to pass it along to another, or donate to a library.

A follow-up to former Vice-President Al Gore's book entitled "An Inconvenient Truth," here we learn about primary causes of the current climate crisis and what we can do to help solve it.

Making a choice for change is the main premise here. Written for a children's audience of ages eight through fourteen, containing brightly-colored and easy-to-understand graphics, charts and designs, our children can learn from the bottom up, the scientific causes of global warming, types of pollution, the need for carbon-free energy, then a detailed discussion of alternative forms of energy, such as wind power and fuel from grass and plants.

It is all about facing the issues, changing the way we think, and how we can all take a proactive stance and action toward creating a cleaner world.

Published by Melcher Media, this book is available at your local bookstore or on the website at www.penguin.com/youngreaders.

Reviewed by Sonia von Matt Stoddard

THE KACHINA REVELATION

By Patrick Cain

The Kachina Revelation is a chilling, yet uplifting prophetic novel. The story centers on a mysterious Hopi prophecy that predicts a rare cosmic event, responsible for both mass extinction and quantum evolution. It coincides with Biblical, Mayan and Vedic cosmologies (i.e. impending apocalypse). The main characters prepare for the end of the age and collapse of civilization.

Aided by an enigmatic shaman, who helps them perceive the world differently and discover hidden meaning, they escape to a wilderness safe haven, an off-grid (solar & wind-powered) community. It's a prototype society of the future, comprised of scientists, engineers, ecologists and shamans.

They also expose corrupt financial, political and religious systems of the world. Consequently, they encounter a covert group operating within America and beneath it, via a massive tunnel and base complex called the Phoenix Network, scheduled to be fully operational by the end of 2012 - the Mayan Calendar end date.

The characters make surprising statements on the origin of Christianity (astrotheology), the money system and the pharmaceutical industry. It is enlightening on several levels and reminiscent of similar themes as the Celestine Prophecy, Psy-earth Quest and Queen of the Sun. Fascinating and intriguing yet believable fiction set in the Arizona wilderness.

Published by Lifestream Publishing, this book is available at your local bookstore.

Reviewed by Kathy DeSantis

SPIRIT OF SERVICE

Your Daily Stimulus for
Making A Difference
By Harper One Publishers

Inspired by President Obama's call to action Spirit of Service is a daily devotional offering 365 specific suggestions for service to others. Harper One offers the readers this remarkable book to get them started. Every week presents seven different ways to help your community and make a contribution. They are: Donate; Volunteer; Focus on a cause to bring about change; Use personal equity to help others; Care about the needs of others; Stand up for those without a voice; Passage - Serve as a guide or mentor to help someone on their journey.

Renowned experts in fields of charity, volunteering and activism offer a yearlong guide that inspires readers to engage in service and express compassion to others and themselves. The goal of the book is to inspire readers to ask: What can I do today to help? Today I will do more than what is easiest.

Encouragement is also offered so that even the smallest act is recognized as a force in a positive direction. The book spans an entire year but certainly provides enough resources in the arenas of environment, human rights, elder care, youth services, hunger relief, animal conservation, troop support, green living, the arts, literacy, historic preservation, civic participation, and more suggestions to make the world a better place for a long time to come.

Published by Harper One this book is available at your local bookstore, www.HarperCollins.com or www.spiritofservice365.com

Reviewed by Kathy DeSantis

SECOND SIGHT

An Intuitive Psychiatrist Tells Her Extraordinary Story and
Shows You How to Tap Your Own Inner Wisdom
By Judith Orloff, PhD

We live in an over-intellectualized society where too many people are stuck in their heads. Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA, Dr. Judith Orloff is a bridge between traditional medicine and the intuitive/spiritual realm. Second Sight is the perfect book to awaken your intuition and inspire you to act on it.

This pioneering book shares the struggles and well-won successes of a courageous physician who fights against a skeptical medical system to validate the power of intuition. The book will assure anyone who ever thought they were weird or crazy for having intuitive experiences that they are not.

In Part One, "Initiations," Dr. Orloff describes being an intuitive child who had premonitions about deaths and illnesses that frightened her and her physician-parents - so much so they forbade her to discuss them at home. Judith grew up believing there was something wrong with her.

This part of the book is extremely personal and frank. In riveting detail she describes how an ignored premonition of a patient's suicide attempt convinced her to get beyond her fears and integrate intuition into her medical practice. And the chapter "Female Lineage" also shares the "family secret" about intuition that her mother told her on her deathbed. You'll discover what that secret is when you read the book.

In Part Two, "Teachings," Dr. Orloff shows you effective ways to cultivate your natural intuitive abilities including how to recognize intuitive experiences in daily life such as déjà vus and synchronicities. There are chapters on remembering dreams and embracing the spiritual path of the intuitive. She describes intuition as an outgrowth of spiritual evolution and an expansion of the heart.

This is a rare book that is both inspiring and controversial. You will find a new friend in Judith as her writing style is as intimate as if she were talking to you in her living room. In this revised edition with a new introduction by Judith, Second Sight will challenge to re-examine your assumptions about the parameters of the human mind, and your own wondrous potential.

Published by Three Rivers Press, "Second Sight" is available at your local bookstore, or you can reach the author at www.drjudithorloff.com for her workshop schedule and more inspiration.

Reviewed by Joan Borysenko, PhD