National Geographic’s The Green Guide

I served on the advisory board for National Geographic’s recently published book, Green Guide: The Complete Reference for Consuming Wisely. It’s filled with practical advice about greener living, from healthy eating to green remodeling to eco-friendly travel. Check it out on Amazon.com.

Recommended: Food Not Lawns

Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden and Your Neighborhood into a Community, H. C. Flores, 2006. Activist and urban gardener Heather Flores shares ideas for transforming city backyards and suburban lawns into “paradise gardens” that provide food, increase natural habitat and help us reconnect to the earth and our communities. chelseagreen.com

 

Getting a Green Life: Urban Permaculture

Up close and personal with worm composting.

This summer, I didn’t go to the beach. Or to the mountains, for that matter. I stayed home and took a six-weekend course in permaculture design. Offered for the first time by the San Francisco Botanical Garden Society, this course was unique in the permaculture world in that it focused more on urban than rural issues.

Although hardly a household word, the concept of permaculture design has been around for more than three decades. Originally formulated by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, permaculture is now practiced across the planet.

So what is permaculture?