Grow up! If you have limited outdoor space and would like to grow your food, this practical illustrated guide will help you transform previously plant-free zones into thriving, beneficial and utterly beautiful food-growing areas. Using special containers, either bought or home-made, as well as conventional methods such as containers on a roof or growing plants up walls, you can grow a wide range of edible crops – and grab a salad for lunch without getting your feet wet. This book includes: • Creating edible roof gardens • Planning and growing crops on green roofs, including on sheds • Using a wide variety of containers, e.g. ladder allotments and growing frames, with details of how to make them • Making the most of wall boxes and hanging baskets • A directory of plants suitable for vertical growing – fruit, flowers and herbs as well as vegetables – with advice on how to cultivate them. Whether you have an apartment with just a wall, windowsill, balcony or small flat roof; a school with nothing but a tarmac playground; or just a paved courtyard in your community centre, this book will get you started on a new way of growing.
Climate policy hits Turf Moor: follow Burnley's adventure in Europe and their roller-coaster struggle for survival in the Premiership while racing through an unconventional take on climate policy. This is a funny book, written in the earthy and irreverent language of the terraces. But it has a serious subtext – about climate change. It's a series of conversations between Joe, a Burnley lad who is football mad, and Professor Igor who's obsessed with climate change. Joe thinks that worrying about climate change is a waste of time. Igor can't understand why 22 grown men would put on shorts and run around after a ball. Igor agrees to spend a season with Joe going to every Burnley game, and in return Joe and his family listen to the Professor rattle on about climate policy. The book examines why preventing climate change is so difficult, and asks whether it is more a social and political problem than a technological one? Will we have to change our lifestyle? Would new legislation addressing climate change be so unpopular with the public that politicians will backtrack? How will industry be affected? Notes at the back of the book summarize all the serious climate-change material so the reader can look up the important messages in the book without having to stand on the terraces.
Gaia's Feasts is the much-anticipated follow-up to Gaia's Kitchen, winner of the Gourmand Best Vegetarian Cookbook prize. With inspiration from home and around the world, it offers an introduction to the Slow Food and Local Food movements, together with a mouth-watering selection of vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free recipes, including: soups, mains, salads, dips & spreads, desserts, cakes, cookies and breads. Every recipe gives family-sized quantities, as well as scaled-up amounts for groups as large as 50. Whether you're seeking new vegetarian recipes, or looking to expand your meat-free range, Gaia's Feasts will inspire you to cook delicious food for family, friends, and community.
Few farmyard and back-garden animals display such appealing and amusing characteristics as chickens. Some continually scratch the ground in search of insects, many just bustle and hustle, while others reveal self-importance through a measured walk. They would have been outstanding vaudeville acts, but their egg-laying and meat-producing abilities have been hijacked to produce food for millions of people throughout the world each day. Decorated throughout with historical woodcuts and engravings, and packed with intriguing facts and folklore, this book is not only a charming gift but is also a useful practical guide to keeping chickens at home.
Everything you thought you knew about nuclear power is wrong. This is just as well, according to Mark Lynas in Nuclear 2.0, because nuclear energy is essential to avoid catastrophic global warming. Using the latest world energy statistics, Lynas shows that with wind and solar still at only about 1 percent of global primary energy, asking renewables to deliver all the world's power is “dangerously delusional". Moreover, there is no possibility of worldwide energy use decreasing, when the developing world is fast extricating itself from poverty and adding the equivalent of a new Brazil to the global electricity consumption each year. The anti-nuclear movement of the 1970s and 80s succeeded only in making the world more dependent on fossil fuels: its history is “not lit by sunshine, but shrouded in coal smoke". Instead of making the same mistake again, all those who want to see a low-carbon future need to join forces. The books concludes with a model for an Apollo Program-style combined investment in wind, solar and nuclear power.
“I love this book – it's a beautiful yet practical and accessible guide that will help you transform whatever sized patch you have into an abundant oasis of flowers." – Mark Diacono, gardener, food writer and broadcaster. Grow your own cut flowers and you can fill your house with the gorgeous colours and heavenly scents of your favourite blooms, knowing that they haven't travelled thousands of miles – and you can make money while you do it! Combining boundless passion with down-to-earth guidance and practical advice, Georgie Newbery draws on her own experiences as an artisan flower farmer and florist as she takes you through: • how to start a cut-flower patch • what to grow • cutting, conditioning and presenting cut flowers • creating a hedgerow Christmas • starting a cut-flower business • where to sell • marketing and social media • a flower farmer's year planner. Whether you want to grow for your own pleasure or start your own business, The Flower Farmer's Year is the perfect guide.
Visionaries of the 20th Century brings together the lives and works of 100 great men and women who offered inspiration, hope and healing. The 20th century was marked by wars, dictatorships and environmental destruction, yet many individuals kept alive the hope of a sane and sustainable future through their example, ideas and vision. Their influence helped to bring colonialism and imperialism, apartheid and authoritarian regimes to an end. They also generated a resurgence of ecological, holistic and spiritual vision.
Bees are vital for the future of the planet, for without their dedicated pollinating skills many crops would eventually fail. This delightfully illustrated book is a homage to bees, revealing many facets of their lives, including homes, flight patterns and defence. It also describes how to attract bees to your garden. The lives of bees are interwoven with our own, but how much do you know about them? Which scents and colours do bees prefer? Do bees prefer native flowers? This book is dedicated to bees and to ensuring that they continue to live in harmony with humans in bee-friendly gardens.
How do you cook heartnuts, hawthorn fruits or hostas? What's the best way to preserve autumn olives or to dry chestnuts? Forest gardening – a novel way of growing edible crops in different vertical layers – is attracting increasing interest, for gardens large or small. But when it comes to harvest time, how do you make the most of the produce? From bamboo shoots and beech leaves to medlars and mashua, Food from your Forest Garden offers creative and imaginative ways to enjoy the crops from your forest garden. It provides cooking advice and recipe suggestions, with notes on every species in the bestselling Creating a Forest Garden by Martin Crawford. The book includes: l Over 100 recipes for over 50 different species, presented by season, plus raw food options. l Information on the plants' nutritional value, with advice on harvesting and processing. l Chapters on preserving methods, from traditional preserves such as jams to ferments and fruit leathers. With beautiful colour photographs of plants and recipes, this book is an invaluable resource for making the most of your forest garden – and an inspiration for anyone thinking of growing and using forest garden crops.
Peter Jefferson presented the Shipping Forecast for over 40 years, and his familiar voice continues to be heard reading quotations on Radio 4's "Quote/Unquote". This book is both an affectionate memoir and an account of the science behind the forecast: Peter explains how it came about, who collects all the information and what it's like to read this bulletin. Even though the information in the forecast is now readily available in many formats, the Shipping Forecast is something of a must listenA" for fans gathered over the decades. For reasons not quite understood, it has become a much-loved part of the British cultural landscape with an avid following of listeners who find its poetry is the perfect cure for insomnia. 1. Prologue 2. The Genesis of The Shipping Forecast 3. Name changing but not name calling 4. The Meteorological Office 5. The Lighter Side 6. Unexpected Outside Broadcast 7. Sailing By and sailing by the seat of your pants 8. A Tale of Shipping Area Turbulence Part 1 9. Shedding some light - on Lighthouses 10. Codes, Conventions and Traditions 11. A Tale of Shipping Area Turbulence Part 2 12. Greenwich Means More Than Time 13. A Life on the Ocean Wave
Some mythical beliefs run deep into the collective unconscious and once ingrained as 'certain facts' in the public domain, they are difficult to question, even when they contain contradictions or are demonstrably untrue. There are many such beliefs in gardening, some with discernible origins in history, some which have established for no obvious reason. This book is asking questions, because mythical beliefs hide methods of easier working, for better results.
The Hempcrete Book is a detailed practical manual for architects, surveyors, professional builders and self-builders. It explains how to source and mix hempcrete and how to use it in new builds and restoration. In colour throughout, fully illustrated with beautiful photographs, this book provides a full explanation of construction techniques, highlighting potential pitfalls and how to avoid them. It includes a comprehensive resources section and examples of completed builds, with design notes. Hempcrete is a building material with excellent properties. It's made from lime and hemp shivs (a waste product from hemp fibre growing) and can be used for walls, floors, and for roof insulation. Hempcrete is breathable, absorbing and emitting moisture; this helps regulate internal humidity, avoiding trapped moisture and mould growth, and creating healthier buildings. It provides excellent acoustic and thermal insulation and thermal mass. It's light-weight, reducing construction costs, and it's environmentally friendly: it locks up CO2 for the life of the building, and the hemp doesn't require agrochemicals or insecticides in its cultivation. The Hempcrete Book is a valuable tool for any eco-builder.
Did you know that: our demand for electricity grows by about 3% every year? just lowering the temperature of your thermostat by 1 degree Celcius can reduce your energy bill by 10%? energy-efficient light bulbs last about 12 times longer than ordinary bulbs, and each one will save you about GBP 163 a year? almost 40% of all the heat that we buy to warm up our rooms escapes through our walls and roof space if they're not insulated? if we didn't leave our TVs and other gadgets on stand-by, we could shut down two power stations? We're all using more and more energy: charging up our mobiles and laptops, keeping our rooms so hot that we walk around in short sleeves in the winter, or leaving lights on all day and night whether we are using the rooms or not. But the consequences of using so much so freely is causing our climate to change, and our energy bills to rise. There are many small things we can do which cost nothing but can make a difference. This book gives you over 100 tips for saving energy, money and the environment, ideas for taking it a bit further with solar installation or wind turbines, plus facts about our energy use and its impact on our climate.
In 2008, the best selling The Transition Handbook suggested a model for a community-led response to peak oil and climate change. Since then, the Transition idea has gone viral across the globe, from universities and London neighbourhoods to Italian villages and Brazilian favelas. In contrast to the ever-worsening stream of information about climate change, the economy and resource depletion, Transition focuses on solutions, on community-scale projects and on positive results. The Transition Companion picks up the story today, describing one of the most fascinating experiments now under way in the world. It shows how communities are working for a future where local enterprises are valued and nurtured; where lower energy use is seen as a benefit; and where cooperation, creativity and the building of resilience are the cornerstones of a new economy. The first part discusses where we are now in terms of resilience to the problems of rising oil prices, climate change and economic uncertainty. It presents a vision of how the future might look if we succeed in addressing these issues. The book then looks in detail at the process a community in transition goes through, drawing on the experience of those who have already embarked on this journey. These examples show how much can be achieved when people harness energy and imagination to create projects that will make their communities more resilient. The Transition Companion combines practical advice; the tools needed to start and maintain a Transition initiative; with numerous inspiring stories from local groups worldwide.
A fascinating popular science book that reveals how much we really know - and don't know - about the natural world. Explains why we need to be more concerned about ecosystems than individual iconic species such as the giant panda and gorilla.
Looks at all aspects of polytunnel use from planning your purchase to harvesting the rewards, and includes a step-by-step guide detailing how polytunnels are put up and maintained.
Something is stirring. People around the world are deciding that the wellbeing of their local community and its economy lies with them. They're people like you. They're rolling up their sleeves, getting together with friends and neighbours and doing something about it. Whether they start small or big, they find that just doing stuff can transform their neighbourhoods and their lives. This book is packed with inspiring real-life examples, and the voices of people who have created innovative local businesses and invested in all manner of new enterprises. This is the seed of a new economy "€“ the answer to our desperate search for a new way forward. At its heart is people deciding that change starts with them. Communities worldwide are already modelling a more local economy rooted in place, in wellbeing, in entrepreneurship and in creativity. And it works. Reviving the place you live in starts with a small group of people making the decision to do something. One of that group could be you.
Is flying an irreplaceable part of 21st-century life? Flying is never zero-carbon, so can we reduce it, or even do without it? Can businesses succeed in a globalized world without international air travel? What about 'love miles' - visiting friends and family overseas? Fourteen authors from around the world - lawyers, journalists, scientists, architects - share their travel stories about life and work 'beyond flying', offering us an inspiring catalogue of reasons to fly less, some great ways of switching to sustainable choices, and the delights of richer travel experiences.
Gardening is an age-old craft, steeped in mystique and peppered with handed-down wisdom, often derived from 'sons of the soil' who grew larger cabbages than their neighbours. This fact-drenched and beautifully illustrated insight into gardening history with enthral you with its diversity – from digging soil and keeping bees to early plant hunters and weather rhymes. A perfect gift for gardening enthusiasts!
Finding Earth, Finding Soul is the story of one man's search for meaning and purpose in a society that is captivated by values and beliefs that are assaulting the Earthís lifesystems and collapsing society in upon itself. Tim Macartney intertwines several themes in the quest for meaning and purpose, organisation leadership, nature, conformity, and the role of ordinary women and men in seeking and securing a future that will serve our children well. Finding Earth, Finding Soul vividly asserts the power of imagination, the joy of walking our own way, and the profound intimacy of finding relationship with others, and with life. It demonstrates how pain, loneliness, and some measure of suffering can become doorways to courageous acts that have the potential to illuminate our lives. It tells how Tim Macartney, starting as a gardener in a management training centre, went on to become Head of Consultancy there within three years, and then started a 'people and organisation development' company, working with the chairmen of multinationals. His inspirational approach to leadership development resulted in him being given a 50-acre Devonshire smallholding by an appreciative client to develop his vision.
The Transition Timeline lightens the fear of our uncertain future, providing a map of what we are facing and the different pathways available to us. It describes four possible scenarios for the UK and world over the next twenty years, ranging from Denial, in which we reap the consequences of failing to acknowledge and respond to our environmental challenges, to the Transition Vision, in which we shift our cultural assumptions to fit our circumstances and move into a more fulfilling, lowerenergy world. The practical, realistic details of this Transition Vision are examined in depth, covering key areas such as food, energy, demographics, transport and healthcare, and they provide a sense of context for communities working towards a thriving future. The book also provides a detailed and accessible update on climate change and peak oil and the interactions between them, including their impacts in the UK, present and future. Use it. Choose your path, and then make that future real with your actions, individually and with your community. As Rob Hopkins outlines in his foreword, there is a rapidly spreading movement addressing these challenges, and it needs you.
How to Make and Use Compost features an A-Z guide, which includes a comprehensive list of what you can and can't compost, concepts and techniques, compost systems, and common problems and solutions.
Exploring the history, politics and practicalities of organic farming, Adrian Myers shows how the current techniques of agriculture and horticulture based on chemical fertilizers, which inevitably bring about the deterioration of soil life, cannot provide a long-term sustainable future for humankind.
Maybe you'd like to cycle to work, but think:"I can't; I'm unfit, I don't want to get sweaty, I live too far away." This book might just change your mind. It is packed with great tips on: buying the right bike and equipment; riding safely in traffic; finding the best route to ride to work; integrating cycling with other forms of transport; basic bicycle mechanics; finding bike buddies. Cycling to work: a beginner's guide gives you all the information you need to get to work on your bike. Get fit, save money, and be green!
