MEDIA: Planetwalker by John Francis

When you walk the walk like John Francis, you don’t necessarily need to talk the talk. Planetwalker: 17 Years of Silence, 22 Years of Walking is the true story of a native Philadelphian who, after witnessing a devastating 1971 California oil spill, chose to abstain from all motorized transportation. Instead, Francis walked. When his walking

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MEDIA: The City Homesteader by Scott Meyer

How can you get back to the land when you don’t have any land to get back to? In his new book, The City Homesteader: Self-Sufficiency on Any Square Footage, Scott Meyer shows acre-less urban- and suburbanites how to grow and preserve their own food, raise small livestock and become ever more self-sufficient—from composting to

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Book Review: the Story of Stuff

The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities and Our Health--and a Vision for Changeby Annie LeonardFree Press (2010), $26
The original “Story of Stuff” is a 20-minute animated documentary that took Annie Leonard 20 years of research to make. It’s a brilliantly simple dissection of our society’s relationship

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Book Review: Climate Cover-Up

Climate Cover-Up:The Crusade to Deny Global Warming by James Hoggan with Richard Littlemore, Greystone Books, $15It is no accident that about 41 percent of our fellow Americans believe that the seriousness of global warming is being exaggerated. It’s hard to believe that there’s any doubt anymore—it’s like believing that smoking doesn’t cause health problems.

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Book Review: Bicycle Diaries

Bicycle Diariesby David Byrne  Viking, $25.95
In the early ’80s, David Byrne rediscovered the bicycle. It quickly became the Talking Heads frontman’s primary means of transportation around New York City. Soon after, he began taking a fold-up bicycle with him on tour for downtime explorations. A practice born of convenience, cycling through unknown terrain fostered a

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Book Review: Power Trip

Power Trip: From Oil Wells to Solar Cells--Our Ride to the Renewable Futureby Amanda LittleHarper, $25.99
Cycling into work on the Brooklyn Bridge on September 11, 2001, Amanda Little witnessed the horrific attack on the World Trade Center. Two years later, on August 14, 2003, Little was in her Manhattan office when the Northeast Blackout left

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