things worth paying attention to
Read free. Four Maker Projects books for kids by Megan Kopp. “A maker is someone who questions. Makers are creative. Makers are builders. They look for ways to improve existing things or develop totally new things. A makerspace is a place where makers can come together to share ideas, learn, and create. Many communities have makerspaces in libraries, schools, and museums.”
Read free. “‘Passive’ solar heating and cooling does not depend on pumps or fans or any other devices. Instead, it relies on the natural ebb and flow of the energy of the sun through a house. With a few facts from this book and a little common sense, you can combine passive solar design with energy conservation and reduce the heating and cooling bills for a new house to less than 15% of those for conventional houses. And many of the ideas can be adapted to existing houses as well.”
“Traditional buildings were designed according to the microclimate of the specific region because heat and cold control the thermal comfort in the houses and this different from one place to another. The natural technologies applied in these buildings have sustained human life for many decades and are purely for heating or cooling purpose. Examples of these techniques are fire chimneys, courtyards, wind towers and mashrabiya (Noble, 2007). In hot-dry and warm humid zones such as Middle East and North Africa where cooling is more important than heating, ventilation tunnel, wind tower, wind catcher, wind sail, maziara and courtyard are used to achieve thermal comfort.”
“The vision of Open Source Ecology is a world of collaborative design – for a transparent and inclusive economy of abundance…. OSE is currently developing a set of open source blueprints for the Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) – a set of the 50 most important machines that it takes for modern life to exist – everything from a tractor, to an oven, to a circuit maker. In the process of creating the GVCS, OSE intends to develop a modular, scalable platform for documenting and developing open source, libre hardware – including blueprints for both physical artifacts and for related open enterprises.” Innovative Seed Eco Homes project.
A sustainability wiki started in 2006 as an encyclopedia of appropriate technology. Now it also documents over 3,000 projects. It also provides curated collections of some of its most notable content, such as The Future We Deserve.
Database of 8,000+ plants, with extensive search filtering.
Read free. “The significance of this book … lies in its ability to explain complex issues as simply as possible, so that everybody who uses money may understand what is at stake. Another significant difference from other books which have dealt with this issue in the past is that it shows how, at this particular point in time, the change to the proposed new monetary system could create a win-win situation for everyone. It could help to develop, finally, a sustainable economy.”
Read free. “As for the book’s title, ‘Soft Tech’ is a term we’ve used and defended since the late sixties. It first emerged in Great Britain but then dropped out of fashion to be replaced by Alternative Technology (AT) and Appropriate Technology (AT)…. ‘Soft’ signifies that something is alive, resilient, adaptive, maybe even lovable….”
Read free. “…[T]hemes got early notice in CQ before becoming prominent elsewhere. The Gaia hypothesis. Voluntary simplicity. Arguments against metric conversion. Personal computers. The resurgence of the antiwar movement. The flat tax. Critical evaluation of magazines. The effects of chemicals on the human gene pool. Most importantly, COEVOLUTION published a lot of material—essays, reporting, and story-telling—that will endure as “news that stays news,” to quote Ezra Pound’s definition of literature. Hence this book—a collection, in one place, of what we think is the most lasting work COEVOLUTION published.”
Permies.com is a popular gathering place for forums for the homesteading and permaculture communities.
Read free. “In the following chapters the reader will discover a unique perspective of the philosophy of the late Alan Watts, one of the foremost Western interpreters of Eastern thought. The selections included herein are of dual origin in that the first two chapters are essays by Watts, and the following chapters are based upon his spoken word. Starting with ‘Trickster Guru’ and ‘Speaking Personally’ (the essays), this book begins with an autobiographical flavor and continues on to reveal Watts’ insights in their final and most concise form.”
Read free. “We are as gods and might as well get used to it. So far, remotely done power and glory-as via government, big business, formal education, church has succeeded to the point where gross obscure actual gains. In response to this dilemma and to these gains a realm of intimate, personal power is developing-power of the individual to conduct his own education, find his own inspiration, shape his own environment, and share his adventure with whoever is interested. Tools that aid this process are sought and promoted by the WHOLE EARTH CATALOG.”
Read free. “A Learning to Learn Catalog… Everything we learn is only real to the degree that it contributes to what we are. Direct knowledge of ourselves, the reality of the world we live in, and the facilitation of our inner growth and change are the ultimate goals of education.”
Read free. “To start growing your own food without delay, put down this book, go out in the garden and select a spot in the sun. Dig over one square metre with a garden fork and remove all the weeds by hand. If digging up lawn, cut out the sods with a spade, roots and all, and stack them upside down under a tree as mulch. Come inside again and thoroughly wash your hands and clean your nails, as you must always do after working with soil. Pick up this book and in Part One select what you want to grow in your first Salad Plot….”
Read free. “Sound is created as the vibratory motion of particles and objects. The vibrations that produce sound represent an energy that is found throughout nature, not only within ourselves and our world, but far beyond, into the realms of moons, stars, and the Universe. Due to the limitations of human physiology, our own ears can detect only a tiny fraction of this vast vibratory spectrum. On the cosmic scale, sound is a universal, unseen power, able to bring about profound changes on many levels-physical, emotional, and spiritual. This book explains how you can harness and direct the power of sound-as the vibratory energies of your own voice, and as sounds from the world around, making them resonate through your body and mind, to heal and cure.”
Read free. “If you are an adult with ADHD, this book is your prescription to play. Other experts in the field may tell you to take a pill, get more rest, exercise, train your brain, or whatever else it takes to manage impulsivity, inattention, poor time management, lack of motivation, memory struggles, and other symptoms related to ADHD. But they might not talk much about how fun and play can have a substantial effect on how you manage your ADHD symptoms.”
Read free. “Self-sufficiency does not mean “going back” to the acceptance of a lower standard of living. On the contrary, it is the striving for a higher standard of living, for food which is fresh and organically-grown and good, for the good life in pleasant surroundings, for the health of body and peace of mind which come with hard varied work in the open air, and for the satisfaction that comes from doing difficult and intricate jobs well and successfully.”
Read free. “Today, many people dream of community, beautiful surroundings, and meaningful jobs. These people have an inner craving for a more balanced and spiritual life, a loving place for their children to grow up, and a lifestyle which does not force them to leave their children all day as a price for being full members of society. A place full of life, joy and sharing, of living close to nature with plants and animals around them, where love is more possible. All the necessary wisdom, knowledge and technology are available to help this dream come true for everybody on this planet. Ecovillages are emerging attempts at realizing it, or at the very least parts of it. They are paintings in progress, of an envisioned Paradise on Earth.”
Read free. “Representing every major natural building technique, and written by some of the most prominent innovators and advocates in the field, this collection … this book is far more than just a survey of techniques. It provides a philosophical framework for the entire natural building movement, as well as a set of design principles broadly applicable to ecological design projects everywhere. Our goal is a whole systems approach to natural building.”
Read free. “This book is designed to enable the amateur plant hunter to make accurate and certain identifications of edible plants. The 85 plants that are covered were selected because they can be easily recognized, can supply a wide range of food products throughout the year (although the pickings are necessarily somewhat leaner in the winter months), and can be found over broad sections of the U.S. and southern Canada. These 85 plants alone provide 28 different salad greens, 18 cooked vegetables, 8 substitutes for potatoes, 18 sources of flour, 5 cooking oils and butters, 21 cold beverages, 23 substitutes for coffee and tea, and 7 sources of sugar as well as numerous potherbs, fruits, confections, jams and jellies, pies, vinegars, and even salt.”
