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Based on the experiences of founders of intentional communities, this inspiring book is filled with practical information, vivid anecdotes, success stories and samples of documents from ecovillages and other established communities, including vision statements and member agreements.

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CLEARANCE ITEM. PREVIOUS RETAIL PRICE WAS $19.95. AVAILABLE ONLY WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!

It's time we moved from commuting to community and Superbia!, a Mother Earth News Book for Wiser Living, tells you how. An inspiring book about connecting with our neighbors, connecting our communities to the ecosystem, and connecting our everyday lives to our search for quality and joy.

The book is full of practical ideas for creating more socially, economically and environmentally sustainable neighborhoods. It is about remaking suburban and urban neighborhoods to serve people better and to reduce human impact on the environment.

The authors first trace the history of the suburbs, showing how they fail to meet many peoples' needs. They then describe how existing neighborhoods can be transformed, offering cohousing and new urbanist communities as examples. The reader is then guided through the transformation of a fictitious neighborhood that adopts the authors' 31 steps. Ideas for the blossoming of the suburb are described in order of difficulty, from easy to boldest, including: the creation of a neighborhood newsletter to foster a sense of neighborhood identity and cooperation; regular community dinners, discussion groups and babysitting co-ops; the removal of backyard fences to create park-like spaces for community play areas or gardens; retrofitting homes for energy efficiency, and installing community energy systems.

Examples from all over North America and beyond provide real-life proof that citizen planners can create superbia! And the most comprehensive resource listing imaginable puts all the tools needed at your fingertips.

Well-illustrated and reader-friendly, Superbia! is written primarily for the millions who live in urban areas or existing suburbs. It will also be of major interest to environmentalists, planners, and all who want to create a more humane and nurturing lifestyle.

About the contributors:

Dan Chiras is the father of two boys, and the author more than 20 books on environmental issues and sustainability. He teaches courses on renewable energy, green building and sustainability at Colorado College. His free time is spent mountain biking, camping, canoeing, kayaking, playing music, and gardening with his boys.

Dave Wann worked with the EPA for a decade and is now a writer and video producer. Widely published in magazines, he is co-author of the successful book Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic and two other books about design, as well as six video programs on community.

Recommended Product for Wiser Living: Today, more than ever before, our society is seeking ways to live more conscientiously. To help bring you the very best inspiration and information about greener, more sustainable lifestyles, Mother Earth News is recommending books to its readers. For 40 years, Mother Earth News has been North America’s “Original Guide to Living Wisely,” creating books and magazines for people with a passion for self-reliance and a desire to live in harmony with nature.

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CLEARANCE ITEM. PREVIOUS RETAIL PRICE WAS $14.00. AVAILABLE ONLY WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!

Biologist Sandra Steingraber shares a passionate story of her pregnancy while revealing the alarming extent to which environmental hazards threaten each stage of a child's development.

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The Backyard Beekeeper, now revised and expanded, makes the time-honored and complex tradition of beekeeping an enjoyable and accessible backyard pastime that will appeal to gardeners, crafters, and cooks everywhere. This expanded edition gives you even more information on "greening" your beekeeping with sustainable practices, pesticide-resistant bees, and urban and suburban beekeeping. More than a guide to beekeeping, it is a handbook for harvesting the products of a beehive and a honey cookbook--all in one lively, beautifully illustrated reference. This complete honey bee resource contains general information on bees; a how-to guide to the art of beekeeping and how to set up, care for, and harvest honey from your own colonies; as well as tons of bee-related facts and projects. You'll learn the best place to locate your new bee colonies for their safety and yours, and you'll study the best organic and nontoxic ways to care for your bees, from providing fresh water and protection from the elements to keeping them healthy, happy, and productive. Recipes of delicious treats and instructions on how to use honey and beeswax to make candles and beauty treatments are also included.

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If you are interested in reforming America’s food system, we highly recommend this new Guide. Informed input from concerned citizens is the only thing that will counter the powerful vested interests and bring us a fresh food/farm policy that serves public health, job creation, land stewardship and even national security.

Every five years, the U.S. Congress passes complex legislation called the Farm Bill. Primarily accountable for setting the budgets and work plans for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Farm Bill is the essential economic and policy engine that drives our food and farming system and provides nutritional assistance to tens of millions of Americans—many of them children. In recent years, more and more citizens are realizing just how much is at stake in this political chess game.

Originally published in 2007, Food Fight is Daniel Imhoff's highly acclaimed primer on the complex issues contained within the Farm Bill. Now in a newly updated and expanded edition, Imhoff looks ahead at this important issue, as the debate for 2012 is already underway. With the legislation due to be reauthorized in late 2012, Food Fight offers a critical resource that can help concerned citizens deconstruct this challenging bill, organize in their communities and press their elected representatives to serve the public good, rather than vested interests.

The Guide explains:

• The Farm Bill’s connection to the national obesity epidemic…
• The problems with subsidizing the expansion of corn-based ethanol…
• The myths of “cheap food”…
• Who wins and who loses from heavily subsidized industrial ag systems.

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To forge a sustainable future, we need citizens who care for the Earth. This 240-page book presents a coherent plan that will help parents foster a love for nature in their children, teach them the importance of environmental protection, promote environmental values and inspire action.

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Birds provide a most effective ecological control of insects, weeds, and small rodents in the gardens and orchards. In the spring, with young in the nest, meat-eating birds feed voraciously on the insect and grub population. During late summer and autumn, there are many seed-eaters that do a handsome job of cleaning up the weeds. The result is a naturally healthy garden.

Birds can be attracted to your home if you offer food, water, and shelter. This e-handbook can show you what to do, from the choice of bird food and feeders to bird houses and landscaping. Includes recipes for bird food, instructions on how to build bird houses and a list of common bird varieties and how best to attract them. With this handy guide you can create a haven for your favorite birds.

INSTANT DELIVERY ITEM: When you order this e-book* we will provide you with a link for the e-book on the confirmation page. Simply click on the link and save the file to your computer — no more waiting for delivery or paying expensive shipping and handling fees.

Mother Earth News Wiser Living E-Handbooks are packed with practical information, innovative ideas and creative projects right at your fingertips. By supporting digital products like this one you are helping save millions of trees a year. Order your downloadable PDF and start reading today!

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Feeding wild birds is a wonderful way to enjoy and study nature. The types of birds that come to your feeder will depend on your geographic location, the time of year, and the types of feeders and food you provide.

This e-handbook provides a basic understanding of a wild bird’s needs and will make any birdfeeding venture more successful. Chapters include:

• Natural Menus
• Bird Feeders
• Dietary Demands
• Personal Preferences
• Seasonal Feeding
• Recipes and Food Preparation
• Orphan Birds

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Many of us have had some experience with trying to save an orphaned or injured wild bird. When faced with a bird in need, most people want to help but don’t know how — and also fear doing more harm than good.

This e-handbook offers some helpful guidelines plus some basic bird knowledge so that you can learn not only how to assist birds in trouble but also which ones really need assistance. Chapters include:

• The ABCs of Baby Birds
• Helping a Grounded Baby Bird
• The Six Most Important Rules of First Aid for Birds
• Cat Mauling
• Releasing a Wild Bird
• Feeding Wild Birds

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"Our mail order methods meet many wants," wrote a poetic but anonymous copywriter on a page of the 1895 Montgomery Ward & Co. Catalogue. He had a gift for understatement. At its zenith from the 1880s to the 1940s, Montgomery Ward, like its cross-town Chicago rival, Sears, sold virtually everything the average American could think of or desire — and by mail. This was a revolution, and Ward's fired the first shot. To buy spittoons, books of gospel hymns, hat pins, rifles, wagons, violins, birdcages or portable bathtubs, purchases that used to require many separate trips to specialist merchants, suddenly all the American shopper had to do was lick a stamp. This unabridged facsimile of the retail giant's 1895 catalogue showcases some 25,000 items, from the necessities of life (flour, shirts) to products whose time has passed (ear trumpets). It is an important resource for antiquaries, students of Americana, writers of historical fiction, and anyone who wants to know how much his great-grandfather paid for his suspenders. It is a true record of an era.