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Leo Hickman

How often in life does convenience triumph over 'doing the right thing? And what is 'ethical living' anyway? When it comes down to it, most people fight shy of giving up their cars, or their toxic household products, their cheap washing machines, or dodgy, unethical bank accounts in order to make the world a better place. So Leo Hickman, resident consumer expert of the Guardian, decided to give it a try. Over the course of a year, he and his family set out to discover whether it was possible to live a 'normal life' - job, mortgage, kids, holidays - while at the same time making each daily choice or decision an 'ethical' one - for the family, their neighbours and the environment. This the story of that year, is a record of an extraordinary transformation. Amid the pitfalls and confusion, Leo's account is funny, inspirational and a mine of information for the curious.

A Life Stripped Bare

My Year Trying To Live Ethically

Richard Mabey

In this remarkable journal of visits to Eden, Mabey transports his reader from Cornwall to the Mediterranean to the Tropics, from Old World to New, from present to personal memory, to new perspectives on our collective artistic and emotional past. Sensuous and evocative, exquisitely written, his new book challenges the reader to look differently at the world, and our place in the landscape. At the same time, Mabey is controversial in his views about what we mean by buzz words like 'renewable', or 'sustainable', and he is highly provocative in his final response to the Eden Project itself.

Fencing Paradise

The Uses and Abuses of Plants

Paul Waddington

Few of us have what it takes to go 'all the way' on the green scale. Yet as fears about the food chain, climate change, plummeting biodiversity and the sustainability of our current lifestyles take hold, wouldn't it be good to be clear about our range of options? 
 
Whether you are pondering bicycles or baths, holidays or heating, pets or pasta, washing dishes or wine, Shades of Green is the book for you. It's an easy-to-use, A-Z guide which sets out your choices on a scale from 'completely green' to 'not even a little bit green'. No preaching. No finger-wagging. 
 
Whether you're an eco-warrior or a planet-trasher or, like most of us, something in between, Shades of Green will give you all you need to know so you can choose what suits you best. This is essential and often surprising reading.

Shades Of Green

A (mostly) practical A-Z for the reluctant environmentalist

Richard Girling

We have a special relationship with the sea. It is the single most powerful driver of our economy, our lifestyle and our politics. It affects what we eat, how we use the land, how we relate to our neighbours, how we travel, even the thickness of our coats. Yet we go on treating it, with childlike faith and unreason, as if we imagine it to be infinitely resourceful and endlessly forgiving. Sea Change addresses such issues as pollution by sewage, nuclear waste and dumping at sea; extinction of fish stocks; destruction of marine environment, impacts of climate change, coastal erosion and rising sea levels; decline of our seaside resorts; the failure of the 'integrated transport policy';and smuggling. In each case Girling questions: how did the situation arise? What are the consequences? What should be done? And what will happen when we fail? His unique voice blends horror, humour and 'just fancy that'; sifting for solutions in the sands, he is utterly compelling, entertaining and inspirational.

Sea Change

Britain's Coastal Catastrophe

Ken Thompson

How did plants get to be the way they are? Why do they have pretty flowers? How different would things have been if the wrong kind of pollinators had got the upper hand? Why are Latin names so complicated, and why Latin anyway? Why is a weed-free lawn an ecological impossibility? 
This entertaining book gives the answers to these questions and many more. It shows how a little botanical knowledge can bring not just better results but peace of mind, and that losing sleep over such traditional gardening bogeys as weeds, pests and pruning is not necessarily the best course. 
In this new edition Ken Thompson grabs the opportunity to explain why any old plant will do for companion planting - but also that it can do as much harm as good - and why planting by the moon is complete and utter nonsense.

An Ear to the Ground

Understanding Your Garden

Fred Pearce

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Ever wondered if declaring support for fair-trade and then chucking Kenyan beans from your shopping trolley to reduce food miles really added up? Or whether the women in Bangladeshi sweatshops really want you to stop buying the clothes from their sewing machines? Or how the system works when you dump stuff but never buy from a charity shop? 
 
While none of us should stop trying, it was never easy being green. Mindful of his footprint, Fred goes in search of the source of the cotton in his shirt, the prawns in his curry and the people who grew, mined or made all his stuff in an attempt to discover the true story behind our everyday things. This compelling story of his travels moves green thinking on to a new, more sophisticated plane.

Confessions of an Eco Sinner

Travels to find where my stuff comes from

Achieving genuine self-sufficiency of the kind described in John Seymour's classic guide is sadly beyond the vast reach of the urban majority today. Few have the space, and for those few there are comprehensive guidebooks. But where do the rest of us look for the answers to questions like how much effort does it really take to grow your own food? Is beekeeping difficult? Is solar power really worth the bother? 
From a small terraced house in the middle of a big city, Paul Waddington has made it his business to find out, and while trying it himself, has created a practical and absorbing guidebook along the way. It includes easy-to-read lists, tables, personal anecdote, and stunning illustrations, and more importantly demystifies the subject with practical tips that get to the heart of the matter to show you how you can enjoy the fulfilling aspects of the smallholding life without the hassle and expense of 'going all the way'. If you want to go back to the land without leaving home, this is the perfect guide.

21st-Century Smallholder

From Window Boxes To Allotments: How To Go Back To The Land Without Leaving Home

Unless you are a farmer, grower, or food expert, I bet your knowledge of what's in season and when is pretty slim. Despite a renaissance in British home cooking, coupled with a rediscovery of local produce through farmers' markets and enthusiastic celebrity chefs, many of us are missing some pretty crucial information. I mean, what's the use of a fancy gooseberry recipe in November? 
 
You want to know what's good to eat now? And why? Without pouring through stacks of recipe books? You need this book. Seasonal Food is organized into twelve chapters, one for each month of the year. Each chapter starts with a brief story about the month itself (what's happening in the farming calendar, food-related customs and traditions), followed by narrative sections covering what's in prime season - fruit and veg, meat, fish and other seasonally-influenced produce such as cheeses. There are recipes with information such as traditions, best regions etc and other basic suggestions about preparation. And new for this edition and in response to a growing sophistication in seasonal eating in the UK, it features gourmet foods that you can't source locally. Discover when to get the finest nectarines or the best month to treat yourself to Vacherin cheese.

Seasonal Food

A guide to what's in season when and why

Niall Edworthy

The Curious Gardener's Almanac contains over 1000 entries of remarkable information about flowers, vegetables, fruits, trees, herbs, insects, birds, water, soil, tools, composts, climate, recipes, gardens and gardeners, myths, superstitions, biodynamics..In short it is a collection as profuse and variegated as gardening itself. Woven into this wealth of knowledge are famous quotations, anecdotes, traditional sayings, lines of verse, and words of rural wisdom. The spirit and focus of the Almanac is British but the wider picture is international as so much of our gardens originated from overseas. 
Dry or dull information has no place in the almanac and its presentation is as appealing as the content.

The Curious Gardener's Almanac

Centuries Of Practical Garden Wisdom

Tim Smit

'Smit's vision of Eden is the eighth wonder of the world' Independent 
 
'Inspiring... An invaluable guide to how a large project can exceed against all odds' The Sunday Times 
 
- 
 
An updated edition of the bestselling story of the Eden Project featuring stunning new photography. 
 
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the impossible was delivered. From the sterile depths of a disused china clay pit in Cornwall rose one of the most remarkable and ambitious ventures in recent memory. The Eden Project's Biomes, the world's largest conservatories, are the symbol of a living theatre of plants and people and their interdependence, of regeneration and of a pioneering forum for the exploration of possible futures. 
 
This is the extraordinary story of the Eden Project, of its conception, design and construction, of the larger-than-life personalities who made it happen and of all that has happened since its doors were first opened to the public in 2001. It is now undisputedly one of the world's great gardens with more than 17 million visitors flocking there and projects and partnerships all over the world.

Eden

Updated 15th Anniversary Edition

What do City speculators, Gulf oil sheikhs, Chinese entrepreneurs, big-name financiers like George Soros and industry titans like Richard Branson buy when they go shopping? Land. Parcels the size of Wales are being snapped up across the plains of Africa, the paddy fields of Southeast Asia, the jungles of the Amazon and the prairies of Eastern Europe. Why? The money men will tell you that their investments will bring an end to world famine. But is this more about fat profits and food security for the few? 
 
The race is on to grab the world’s most precious and irreplaceable resource. In this brilliant piece of investigative journalism Fred Pearce moves from boardroom and trading floor to goat-herder’s hut and flooded forest. The result is an eye-opening, extraordinarily important examination of the most profound ethical and economic issue in the world today.

The Landgrabbers

The New Fight Over Who Owns The Earth

Maggie Campbell-Culver

A fascinating history of Britain's plant biodiversity and a unique account of how our garden landscape has been transformed over 1000 years, from 200 species of plant in the year 1000 to the astonishing variety of plants we can all see today. Thousands of plants have been introduced into Britain since 1066 by travellers, warriors, explorers and plant hunters - plants that we now take for granted such as rhododendron from the Far East, gladiolus from Africa and exotic plants like the monkey puzzle tree from Chile. 
 
Both a plant history and a useful reference book, Maggie Campbell-Culver has researched the provenance and often strange histories of many of the thousands of plants, exploring the quirky and sometimes rude nature of the plants, giving them a personality all of their own and setting them in their social context. 
 
The text is supported by beautiful contemporary paintings and modern photographs in 2 x 8 pp colour sections.

The Origin Of Plants

Andy Hamilton

Home brewing and wine-making is fun, easy and hugely satisfying. If you garden or forage, 
can follow a recipe or make jam, and you enjoy a drink, this is the book for you. 
Andy's no-nonsense, easy-to-follow guide will enable the beginner and inspire the expert 
with over 100 recipes including beer made from hops and but also yarrow, mugwort, elder 
and other foraged plants, great tasting wines from fruit, vegetables and the hedgerows, 
cider and perry from apples and pears, cordials from the leaves of a range of trees, and teas and 
fizzy drinks from herbs and wayside flowers. 
 
- Discover the secret language of home brewing and drinks making. 
- Make cheap, wholesome drinks, to your preferred taste and strength 
in little time, with minimum fuss and no need for expensive equipment. 
- Turn your garden into a drinkers' paradise. 
- Find where and how to forage for success. 
- Impress your friends with the weird, wonderful and just plain tasty. 
 
Try Carrot Whisky, Sloe and Damson Rum, Parsnip Sherry, Elderberry and Blackberry Wine, 
Pumpkin Beer, Broom Tonic, Meadowsweet tea as well as classics such as Elderflower 
champagne, sloe gin, prison brew... Cheers!

Booze for Free

In 2003 a MORI poll for the Royal Horticultural Society revealed that an extraordinary number of us are interested in attracting wildlife into our gardens. It also indicated, however, that many of us have no idea how to go about it. Information is sparse, and public opinion seems to suggest that gardens that are plentiful in wildlife are unattractive, expensive to upkeep and hard work to maintain. But this couldn't be further from the truth. 
 
In this illuminating book, Ken Thompson explains that encouraging wildlife is actually entirely compatible with ordinary gardening, costs next to nothing and is almost completely effortless. Packed with helpful hints and tips, the book shows us how easy it is to fill our gardens with everything from foxes, frogs and mice to butterflies, ladybirds and literally thousands of fascinating creepy-crawlies. Why should we? Because we'll be promoting the biodiversity of the UK, we'll be reconnecting with nature, getting more from our gardens, and we'll be doing our plants a favour.

No Nettles Required

The Reassuring Truth About Wildlife Gardening

Wherever we look, population is the driver of the most toxic issues on the political agenda. But the population bomb is being defused. Half the world's women are having two children or fewer. Within a generation, the world's population will be falling. And we will all be getting very old. 
 
So should we welcome the return to centre stage of the tribal elders? Or is humanity facing a fate worse than environmental apocalypse? 
 
Brilliant, heretical and accessible to all, Fred Pearce takes on the matter that is fundamental to who we are and how we live, confronting our demographic demons.

Peoplequake

Mass Migration, Ageing Nations and the Coming Population Crash

Brian Clegg

Looking after 'The Environment' should be straightforward - no-one wants to destroy the world. And yet in every 'green' area we are either failing to take the essential steps to prevent destruction of the planet or are being deceived - often by ourselves. By using the scalpel of eco-logic it is possible to open up the reality beneath the layers of confusion and deception, turn recognized situations inside out, identify hidden agendas in the so-called Experts, and come up with real solutions to our green problems. 
 
Examining issues such as Climate Change Sceptics, Celebrity greens and the charity gig bandwagon, 'Fair' trade, Organics, Renewable energy, Recycling, Carbon offsets, Sustainability and much more, ECO-LOGIC is a book to shake up the green movement and give it a new impetus.

Ecologic

The Truth and Lies of Green Economics

We can no longer cope with our waste. Every hour in the UK we throw away enough rubbish to fill the Albert hall - a statistic quoted so often that perhaps we've stopped imagining what it means. And every year the flow accelerates. 
This is the story of our rubbish - from the first human bowel movement to the littering of outer space. With a hankerchief to his nose, Girling picks through our fridge mountain, our crumbling sewers, trading waste, packaging waste, hazardous industrial waste... it is a mucky saga of carelessness, greed and opportunism, wasted opportunity and official bungling. But Rubbish! is also a plea for us to consider other kinds of waste: the trashing of our landscape, the unstoppable floods of junk that clog our mailboxes, litter the skies and foul the airwaves... 
Rubbish! may not be a conventional battle cry but this is unmistakably a call to arms - not just for the three 'R's - reduce, re-use, recycle - but for us to fight for new ideas, brave initiative rather than reliance on old systems that are crumbling before our eyes.

Rubbish!

Dirt On Our Hands And Crisis Ahead

Alanna Mitchell

After winning the Global Reuters IUCN media award for excellence in environmental reporting, Alanna Mitchell launches herself on an odyssey that takes her around the world, zeroing in on it's environmental hotspots. Travelling from Madagascar to the Middle East, from the Arctic to the Galapagos Islands, her goal is to explore how humanity can flourish without destroying the planet. She begins with a term of study at Oxford University where she studies Darwin's theories. Darwin challenged the idea that the earth and its species were created for man's benefit and succeeded in overturning the accepted view. Today, we are at a similar crossroads, one where we need to come to terms with the fact that all creation is not here for us, that we are but one species dependent on other species and planetary life-support systems for our own existence. As his theories of evolution changed the whole way of Victorian thinking, so Alanna sets out to persuade us that we can accept a similar seismic change and learn to treat our environment in a way that will prolong, rather than shorten its shelf life.

Dancing At The Dead Sea

Journey To The Heart Of Environmental Crisis

Anna Shepard

Do you think 'turning green' means becoming dull? Anna Shepard doesn't. Part personal experience, part manual, How Green Are My Wellies? describes her efforts to live a life that is both fun and sparkly green. Month by month, she explores everything from avocado cleansers to guerrilla gardening to worm-racing in order to perfect the art of being green. Discover how to slim down your waste and throw a clothes-swap party; go in search of green love; and start dreaming of a green Christmas! 
Funny, heart-warming and charged with infectious enthusiasm, How Green Are My Wellies? demonstrates unequivocally that you can be green with style.

How green Are My Wellies?

Small Steps And Giant Leaps To Green Living With Style

Alex Evans

Why, with absolutely no idea what Brexit actually meant, did the UK vote for Brexit? 
Why, rather than vote for the best-qualified candidate ever to stand as US President, did voters opt for a reality TV star with no political experience? 
In both cases, the winning side promised change and offered hope. They told a story voters longed to hear. And in the absence of greater, more unifying narratives, then true or not, voters plumped for the best story available. 
Once upon a time our society was rich in stories. They brought us together and helped us to understand the world and ourselves. We called them myths. Today, we have a myth gap – a vacuum that Alex Evans argues powerfully and persuasively is both dangerous and an opportunity. 
In this time of global crisis and transition– mass migration, inequality, resource scarcity, and climate change - It is stories, rather than facts and pie-charts,that will animate us and bring us together. It is by finding new myths, those that speak to us of renewal and restoration, that we will navigate our way to a better future. 
 
 
Drawing on his first-hand experience as a political adviser within British government and at the United Nations, and examining the history of climate change campaigning and recent contests such as Brexit and the US presidential election, Alex Evans explores: 
*how tomorrow’s activists are using narratives for change, 
* how modern stories have been used and abused, 
* where we might find the right myths that will take us forward

The Myth Gap

What Happens When Evidence and Arguments Aren’t Enough

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