By Melissa Zietz

I often struggle to find a balance between having time with my husband and kids, and having time to keep up with current issues or local government. Generally my husband and I take turns going to “grown up” meetings while the other stays at home with the kids. It’s rare that we find an informative experience that is also family friendly (translation: an event where all four of us actually want to be there). Luckily, “Families Go Green” at the Monona Public Library (Saturday, February 18, 1:00-3:00 p.m.) is a program where adults can get valuable information to help make positive changes in our energy usage and kids will have fun with games and art projects while learning too!

The program, a joint effort between the City of Monona, The Natural Step Monona and the Monona Public Library, is designed to appeal to a wide range of ages and interests. My seven-year-old son usually resists anything having to do with holding a pencil, crayon or paintbrush, but he loves games and gadgets and hands-on projects. Perfect! He’ll latch right on to the energy meter demonstrations to find out which types of appliances use the most energy. Plus, the energy meters are available to check out from the library, so we can take one home and appoint him the official “energy police.” My ten-year-old daughter, on the other hand, has never shown the slightest interest in learning how to set up the DVD player (the apple doesn’t fall far from this tree), but she is great at expressing herself through art and loves getting her hands on any type of craft project. She will really enjoy making a “green machine” from household recyclables, and both kids will get into the garden station and, of course, looking at some good books.

My husband and I try to be responsible about our energy use, but we do live in a 1960s split level house with aging appliances and sketchy insulation. (Do cardboard boxes lining the walls count?) We’re looking forward to learning more ways to save energy and reduce our carbon footprint. And I can’t lie: I really want to win one of the door prizes! Who can’t use a $100 gift certificate from MG&E to put toward their energy bill? I’d be equally satisfied with one of the other prizes from Brothers Main, Willy Street Co-op, or Machinery Row Bicycles. You can’t win if you don’t enter, and you can’t enter if you don’t attend!

I love living in Monona, and I’m so glad to be in a place where there are groups that provide interesting and entertaining ways to get the word out about making the world a greener place, starting at home. Families Go Green promises to be a great program. This is a free event. Registration is highly recommended. Go online to register at www.mononalibrary.org or call 222-6127. Remember to request an energy meter to check out! They will probably go quickly, but you can always put one on hold.

I’m looking forward to a good time with my whole family. And I’ll save the babysitter money for a night out.

TNS Monona is pleased to partner with Sustainable Atwood in educating our community about the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), a deadly invasive species headed for our ash trees! Emerald ash borer has been confirmed in Kenosha, Caledonia (northern Racine County), and La Crosse.

Much of our urban forest is made up of private trees—the ones on our properties. The EAB kills ash trees, leaving behind their dead but beautiful and useful trunks.

If your tree needed to be removed, what would you do with it?

Not many people would know where to turn to make the best use of their tree, so high quality wood often ends up as firewood or woodchips. The DNR Urban Forestry Grant awarded to Sustainable Atwood will provide ready access to information for processing wood through a network of local wood related professionals, businesses, artists and organizations. Stay tuned to learn more about the spread of EAB and the world of possibilities for your wood.

What to Look for:

Ash trees have an opposite branching pattern and compound leaves with 5-11 toothed leaflets.

Research has shown that EAB-infested trees may show no symptoms until they have been infested for more than two to three years.

What can you do?

1. Don’t move firewood. Emerald Ash Borer larvae can survive in the bark of firewood. A good rule of thumb is buy local, burn local.
2. Visually inspect your trees. Early detection is important, so if you see any sign or symptom of an Emerald Ash Borer infestation, contact your State agriculture agency.
3. Spread the word. Talk to friends, neighbors and co-workers about Emerald Ash Borer and what they should be aware of on their trees.
4. Ask questions. If you receive ash nursery stock or firewood, know its point of origin and your supplier, as larvae could be hiding under the bark.
5. Know State and Federal regulations. Make sure you understand regulations that govern your state and those you may visit.

If you want more information on EAB, we have a lot of educational materials that will be on display at all of our upcoming events.

Visit this comprehensive online resource: www.emeraldashborer.wi.gov

View these pictures to help you identify Ash trees: http://datcpservices.wisconsin.gov/eab/articleassets/EABMIextension.pdf

This is the second in a series of monthly articles supporting Monona’s Year of Water 2012. Here we examine where our city’s water comes from and where it ends up.

In 2010, the Monona Water Utility pumped nearly 360 million gallons of water from two wells (one 500 feet deep, the other 800 feet deep). Our water use follows seasonal patterns, with up to one million gallons per day pumped in mid-July and fewer than 100,000 gallons in mid-December. The water travels through about 40 miles of water mains to our houses, businesses, schools, and churches. Two elevated water towers, built in 1957 and 1983, hold 500 thousand gallons and help maintain proper pressure to serve the needs of the city’s 7,533 citizens. About 2,700 water meters track our usage so that the Monona Water Utility can bill us appropriately.

All of Monona’s water is pumped from a sandstone aquifer several hundred feet below us. Under natural conditions, precipitation soaks into the ground and percolates downward though sand and gravel layers, eventually recharging the aquifer. But increasing quantities of hard, human-made surfaces are limiting natural recharge.

Another challenge to recharge is that because water moves very slowly through aquifers, high-capacity wells pumping large amounts of water can cause long-term, cone-shaped depressions, called drawdowns, in the groundwater level.

In some areas of Dane County, water table levels have declined over 60 feet since pre-settlement days, requiring deeper wells and increasing pumping costs. The declines have also reduced the flow of groundwater into lakes, streams and wetlands.

In fact, drawdowns have caused the flow of groundwater in some areas to change direction: where the aquifer used to feed water into the lakes, the aquifer is now drawing water away from the lakes.

Diagram courtesy of the Nine Springs Recharge Project

Where does all that water go after we use it? Wastewater from Monona, Madison, Middleton, Verona, Fitchburg and most area villages and towns is pumped to the Nine Springs Wastewater Treatment Plant on Moorland Road, a mile south of Lake Monona. This facility, operated by the Madison Municipal Sewage District, treats over 15 billion gallons of wastewater annually. After the grit, solids, and sludge are removed, the treated water is disinfected by ultraviolet irradiation, and then pumped to Badfish Creek and Badger Mill Creek, eventually flowing out to the Rock River and on to the Mississippi.

So, with the water we use flowing out of our watershed, how can we replenish our groundwater? We can slow down the depletion through increased conservation. We can create more opportunities for water to naturally soak back into the earth when it rains through better stormwater management and fewer hard surfaces. And, in the future, we may possibly be able to recycle our wastewater to help recharge the aquifer.

Last year, graduate students from the Water Resources Management Program at UW-Madison collaborated with the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District and the City of Fitchburg on the Nine Springs Recharge Project. The goal was to determine if treated wastewater from the Nine Springs plant could be recycled to recharge groundwater. The study holds promise for addressing groundwater recharge. The results are expected soon.

Watch for upcoming articles on conservation, stormwater retention, and other water issues. Together, our efforts can assure a safe, abundant supply of drinking water for our community.

And join your friends and neighbors for these two January events about water:

• “Energize Monona: The Energy-Water Nexus” on Wednesday, January 25, 6:30 – 8:00 at the Monona Community Center, 1011 Nichols Road.

• “Green Tuesdays – Monona’s Water: Cleaner, Safer, Better” on January 31, 6:30 – 8:00 at the Monona Public Library, 1000 Nichols Road.

Nine Springs Recharge Project: https://sites.google.com/site/9springsrecharge/

Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District: http://madsewer.org/

Monona’s Year of Water 2012: www.tnsmonona.org/year-of-water/

Monona residents: as we begin automated trash service starting on January 1, our old trash cans will be obsolete for their original purpose. But that doesn’t mean we can’t use them for other purposes.

Although the city is making a dumpster available for us to dispose of our old cans, please consider forgoing that route. Instead of sending thousands of cans to the landfill, there are many ways to reuse your trash can. Useful things can be made out of an old trash can, from a rain barrel to simple storage container. And, one can even make art! (See a great example here: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/X57LyWhXIEnss1vGJ-ajww.)

Always clean the can before using it for something else, but then, consider these uses:

• To collect rainwater. I have a homemade rain barrel made from a trash can. It is not “street-friendly,” meaning it’s pretty ugly and I wouldn’t want it on the front of my home. But I have mine tucked away on the side of my garage where it doesn’t get seen very often. There are many methods for creating a barrel from a trash can—a Google search returned more than one million hits—and they range from simply putting the open can under a downspout to elaborate systems with plumbing and pumps. For a fairly easy method, check out the instructions on this website: http://www.chasinggreen.org/article/10-steps-do-it-yourself-diy-rain-barrel/.
• To store compost, sand, mulch, leaves, or potting soil for use in your garden. If your old can has wheels, you can even haul these materials around your yard to where you need to use them.
• To store long-handled garden tools, such as brooms, rakes, and shovels.
• To temporarily store excess trash or recycling. If you have a big party, a large number of visitors, or other unusual event that increases your trash output, store it in your old trash can until room is freed up in the your cart.
• To store items to take to Clean Sweep in the spring. (Clean Sweep is a place to take hazardous household materials that should not be put in with regular trash. Items such as oil-based paints, paint-related products, pesticides, poisons, household products containing organic solvents, items that ignite, aerosols, and rechargeable batteries can be taken to Clean Sweep from May 1 through October 31. Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Location: 2302 Fish Hatchery Road.)
• To grow potatoes! For a simple and small-scale vegetable garden project, you can grow potatoes vertically. See this website for more details: http://backyardfarming.blogspot.com/2008/01/backyard-potatoes.html.

You can also offer your trash can to someone else who is willing to use it for the above purposes or others. You may find eager recipients on Madison Stuff Exchange or Craigslist, or just by asking your friends. Remember, one person’s trash is another person’s treasure!

Did you know that the average American uses anywhere from 80 to 100 gallons of water each day? Or that if all U.S. households installed water-saving features, water use would decrease by 30 percent, saving an estimated 5.4 billion gallons per day? This would save American citizens 11.3 million dollars per day, or more than 4 billion dollars per year.

It’s not just about conserving water. In 2010 the Monona Water Utility paid $91,000 for over 600,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity to pump water to our homes, schools, and businesses. That’s enough energy to supply about 60 single-family households. Generating that energy sends over 500 tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, an amount that would take over 10,500 tree seedlings ten years of growth to absorb.

Mayor Bob Miller declared 2012 our city’s “Year of Water,” urging all citizens to rally around and take positive steps toward water management and use. A wide range of actions and educational efforts are planned by the city, community groups, and The Natural Step Monona (TNS Monona). Heather Gates, Executive Director of TNS Monona states, “The goal is to generate greater interest, more sharing of ideas, and more community action around improving water use and management in Monona.”

Monona’s year-long Water Conservation Challenge will be underway January 3, with 101 households competing to save water, energy, money, and maybe even win prizes, too.

But don’t feel left out. You don’t have to be in the Challenge to participate. This fall, University of Wisconsin students have been recruiting community groups to take on projects to conserve and better manage water. From sports teams to church groups, Girl Scouts to members of city committees, the students have been showing groups ways to conserve water and reduce stormwater runoff, and then asking them to commit to a project. These could include water harvesting with rain barrels, landscape changes to prevent unnecessary storm water runoff, home water audits, conservation education, or other small or large endeavors.

We all have good reasons to conserve, but where to start? Here are some sensible tips from the folks at Madison Environmental Group, who run the EnAct programs that help folks take steps to greener living:

* Run full loads in your washing machine and dishwasher whenever possible to save water and energy. Use the low or medium settings if you have less than a full load.

* Replace that old toilet of yours! Many old toilets installed before 1992 are water guzzlers. Replacing them with high-efficiency toilets can decrease the water usage by 2 to 6.5 gallons per flush.

* Train your lawn to drink less. Almost half of household water usage goes to the lawn, but you can reduce that amount by only watering at night, encouraging deeper root growth by watering less, and leaving grass higher when mowing. You could even replace thirsty grass with drought-tolerant plants, and not have to water at all!

Throughout the Year of Water, we’ll use this column to provide updates on all these conservation and management efforts, and inform you about all aspects of the water we share: where it comes from, where it goes, and what the threats are to our lakes and drinking water. We’ll also share conservation tips, and tell you about public events where you can learn more about this vital resource.

The Year of Water kicks off with three big opportunities to learn much more:

January 10: Green Tuesdays – Let the Challenge Begin!

This event is all about helping you save big, both at your tap and on your water bill. Challenge participants and sponsors, community members, and conservation experts and leaders will share: techniques and new products that can help you save water, ideas and stories about conserving, and what conservation means for you and our community. 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., Monona Public Library, 1000 Nichols Road.

January 25: Energ!ze Monona – The Energy-Water Nexus

With water availability and quality being critical for community security and health, increasing the understanding of the little-known, yet dramatic connections between water and energy will help citizens and the city work together to address the conservation of both. Jeff Ripp, Water Conservation Coordinator of the Public Service Commission, and a Representative from Focus on Energy will present, followed by facilitated group discussion. 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., Monona Community Center, 1011 Nichols Road.

January 31: Green Tuesdays – Monona’s Water: Cleaner, Safer, Better.

Groups that have chosen to take on water conservation and management projects during the Year of Water will share their plans, ask questions of experts, and get more ideas and help from community members about how to implement their good deeds for Monona. Installing water bottle-filling water fountains or rain gardens, redesigning parking lots, stenciling storm drains…learn about these and more! 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., Monona Public Library, 1000 Nichols Road.

Find out more at http://www.tnsmonona.org/water/ and http://www.tnsmonona.org/year-of-water/

For more on the EnAct program, contact Madison Environmental Group at 204-2888 or visit www.madisonenvironmental.com.

In the consumer-based culture we live in, product marketing appeals make it easy to avoid thinking about the downsides of the things we buy and whether we really need them. At this time of year, with gift-giving and gift-buying at its annual peak, the problem is especially acute, as many rush to buy gifts because we feel we have to.

This makes it even harder to take the time to consider how we are being manipulated to think that “newer, better” products are desirable. It might be helpful to know what the marketers know: that an appeal to our “Homer Simpson side,” the automatic, unconscious associative system of reasoning, works much better than an appeal to our “Spock side,” the system that is conscious, rational, and deliberate.

It is through understanding the “Homer Simpson” side that I can see why someone might buy the “gourmet single cup home brewing system” that is the Keurig coffee maker. Featured prominently in Bed Bath & Beyond advertisements, this product offers the ease of plugging in a plastic pod for a single cup of coffee and, “presto chango,” the coffee is ready to drink. Homer would likely love it. But, Doh! No!

Spock would find it to be the poster product for wastefulness, as the single-serving plastic pouches are the heavily packaged goods we should be trying to eliminate from product manufacturing, and this new-fangled coffee-maker would likely replace perfectly functioning coffee-makers. In addition, the cost of the convenience seduces the user into buying the branded coffee pods for the life of the machine. It’s very smart marketing—quite similar to buying an inexpensive printer and then having to pay high prices for the ink—but the product isn’t smart, and Spock would have none of it.

If you’ve received the mailings from Bed Bath & Beyond, your Spock side has likely noticed that their offerings at this time of year fit this model: things that seem to be useful and fill a need, but which are likely to be stored at the back of your cabinet by February or put in the garage sale in May. The gadgets appeal to the “my friend has everything they need already, so what the heck can I get for him or her” problem by offering new contraptions and gizmos that they couldn’t possibly own already. Do you own the “Hollywood Kettle Popcorn Maker” or the “Soft Pretzel Factory” yet? No? Well, of course not. You already make popcorn without needing a “Hollywood Kettle” device, and you likely aren’t in such need of soft pretzels that you need a “factory” to manufacture them for you.

So, what’s the big deal? Who cares if we buy things people don’t need in the frenzy of holiday shopping?

How about one good Spock fact for you: According to the Worldwatch Institute, for every can of garbage we put out to the curb, 70 times that amount of garbage has been put to landfill or incinerated up stream in the making of the things we’re throwing away.

That fact alone should be enough to move you toward Spock ideas for your holiday gifts. Here are some: Homemade foods; handmade crafts from reused materials; dinner out on the town; gift certificates for local services, such as a massage, or for local classes, such as yoga, cooking, language, art, or music; a share in a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture); a membership in a local non-profit organization (Hey! The Natural Step Monona has those!); a state park pass; tickets to a museum exhibition, play, local movie theater, concert, or a sports event; or gift certificates for groceries or utilities (Yes! They exist!).

So, please, this holiday season, leave Homer Simpson in the car when you shop. You’ll shop differently—more intelligently and with less harm to the natural systems that sustain us—without him. With Spock, future generations and ours will be better able to “live long and prosper.”

On the other side we are approaching the holiday season, with all of its hustle and bustle—giving and sharing, enjoying friends and family, decorations and lights. It is a season of bounty, which unfortunately can also become a time of reckless consumption.

There are options in how you choose to celebrate this holiday season. My hope is that, given a way to reconcile the two disparate messages, you can enjoy this holiday season and be sustainable at the same time. In other words, ‘Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus—and this year he is wearing green!’”

–Laura Gavins, member of The Natural Step Monona

THINKING Outside of the Box

With no possibility of a wrong size or color, these gifts won’t be returned. And you won’t use up valuable resources by driving from mall to mall to find them.

If you must buy a gift, choose a gift that doesn’t harm the planet:

BUY Close By

Buying from local independent businesses reduces the distance we travel for our goods, lowering our fuel consumption and carbon footprints while bolstering our local economy.

Kids can make coupons, too:

HOMEMADE Gifts

DECORATING the Tree and House

The greenest Christmas tree is the one you never buy. Next best is one that is planted in the ground, pesticide-free, and grown sustainably. The closer you can get to that ideal, the better it is for the planet.

If you have a fake tree, continue to use it so it doesn’t end up in a landfill; but if you don’t have a fake tree, don’t buy one. Almost all fake trees are made with PVC, an environmentally-bad, non-renewable plastic. Eighty-five percent of fake trees are made in China, where labor standards don’t adequately protect workers from these dangerous chemicals. Plus, they are shipped half-way around the world to get to us.

A better alternative—buy a cut tree, but make sure to find a local, organic source. The biggest downside of cut Christmas trees is that, because they are agricultural products, they often are sprayed with repeated applications of pesticides over their typical eight-year lifecycles. While they are growing–and then again once they are discarded–they may contribute to pollution of local watersheds. So find a tree farm that uses sustainable practices.

Find your cut tree locally. A tree trucked in from far away wastes fuel and causes pollution.

Beyond these issues with cut trees, the sheer numbers of trees that get discarded after every holiday can be a big waste issue for municipalities that aren’t prepared to mulch them for compost.

Even better than a cut tree—buy a living tree from a local, organic source. While trees grow, they replenish the air with oxygen. Just one acre of Christmas trees produces enough oxygen to support eighteen people. Tree farms provide habitat for birds and other wildlife. For instructions on how to plant a live tree, go to www.pickyourownchristmastree.org/caring4atree.php and scroll to the bottom of the page.

To have the greenest tree of all—decorate an existing outdoor tree, decorate an indoor house plant, or create your own artistic tree as a craft project. The greenest Christmas tree of all is the one you never buy!

If you’ve bought a tree and you can’t do without holiday lights, use LED lights for your tree and your house. They save up to 90% of the energy used by traditional holiday lights, while lasting 100 times as long. (They are used on the holiday lighting up and down Broadway in Monona.) Don’t leave your lights on all night. If you find it difficult to remember to turn your lights off, use a timer to save electricity.

WEBSITES of Interest

The Great Green Gift-Giving Guide http://www.nrdc.org/cities/living/ggift.asp

The Green Guide’s Product Directory http://www.thegreenguide.com/products/

12 Rules for Regifting without Fear http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/Advice/12RulesForRegiftingWithoutFear.aspx

Dane County Humane Society http://www.giveshelter.org/ & http://www.giveshelter.org/sitemgr/wish_list

National Park Foundation www.nationalparks.org

Natural Resources Defense Council www.nrdc.org

Nature Conservancy http://nature.org/

Oxfam-America www.oxfamamerica.org

Union of Concerned Scientists www.ucsusa.org

Meals on Wheels Association of America http://www.mowaa.org/

PLUS!

Catch forty-three of The Natural Step Monona members and family in our YouTube videos. Your neighbors and friends created twelve public service announcements to highlight the information you’ve read here. They are doing their part to become more sustainable and to share ideas with you. Please join them in having the greenest holiday season!

Best wishes for delight, harmony, and peace in this and all seasons.

Since our Green Tuesdays & Thursdays program has grown to eight communities, people can enjoy it in many places and at many times! This season’s films include: Gasland, Waterlife, How to Boil a Frog, Fresh, Homo Toxicus, Waste Land, Carbon Nation, and For the Price of a Cup of Coffee. Each will be paired with a short film from Climate Wisconsin, showing a story of climate change from our own state.

Energ!ze Monona community forums are being facilitated by TNS Monona. Once per month from through February, our community gets to learn about and explore an energy topic, how it affects Monona, and what we can do about it. See this post with all the details or go to “upcoming events” at mymonona.com.

The Year of Water. Last semester’s UW Nelson Institute Capstone Course students partnered with us to survey Monona residents on sustainability topics. Together with this semester’s class and the City of Monona, in 2012 we are taking residents’ top concern—water—and developing a year-long program of education, outreach, and projects around improving the ways we interact with it. In addition to the Water Conservation Challenge (more info to come) that provides great incentives to save water resources, we are working to engage other community groups in taking on a water projects of their own in 2012. Are you part of a group that is interested in learning more about water and/or doing something large or small to improve the way you interact with or manage it? If so, please email info@tnsmonona.org.

And we hope many Mononans decide to join in the Water Conservation Challenge to conserve water because you should and win prizes for doing it because you can!

“Almost Monthly Potlucks” are over for 2011, but will recommence in 2012.

There’s more, too. If you’re not on our email list, please sign up to hear about all the things you can do! Join our list.

The Sustainability Section at the Monona Public Library will be four years old next month. Many people helped form, support, and grow the collection and it has become a solid asset in our ever-improving library. It is a birthday worth celebrating. I am proud of how it has turned out. Plus, I just love books.

My first library books were those checked out from Mrs. Whiteley’s library class in Paul Revere Elementary School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where I started my schooling. Likely the room was the size of any other classroom, but I recall a large space bursting with books. The desks were surrounded by multiple bookshelves that were orderly, inviting, and magnificent. I was in awe of all the stories and knowledge contained in that room. Although decades have passed, I can still remember Queenie Peavy inspiring me, and Where the Red Fern Grows breaking my heart.

Mrs. Whiteley taught my classmates and me to use the Dewey Decimal System. She had authors come to read for us, which made us feel special. To induce us to read more, and to read carefully, she offered an extra point for each typographic error we discovered in the books we read. (I was such a prodigious and persnickety reader, she imposed a limit on extra points.)

Mrs. Whiteley also taught us the proper way to break in a new book: standing the book on its spine and pressing small sections of the book down along the length of the inner edge, alternating sides until we were near the middle. This allowed the book to stretch, rather than break, and last longer. In this way and many others, Mrs. Whiteley taught us to respect and value the school’s resources and our own possessions, and to not waste or harm them by neglect or misuse.

In a way, the Sustainability Section does something similar: its contents teach us the hows and whys of respecting and valuing our natural systems and resources, and to not waste them or harm them, so that future generations will have a habitable planet, too.

The Natural Step Monona first approached the library about the possibility of creating a special sustainability collection in spring 2007. The idea was well received. After we held a book drive and gathered brochures, guides, maps, and other handouts from area organizations and government entities to have as give-away items, library staff got the section up and running in “prime real estate” adjacent to the main desk. Soon after, Madison Gas & Electric gave a generous donation for materials.

One of The Natural Step Monona’s first study circle participants worked for Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) and, during the book drive, she collected and donated books by guests and potential guests of talk shows. After the drive was done, she continued to collect them, letting us know whenever she had a boxful. Although she later left the station, another person volunteered to take over, and The Natural Step Monona continues to pick up a boxful of the latest books every few months. This ongoing support from WPR has been the Sustainability Section’s most valuable resource for materials.

What can you find in the Sustainability Section? Green Tuesdays films on DVD, MG&E electricity meters to test the amount of electricity your appliances use, and, of course, books! The books cover the range from how to compost to how to install your own solar system, critiques of energy policy to how to choose the greenest consumer goods, ways to live with less to how to make things out of waste. A few of the newer books are: World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse, which is the latest by prolific author Lester Brown, The Next Eco Warriors: 22 Young Women and Men who are Saving the Planet, by Emily Hunter, and Changing Planet, Changing Health: How the Climate Crisis Threatens Our Health and What We Can Do about It by Paul and Dan Ferber.

Additional support comes from The Natural Step Monona and some of our individual members in the form of a $500 “Booked for Life” donation which funds the annual purchase of a book for years to come. Library staffer and member Penny DePaola gathers and oversees the numerous free handouts.

Because of all the generous donors, collectors of books and handouts, and the library staff, the Sustainability Section is available to all of us. The materials in the Sustainability Section can help us learn about and plan our next step or project toward being more sustainable, whether it’s our first or our hundredth. Books are a fantastic resource to help us grow, both personally and as a community, in a healthy way. So next time you’re at the library, stop by and check out our selection, and while you’re there, wish it a happy birthday.