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This is both a beautiful and inspiring book with amazing pictures of people who are working to save extraordinary endangered species of our land, water and air.

Each chapter is about a unique animal or bird or fish and is divided into paragraphs outlining facts of their habitat, their life habits and why it is important to preserve this species. And for each species, there is a picture of the wild life hero who is working to save that particular species along with their education and the reason they have chosen to do the important work they are doing.

For instance, Nguyen Van Thai, with a graduate certificate from the University of Kent in Britain, is a resident of Vietnam. As a young boy growing up in Northern Vietnam, most families didn’t have much and hunted wild meat to feed their families. Thai was very sad when he saw two people from his village attack an “Asian Pangolin’s” burrow, knowing that the captured pangolins would be going into the cooking pot!

Pangolins in Vietnam are endangered. Two other Asian species of pangolins and two of the African Pangolin species are classified as Near Threatened. Pangolins play a critical role in natural insect control, especially ants and termites, saving humans millions of dollars in pest damage, reducing the need for harmful chemicals. As well, pangolin burrows provide shelter for some rodents and reptiles.

Ngugen Van Thai is just one of forty conservationists profiled in this book, along with the species they are committed to preserving. It is likely that the reader will learn of species never heard of before. These inspiring people are not only trying to save these species, but through their work they are also working on related and crucial wild life issues: climate change; fire; wild life consumption and wild life disease; habitant loss; and ocean degradation.

This is both a ‘feel good’ book in terms of knowing how hard people are working to conserve things which are endangered but also a ‘worry’ book as one realizes all that is at stake if we do not find ways to help these heroes.

As of May 12th, P’lovers will be located in a spacious, light-filled new location in The Trillium at 1443 South Park Street.

Please come see us and help us begin our next 20 years of serving Halifax with eco-alternatives…for you and for the planet.

This book is full of both fascinating facts and figures and inspiring examples of how people are trying to change the way we feed cities. Some issues covered by the author have been written about before – such as (a) the decline of fish stock in our oceans; (b) the huge amount of money spent on carbonated beverages ($12 billion was spent on carbonated beverages in American supermarkets last year!); (c) how difficult it is for inner city neighbourhoods stores to supply fruits and vegetables at all, let alone ones produced locally; (d) the perils of soil erosion and water shortages; (e) peak oil and carbon pricing; and (f) shortages of people willing to be farmers in a world largely controlled by large corporations.

Even though all of these topics can be hugely depressing, Ladner fins a way, through balanced reflection and writing, to show us what is already possible in terms of producing health food locally.  From the streets of downtown Detroit to the community gardens of Montreal, we see ways individuals and groups of citizens and urban leaders are addressing the issues of food security and the means to make changes for the better in our food productions and availability.

A lot of the book is about planning cities, but planning isn’t just for professional planners. We all contribute by the choices we make every day: how we get to work, where we live, what we are willing to pay for water and what food we choose to eat and grow.  This is a valuable book, with lots of information we can use to help us see how our choices matter and how we can contribute to changing the way we feed ourselves and our urban dwellers.

P’lovers’ next Book Club Meeting is on Monday, March 26, at 6 PM.
The book is ‘Wildlife Heroes’.

This book has become an inspirational best seller. The author, Gretchen, became aware, one day, on a bus ride to work, that despite having a loving husband, two healthy daughters and work she loved something was missing. So she came up with what she called ‘the happiness project’ which was, for her, an approach to changing her life and experiencing more joy each day.

Gretchen started slowly. She first identified the situations that made her happy and also researched many books from varied authors about happiness. She started in January, the first month of a new year, and came up with projects for all twelve months her year, Each month has a theme and includes an elaborated list of four or five ways each month to increase happiness. The bottom line is that her project worked for her and she decided to share it with others.

“The Happiness Project” is very easy to read being both serious and light-hearted at the same time. One can read it from start to finish, in the order it is printed, or one can start with the month or the theme of one’s choice. It’s a great book to read and to have nearby as a reference or reminder to help on the road to a fulfilled and happy life.

The next book is “The Urban Food Revolution” by Peter Ladner – $18.95

Hillary Jordan has written a fast paced thriller, an ‘unputdownable’ novel.

The book opens with the main character, Hannah Elizabeth Payne, being found guilty of the crime of murder and hearing that she is to go to prison for 30 days where she will become a Red for a period of sixteen years. The next thing she knows is that she is waking up and discovering that she is red, the solid red of a stop sign, the colour of newly shed blood.

When Hannah is released from the prison, where she had seen no one and talked to no one for thirty days, she realizes that she is free but is still filled with trepidation. Where can she go? Certainly not home. Her mother had made that clear. She would be shunned by the community as a Chrome, a Red.

It is revealed that Hannah loves a married man named the Reverend Aidan Dale. Hannah’s love for this man is so great that she chose prison and ‘chroming’ (becoming red) rather than give his name as an accomplice to the charge of ‘murder’. The reader wonders what kind of man lets someone he professes to love sacrifice her life for him…and that is just one of the many provocative questions raised by this novel.

Feeling she has no choice, Hannah begins a journey towards freedom in Canada. Her journey is filled with terrifying dangers and she has to decide who can be trusted and who is will betray her. Through all these challenges, Hannah discovers her inner strength and her true self.

When She Woke shows what can happen with a totalitarian government and how society behaves towards people who are “judged ” to be of a lesser moral standard by leaders in the community. This book is a gripping read and raises many questions about the effects of narrow values and unforgiving judgements.

The next book is an international bestseller, titled “The Happiness Project” by Gretchen Rubin – $17.99

We’ve never done this before but we’re 20 years old this year and so we thought we’d offer it as a gift for your ongoing support.

We’re already thinking of the great ideas we have for the spring and we want to give you the opportunity to help us make room for them and, at the same time, get some great bargains.

Here’s some of what you will find:

• A variety of items – up to 80% off
• Bamboo and organic cotton towels – 50% off
• Organic cotton sheets – 50% off
• Selected silk, linen, bamboo, organic cotton and wool clothing – 50% off
• Selected organic cotton baby clothes – 50% off
• Fabulous throws – 50% off
• All books – 20% off
• Greentainers – BOGO – (Buy One Get One Free)

…and free gift with purchase if you buy $100 or more!!!!

Come early for the best selections. We look forward to helping you find some special bargains.

All sales final.

This novel is full of tension – between various family members and between environmentalists and big business.

One of the main characters, Scottie Wilson, portrays some of this tension when he says:  “Some people say my wife’s sister is a witch. My sister-in-law is not a witch, at least not literally. She along with my wife and mother-in-law is a dowser. An ability even now being developed by our daughter Miranda. These females in the family are capable of divining underground water with a stick. And unlike my wife and mother-in-law, my sister-in-law, Patience, is an active dowser. She does not merely have the power; she uses it and uses it profitably. Patience is a well-paid dowser. According to her logbook and diary she has now dowsed 1,812 wells, of which 1,500 are in Vermont.”  Even with this amazing track record, not everyone respects or trusts the powers of dowsers!

Alongside fascinating characters, the novel brings together the natural beauty of a mountain, a serious drought, and the greed of big business.  The mountain: in size, in sheer accessibility there may be no more perfect mountain in the world than Mount Republic, one of the higher mountains in Vermont. It is the highest of the cluster of mountains that comprise the Powder Peak Ski Resort. But now the whole ski industry is on the verge of bankruptcy. The resort needs more snowmaking capacity, which requires water, but drought is a serious problem in Vermont and people’s well are drying up.

Expansion plans are underway. The plan is to tap the Chittenden River for a new snowmaking machine. Scottie, who never expected to represent ski resorts when he went to law school, is representing Schuss Limited, the corporation that owns Powder Peak. Scottie is arguing that the expansion plans will bring more jobs to the community and if the resort does not expand, it may not survive, pitted against him and the corporation, though, are his wife, daughter, mother-in-law, sister-in-law (Patience, the dowser) and Patience’s fiancée, all environmentalists. Vermonters are already concerned with the damage to the river and vegetation because of the nightmarish drought and argue that the river cannot tolerate being drained further to make snow.

And so the question emerges as to whether Scottie’s family and friends can convince him to put his energies into preserving of the river rather than destroying it for monetary gain.

This novel for will appeal to anyone who has ever considered the dilemmas created when business expansion and preserving nature are at odds with one another.

P’lovers’ Book Club’s next book is “When She Woke” by Hillary Jordan

The Bird Totas and Tree of Life hangings and Pillow Covers available at P’lovers come from The Barefoot College (www.barefootcollege.org), founded in 1972 in Tilonia, Rajasthan, one of India’s largest, driest, and poorest states. The Barefoot College is based on the belief that solutions to rural problems lie within the community. The programs and initiatives of the Barefoot College are designed to benefit the ‘poorest of the poor’ and improve their lives by addressing basic needs for water, electricity, housing, health, education and income.

The Barefoot College encourages learning by doing and focuses on practical knowledge and skills. It many programs include training and service delivery in solar electrification, rainwater harvesting, environmental restoration, health promotion, and education.

For example, hundreds of ‘solar engineers’ have been trained who can now help communities use the sun to provide electricity throughout not only India but also communities in Africa, Bhutan, and Afghanistan. Over 3000 solar lanterns have been manufactured at the Barefoot College to support this work.

In the realm of education, over 250 night schools have been established in communities throughout India which enable over 6000children who have to tend cattle during the day to attend school at night. They learn by solar lantern and commit to attending school for five years.

The Barefoot College is redeveloping 500 hectares of wasteland into useful pastureland. The aim is to ensure that this redeveloped land is drought resistant and able to be productive for years.

Over 200 health centres and all the health workers trained by the Barefoot College have improved the health of thousands of people and have reduced the rates of infant and maternal mortality in those communities to well below the national average.

The Barefoot College’s main campus occupies 80,000 square feet and includes a residence, library, dining room, meeting halls, 10-bed hospital, pathology lab, water testing unit, teacher training unit, craft store, internet café and a 700,000 litre rainwater harvesting unit. The campus is fully solar electrified.

In 2006, the Barefoot College won the prestigious $1 Million Alcan Prize for Sustainability.

P’lovers is proud to be a tiny part of the Barefoot College story.

The Barefoot Approach: Empowering Rural Women to Light up the World

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Barefoot Rural Women Solar Engineers of Africa

A rural family in Africa burns around 60 liters of kerosene a year to light their home, and the average kerosene lamp in Africa spews out more than a ton of carbon dioxide every decade. Most families also cook indoors over wood fires. The health effects of burning kerosene, coal, and wood are devastating: Toxic smoke causes respiratory diseases that kill 1.6 million women and children per year and causes severe respiratory problems for tens of millions.

Solar power is not only clean, it is also sustainable, and there are tens of thousands of villages across the African continent that can benefit from being solar electrified. The Barefoot College is taking it one village at a time.

Nearly 180 rural grandmothers have solar electrified over 10,000 remote rural homes in 32 countries. As a result of their collective efforts, they have managed to save 1.3 million liters of kerosene per month, a saving of enormous proportions for a population that is hardest hit by fuel and energy crises.

To learn more about The Barefoot College, check out www.barefootcollege.org; or www.tilonia.com; or read pages 359-362 in Worldchanging: A User’s Guide to the 21st Century; or log on to www.WorldChanging.com.

For more Videos see: http://www.youtube.com/user/barefootcollege