The tools you need tocreate self-sufficient, ecologically sustainable cities
"A surprisingly effective model for connecting people with dreams to the resources they need." --Austin Chronicle
With more than half the world's population now residing--and struggling to survive--in cities, we can no longer afford to think of sustainability as something that applies only to forests and fields. We need sustainable living right where so many of us are: in urban neighborhoods. But how do we do it?
That's where Toolbox for Sustainable City Living comes in. In 2000 the dynamic Rhizome Collective transformed an abandoned warehouse in Austin, Texas, into a sustainability training center. Here, with their first book, Scott and Stacy, two of Rhizome's founders, provide city dwellers--those who have never foraged or gardened along with those who dumpster-dive and belong to CSAs--with step-by- step instructions for producing our own food, collecting water, managing waste, reclaiming land, and generating energy.
With vibrant illustrations created by Juan Martinez of the Beehive Collective and descriptive text based on years of experimentation, Stacy and Scott explain how to build and grow with cheap, salvaged, and recycled materials. More than a how-to manual, Toolbox is packed with accessible and relevant tools to help move our communities from envisioning a sustainable future toward living it.
Scott Kellogg a Stacy Pettigrew are co-founders of the Rhizome Collective, an educational and activist organization based in Austin, Texas, that recently received a $200,000 grant from the EPA to clean up a 10-acre brownfield that they are transforming into an ecological justice park. Toolbox developed out of R.U.S.T.--Radical Urban Sustainability Training--their intensive weekend seminar in urban ecological survival skills.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5.0
A DIY guide to planting ecologically sustainable municipalities!:
Imagine an egalitarian, directly democratic, and autonomuous urban ecotopia where neighborhood microlivestock collectives raise their own free-range poultry, city buses run on waste vegetable oil, parking lots have been converted into organic orchards, and small-scale wind turbines provide household electricity. If such a vision of radical sustainability excites you, and it should given the frightening reality of peak oil, global warming, and fresh water scarcity, then you need to read this highly... more info
Great read, not a trend!:
This book is not about a trend or a political stance; it's about survival through sustainability in urban environments. Keep up the great work and thanks for a usable and practical guide!
Chapters cover all the basics including water storage, conservation, and much more:
With over half the world's population residing in cities, TOOLBOX FOR SUSTAINABLE CITY LIVING becomes more important than ever, providing step-by-step instructions for city dwellers on how to manage waste, reclaim land, and generate energy using cheap, recycled materials. From composting to graywater discharge, chapters cover all the basics including water storage, conservation, and much more. Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Good Read!!:
Book is a huge enlightenment to the TRUE meaning of Green and self-sufficiency... Making ourselves sustainable in today's harsh environment is a true test of being a tree hugger or trend follower... Thanks!
