Green Heart

A two-fold tale of grief and hope, loss and love, told as only Alice Hoffman can.When her family is lost in a terrible disaster, 15-year-old Green is haunted by loss and the past. Struggling to survive in a place where nothing seems to grow and ashes are everywhere, Green retreats into the ruined realm of her garden. But in destroying her feelings, she also begins to destroy herself. It is only through a series of mysterious encounters that Green relearns the lessons of love and begins to heal as she tells her own story.As she heals, Green lives every day with feelings of loss. Her family is gone, the boy she loves is missing, and the world she once knew has been transformed by tragedy. In order to rediscover the truth about love, hope, and magic, she must venture away from her home, collecting the stories of a group of women who have been branded witches for their mysterious powers. Only through their stories will Green find her own heart's desire.

Alice Hoffman is at her magical best in a new novel about loss and healing.When her family is lost in a terrible disaster, 15-yr-old Green is haunted by loss and by the past. Struggling to survive physically and emotionally in a place where nothing seems to grow and ashes are everywhere, Green retreats into the ruined realm of her garden. But in destroying her feelings, she also begins to destroy herself, erasing the girl she'd once been as she inks ravens into her skin. It is only through a series of mysterious encounters -- with a ghostly white dog and a mute boy -- that Green relearns the lessons of love and begins to heal as she tells her own story.

Australia's arid outback is teeming with life ... when you know where to look. From taipan snakes and pelicans to hippie activists and hardline miners, John Read brings to life the characters, creatures and cultures of the outback. Through vivid, personal stories he shares his experience as an ecologist making new discoveries; challenging conventional approaches to pastoralism, mining, tourism and environmental management; and witnessing the precarious balance of nature as species are pitted against the harsh climate of the outback. Written in an accessible and non-scientific style, Red Sand Green Heart: Ecological adventures in the outback evokes a humorous, entertaining and informative picture of Australia's desert region and the environmental issues that affect us all.

“If you want one of the shortest, fastest routes to getting toxic chemicals out of your life, get behind the wheel of Gay Browne’s Living with a Green Heart and you’ll get there in no time flat.” —Ken Cook, President, Environmental Working Group In an increasingly toxic world, the paths to environmental health and personal well-being run parallel. The journey begins with a few small steps. Is the damage we’re doing to our planet literally leaving you sick, sore, and gasping for air? Want to take back our inalienable rights to clean air, clean water, and healthy food? In this quietly revolutionary book, environmental pioneer and founder of Greenopia, Gay Browne, shares a roadmap for making incremental changes that will not only transform your life, but heal the world we share. From the home to the office, from the foods we eat to the clothes we wear, here are actions you can take today that will improve your Personal Environmental Health, and help you stop feeling overwhelmed, reduce illness, improve sleep, mood, and focus, and start making a difference, including: *Make conscious choices when shopping, and support companies with good environmental stewardship and healthy products. *Test your water for harmful chemicals, install an affordable water filtration system, and reduce your water use by utilizing water more efficiently. *Work with your doctor to create a personal plan for detoxing your body. *Use only non-toxic and organic household products, and choose organic, eco-friendly fabrics made by sustainable and fair trade certified companies. *Choose the method of transportation that makes the lightest carbon footprint. With these and many other actions, Gay Browne’s work has taught her that even the smallest change for the better, faithfully practiced, can have an immense positive impact on our minds, bodies, and spirits—not to mention the planet.

As towns and cities worldwide deal with fast-increasing land pressures, while also trying to promote more sustainable, connected communities, the creation of green spaces within urban areas is receiving greater attention than ever before. At the same time, the value of the 'green belt' as the most prominent model of green space planning is being widely questioned, and an array of alternative models are being proposed. This book explores one of those alternative models – the 'green wedge', showing how this offers a successful model for integrating urban development and nature in existing and new towns and cities around the world. Green wedges, considered here as ducts of green space running from the countryside into the centre of a city or town, are not only making a comeback in urban planning, but they have a deeper history in the twentieth century than many expect – a history that provides valuable insight and lessons in the employment of networked green spaces in city design and regional planning today. Part history, and part contemporary argument, this book first examines the emergence and global diffusion of the green wedge in town planning in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, placing it in the broader historic context of debates and ideas for urban planning with nature, before going on to explore its use in contemporary urban practice. Examining their relation to green infrastructures, landscape ecology and landscape urbanism and their potential for sustainable cities, it highlights the continued relevance of a historic idea in an era of rapid climate change.