Book Review: GREENIOLOGY by Tanya Ha. 2005; Penguin Books Canada By Marilyn Houser Hamm ACAN has teamed up with the South Central Regional Library to showcase their resources about sustainability. We invite you to check out their wide range of books on this topic. To arrange for a contactless pick up of books, you can  a) place a hold on the books you want online or by phone b) call  204-324-1503 to schedule your pick up time Greeniology Do you have that feeling by now which of your New Year’s resolutions are going to “stick” and others that, sigh, may wait til next year for another try.... Well, here is a resolution for life: be committed to GREENIOLOGY. What is GREENIOLOGY, you ask? Australian journalist and environmentalist Tanya Ha subtitles her engaging book with the response, “ How to live well, be green and make a difference.” Rather than creating a book of “should” and “should nots” for Canadians, Tanya Ha invites her readers into the adventure of practical tips...

  ACAN has teamed up with the South Central Regional Library to showcase their resources about sustainability. We invite you to check out their wide range of books on this topic. To arrange for a contactless pick up of books, you can  a) place a hold on the books you want online or by phone b) call  204-324-1503 to schedule your pick up time Sustainable Kitchen Book Review By Jonah Langelotz In Sustainable Kitchen , authors Heather Wolfe, and Jaynie McCloskey put a modern spin on a cookbook ethic that many are familiar with: cook more healthfully, eat more sustainably, live more faithfully. Although not connected to Mennonite cookbooks like More with Less, or Simply in Season , it carries a similar belief that the food choices we make help or harm our bodies, families, communities, and planet.  Written by two younger mothers, Sustainable Kitchen begins with information about human and planet health, along with basic nutrition information. Full disclosure, there are ...

  ACAN has teamed up with the South Central Regional Library to showcase their resources about sustainability. We invite you to check out their wide range of books on this topic. During the next few weeks ACAN will be highlighting and reviewing several of the books from this collection. To arrange for a contactless pick up of books, you can  a) place a hold on the books you want online or by phone b) call  204-324-1503 to schedule your pick up time Our House is on Fire - Scenes of a Family and a Planet in Crisis By Malena and Beata Ernman, Svante and Greta Thunberg Most people are probably familiar with Greta Thunberg.  Famous for her climate activism, named TIME Person of the Year in 2019, and a Nobel Peace prize nominee, she sparked a worldwide student movement demanding world leaders take action on climate change.  While she became famous for her school strikes, Our House is on Fire gives powerful insight into how and why Greta started her school strike each ...

Connie Heppner Mueller Just throw it away. It’s a common phrase. But where is “away?”  I used to live in that blissful place where I didn’t think about where my garbage went. It magically disappeared from the curb every week and I never thought about it again. Now I think about it a lot. Turns out there is no magical place called “away” and all the things we throw out come from somewhere and end up somewhere.  Recycle Manitoba has a great slogan to remind us that “If you’re not recycling you’re throwing it all away.” It states the obvious of course, but it reminds us that so much of what ends up at the landfill is not meant to be thrown away but rather added to a circular system, like recycling or composting, where the materials can be used again and again.  The Town of Altona has taken many progressive steps in recent years toward reducing how much waste ends up in the landfill by offering 3 waste-streams including unlimited curbside recycling and composting options to a...

  Although this holiday season presents us with a unique set of challenges, many people still consider gift giving and important tradition. As stu dies show that most people produce up to 30% more waste during the holiday season, now might be the time to think about helping your loved ones move toward more sustainable ways of living.   A guiding question to consider is: Which products will help contribute to a healthier environment? ·         Bamboo toothbrush ·         Metal drinking straws ·         To-go kits for your car (real cutlery rolled up in fabric napkins) ·         Stainless steel kitchen composter ·         Organic skin care products (buy or make your own) ·         House plants (improve air quality and they’re beautiful!) ·         Indoor herb garden ·         Soy or Beeswax candles ·      ...

  If, as a society, we hope to transition towards a sustainable future we will need to insert the concept of  “enough” into our economic equation.  It is quite understandable that as our numbers increase we might need to increase goods and services in  order to get by. Recently my son and his wife gave birth to twins, which means that their household now  is consuming more than it did before. And in situations where people are experiencing abject poverty –  not having access to basic human needs - it will of course be necessary to ramp up consumption in order to  live in a sustainable manner.  But it is a troubling fact that large segments of our population are presently gobbling up more goods and  services than our planet can afford to deliver. And the problem is compounded by the fact that masses of  poor people around the world aspire to a lifestyle equivalent to ours. Where might such resources come  from? A case in point is t...

  Lives in southern Manitoba have been greatly altered in recent weeks. As Covid cases rise rapidly in our province  and across Canada, the need to act responsibly becomes critical for each of us and all of us. As we face limiting  contacts and activities, one of the things that remains constant is our trips to the grocery store. We can be thankful  for food security in our community, but another challenge accompanies our food shopping. Since the start of the pandemic, I, thinking of myself as a safety-conscious consumer, had begun to purchase fresh  produce in plastic packaging. Upon advice from my friend whose son is an emergency room doctor in BC, I had also  dutifully wiped down all food purchases with sanitizing wipes or washed produce in mild soapy water for twenty  seconds since mid-March, even when I did not feel like it.   But as my guilt rose, so did my desire to do some digging on single-use plastic packaging for foods as a safety...