It’s Springtime! This time of year always makes me start thinking about how beautiful but precarious our environment is (especially when Spring starts as weirdly early as it did this year). And with Earth Day on the 22nd and Arbor Day on the 27th, it’s certainly a time for such reflection. With the resources below, you can learn more about this subject and about what you can do personally to help save our planet.
To find relevant books, try doing a subject search (in IUCAT, go to Advanced Keyword Search and type into the subject field box) for terms like “Sustainable living”, “Environmental protection–citizen participation”, “Environmentalism”, “Environmental responsibility”, “Global warming–prevention”, or “Climate change mitigation”. You’ll find books on the business aspects of sustainability (the Business/SPEA library has a strong sustainability collection in general), larger societal impacts and courses of action, as well as such excellent books of strategy for the individual as:
- Do it yourself: a handbook for changing our world
Location: Wells Research Collection Stacks GE195 .D63 2007
- The lazy environmentalist on a budget: save money, save time, save the planet
Location: Wells Undergraduate Core Collection TD171.7 .D672 2009
- The green book: the everyday guide to saving the planet one simple step at a time
Location: Wells Undergraduate Core Collection TD171.7 .R64 2007
- How bad are bananas?: the carbon footprint of everything
Location: Wells Research Collection Stacks QC981.8.G56 B47 2010
This will give you the information you need to make environmentally conscious choices in all areas of life.
- And, should more dire steps become necessary, Surviving the apocalypse in the suburbs: the thrivalist’s guide to life without oil (E-book)
When browsing for such individual responsibility-type books, try looking for call numbers that start with TD171.7, especially in the Undergraduate Core Collection on the 3rd floor of the Wells Library West Tower, where there is a good cluster.
Find more online resources at the library’s Sustainable Scholars Page, and, as it suggests, check out the IU Office of Sustainability’s website for information on recycling at IU, sustainability events and opportunities, getting your dorm room green-certified, and more. This blog post from IU’s Sustainability Themester can guide you to general reference works on the topic as well.