Several years ago I was turned on to a book that made a big impact on my life — an impact that helped to nourish the roots that eventually formed the foundation for many of my decisions, which then became fodder for my website. Oddly enough, I was skeptical of the book due to its title, and long after reading it, I still didn’t fully appreciate how the book impacted me. In retrospect, this book may very well have been one of the key components of our family’s quest to live a more responsible — ecologically and morally responsible — existence.

The book is The Consumer’s Guide to Effective Environmental Choices, produced and published by the Union of Concerned Scientists. Originally published in 1999, the book is just as valuable today as it ever was (perhaps even more-so). The value of this book lies in its deceptive simplicity. The authors somehow manage to very clearly provide the necessary insight to help readers get a grasp on their environmental impact, and then make a simple plan for effectively reducing said impact. I think what impressed me most about this book was its ability to so simply address such a massive issue — and the order here is quite tall.

For example, many years ago several members of my family were in town from rural Idaho, visiting for the holidays. One evening during their stay, they took-in a viewing of An Inconvenient Truth, which my wife and I just had the painful opportunity to see. After taking in the film in its entirety, my brother very simply said, “…well, I understand the problem, but what do I do about it?” This exact question is the premise for The Consumer’s Guide to Effective Environmental Choices.

If you’re in Portland and have a library card, by all means login to the Multnomah County Library website and reserve this book. There’s one copy, and at the time of publishing this article, said copy was available at the Central Library. You can also download a copy of the book’s first chapter.

The book is organized in a manner that makes it an excellent reference source, so you don’t have to read it cover-to-cover, though I highly recommend that you do. What’s more, it’s based on extensive research and analysis, outlined in a lengthy appendix describing the author’s research methods and an extensive list of resources for everyday Joes. Subsequently, while it’s an effective how-to guide for most Americans, it’s also got the scientific backing to satisfy more seasoned environmentalists.

The book is primarily designed to help people begin their quest towards a low-carbon lifestyle by approaching the three biggest areas of human impact: transportation, food, and household living. Under each of these points, the authors carefully lay out the impact of everyday choices, providing simple, quantifiable methods for addressing each impact point. What’s more, also within the subject of each impact point, the authors provide practical, scientifically backed insight into common questions like, ‘paper or plastic?’, ‘cloth or disposable?’

I won’t summarize the book by any means, but the beauty in its construction is how it approaches these three points of human impact –which the authors refer to as Priority Actions for American Consumers:

Transportation

• Choose a place to live that reduces the need to drive
• Think twice before purchasing another car
• If you must drive, choose a fuel-efficient, low-polluting car
• Set concrete goals for reducing your travel
• Whenever practical use alternative transportation

Food

• Eat less meat (or none at all)
• Buy certified organic produce

Household

• Choose your home carefully (location, age -new is not necessarily better, etc.)
• Reduce the environmental costs of heating and hot water (insulate, get more from less, etc.)
• Install efficient lighting and appliances
• Choose an electricity supplier offering renewable energy

These three top priorities are excellent starting points for anyone wanting to make the biggest impact on reducing their carbon footprint, but the sub-points listed in the book are by no means exclusive. For example, buying certified organic produce is an excellent start (albeit an arguable issue all its own), but by no means a single answer. Once you take this first step, you might then more readily explore the next step: buying locally produced fruits and vegetables. And once you take this step, you might then move to the next: growing your own fruits and vegetables. Once you take this step, you can move to the next: sharing your crops and expanding your home-grown production (including eggs, milk, etc.).

While those of us living in Portland might be able to more effectively apply big-impact changes within these priority action buckets (e.g., Portland has far more transportation options than Firth, Idaho), they’re also widely effective starting points for anyone, regardless of your location. For example, even if you don’t have access to housing that is closer to your employer, you can think more about how to reduce the impact of your commute (e.g., drive less, burn less gas, carpool, telecommute, bicycle, don’t buy a new car, etc.).

The map to a low-carbon existence is not outlined completely in this book, but the authors never overextend themselves. The issue is far too complex to be resolved in a small reference book. What’s more, the issue requires that we address it with a combination of social and personal change, and no government or social institution could ever define a solution that would effectively apply to every individual’s circumstance.

The book is simply a starting point, and for many, that’s all people need: a simple kick in the butt. Constructed in this manner, the path towards building a more responsible, moral existence for you and your family will become more clearly defined by you, the reader. And as many of us already know, self-directed solutions are far more likely to stick and become part of our everyday lives, as opposed to those that are thrust upon us, unknowing of our individual circumstances.

Our world will survive if we can expertly combine thoughtful legislation and governance with personal responsibility. It’s our moral obligation to one another to address this at a street level, and we do have the power to make an impact. For those who are confused about the best next steps to take, The Consumer’s Guide to Effective Environmental Choices provides a welcoming light along the path.

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Tomorrow evening, July 30th from 7-9pm at my beloved (air-conditioned) Ladybug Coffeehouse in my cherished St. Johns neighborhood, I’ve invited a lice-infested, boil-covered Danish Dwarf and her life of squalor in early 18th Century Russia and Denmark to visit. They’ll be coming there in the form of a novel called The Tsar’s Dwarf, which blossomed from the darkly fertile mind of author Peter H. Fogtal.

The Tsar’s Dwarf is the tale of beauty found in even the darkest periods of time. The novel follows the life of Sørine Bentsdatter, a female dwarf living in Europe’s Early Modern Age, in Scandinavia. She is given to Tsar Peter the Great as a gift by the Danish King. The Tsar carts intelligent, well-read Sørine off to St. Petersburg, where she lives in a decaying world made of meanness, armed only with unrepentant wit and endurance. Don’t feel sorry for Sørine, however. Although she refuses to consider herself a human being, like humans she wrestles with guilt about past choices.

The Tsar’s Dwarf is Peter’s 12th novel, but the first to be translated to English. He will discuss his tiny protagonist and read short sections from his weirdly wonderful story. I’m pretty sure he’ll be reading the visceral cake scene, which is one of my favorites.

Edit: Here’s an excerpt of The Tsar’s Dwarf from Danish Accent, Peter’s blog.

Ladybug Organic Coffee will have its air conditioning on full blast, and its full menu of scrumptious organic coffee and food stuffs available. If you haven’t yet ventured through the doors of this award-winning establishment, a wickedly witty Danish dwarf and A/C during a heat wave should get you there.

Don’t miss this chance to meet Peter H. Fogtdal and hear more of his latest novel.

The Deets
Thursday July 30, 2009, from 7:00pm – 9:00pm
Ladybug Coffeehouse
8438 N Lombard Street
Portland, Oregon 97203

RSVP on Upcoming
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About the Author: Peter H. Fogtdal was born in 1956 in Copenhagen, Denmark and has a degree in playwriting from Cal State Fullerton. He is the author of twelve novels in Danish. Three have been translated into French, two into Portuguese. In 2005 he won The Francophonian Literature Prize (Le Prix Litteraire de la Francophonie) for Le Front Chantilly. Peter H. Fogtdal shares his time between Portland, Oregon, and Copenhagen, Denmark. His English language blog is Danish Accent. Peter is on Twitter as @Danish_Novelist.

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Friday night we were joined in studio by guest Liz Grover to talk about her upcoming book and world travels. Join us to find out how her Ignite Portland 3 presentation gave her a unique opportunity to write a book about her experiences. In afterhours we had fun with our #notatsxsw-ness before delving more into some of her world explorations and meeting Sam Grover.

To wrap up the evening we played a song that Doc recorded several years ago. It’s dedicated to all of you who aren’t at SXSWi either… and to those of you who pity those of us that couldn’t be there. Have a listen or watch the video and enjoy!

SLL Episode 86: Liz Grover

SLL Episode 87: Afterhours Not at SXSW with Lilbutterfly

***

Brace yourselves… we’re taking a break next week. That means no live show Friday March 20th, but we don’t want to leave you hanging so we’re going to roll an episode on mogulus that we haven’t had a chance to air there. Join us for a revamped version of our episode with Marshall Kirkpatrick at 10 pm. If we get a chance we’ll join you all in the chat room.

We’ll be back the following week with a new episode. Join us on March 27th with guest Reid Beels.

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Local author/illustrator Steve Ouch is on a one-day mission: sell 200 copies of his book SteamPotVille and generate a bunch of buzz on Twitter. The payoff? If he sells 200 copies today and generates enough buzz, the bank will finance a book tour.

SteamPotVille seems pretty cool, the website (linked above) shows that he definitely has some talent for the illustrations. His 200-copies-in-a-day goal seems like a good challenge, I know that I’ve been thinking about purchasing his book for my kids and I’ll be sure to order today to help him towards his goal.

To help Steve towards his goal: Buy SteamPotVille through Amazon today and then tweet about it using the #Tweet4Loan hashtag. Good luck to Steve on a swift day of SteamPotVille sales!

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Did you know Multnomah County Library has a blog?  You probably did and I’m late to the game. I honestly don’t use my local library as much as I should.  When Neighborhood Notes hooked me up to An Embarrassment of Riches, I was overjoyed, especially since the first post I read turned me on to a great book.  I’m a huge fan of post-apocalyptic writing, so when they posted about this topic, I lept and grabbed the first used copy of Jim Crace’s The Pesthouse I could find.   I’m about 100 pages in and hooked.  I’m not a book reviewer, but I will tell you this – it is about a couple who need to deal with the world after everything they know is taken away.  This after everything had already been destroyed.  I would never have found this book had it not been for that blog.  It is now in my RSS and I already have a few books in my wish list over at the book trading site BookMooch.  I have vowed to read more and watch TV less in 2009.

Go check out another city gem in the blogosphere – An Embarrassment of Riches by Multnomah County Library.

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Curling up with a good book on a rainy day sounds perfect, right? But you’re thinking, “I don’t know what I want to read!!”

Enter Wordstock, Portland’s annual festival of books, writers, and storytelling. Now in its fourth year, the festival starts tonight with a poetry slam at the Bagdad Theatre in SE Portland as well as a graphic comic novel First Thursday event at the Fuzzy Glamour Gallery in NW Portland.

A list of nearly 200 authors who will be in town participating on panels and in the exhibition halls through the weekend is available on the Wordstock site. Panel discussion topics include publishing your first book, Queer Portland, and food writing. The panels as well as the exhibition will take place on Saturday and Sunday at the Oregon Convention Center.

Details such as where and how to buy tickets, schedule of events, that impressive list of authors and much more can be found on WordstockFestival.com.

This festival has something for just about everyone, so go forth and find that curling-up-worthy book!

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Stock your shelves with books for the winter and help your local library at the Annual Friends of the Library Book Sale.

October 11-13, in the beautiful St. Johns neighborhood, the Friends of the Library is holding it’s legendary bottom-dollar sale. So many books, CDs, DVDs, and tape will be up for grabs that it fills an entire car dealership building. (In this case, the old Sterling Auto dealership on the corner of North Lombard and North Richmond).

Hours are as follows:

Saturday Oct. 11 9am-9pm
Sunday Oct. 12 11am-5pm
Monday Oct. 13 9am-3pm

Hard backed books start at $1.50, with paperbacks and kiddie pages starting at 50 cents. Of course, all proceeds from this sale goes to support our beloved Multnomah County Library. I hope to see you there! (Otherwise, I will assume you are a book hater and will shun you forever more.)

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For those of you who like your novels witty, visionary and geekoriffic, you might want to know that cyperpunk maestro Neal Stephenson will be at the Bagdad Theater on Sept. 16. The author of the seminal and comic sui generis Snow Crash and the Baroque Cycle series will be talking about (and signing copies of) his new novel, Anathem.

From Powell’s synopsis of Anathem:

Since childhood, nineteen-year old Raz has lived behind the walls of a 3,400 year old monastery — a sanctuary for scientists, philosophers, and mathematicians; for those who live (and thrive, living) the life of the mind. Within their sanctuary he and his cohorts are safely sealed off from the world outside: an illiterate, irrational, unpredictable world; an endless landscape of casinos and megastores, plagued by recurring booms and busts, dark ages and reawakenings, wars between individuals and among nations.

Advance tickets are $5 plus fiscal rape charge if you buy them online.

More info on McMenamin’s site

Who’s with me? I personally celebrate the man’s entire catalog.

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The Friends of the Multnomah County Library’s amazing Fall book sale needs a home. From an email today:

We need your help for the fall sale. We are seeking a warehouse-type site of
around 15,000 square feet in Multnomah County for about 10 days in October.
Our preferred dates are Sunday, Oct. 5, through Tuesday, Oct. 14.

We prefer that it have lots of close-by free parking and transit access for
customers and that it have two restrooms. Recent sales have been held on
properties that formerly were used for a car dealership and a supermarket.

The Friends of the Multnomah County Library is a 501c3 private nonprofit. We
offer about 100,000 donated used books and audio-visual materials at the
fall sale. Proceeds after costs go for public library programs and purchase
of materials through grants. They have included supporting the popular
Pageturners reading groups and branch-specific literacy projects.

We always hope to keep our lease fee low to be able to devote as much sale
money as possible to the library. Last year, a building owner allowed us to
use the property rent free. When this happens, we do our best to advertise
the owner’s good will.

We carry our own full liability insurance and expect to pay utility costs.
We have been putting on this sale for nearly 30 years, never have had
complaints from property owners or incidents of vandalism, and we leave the
property cleaner than when we came in. We have paid staff as well as
volunteers working the sales.

For those of you who haven’t experienced one of these sales, they are epic. And proceeds support our lovely library.

Any ideas? Please do let me know.

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Have you ever been on MAX reading the WWeek or The Portland Mercury and get to the back pages and quickly close the paper so it doesn’t appear you are looking at PORN?  The pages in question are those advertising dating and escort services with bright color pictures displaying everything but the kitchen sink.  Heck, just holding the Mercury displays the latest American Apparel risque ad on the back cover for all to peruse.  Does this make one a pervert? a cad?  Nah.  Not your fault right?  You’re just reading a paper that is supported by what some in the community would refer to as immoral businesses.

But it brings up a different question in my mind.  I have been on MAX reading an engrossing graphic novel when I turn the page, suddenly there is a very graphic sex scene all layed out across two pages.  This graphic novel isn’t titled “Billy and Sue have sex.”  It is more of a story arc involving demons, zombies, heroes and villains…oh, and a sex scene.  Think of how I felt sitting there on MAX between two elderly women turning the page to expose PORN.  It was kinda weird.  I didn’t want to censor myself, but I also had that feeling of not wanting to offend anyone or start a scene.  Yet, I thought to myself, am I doing anything wrong here?  The answer is no. I then thought – could I read Playboy or Penthouse openly on the train?  Why not?  Granted, one would probably get some looks if you opened up the centerfold fully and began ooing and awwing, but heck, you read Playboy for the articles right?

I’m flying across the nation next weekend and will be taking my laptop.  On the last flight, I watched a couple of movies while cramped between other fliers in the middle seat.  One of those movies – Beerfest – (a favorite of mine) – was the unrated version with a couple of gratuitous naked scenes.  All of this splashed on a 14″ screen for anyone to see if they wanted.  Another movie had some serious violence and gore.  Is it my responsibility to censor myself in public situations or is that my personal space where I should have the right to listen to and watch whatever I want?  Granted, I’m not going to watch any hardcore German goat porn. Don’t want to be engaged by any TSA individuals.  But what if I wanted to watch Top Gun – that scene between Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis is pretty steamy.

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