Sustainable Design

The green-building movement has produced hundreds of "how-to" books and websites that are filled with tips about green building and what homeowners should do to go green. While helpful and informative, when it comes to making actual purchasing and installation decisions, these books do not make it any easier for a homeowner to prioritize against a budget. Here, Melisssa Rappaport Schifman shares her knowledge and experience for others to use in their journey toward a greener way of living.

Want to learn how to make more ethical fashion choices? Sustainable Fashion For Dummies will teach you how to pick up new habits that align with a more sustainable future. The rise of fast fashion in recent years has contributed to unsafe work environments, unfair wages, and toxic pollution. With sustainable fashion, you can have groovy clothing and accessories that are produced in an ecologically and socially responsible manner, using quality products and long-lasting materials.

Building Your Permaculture Property offers a revolutionary holistic method to overcome overwhelm in the complex process of resilient land design. It distills the authors' decades of experience as engineers, farmers, educators, and consultants into a five-step process complete with principles, practices, templates, and workflow tools.

Mini Farming describes a holistic approach to small-area farming that will show you how to produce 85 percent of an average family's food on just a quarter acre - and earn $10,000 in cash annually while spending less than half the time that an ordinary job would require.

We are living in a time when behavioral change is necessary for our health and survival. Yet we find it exceedingly difficult to transform our own habits, let alone those of other people. Enter Naohiro Matsumura, whose powerful new design method is as astonishingly simple in its logic as it is sophisticated in its psychology. It allows any of us to address challenges in our homes, our public spaces, and our social interactions.

Personal stylist Allison Bornstein has mastered the art of helping people look good and feel good. In Wear It Well, she shares her philosophy and outlines systems that will bring your style into alignment and create a wardrobe that delights your spirit.

You may think you don’t have the time or the money to start a big permaculture project. But permaculture doesn’t need to be overwhelming. You can start as small as you like, and you can move at a pace that suits you. Don’t feel you have to learn everything in one go and rush out to transform a whole wilderness in a year. Just deal in manageable chunks, and you’ll do just fine. Even if all you have done is tend to a few tomato plants on your window ledge, you can become an expert gardener; all it takes is a little time, patience, and practice.

When Christine Platt set out on her journey to live with less, she never intended to become The Afrominimalist. She just wanted to tame the chaos in her closet! But after struggling with the austerity and whiteness of mainstream minimalism, Christine realized why minimalism often seems unattainable for so many: the emphasis on all-white, barren aesthetics distracts from the practice of living with intention. And so, she decided to do things her way by curating a life of less influenced by the African diaspora.

Now more than ever, we live in a society where we covet new and shiny things. Not only has consumption risen dramatically over the last 60 years, but we are damaging the environment at the same time. That is why buying quality and why Tara Button's Buy Me Once brand has such popular appeal. Tara Button has become a champion of a lifestyle called 'mindful curation' - a way of living in which we carefully choose each object in our lives....

Simple, practical advice on how to design your home for health and happiness. Create a healthy, happy home with 100 design ideas to support your physical and mental wellbeing. Using the latest evidence and research in wellbeing and Biophilic Design, learn how to transform every space in your home to create a restorative and nurturing environment. Discover the many benefits of connecting to nature, maximising natural light, improving air quality and the right way to add colour, texture and pattern to create spaces that improve relaxation, recuperation, social connections and sleep.

With this book, your currently uninspiring backyard can be transformed into an oasis using the principles I will teach you. You no longer need to worry about how to utilize space because you will understand how to implement the principles of landscape design covered in this book. Other than bringing you daily joy, having a gorgeous garden benefits you in ways you can’t imagine. This alone will make you feel happier and improve your well-being.

In this book, you will explore: the homesteading mindset, the best environment for planting based on your geological area, hardiness zones, perfect beginner DIY projects, best starter animals, best ways to make money, how I love to keep things fresh, companion planting, real-life examples and stories, how to arrange your homestead A-Z, key areas to focus on, what to think about when purchasing a property, and so much more.

If you think it is complicated to reorganize spaces, especially if they are very small, then here you will find the solution for you. Less is more! Minimalism is a real art that can make your life easier. The wabi-sabi opens you mournfully.

Second Chances is a unique guide to a one-of-a-kind, circular wardrobe. Eleni’s superpower is sniffing out great finds and here she walks you through the art of in-person discovery at thrift stores and vintage shops, estate sales and flea markets, yard sales and antique stores—and online resale platforms. This book will teach you how to organize your existing wardrobe, evaluate pieces you find, and manifest your dream closet.

Since available information in this regard is incomplete, DIY Source has prepared a practical guide on how to set up DIY solar power systems. DIY Solar Power for Beginners will guide you in customizing your grid, tied as well as mobile and off-grid solar power systems. We will walk you through the whole process of building your own solar system, including calculating your electricity needs.

You can obtain energy via solar power almost anywhere you live. Of course, you must have the proper equipment, but from there, the rest happens automatically each and every day with the rising sun. Instead of paying the energy companies for power, you can learn how solar energy is becoming more and more viable. Reductions in costs make it less money to install then one thinks. There are many benefits to going off grid with solar power. Want to know them all? We will show you how.

Written for novice and experienced DIY enthusiasts, this is an A-to-Z guide to ensure your success in turning a plain shipping container into a beautiful home.

For thousands of years, mending was a deep craft that has for too long been a secret history. But now it's back, bigger and better than ever. In this book, Kate Sekules introduces the art of visible mending as part of an important movement to give fashion back its soul. Part manifesto, part how-to, Mend! calls for bold new ways of keeping clothes and refreshing your style.

Le Corbusier famously said, "A house is a machine for living in." We now confront the litany of environmental challenges associated with the legacy of the architectural machine: a changing climate, massive species die-off, diminished air and water quality, and resource scarcities. Brook Muller offers an alternative: water-centric urban design that fosters sustainability, equity, and architectural creativity.

Residential designer Jamie Gold has spent years exploring how simple changes to things like lighting, fixtures, storage, and outdoor space can impact our health and wellness. In Wellness by Design, Gold offers a room-by-room guide to refreshing your space so that it supports your wellness journey. Good news, it doesn’t require a yoga room and can be done in small apartments as well as large houses. This book explains how simple changes can make a huge difference in how you feel every day.