Starting Sunday and on through Earth Day, the Writes blog will be celebrating educators, librarians, and students. Today in the all things good and green post
I offer a challenge. When you have an extra five minutes at your computer, Google things like: environmental activist teen or eco-friendly library or educator environment, and pick one story to read. There are lots of cool things going on with our kids, their teachers, and our librarians if we just take a moment to look around.
The links above go to the following stories:
1. A Rolling Out article about a teen activist using art to raise environmental awareness
2. The BookRiot website featuring a list of LEED certified libraries across the country
3. NAAEE's (No. Amer. Assoc. for Environmental Ed.) website offering ideas for teachers
in other news...
an Earth Day art sale
Thank you to Homeology, a eco-focused home interiors boutique, for helping with the Earth Day celebration by discounting all R McCormack original art. With discounts of 20-40%, there's a piece for any budget. Click on links below to view a few examples of the works for sale.
Currently at 40% off:
30% off:
And at 20% the newest collection Wildflowers and Cityscapes:
I took your challenge and goggled eco-friendly libraries and came upon this great website: www.good.is/posts/book-nooks-7eco-friendlylibraries or for tweeters #goodcitizen.
ReplyDeleteI found out that Nooks & Kindles are not taking over the world and that new green-eco-friendly libraries are actually being built around the world. What great news for book lovers like myself.
In the town of McAllen, TX they have gutted and reconfigured a large Wal-Mart store that went out of business. It has been turned into a beautiful green library with 124,500 square feet of space. Most of those buildings go vacant for years with weeds growing everywhere, and trash blowing against the building; making an undesirable area to live in. Congrats to McAllen.
There were 7 libraries featured in this article and I won't go into all of them, but I do want to mention one other that really impressed me. An Indonesian firm constructed a new library and clinic in Batu, East Jawa, Indonesian using shipping containers and called it Contertainer. It stands for container and entertainer which reflects their desire to provide both for those with very little money. It's great to know that other countries are providing the resources of books and knowledge for their people.
It's also worth mentioning that by spending some time looking into what is being done with libraries I also learned what LEED stands for. So you are not only a writer and artist, you are a teacher as well. Thank you.
Shirley, I LOVE that you took the challenge and came back to share all you learned about these amazing libraries. I'm so impressed by the creativity behind both the Texas and Batu libraries...recycling buildings and shipping containers keeps lots of undesirable stuff from going into landfills. In reading what you had to teach us, I recalled the library in The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley, which had been rebuilt from the town's empty and dilapidated buildings. Anywho, thanks again for stopping by to tell us what you discovered.
ReplyDeleteRhonda, I read that book as well, but had forgotten about the rebuilt library. I loved the book and the idea of using empty buildings for their library books.
DeleteShirley, I thought Bradley described the English town well, and I could easily imagine the rambling buildings becoming the new library. I love the idea of old and unused becoming new and useful.
ReplyDeleteI had a book read to me as a child that I will forever remember. I think it fits nicely with the theme of planting, self-less acts, as well as celebrating the "good."
ReplyDeleteMiss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney.
Karin, Thank you for your book recommendation. I looked Cooney's book up, and I definitely want to read this. She planted lupine! A great intercrop to allow soil recovery. A very eco-friendly practice! For anyone else interested in the book, here's the Amazon link:http://www.amazon.com/Miss-Rumphius-Barbara-Cooney/dp/0140505393.
ReplyDeleteAlso, in 2000 Miss Rumphius was made into an 18 minute movie narrated by Claire Danes. For whatever reason this reminded me of another great picture book, Owl Moon by Jane Yolen. A lovely, lovely book about being out in nature. Thanks for triggering all this research and remembering, Karin!