By Maggie Romuld

Ecoholic: Your Guide to the Most Environmentally Friendly Information, Products and Services in Canada

By Adria Vasil

In Ecoholic, author Adria Vasil seems to have found the perfect approach to providing environmental information to a generation with a Twitter-length attention span. Vasil writes the Ecoholic column for the Toronto-based NOW Magazine and over the past five years has proven she is well-equipped to summarize vast amounts of enviro-news and present it in a way readers can understand.

There is far too much information out there for most of us to get through-even those dedicated to planetary preservation-and in her column, and now her book, she weaves her way through a myriad of environmental topics, condensing and simplifying everything from buying green products and recycling, to eco-tourism and environmental careers. She investigates the newest thinking and the coolest ideas, and identifies the best practices and products so we don't have to.

The book isn't short, but it is easy to read and the liberal inclusion of web addresses, as well as city-specific lists of resources, a "Big Issue" summary, and a glossary, are designed to clarify concepts or guide us if we want to explore specific topics in more detail. This book can be used as a reference, to educate and inspire us, or as a road map, to help us find our way through an overwhelming maze of information. Either way, the planet wins.

The Daily Planet Book of Cool Ideas

By Jay Ingram

If you like the Discovery Channel show Daily Planet, and its host Jay Ingram, you'll enjoy his latest offering, The Daily Planet Book of Cool Ideas. The hour-long science program is famous for short, easily digestible snippets of the weird and wonderful, and Ingram follows that well-tested format, although this book focuses specifically on global warming and what some of us are doing about it.

Whether or not you agree with the idea that the current warming is related to human activity, or believe that anything we do will make a difference, you will enjoy reading about the inventiveness and dedication of the researchers, engineers, and occasionally odd environmental innovators Ingram introduces to us. Unlike some of the things Ingram has written about in the past, this is not rocket science-the stories are short, the graphs are simple, and the science doesn't overwhelm you. The book is full of photographs and illustrations that help describe and clarify concepts, and the author's conversational-and award-winning-writing makes you feel as if your favourite teacher is patiently explaining the story of climate change and how you can make a difference. This is how science should be taught.

Vinegar, Duct Tape, Milk Jugs & More

By Earl Proulx (and the Editors of Yankee Magazine)

There is an old expression, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without," and Earl Proulx (and the Editors of Yankee Magazine) seem to have taken it to heart in their book Vinegar, Duct Tape, Milk Jugs & More. Whether you want to save money by exercising a little restraint in your consumption, or save the planet by reducing your footprint and ridding your home of chemicals, this book will help.

The subtitle of the book boasts of 1,001 Ingenious Ways to Use Common Household Items to Repair, Restore, Revive, or Replace Just About Everything in Your Life, and it's not an exaggeration. The authors find uses-and second, and third uses-for just about everything you already have in your cupboards, and have a solution to your problem whether you need something for the house, the yard, the garden or the garage. What was once second nature to our grandparents has been lost in the last few generations, and we need to re-learn how to "reduce" and "re-use" instead of buying whatever we want, whenever we want it, using it once and then throwing it out.

This book is entertaining and interesting, and it can also serve as a perfect test for your newly acquired, multi-use method of consumption; when you think you're done with it, lend it to a friend, just make sure you can get it back because there is no way you'll be able to remember all the uses for dental floss or pantyhose, let alone the uses for vinegar.