Book Club!

GREENBOOKS DISCUSSION 2009 SCHEDULE

January 12 • February 9 • March 9 • April 13 • May 11 • June 8 • July 13  • August 10 • September 14 • October 12 • November 9 • December 14

Bring your ideas Second Mondays at 7 p.m.
Full Circle Bookstore •  50 Penn Place
(NW Hwy across from Penn Square Mall)
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
Dianne Perkins at daperkins@cox.net

 November 9

Permaculture, Chapter Four

—

Deeply Rooted

by Lisa Hamilton

Reviewed by

Stephanie Jordan

 

 December 14

Permaculture, Chapter Five

—

Farm City

by Novella Carpenter

Reviewed by Diane Perkins

 

MORE THAN A BOOK GROUP...

So far this year, reviewers Bill Dinger, JB Pratt, Kathy Scurlock and Vicki Rose drew record numbers of curious conservationists to delve into the story of a beautiful sustainable community in Columbia, the life-giving micronutrients in fresh whole foods and the incredible gift of bees and how we can protect them.  When the 20 folks at our meeting last time, our host Full Circle Bookstore welcomed us to meet in the Full Circle cafe April 13.

This quarter we launch into The Transition Handbook, by Rob Hopkins, whose method for unleashing communities to build their own resilience in the face of Peak Oil is spreading throughout England, the US and the world. Knowledgeable guides like Shauna Struby, Christine Patton, Rick Wicker, Lois Pokorny and Lynn Malley will guide us on a joyful path to a local, low-carbon future.

The Book Group is very happy to have funding from Sierra Club educational funds allocated by the Oklahoma Sierra Club chapter. This enables us to build a lending library of GreenBooks that lots of members are checking out. The most popular are Audiobooks like "Animal Vegetable Miracle", "The Worst Hard Time" and Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food". Come visit us at the book group table at general meetings and pick your next GreenRead.We are first of all a gathering of like-minded people, concerned about the future of life on the planet. We take encouragement from sharing and hearing the stories of how we came to be the way we are, where does our passion for the web of life come from, what are we doing to walk the talk--our successes, our failures. We come to treasure one another and come away each month more committed and refreshed.

As we looked at the global environmental crises--the end of oil, global warming, collapsing ecosystems, we realized that we could live without electricity, without automobiles, without phones, but we could not live without food and water.

We also realized that what we eat is a choice we make several times a day and we are learning that those choices have a profound effect on the environment. We saw food as a place we could feel empowered. We could make a difference in our health, our community and our environment with simple daily choices.

We wanted not only to understand in more detail where our food comes from, but also start making changes in our habits that would bring our actions in line with our convictions about the things we were learning.

We used Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle as a compelling, informative and practical companion for a year's study and effort to build a sustainable relationship with our food. We added other books that broadened and deepened the story. A complete list of what we read or reviewed is on the Yahoo group website.

It is amazing to see the changes in habits and the new experiences we've had. Various ones of us have come to shop for 80% of our food at the farmers market or coop, lost 10-30 lbs, met for pot lucks of local food, grown our own vegetables, started compost heaps, grown our own grass-finished beef and slaughtered our own chickens.

To sum up the components of the group process:

 1) Read something in common

 2) Share who you are, where you've come from, and listen carefully to others

 3) Start taking action--small or large--and share the results with the group

 4) Share resources and links with other like-minded groups

Practical elements that added to success:

 1. Anoint somebody to organize the group, then everyone pitch in leading the discussions or reviewing books 

2. Pick a regular time and place--a local family owned bookstore works for us 

3. Get the word out--sign up sheet at Sierra meetings and tabling events, Print the schedule on cards to hand out, in the newsletter, on the website, and on cards in the bookstore 

4. Send announcements out by email one week and one day before the meeting.

 5. Form a Yahoo group for easy sharing with all--articles, thoughts, events, questions; also has a place for your schedule, your book list. Vicki Rose, IT guru, is our moderator.

 6. Meetup.com is a possibility we plan to explore.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
Dianne Perkins at daperkins@cox.net

 

Loan Library

To view our loan library, click on this link