Make your summer reading more sustainable

Want to learn more about sustainability in Spokane? Want to make your home more energy efficient? How about deepening your understanding of global warming, recycling, solar and wind power, food and farming and other issues affecting the environment? All this information – and more – can now be found on the second floor of the downtown Spokane Public Library. It’s the library’s “Green Spokane Sustainability Collection,” an assortment of books, DVDs and other material that focus on living green. It’s one of the easiest, most affordable and greenest ways to access information about sustainability in Spokane. The collection was started in December 2008 thanks to a $2,000 grant from the Washington State Office of Community, Trade and Economic Development. The money was part of a one-year, $75,000 grant written and obtained by Susanne Croft, the former sustainability coordinator for the city of Spokane. As citizens worked alongside city officials last year to create a strategic action plan to address the impact of climate change and energy security in Spokane, Croft wanted to provide people opportunities to educate themselves about “green” issues. At that time, many of the sustainability meetings also were taking place at the downtown library. “We needed a lot of community participation,” said Croft, who continues to serve as the city’s incentives specialist for economic development. “Discussions are more fruitful when people have done their research so they don’t go into it with preconceived notions.” So it made sense, she said, to use some of the grant money to establish a “green collection” at the same place where they gathered to talk about sustainability: the public library. Since then, managing librarian Dana Dalrymple has compiled more than 200 books and DVDs so that people can use to learn more about the environment. Some of the books are general overviews on energy security, solar and wind power, farming and other related topics. The collection includes titles such as, “Clean Home, Green Home: The Complete Illustrated Guide to Eco-Friendly Homekeeping;” “Strategies for the Green Economy: Opportunities and Challenges in the New World of Business;” and “A Nation of Farmers: Defeating the Food Crisis on American Soil.” It also includes works from local authors including Crissy Trask’s “It’s Easy Being Green: A Handbook for Earth-Friendly Living,” and “Natural Remodeling for the Not-So-Green House,” a book co-written by Spokane architect, Kelly Lerner. “The collection continues the city’s efforts to encourage ‘green’ practices by giving citizens tools to educate themselves about environmental issues,” according to library officials. The most popular books so far, said Dalrymple, are the “Green Living for Dummies” and “Green Cleaning for Dummies.” Other titles such as Thomas L. Friedman’s bestseller, “Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution – and How It Can Renew America,” and Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” were popular long before they became part of the green collection. “It’s such a hot topic and a lot of books and DVDs on sustainability are coming out,” said Dalrymple, who continues to order items to gradually expand the collection. Most people have discovered the green collection by accident, she said, but others who learned about it through the library’s newsletter are now coming in on a regular basis to seek out new titles. In fact, Dalrymple has helped out several church groups who are focusing on the issue of sustainability within their own congregations. “Grouping the items in the green collection in one place made a lot of sense because otherwise those items are scattered all over the library,” explained Eva Silverstone, the library’s communication manager. This type of grouping “is similar to how bookstores group things and very user-friendly for customers,” she said. Items from the collection have a “Green Spokane” label and are available for checkout just like regular items at the library – three weeks for books and one week for DVDs. The library’s website also has a Sustainability Resources page that links to many local sources for a green lifestyle: www.spokanelibrary.org/sustainability The green collection is actually just one of many efforts that the Spokane Public Library has undertaken to promote environmental stewardship. “Just using the library is green because you are ‘reusing’ items,” said Silverstone. For example, the South Hill copy of “The Testament,” by John Grisham has been checked out more than 100 times, she said. And the DVD of “Road to Perdition” has been borrowed nearly 300 times. “That’s a lot more uses than if you just bought a copy and read or watched it and shelved it,” she said. The Spokane Public Library recently purchased its own DVD resurfacing machine so that staff doesn’t have to send them to another company to repair scratches and other damage. Other “green” measures that the library has taken in recent years include replacing all the lights in the library’s downtown garage with energy-efficient bulbs; passing on books that are no longer part of the library collection to the Friends of the Library, who then sell the items and return the money back to the library; and recycling old magazines and damaged books. Library customers can help with sustainability efforts by walking, riding their bikes or taking the bus to the library. They also can bring their own bags instead of using the plastic ones often available at check-out.