Friday 26 February 2010

Book Review: Eco Baby, Sally Jane Hall

Eco Baby: A Guide to Green Parenting Eco Baby: A Guide to Green Parenting by Sally Jane Hall

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is a very well laid out guide to help us minimise consumption of products and goods when having a baby. Sally demonstrates that much of what we are told or think we need when a new life enters is unecessary at best and can be dangerous at worst. For those items that are healthy, useful and essential, Sally provides great references and links to organisations that supply more sustainable products than mainstream.

Eco Baby is easy to read and very useful for anyone wanting to stick to or take on green principles when contemplating pregnancy, birth and beyond. I have given it 3 rather than 4 stars simply because I would have liked a bit more in-depth information about sustainable practices that make consumption even less necessary. For readers relatively new to ideas of ethics and sustainability though, this book will provide a great starting point for eco child-rearing.

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Friday 12 February 2010

TV Worth Watching: Let There Be Light

1 hour left to watch this first in a series of programmes about Light and how we are affected and affect it. Fascinating!

From: BBC iPlayer: Factual | History
"Series in which Professor Simon Schaffer explores man's fascination with light begins by revealing the unwitting role religion played in forging our scientific understanding of the properties of light.

He reveals the extraordinary lengths to which the early light pioneers went to unlock the mysteries of light. The Greek philosopher Empedocles marked his theory that light travels like laser beams from our eyes by throwing himself into the volcano Mount Etna.

The Roman Church's obsession with Easter forced it to turn a blind eye to its own doctrines, as the religious authorities sanctioned the conversion of cathedrals into massive sun clocks, a move that would eventually drive the rabidly anti-Catholic Isaac Newton to unravel the true essence of light."


Broadcast on: BBC Four, 8:00pm Thursday 4th February 2010
Duration: 60 minutes
Available until: 8:59pm Thursday 11th February 2010
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