Good Reads to Help You Make Green Resolutions

It's been more than two years since Al Gore's documentary Inconvenient Truth pushed the green movement into the mainstream. It is too soon to know how much of a difference the growing numbers of everyday people have made in the global climate change crisis by making their homes more energy efficient. However, the time has given publishers a chance to rollout a healthy offering of green home improvement books to help you join the cause or go beyond what you've already have done.

If your list of New Year's resolutions includes green home improvement projects, here's a sampling of books to consider consulting as part of your planning and research:

• The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live by Sarah Susanka and Kira Obolensky (Taunton, 2008). This 10th anniversary volume celebrates the efficient use of space, which requires fewer resources and is inherently green. This can be a wonderful resource if you're looking for storage ideas or other ways to best take advantage of limited space.
• Go Green, Live Rich: 50 Simple Ways to Save the Earth and Get Rich Trying by David Bach and Hillary Rosner (Broadway, 2008). Financial guru Bach teamed up with environmental journalist Rosner to create this small handbook for green living. It covers the gamut, from the benefits of switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs to how to calculate your carbon footprint.    
• Roots of Home: Our Journey to a New Old Home by Russell Versaci (Taunton, 2008). While technically, this isn't a green book, Roots of Home explores how old house lovers can modernize their homes while paying homage to the craftsmanship and artistry of their home. Remodeling existing buildings, after all, is far more kind to the planet than building new.  
• The Carbon Buster's Home Energy Handbook: Slowing Climate Change and Saving Money by Godo Stoyke (New Society Publishers, 2006). This detailed account should answer most--if not all--your questions about the cost effectiveness of home improvement projects.

These books are just a small sample of the numerous materials available to help you with your green home improvement projects in 2009. Armed with a little know-how and hard work, you could make 2009 your greenest year yet.
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About the Author
Mary Butler is a Boulder, Colorado-based writer and editor, who spends much of her free time remodeling an old house.