Green Group discussion

I was wondering, Marieke mentioned that we might make June about water as well, but do people still want to do that? If not, what should we discuss? I figure we should get a theme rolling so we can get nominations in and books voted on. The long waiting lists at my library have motivated me to get on this earlier.

Thoughts?

Electricity? June is getting into the hot months...lots of black outs and brownouts....

That's a good one. Just electricity or could we do other kind of energy too? Or did you mean electricity generation? That comes with it's own large set of problems...

I like the electricity idea. I am always curious about it and even ways to save and cut back.

i've been really interested in electricity generation and why certain areas are prone to shortages and whatnot. i'm also interested in the business side of it...i don't understand "credits" or whether i'm really saving if i do something one way or another. and like jennbunny, i'd like to feel more savvy about cutting back/being more efficient.

other kinds of energy are also really really interesting, though...

That sounds cool, I learned a lot about hydroelectric generation at school, and am slowly learning about nuclear power, I'll look through my books and see what I can dig up. Electric cars are interesting too.

It's hard to know if you're really saving energy or if they just want you to buy stuff.

I just finished Garbage Land and hope to add to the discussion shortly. :)
And I feel pretty confident I can get Pandora's Seed finished in April since it's short...

Anyway, just holler if you get ideas, Megan. :D

Yeah, electric cars have a dirty carbon trail just like Ethanol, so they're better than fossil fuel cars, but there are hidden costs to some of this stuff.

There are a few books I've been eying to read that are kind of related:

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope
Bottled Lightning: Superbatteries, Electric Cars, and the New Lithium Economy This one comes out in May, but it looks interesting
The Impact of Electricity Not as much of a green book, but looks good

On the Grid: A Plot of Land, An Average Neighborhood, and the Systems that Make Our World Work--i don't know if it's any good but it seems to have gotten decent reviews on GR. but it's about more than just electricity.

and i don't know if this will be too dry: Electric Capitalism: Recolonising Africa on the Power Grid.

or how about this one: Post Carbon Cities: Planning for Energy and Climate Uncertainty...it might also be dry, though.

This might be the proverbial cracking a nut with a sledgehammer, but there is Kolya Abramsky's .

All suggestions are welcome for the poll! I'm thinking we should close nominations pretty soon so we can vote...

I'm thinking Monday we can close nominations, then have the poll up for a bit, then get to making library reservations? Sound good?

Sounds good to me!
Haha--library reservations. After initial problems I eventually ended up with two copies of bottlemania available to me.

I'm officially making the poll now. Please vote!!

Marieke-my problem is too many people apparently read where I live. Or something. Long waitlists at the library for things lately.