Earthworks GroupRecensioni

This edition is now outdated to the point where it is almost quaint but that shouldn't take away from the profound impact it had it the 1990s. Recycling was not yet popular, water conservation was unheard of and laundry soap still contained phosphates. This little guide provided small steps consumers could make in their daily habits that actually moved the needle in helping the environment. Yes, of course, there's much to be done. But it would have been a lot worse today without the grassroots movements ordinary people used to change purchasing habits, make companies produce cleaner products and force municipalities to conserve resources.
It's nice to be reminded of the power we citizens can wield, plus the book includes some tips on larger-scale projects that are still needed today. It's worth keeping around.

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Libro infantil con consejos utiles para preservar la naturaleza.

Q-6

363.7

333.7

"The world's a better place with EarthWorks Group's John Javna in it. He, along with his daughter, Sophia, help kids go from aware to active with simple (but inspiring) projects, tips, and little-known facts that puts a kid's own carbon footprint into perspective. . .What makes this book stand out, though, is that it doesn't just inform kids, it encourages them to make a difference by providing therm, their friends and their families the tools to take action. . ." Source: Amazon.com

50 great ideas for kids to get involved caring for the environment.

I read this book as a kid and it had a big impact on my lifelong interest in ecology and the environment.

Interesting, easy to read and implement ideas to save the planet..½

"It's a practical, entertaining, and informative guide to the things YOU can do to help protect the Earth." From the back cover. Perhaps somewhat outdated, but non-the-less still useful suggestions to consider and possibly act upon.

I had forgotten that I had even applied for this book. It came as a pleasant surprise while checking my mail at my old place. I know many people did not like certain aspects of this book, but I enjoyed it. I was very impressed with all of the little experiments etc that you can do, it was a lifesaver to me when I was faced with babysitting children of very mixed ages,this past summer. The children enjoyed it, the experiments and learning about the earth and our effects on it.If you have kids or have kids in your care, I suggest this book, especially if you are trying to figure out what to do with them for the holidays !

This book has 50 things a child could do to help save the Earth. There are small activities and ideas to teach kids to be helpful to the environment. There are activities that involved all sorts of things from planting gardens to helping to protect the plants and animals. The book is very helpful and has easy to do activities that any child could participate in.
The book would be extremely helpful in a classroom setting. Teachers cold involve their students and do many of the activities at school and incorporate them with different lessons. The book is good for students to know that they can be a part of keeping the Earth clean and knowing that it is not hard to be a part of saving the Earth.

This book is full of easy, practical suggestions to implement everyday... but is overwhelmingly centered around the notion that individual action will change systemic societal issues, and doesn't seem to acknowledge that these issues are rooted in industrial technology and a civilization that's based on persistent disrespect of the Earth. However, when viewed as simply small steps to be taking while working towards a larger liberation, the tips are great and easy to apply.

As the title suggests, The New 50 Simple Things... is full of ideas for how children can help save the environment. Though it may seem obvious, the first thing to note is that this book is intended for children--as opposed to adults who work with children. I selected the book thinking that I would find it useful in my role as a Girl Guide leader, which often involves coming up with environment-related activities for a group of 9-12 year olds, but it wasn't quite as helpful as I had hoped. Still, it certainly contains a lot of good ideas and presents them in a way that's generally very accessible, so I think children would like it. I'll probably be able to use it as a source of quick facts to add to other activities that I've planned.

My main complaint is that not enough of the content is found in the book itself; rather, every section contains a lengthy list of websites where we can look for further information. I would estimate that these lists constitute maybe 1/6 of the text in the book, which is a huge amount. Personally, when I'm reading a book, I'm not at the computer; and conversely, when I'm at the computer, I don't need to be reading a book. The authors maintain a website, 50simplethings.com, and I would much rather they kept all the links on their website while leaving them out of the book. The constant inundation of links left me feeling that the book wasn't complete on its own and that I was missing out on most of it; plus, the long strings of random characters in many of the addresses aren't exactly kid-friendly.

The 50simplethings website does seem helpful, though. For my own purposes, I think I'm much more likely to refer to that than to look at the book again--after all, if the book is just going to direct me to the internet, what do I need it for?

An interesting if sometimes simplistic book of ideas of what children can do towards helping with environmental problems. I have a real problem with books that imply that a bit of composting and recycling is all that is need to save us from our current environmental woes, so I had a bit of a shudder at that title. It also has a very strong North American bias, which considering that many of the potential readers are outside of the US and Canada shows a bit of thoughtlessness on the part of the authors.
There is also no index, which is a bit of a loss in a book like this.
It is good to see that there are books about environmental issues aimed at children, but as other reviews have noted I don't think that many children would read this one 'for fun', and that it is probably better aimed at teachers and parents

Very strong American bias led to some confusing conversations with my British five year old, but he enjoyed reading it nonetheless. We discussed a number of topics as a result of the book but to be honest there were very few things we could actively do or change, given the different lifestyles involved. He was impressed that books like this are aimed specifically at his generation, however.

The New 50 Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth concentrates mainly on America and it would be nice to see more Australian content. Despite that, this book is well-written - simple for kids to understand without being boring for adults to read. It is filled with fascinating facts and helpful tips. As an adult, even I learned a lot from this book. I particularly like the inclusion of websites for us to look up further information. This is a great resource for parents and teachers because there are loads of activities and experiments to do with kids. Whether you believe the argument for global warming or not, most people cannot deny that we are damaging the environment in many areas and overusing the world's resources. This book can shows us dozens of ways to reduce our impact on the Earth, leading healthier lives and saving money in the process. The New 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth is a great addition to any bookshelf.

The strong American bias in this book immediately put me off. If it is to be marketed in Australia there needs to be inclusion of more international references and statistics additionally metric measurements should be included.

When I received this book I thought that I had seen it before and maybe, in my former life as a children's librarian, I had seen the earlier version. I think it seemed familiar because it is similar to a number of other good books in this genre that exhort young people to become responsible citizens.

For access to the material in the book there is a comprehensive contents section at the front of the book but sadly it lacks an index. A non-fiction book without an index is like a treasure hunt without a map!

But all is not doom and gloom. This book is attractively presented with the publishers demonstrating their commitment to the environment by using eco friendly ink and paper.

Whilst it is full to the brim with activities and experiments I do not think that it would appeal to the hundreds of kids I have met professionally as leisure reading. It would be a fine addition to school and public libraries and will be very popular with teachers as a source of environmentally friendly classroom activities. Young persons would use the book as a resource when seeking activities to undertake for projects in science and geography. Frazzled parents trying to help their offspring select a project will find this book a valuable resource.

This book is a wonderful introduction to the simple things kids can do to protect our planet. From recycling to making better choices when purchasing items, to experiments to see what your impact on the earth is, this book gives many ideas for kids to take an active role in saving our earth.

There are a lot of environmental books written with kids in mind since they will be the generation that helps stem the tide of planet destruction. Often however, the content of these books merely explains the problem in depressing detail, and provides one or two unoriginal suggestions as to how to help such as ride your bike rather than asking your parents to drive you places. Enter “The New 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do To Save The Earth” by the EarthWorks Group and Sophie Javna.
One of the strengths of this powerful book is in its organization. The book is broken into sections, each addressing an environmental concern. The sections include: Earth Resources, Water, Animals, Keeping Earth Green, Energy, and Communication. Each section contains numbered tips.
The tips (and yes, there are 50!) are organized with a title followed by a multiple choice question related to the topic with three possible answers. The incorrect answers are quite obvious, but the question serves the purpose of activating the brain and getting kids interested in the topic. Humans hate to be wrong, so if the choices were really difficult, that wouldn’t be very enjoyable.
Next there’s a paragraph that introduces the topic in a way that shows why it’s important to care. Then, to hook the reader even more, there’s my favourite section called, Did You Know and my guess is that you didn’t know the fascinating information contained in this section. It often contains numerical data, which is quite mind boggling and disturbing. For example: Americans throw away 380 billion plastic bags a year, and 2.7 juice boxes. Americans throw away 3000 tons of paper tower every day. 20% of all toilets leak and most people don’t even know.
The tip then follows with a What You Can Do section, which contains some very feasible and in most cases original ideas. What I liked most about this section was that there were several ideas rather than just one or two.
The tip then has two more sections – one called Amaze Your Friends which still contained action ideas, but ones that would make your friends ask, “What are you doing that for?” Finally the tip concluded with a See For Yourself section which contained a fantastic collection of URLs leading to informational web sites, videos, ideas for projects, and authoritative sites. Someone has obviously spent a long time ferreting out great informational sites that are well worth checking out. This section alone could save you hours of searching.

I own the original edition of 50 Simple Things, but for others, like me, who own the first print, the updated version is so well done that I encourage you to get the new version. For those for whom this title is completely new, if you are remotely interested in how you can personally, on a small, simple scale, help the environment, you won’t need any other book! It would make a great gift for any environmentally conscious child in your life, or one who you want to make more Earth conscious!
For any teachers contemplating running an environmental club, this book could fuel your activities for the next five years. You could focus on one simple thing a month, and promote it school wide, or you could ask each environmental member to adopt one of the 50 things, and run with it.
What are you waiting for? Run to your nearest book store and buy a copy of “The New 50 Simple things Kids Can Do To Save The Planet” and get started today.

This is a nice way to get an interested mind moving towards action. A lot of the ideas are well known and in practice here in the UK, but I'm an adult, and have been reading stuff like this for decades (sigh). I have passed it to my nephew to see if it inspires him.

A great ecokids book! Well informed, well illustrated and well designed. It's a fun intro to learning about how to look after our precious world. Very readable with good weblinks for further info, fun facts and cool experiments.

Even if us adults can't get it together, kids can and in the long run it's the kids that will have to. This book should be in every library around the world.

I received this from the Early Reviewers & I think it's a brilliant book! It's packed with excellent ideas that kids (and adults alike) can do & the little quizzes at the top of each section add to the fun! I especially liked the "Amaze your friends" sections as it gives really good ideas of things kids can do to get other kids involved. My sister is studying to be a schoolteacher & has 3 kids of her own, so this is being sent to them to "road test"!½

I am not a fan of the "global warming" rhetoric described at the beginning of the book and referenced throughout, or of the comment about dinosaurs that lived "many millions of years ago." (Legitimate science disproves both. In fact, the average temperature of the earth actually is currently DEcreasing.) However, both of these were also to be expected, and neither comprises the bulk of the book.

What does comprise the bulk of the book is a collection of practical, hands-on things that kids can do. These include recycling, saving energy, and more. The ideas are subdivided into sections: guarding our buried treasures (coal, etc.); preserving our oceans, rivers, lakes, and streams; protecting animals; keeping the earth green; using energy wisely; and spreading the word. The book is written directly to the children, with respect for their intelligence. It includes ideas for use at home, at school, and in the community, along with trivia and web links. And there are more than fifty ideas in the book, when it really comes down to it. Each "idea" is actually a section heading, with specific information listed below it, and most of these sections include more than one practical idea.

As an added bonus, there is one more section at the back of the book: Eco-Experiments. These seven eco-experiments would be great activities for children to do on their own, or to use as class or homeschool projects.

All in all, I think this is a great resource.