South Huntington Public Library is Certified Sustainable
South Huntington Public Library has been certified as a “Sustainable Library” through the Sustainable Libraries Initiative’s award-winning Sustainable Libraries Certification Program. This ground-breaking initiative guides libraries through a step by step process to infuse triple bottom line sustainable decision-making into their library’s policies and actions.
Participation in the Sustainable Libraries Certification Program has brought about meaningful changes in the way South Huntington Public Library operates and interacts with our community. This process has steered staff toward being more intentional about reflecting the library's values of connection, awareness, respect, and empathy in their actions toward each other and our community.
We have increased their recycling efforts, converted to LED lighting, and hosted e-waste recycling events for their community. We installed a "Grow to Give Garden" consisting of four raised beds where vegetables and herbs are grown. The garden is used in educational programming for children and the harvests are donated to local food pantries. Additionally, we have instituted a comprehensive Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Policy that emphasizes the library’s commitment to supporting all members of their diverse community. This has led to increased and more responsive outreach to our Spanish-speaking community with English as a New Language (ENL) classes, ENL Conversation Cafés, and the ability to schedule appointments with a full-time bilingual staff member.
Learning more about sustainability and the impact of the triple bottom line decision-making drew South Huntington Public Library Director, Janet Scherer, to the Sustainable Libraries Certification Program. “I recognized early on how necessary the tenets of social equity are when interacting and forming relationships with our community’s families.” Engaging staff in the process of completing the Sustainable Libraries Certification Program Benchmarks brought out collaboration between departments and inspired changes to how our library operates and even in our staff's own personal habits. Our library staff educated themselves on the environmental, social, and financial aspects of sustainability. The operations of the library and outward relationships with the community have evolved and improved as a result.
International Impact
South Huntington Public Library is among the first libraries to participate in the Sustainable Libraries Certification Program, the first of its kind in the world. This benchmarking program was developed to assist libraries of all kinds - public, academic, and individual school librarians - to create opportunities to make better choices on behalf of the local and global community.
The program has been recognized by the International Federation of Library Associations at their 2019 World Congress in Athens, Greece, becoming the first program in the United States to be honored through their “Green Libraries” Award.
Comprehensive Approach
With categories of actions focusing on each of the three pillars of triple bottom line sustainability such as Energy, Indoor Spaces, Social Cohesion, and Resilience Planning, this comprehensive process leads a library toward institutional change that shifts the rationale for every decision to consider the local and global impacts. Through this program, libraries work with their communities to listen and learn, allowing local needs to be identified and addressed. Strengthening the relationship between the library and the community they serve builds resilience through stronger connections with many organizations and increased access to information.
Sustainability Reads
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How to Avoid a Climate Disaster
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER - In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical--and accessible--plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe.
Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal.
He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions--suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise.
As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.
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Our Environment
The environment is an essential but sometimes tough and weighty concept to grasp. This engaging nonfiction book takes readers back to the basics, offering an accessible overview of what makes up our environment, how those parts work, and why they matter. Divided into five sections--water, air, soil, energy, and climate--the book uses facts, figures, and simple language to give an overarching survey of our environment.
Questions run throughout the text, creating a spirit of inquiry. Where does the water we use every day come from? What is the atmosphere? How does pollution affect soil? What is renewable energy? What influences climate? And how do we protect our planet for the future?
With an appealing design and simple drawings and diagrams to support comprehension, this book takes a positive spin on the environment, reinforcing the importance of taking care of each element. Informational text features include a table of contents, sidebars, diagrams, and glossary.
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A Pocket Guide to Sustainable Food Shopping
Reduce your food and packaging waste and lower your carbon footprint with this modern, practical guide to sustainable grocery shopping.
Almond milk, oat milk, rice milk—which of the countless nondairy milks available on the market does the least harm to the environment? How do you decode the language on an egg carton? Is it possible to keep a bundle of fresh asparagus from spoiling so. darn. fast? If plastic is so bad, why is it on everything, and what can you do about it?
These are just some of the questions A Pocket Guide to Sustainable Food Shopping will help answer. Whether you’re someone who’s been making changes for years or you’re clueless about where to start when it comes to sustainability, this book will teach you how to make a difference.
Cutting back on food waste is one of the most impactful ways you can personally help combat climate change. With extra pages for taking notes and a space to perform your own waste audit at home, this book provides the tools to make better choices about what goes into your grocery cart, and how you ultimately treat those items once they’re in your home.
You’ll learn some hard-to-swallow facts about the food industry and gain some actionable tips for making the grocery store—and the world—a more ethical place. You’ll become better at reading food labels, getting acquainted with terms you can trust, and recognizing words and phrases to regard with skepticism. You’ll gain the confidence to shop in the bulk section, ask your butcher questions about sourcing, and perhaps finally relieve some of the guilt you feel over the mountain of plastic bags accumulating beneath your sink.
If you’re ready to make a change, let’s get to it. -
Sustainability Made Simple
Sustainability Made Simple is an introduction to sustainability and sustainable living that explores the relationship between everyday life and the intricate global environmental issues of today, including air and water pollution, deforestation, and climate change. Rosaly Byrd and Laurèn DeMates offer an optimistic yet realistic perspective on our impact on the environment, giving much needed guidance to those who are interested in finding new and relatively easy ways to incorporate sustainability into daily life. An excellent resource for those who are interested in learning what sustainability is about and picking up habits to be more sustainable, Sustainability Made Simple shows that adopting a sustainable lifestyle doesn't require "going off the grid" or making drastic life changes that take time and cost money. Instead, Byrd and DeMates focus on the advantages and transformative changes associated with sustainability, demonstrating that although society is facing unprecedented environmental challenges, working towards sustainability is an opportunity to do things differently and do things better, enhancing aspects of life, such as health, work and community.
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Climate Change Eco Facts
Climate change is reshaping the planet before our eyes. From melting ice caps and rising sea levels to drought and destructive hurricanes, no corner of Earth is protected from the effects of global warming. Discover the facts about what climate change is doing--and will continue to do--to our planet, and how we might reduce its impact.