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Wellness Resource Guide: ENVIRONMENTAL WELLNESS

INTRODUCTION

ENVIRONMENTAL WELLNESS RESOURCES

An environment that provides wellness provides personal enjoyment, personal meaning, comfort and safety and has a positive impact on one’s health, behavior, actions.

The following are some ways to improve environmental wellness: spend time in nature and the outdoors; pursue gardens and gardening; create a personal living space with colors and aesthetics pleasing to you; reduce clutter and noise, enhance light, bring nature in. Environmental wellness also requires us to protect our natural environment because of its major impact on our well-being.

This section provides resources to increase understanding of how natural and man-made environments impact wellness and how to protect and sustain nature and natural resources vital to our well-being.

VIDEOS: NATURE

BOOKS AT TUC LIBRARY: NATURE

60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: San Francisco by Jane Huber, 2013
East Bay Trails: Hiking Trails in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties by David Weintraub, 2005
Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv, 2008
Nature Rx: Improving College Student Mental Health by Donald A. Rakow & Gregory T. Eells, 2019
*THIS IS AN EBOOK.*
The Songs of Trees by David George Haskell, 2017
"Shows how human history, ecology, and well-being are intimately intertwined with the lives of trees."
Urban Trails San Francisco: Coastal Bluffs, the Presidio Hilltop Parks & Stairways by Alexandra Kenin, 2016
The Wild Silence by Raynor Winn, 2021

ARTICLES & PUBLICATIONS: NATURE

WEBSITES: NATURE

Health & Safety
From the U.S. Nature Park Service
How Does Nature Impact Our Wellbeing?
From the University of Minnesota's Taking Charge of Your Health & Wellbeing website.

VIDEOS: GARDENS & GARDENING

BOOKS AT TUC LIBRARY: GARDENS & GARDENING

Every Nursery Needs a Garden: A Step-by-step Guide to Creating and Using a Garden with Young Children by Ann Watts, 2011
Horticultural Therapy Methods: Connecting People and Plants in Health Care, Human Services, and Therapeutic Programs by Rebecca L. Haller & Christine L. Capra (Editors), 2016
*THIS IS AN EBOOK.*
Learning Gardens and Sustainability Education: Bringing Life to Schools and Schools to Life by Dilafruz Williams & Jonathan Brown, 2011
*THIS IS AN EBOOK.*
Second Nature: A Gardener's Education by Michael Pollan, 1991
“… promotes the garden-rather than the wilderness – as the most appropriate site to rethink our relationship to nature and begin to place it on a saner footing. One of the best reasons to garden today, Pollan believes, is to put ourselves on the most intimate possible terms with one small corner of the universe.” From book jacket.
Teeny Tiny Gardening: 35 Step-by-Step Projects and Inspirational Ideas for Gardening in Tiny Spaces by Emma Hardy, 2013
Therapeutic Landscapes: An Evidence-based Approach to Designing Healing Gardens by Clare Cooper Marcus & Naomi A Sachs, 2013
*THIS IS AN EBOOK.*
The Wellness Garden: Grow, Eat, and Walk Your Way to Better Health by Shawna Coronado, 2017

WEBSITES: GARDENS & GARDENING

Why and How to Create a Healing Garden

VIDEOS: SUSTAINING NATURAL RESOURCES

BOOKS AT THE TUC LIBRARY: SUSTAINING NATURAL RESOURCES

ARTICLES & PUBLICATIONS: SUSTAINING NATURAL RESOURCES

TRANSPARENT 2020
WWF has established a vision of No Plastic in Nature by 2030 and imagines a world where our resources are never wasted. ReSource: Plastic leverages the power of business to achieve this vision. In its inaugural year, ReSource: Plastic worked with five Principal Members (Keurig Dr Pepper, McDonald's Corporation, Procter & Gamble, Starbucks, and The Coca-Cola Company) as well as Thought Partners (The Ellen MacArthur Foundation and Ocean Conservancy) to establish a baseline of plastic use. This report presents key findings related to the ReSource Principal Members' global plastic footprints in 2018.

WEBSITES: SUSTAINING NATURAL RESOURCES

AirNow.gov
Home of the air quality index.
Bay Area Air Quality Management District
CalRecycle
A CA.gov website.
Climate Change Newsroom
A United Nations (UN) website
Global Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet
A NASA website.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
A United Nations (UN) website
National Geographic Society
Ocean Pollution
From the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Protecting Source Water
A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) website
Recycling Basics
From U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Sanctuaries: Discover the Coastal and Marine Places that NOAA's National Ocean Service Works to Protect
From the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
World Glacier Monitoring Service
World Wildlife Fund

BOOKS AT TUC LIBRARY: BUILDINGS & MAN MADE ENVIRONMENTS

Dense + Green: Innovative Building Types for Sustainable Urban Architecture by Thomas Schropfer, 2015
*THIS IS AN EBOOK.*
Design for Health by Terri Peters (Guest Editor), 2017
*THIS IS AN EBOOK.*
Healing Spaces: The Science and Place of Well-Being by Esther M. Sternberg, 2009
"Does the world make you sick? If the distractions and distortions around you, the jarring colors and sounds, could shake up the healing chemistry of your mind, might your surroundings also have the power to heal you? This is the question Esther Sternberg explores in Healing Spaces, a look at the marvelously rich nexus of mind and body, perception and place." (from publisher)
Healthy Buildings: How Indoor Spaces Drive Performance and Productivity by Joseph G. Allen; John D. Macomber, 2020
"A healthy building does more than conserve resources: it improves the health and productivity of the people inside. Joseph Allen and John Macomber look at everything from the air we breathe to the water we drink to how light, sound, and materials impact our performance and wellbeing and drive business profit" (from publisher)
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo, 2014
"This best-selling guide to decluttering your home from Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes readers step-by-step through her revolutionary KonMari Method for simplifying, organizing, and storing. (from publisher)
Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, 2016
"Japanese decluttering guru Marie Kondo has revolutionized homes—and lives—across the world. Now, Kondo presents an illustrated guide to using her acclaimed KonMari Method to create a joy-filled home that works the way you need it to." (from publisher)