Harmonious Environment: Beautify, Detoxify and Energize Your Life, Your Home and Your Planet

Product Description

Harmonious Environment: Beautify, Detoxify & Energize Your Life, Your Home & Your Planet, by Norma Lehmeier Hartie, is an indispensable reference book for anyone who cares about their health and well being and for the future of the planet. Hartie concisely covers a wide range of subjects and includes a comprehensive listing of advisory organizations, product and service resources. Part I of the book, Banish the Ugly from Your Life, is a blueprint for green, sustainable living. Discover how to replace toxic and unsustainable products from household cleaners to food (including recipes) to furniture to personal care products with safe, eco-friendly ones. Hartie is the tough but motivational Life Coach in her approach to cleaning, removing clutter and on organizing the home or office. Part II, Bring in the Beautiful to Create a Harmonious Environment and Self, includes a chapter on Earth-based spirituality and a fascinating look at the Four Elements (Earth, Fire, Air and Water) and the Medicine Wheel. The core of Hartie s philosophy blossoms in Chapter Seven, Applying Harmonious AdjustmentsTM: Using Feng Shui and Other Techniques for Powerful Results. Unlike other Feng Shui authors, Hartie has experience as a designer and her skills are apparent in this chapter and the following two. She has combined principles of Feng Shui, the Four Elements, color, energy, Vastu, and good design principles that create a unique and eclectic approach to home decorating. Finally, Hartie provides guidance on how to manifest personal or professional desires. In Part III, Putting the Pieces Together, Hartie skillfully integrates the many subjects of the book into a unified and cohesive whole. At its cover price of $19.95, Harmonious Environment is a value alone for the comprehensive green living product suppliers in the Resources section. What makes this book so truly ambitious, however, is what lies beneath the surface. In a sense, this book is only marginal

Customer Reviews:

Transform Your Home into a Peaceful Sanctuary.......2007-04-10

"The energy from flowers is so bright and strong that they can be put anywhere in the home and they will enhance your life." ~ pg. 217

Norma Lehmeier Hartie is a design consultant and Harmonious Adjustment practitioner who enjoys gardening and cooking. She created the practice of Harmonious Adjustments to give her clients the chance to reconnect with nature and to manifest their personal and professional dreams. Through her book she introduces ideas for detoxing and decluttering your home environment.

If you want a happier, healthier lifestyle that is more in harmony with nature, then Norma Lehmeier Hartie's book has a world of information to make this possible. She can help you:

Remove toxic products from your home and garage
Clean and organize your home
Buy environmentally friendly cleaning products
Organize your home for more peace and harmony
Find healthy personal care products
Grow plants that help to control pollution - A list of the Fifty Best Houseplants
Find the best choices in flooring
Figure out how to recycle larger items like a refrigerator
Cook more safely and use kitchen scraps for your garden
Formulate a plan to keep your house clean
Organize every room in the house
Decorate with Confidence

Reading through the list of harmful products gives you an idea of the ingredients to avoid in cleaners and how they can affect your health. For an antibacterial spray, the author suggests water and essential oils and for cleaning silver she also suggests more natural solutions like baking soda and vinegar. Using Borax and water is less dangerous than chlorine bleach fumes and you may want to try this in your shower. You may enjoy products by Seventh Generation.

Chapter three felt a little out of my personal range of expertise, although we know that thoughts can affect our environment and life and can move our life in a positive or negative direction. This chapter deals more with spiritual practices. Chapter 6 also delves into a deeper connection with nature, personality types and elemental powers. The list of Yin and Yang is helpful to create a balance of the two in your home. An entire chapter is also dedicated to plants, gemstones and crystals.

"If you are the average American woman, you expose yourself to over two hundred synthetic chemicals that are found in the products you use as you prepare yourself for the day. These products do not simply sit on your skin; approximately sixty percent of these ingredients get absorbed into your bloodstream." ~ pg. 91

Chapter four is especially informative and essential if you are trying to be healthier and want to find organic alternatives to products filled with synthetic chemicals. Why should you avoid petroleum and talc? Why is there lead in hair dye?

The section on an Eco-Friendly Kitchen is interesting and the chapter on natural and organic foods also gives ideas on how to save time in the kitchen. A few recipes are included:

Vegetarian Pasta Primavera
Fajitas
Risotto with Scallops or Shrimp
Lemon Rice
Grilled Vegetables

An extensive list of resources and a very handy index complete this well-researched and extremely helpful book. If you enjoy Feng Shui or decorating and organizing your home, there is a lot to enjoy and you may find the information in this book can also help with fatigue, anxiety and sleeping problems.

~The Rebecca Review

Detox Your Life.......2007-04-04

No matter what your goals are, this book has the starting point for you. Learn how to make your life less toxic and get a better relationship with Mother Earth.

Declutter, paint and detoxify.......2007-04-02

Using the principles of Feng Shui, you can create a harmonious home environment with this book as a guide.

Author Lehmeier-Hartie has you choose colors, elements and design based on your birthday. If you suffer from problems feeling disorganized or headachey at home, it could be your home is not organized properly or the flow of energy is impeded.

The author extends this tranquility to finding the right job and the right mate. Whether or not it is the alignment of elements in the home, focusing on clearing clutter in your life can only have positive effects. A very pretty book.

Life-changing ideas.......2007-02-02

Worried about what your family is being exposed to? Are you hoping to increase your wealth or find love this year? Trying to decide on the best color to paint your walls? If you answered "yes!" to any of these questions, then Harmonious Environment is a must read.

The goal of this book is to create positive energy both in your home and your life and to be kinder to the earth. Hertie is a design consultant, chef, gardener, and healer. She shares her professional and personal experiences with the readers, i.e., homemade earth-friendly cleaning products, tasty recipes for carnivores and vegetarians, etc. She recommends that after reading this book, you apply the process in the following order:

1. Remove toxic products from your home and garage
2. Clean, declutter, clear and organize your home
3. Buy/use environmentally friendly products
4. Learn how to use place objects (furniture, mirrors, etc.) to manifest change in your life

The relationship between people and the Earth is an important part of Harmonious Environments. To remind ourselves of this interconnection, Hertie recommends bringing the natural world into your home. Some ways to do this include displaying rocks and minerals and using houseplants as pollution busters.

Hertie uses Harmonious Adjustments (TM) that combines "the best principles of Feng Shui, the application of the Four Elements based on your birth date, color, Vastu, energy work and good design." I've read a few Feng Shui books in the past, but the author's clear instructions and enthusiasm has given me the confidence to actually try this at home.

I liked how the author reminded me to use this book as a guideline but to also trust my intuition. Do what looks and feels right for you. I also liked how the Resource section listed all the suppliers, organizations and further readings mentioned throughout the book.

Even if you aren't interested in Feng Shui, this book has valuable information about becoming an informed consumer and living a more eco-friendly life.

Armchair Interviews says read Harmonious Environment and get ready to change your life!

Fantastic book with tons of information.......2007-01-18

I got this wonderful book as we are moving our place of business, and wanted to make smart choices. From the first page, Ms. Lehmeier-Hartie shares her expertise in an organized, thoughtful way. The day after I got the book, I negotiated a much more logical and healthier ventilation system, and the section on colors was far and away the most organized and logical explanation I have ever seen.

Some aspects of our project are beyond our control, but I became a much more active participant. We anxiously await our new space, and know that the suggestions made here will add to the beauty and functionality of our space. I wish I could have rated this 10 stars!

VOC Emissions from Wastewater Treatment Plants: Characterization, Control and Compliance

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VOC Emissions from Wastewater Treatment Plants: Characterization, Control and Compliance

Manufacturer: CRC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Environmental Science | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Water Supply & Land Use | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books

Water Supply | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 1566768209

Book Description

Although primarily concerned with the treatment of wastewater and water quality, publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) are required to be in compliance with the Federal Clean Air Act and an increasingly stringent series of Clean Air Act Amendments to control emissions of odors, criteria pollutants, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). How POTWs demonstrate, document, or show compliance with federal and state or local quality laws and regulations can vary significantly from POTW to POTW and from state to state. VOC Emissions from Wastewater Treatment Plants: Characterization, Control, and Compliance provides the tools, concepts, policies, and information required to develop an air quality compliance plan and to assess the labor and capital requirements to maintain the plan's viability. With contributions from a panel of experts and authoritative editorial guidance, the book reflects many viewpoints and approaches based on various air quality compliance and assessment conditions and experiences. The editors use this body of knowledge to develop a clear picture of how to design, set up, and maintain a successful air quality compliance program. Building on this foundation, VOC Emissions from Wastewater Treatment Plants: Characterization, Control, and Compliance shows you how to create a comprehensive, complete program that includes POTW-specific air emissions inventory information, measurement techniques, and viable control options.

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Utterly haunting....
Disappointing
Folklore and mystery combined
Must read!
A lyrical labor of love, loss and beginning...

The Nature of Water and Air
Regina McBride
Manufacturer: Touchstone
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Family Saga | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Domestic Life | Women's Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Mothers & Children | Women's Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0743203232

Book Description

"My mother was never easy in the world of houses. She was a tinker, a traveler girl who had married a wealthy man. Her name was Agatha Sheehy....There are silences all around my mother's story."

So begins The Nature of Water and Air, set on a patch of Irish coast where, amid a flurry of whispers, we meet Agatha's only surviving daughter, Clodagh. Determined to secure her mother's elusive love and the truth about her, Clodagh is swept into a relationship with a handsome, isolated man. He brings her to the heart of her mother's story, where she must confront the questions "Does a truth change love?" and "What madness will come from chasing a secret?"

Powerfully sensitive, this startling debut novel about forbidden love will place Regina McBride among our most celebrated novelists.

Download Description

"My mother was never easy in the world of houses. She was a tinker, a traveler girl who had married a wealthy man. Her name was Agatha Sheehy....There are silences all around my mother's story." So begins The Nature of Water and Air, set on a patch of Irish coast where, amid a flurry of whispers, we meet Agatha's only surviving daughter, Clodagh. Determined to secure her mother's elusive love and the truth about her, Clodagh is swept into a relationship with a handsome, isolated man. He brings her to the heart of her mother's story, where she must confront the questions "Does a truth change love?" and "What madness will come from chasing a secret?" Powerfully sensitive, this startling debut novel about forbidden love will place Regina McBride among our most celebrated novelists.

Customer Reviews:

Utterly haunting...........2006-10-24

This is quite possibly the most haunting novel I have read in a very long time. Long after reading the last page the imagery and the story stays with me. The ancient legends of the selkie, the seal/women, has always been one of my favorites and McBride weaves the Irish legends and other folktales through her tale of a daughter's search for her strange and mysterious mother.

McBride's prose is lyrical and magical. Her characters seem strange and haunted and yet so familiar. This is classical romanticism in the best possible sense of those words. The Brontes would love it.

Disappointing.......2006-06-06

Sorry to disagree with the majority on this one. It started off well but soon descended into drek. The author seemed to be trying way too hard to create a magical-mystical Celtic creature out of her protagonist (who really was nothing more than a selfish girl who wanted her way at any cost). Kathryn Harrison didn't succed in glorifying incest (IMO), and neither can McBride. If you want good Irish lit, go back to Joyce or read Jane Urqhart, William Trevor, etc.

Folklore and mystery combined.......2004-03-21

This book is beautifully written, almost poetic. Regina McBride tells a gripping story that revolves around love, folklore, and the ability to find yourself.

Clodagh is on a journey to discover herself and the secrets of her family. She wants only to find some acceptance and love. She does find it but only to realize that other darker things are at work here.

The atmosphere in this story is what helps to make it so compelling. We can almost see the buildings, the water and the fires that burn. We can most definitely feel Clodagh's pain and anguish.

While this is a dark story, it is worth the read. I hated to see it end.

Must read!.......2003-09-03

Sure, it's melancholy. But it's so beautifully written and there are so many layers to these characters. This is a story that stays with you long after finishing. I'll definitely be picking up McBride's second novel.

A lyrical labor of love, loss and beginning..........2003-02-01

As dense with fable and mystery as the Irish coast, this is the work of a poet whose images are cast in the clothes of her luminous prose. The recurring theme throughout is of love and death, the bonds of attachment and the anguish of loss. This tale is so seductive as to draw the reader ever closer to the line between mythology and truth, where life is divided between reality and the insistent song of the sea. "It seemed to be the nature of water and air, to be random, heartless". Not so, this novel.

Young Clodagh Sheehy lives in thrall of her distant mother, Agatha, who comes from the world of itinerant tinkers, and listens carefully to the call of this wild land where they live. Agatha's actions are shrouded with secrecy and full of sexual innuendo, and she drifts just beyond her daughter's knowing, unwilling to be trapped by the child's need and loneliness.

Clodagh's fragile twin sister, Mare, has died and the girl wills Mare to remain, if only as her other half, the opposite coin of her identity. She plays the piano one-handed, leaving the other part, the other hand, for Mare, and sometimes stares into the cloudy mirror, hoping for a glimpse of her other self. Their father, Frank Sheehy, dies before the twin's birth, and Clodagh, in anguished desperation, clings to the only person remaining, her mother. But like the mythological selkie, half-seal, half-woman, Agatha returns to the depths of the sea, now lost as well. Cut adrift and friendless, but for a loving housekeeper, Clodagh begins a journey toward self-discovery, often tangled between the worlds of reality and superstition. In reaching out to identify the face of her mother, Clodagh discovers the truth of herself. Her adolescence is often painful and life changing, her passion for music frequently the only solace. Clodagh's dead father Frank, her possibly-alive real father, a tinker, and her early foray into sexuality are without satisfaction until she breaks free and claims herself.

Book Description

You can't help but be drawn into the elemental approach to spirituality detailed in these pages. Identifying the four basic elements as humanity's first ways of knowing Spirit and reminding us of their value for spiritual nourishment, Earth, Water, Fire, and Air reveals our human interconnectedness and offers a fascinating look at element-based symbols, traditions, and ceremonies. Explore the spiritual traditions that have incorporated the elements into their practices, including:

Buddhism
Christianity
Earth-honoring paths
Hinduism
Islam
Judaism

Creative activity suggestions serve to enrich our spiritual relationship with each element--both individually and in community with others--and to help us discover how deeply nourishing it can be to live in an elemental way.

Customer Reviews:

Pulls you into Yourself!.......2006-02-22

Cait Johnson is a gifted writer and has the ability to reach down into your soul and help you start a transformation within. This is a wonderful book to read on a quiet day when you are ready to soak up all the wisdom she offers. You may find yourself feeling you've moved up to a higher dimension as your mind 'walks' through this lovely book. It is one to drift back to time and again.

Earth, Water, Fire and Aire: Essential Ways of Connecting to.......2004-02-26

What a truly wonderful book! I highly recommend reading it. Ms. Johnson writes so beautifully that you feel as though you are right in the middle of her discription. Each chapter has a wonderful meditation you can follow, which are a lot of fun. I find the book to be relaxing, and inspirational as well as informative. Read it and enjoy!

Average customer rating:

Exquisitely done: a look at how different cultures have seen

Earth, Fire, Water, Air
Mary Hoffman
Manufacturer: Dutton Juvenile
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0525454209

Customer Reviews:

Exquisitely done: a look at how different cultures have seen.......2000-06-16

This book has some of the most fabulous artwork of all books. If you're not familiar with Jane Ray, you will never forget her amazing style after you see this book or a companion book entitled Sun, Moon and Stars. Mary Hoffman and Jane Ray team up to write and illustrate these books that show how many cultures have interpreted and been inspired by these elements and share myths, beleifs, and legends that reflect their power and influence.

Earth, Water, Fire, and Air: Playful Explorations in the Four Elements

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You need to be a master craftsman!

Earth, Water, Fire, and Air: Playful Explorations in the Four Elements
Walter Kraul
Manufacturer: Floris Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Science, Nature & How It Works | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Family Activities | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books

General | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books

Accessories:

ASIN: 0863154891

Customer Reviews:

You need to be a master craftsman!.......2007-08-14

This book is quite old fashioned and the ideas and machines are only viable if you or your partner happen to be a master woodwork craftsman. For example the water wheel looks amazing but totally out of my reach as a steiner inspired homeschool mother of two! Some creations are simple but I've seen them in other books as well. I chose this book as it was highly recommended by others and necessary for some waldorf curriculums. I therefore feel the need to balance these idealistic opinions with a dose of reality.I would not recommend this book to the general public and I regret wasting money on it.

Flying and Floating (Young Discoverers: Science Facts and Experiments)

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Flying and Floating (Young Discoverers: Science Facts and Experiments)
David Glover
Manufacturer: Kingfisher
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Science, Nature & How It Works | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0753455110

Book Description

How do hot-air balloons float? What is air made of? How is water power used? How does pollution affect our air and water supply? This book answers these questions and many more.

The Elements: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water

Average customer rating:

Not Mr. Wolfe's usual quality
Great Photos

The Elements: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water
Craig Childs
Manufacturer: Sasquatch Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Nature & Wildlife | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 1570614059

Book Description

Art Wolfe's sensitivity to his subject and his craft of photography are once again showcased in this stunning color collection of images for nature and photography lovers. Focusing his camera on the many shapes and forms of the elements — earth, air, fire, and water — Wolfe brings all his famed sense of composition, pattern, and light to expose our natural world's ever-changing beauty: the sensually shaped earth of the red rocky outcrops in America's Southwest; the vertical shifts of silver-slivered earth that form the mountain spine of South America; the mystical, metallic reflection of light on a pool high in the Canadian Rockies; the storming force of a waterfall in Africa. Through his emotive lens readers get a deep appreciation for and education in both the environment and photography. The reader's experience is further impassioned by Craig Child's four essays on the elements.

Customer Reviews:

Not Mr. Wolfe's usual quality.......2005-04-22

I have other books of his and I adore the photography. I did not think that the pictures were reproduced well in this book. Some are grainy. Not up to his usual quality

Great Photos.......2004-11-02

...of the earth and its atmosphere at its finest! How did the photographer know just where to be to get these wonderful photos? My entire family LOVES this book, discovered by my fourteen year old who loves to look at and study clouds. I bought the book for her because she BEGGED me for it! Truly a family favorite for years to come. BUY THIS BOOK! You won't be disappointed!

Air, Water, & Weather: Stop Faking It! Finally Understanding Science So You Can Teach It (Robertson, William C. Stop Faking It!,)

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Air, Water, & Weather: Stop Faking It! Finally Understanding Science So You Can Teach It (Robertson, William C. Stop Faking It!,)
William C. Robertson
Manufacturer: National Science Teachers Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Weather | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0873552385

The Elements: Earth Air Fire Water (How Artists See)

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The Elements: Earth Air Fire Water (How Artists See)
Colleen Carroll
Manufacturer: Abbeville Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Landscape Painting | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0789204762

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