Environmental audit for Benedictine communities

Q: Do you know where I can find the book “Listening to the Earth”? It is a manual for Benedictine communities to set up an environmental audit, and includes inventories for drinking water quality and for sanitation and waste.
(policy maker, The Netherlands)

Answer: Thank you for bringing our attention to this book. You can find the book here:

Bartlett, W. et al. (2006). Listening to the earth : an environmental audit for Benedictine communities. London, UK, Earth Force, Inc. Available at: http://www.arcworld.org/downloads/Listening%20to%20the%20Earth%20(English).pdf [1.2 MB]

Also available in Spanish and Portuguese.

For those who do not know this book yet, a short description (taken from the preface of the book): The main intentions of this manual are to (1) educate the reader about environmental problems and crises being faced by the world’s populations today, (2) to provide the communities that utilize the manual with a means of assessing how their daily practices may contribute to these problems, and (3) offer ideas and resources regarding better practices.

Water and Sanitation and waste are two of the five subject areas covered in the manual. It includes many cheap, effective solutions for low-income monasteries and their lay and surrounding communities. The book ends with guidelines on how to develop an action plan.

While most of the explanatory text focuses on the conditions of the LAC region, the main environmental principles that underlie the regional-specific information are applicable to any region of the world.