Over the past year, I have been building quite the collection of books about how to become more environmentally conscious and limit my own carbon footprint. Since I am a collector by nature, I have compiled many books on this topic. I have not read them all yet, but by simply browsing through them I have picked up many tips on how to decrease my impact on the environment. I am also able to set a positive example for my children and even help keep my electric and water bills down. Many of the tips discussed in the books are quite easy and cost little to nothing to implement.
The Green Book
By Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas M. Kostigen
With a forward by Cameron Diaz and William McDonough
ISBN: 9780307381354. You can see the cover here.
This is the first book I chose to review for this blog because it is well-organized, practical, and relatively painless to implement into your daily life. There are chapters dedicated to different elements of every day life such as home, work, shopping, entertainment, and finance. Just about every recommendation comes with the corresponding impact it has on the environment. For example, setting your thermostat a degree lower for heat and a degree higher for air conditioning could save you $100 a year on the utility bill; if every American did that, we’d save $10 billion in energy costs (page 2). Did you know that microwaves use less energy than traditional ovens? Between 3.5 and 4.8 times as much. If every American when to microwaves only for a year, we would save the same amount of energy as the entire continent of Africa would consume at the same time (page 4). Wow.
If the accessibility of the subject weren’t enough, the book comes with quite a bit of celebrity firepower. Each of the 12 chapters includes an essay from celebrities such as Faith Hill, Dale Earnhardt, Robert Redford, Will Ferrell, and Tiki Barber. You learn that the children of Faith Hill and Tim McGraw are big recyclers and keep their mom and dad in check. You also hear from Tiki Barber who explains how keeping a healthy body goes hand-in-hand with a healthy environment. Jennifer Aniston talks about limiting her showers to 3 minutes. Will Ferrell discuss the love of his electric car that gets up to 80 miles per charge and has NO emissions – a great choice for city driving.
Recommended for: Everyone. I guarantee just about everyone on the planet will learn from this book, and it is a fantastic way to ease into a greener life. Change your decision-making process and change the world.
