Book Review: The Lazy Environmentalist On A Budget

[wrenb]

This morning I went on a green housekeeping book binge at the library in the hopes of finding something good to write a book review about for publication in my neighborhood newsletter. Let me tell you right now, The Lazy Environmentalist On A Budget by Josh Dorfman has not made the cut.

Comments

[ricevermicelli]

That is spectacularly wasteful advice. But Real Simple is a consumer guide to spectacularly expensive things. I suppose life might be simpler if you had fewer things even if they were more expensive (I'm thinking of Sam Vimes' rumination on the comparative cost and longevity of boots), but the editors of Real Simple can't get behind that - they have to fill up a magazine, and sell new ads, every month.

Book Review: The Lazy Environmentalist On A Budget

[wrenb]

That is why I wouldn't have minded this content in a magazine. But this is a book, and it really bothered me.

[beth_leonard]

On one hand I have to agree that as long as good is done, the motivation is irrelevant. On the other hand, I am opposed to fleecing the consumer by putting an "environmentally friendly" label on a product.

I'm certainly opposed to fleecing the consumer, on the other hand, I'm very wary of developing a religious "Greener than thou" attitude which is unproductive. One of the articles I read recently said that the new rage in couples therapy is resolving environmental differences. Both members of a pair want to do the "right" thing, but disagree about the degree to which it is to be done, and when one partner bikes 7 miles to work daily but throws a plastic water bottle directly in the trash when no recycling can was readily available, the other thinks it's grounds for divorce.

When green becomes a moral issue, I have a problem with it.

--Beth

[countessof_roth]

MY mother in law bought me a book. It was something like "green guide for moms". Which was sweet of them. Then I started reading it. I was like "uhhh I can't take this book home"

It was a book on how to be a green mom alright, but a CHRISTIAN green mom.

I don't know if she picked it up unintentionally (my fervent hope) or on purpose to make a point (my biggest fear).