Book Review: Green Made Easy

You may have heard the recent news that we are all suffering from green fatigue. Reader’s Digest did a survey that revealed we’re switching off to eco advice, and despite many of us believing that we should be doing more ‘green’ things, that belief isn’t translating into taking action.

The recently published Green Made Easy: The Everyday Guide for Transitioning to a Green Lifestyle by Chris Prelitz presents a solution to our eco overload. And the book begins by busting the myths about being ‘green’ including the disillusioning belief that small changes don’t matter. We underestimate the cumulative effect of many small changes that we each make over time and the cumulative effect of millions of people making small changes.

This book definitely lives up to it’s title. It’s a handy reference that cuts through all the overwhelming info that’s out there and makes ‘green’ choices so simple. You don’t need to drive a hybrid car to be green, this book provides ways to be green across all aspects of our daily lives.

Green Made Easy is easy to read and well set out. It includes quite a lot of info but in easy to consume bite size chunks, with plenty of references to extra resources. One of the most important things to learn is to ask the right questions of the products that we buy, this book gives us the resources to be able to ask those questions and find the answers.

The book covers a huge range of topics including ways to green your:

• wardrobe
• personal care products and cosmetics
• food and drink
• kids and pets
• cleaning supplies
• garden
• rooms and furnishings
• appliances
• workplace
• travel

One of the interesting points that the author makes is that it is better to make the small and inexpensive changes first before moving onto bigger investments like installing solar panels because you’ll get better use out of your solar panels if your house is already set up to be energy efficient.

If you’re wanting to go green but don’t know where to start, then Green Made Easy is a great resource. My approach would be to pick one point at a time, maybe one a week, build a new habit and go from there. For example, there are plenty of points on how to eat ‘greener’ but it can be overwhelming trying remember and do all of them at once, so I would pick one and when that becomes easy and second nature,  I would pick another. Or maybe when it comes time purchase new things you could consider a ‘greener’ option. For example, when it comes time to buy new shampoo, you might look into an alternative to your regular brand.

Going green doesn’t have to be hard, nor does it have to be an all or nothing approach. Like anything, it’s about forming new habits over time. I loved this book. I actually borrowed it from our local library, but think it’s such a great resource, it’s gone on my wish list. Green Made Easy is definitely the antidote to eco overload.

Have you read these posts?

1. Book Review: Little Book Of Big Savings
2. Book Review: Think and Grow Rich
3. Book Review: Flirting With Finance
4. Book Review: Your Mortgage And How To Pay It Off In Five Years By Someone Who Did It In Three
5. save money on the bills by going green