Summer Reading: The Green Book
For Father’s Day this year my wife bought me a little green book filled with very simple steps you can take in your everyday life to help save the planet. It’s a perfect example of how environmentalism can be made more relevant to people like my wife, who get lost reading depressing scientific discourses about global warming, but want to make a difference in the choices they make day-to-day.
Written by Elizabeth Rogers (creator of MTVs Trippin) and Thomas M. Kostigen (writer of the Dow Jones MarketWatch “Ethics Monitor”) the book incorporates just enough Hollywood star power among its myriad eco-tips to grab the attention of readers who prefer E! News to BBC News: Justin Timberlake, Jennifer Aniston, Will Farrell and Martha Stewart are among the names that contribute anecdotes to the list of suggestions, which are broken down into chapters addressing various aspects of living. A quote from the “Travel” section that inspired me on my current trip to Nicaragua:
Water Bottles
Use and refill a single water bottle, thermos or canteen when you travel. The average person in the United States drinks eight ounces of bottled water per day. Considering that plastic is derived from petroleum, it takes 1.5 million barrels of oil annually to satisfy America’s demand for bottled water. If this oil were converted to gasoline, the total could fuel five hundred thousand station wagons to take their families on coast-to-coast road trips.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 10th, 2007 at 5:49 pm and is filed under Sustainability, Environmental Change, Positive Change. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
July 11th, 2007 at 9:00 am
Sounds like a great book! I’m going to check it out
On a side note consider a little research before refilling your plastic water bottles - from what I’ve researched most are only designed to hold up to ONE USE and then the plastic begins to partially break down and release toxic chemicals into the water (esp. when heated - like sitting in your car in the summer) PLus bacteria is also an issue.
Best bet I’ve found is snatch yourself up a Stainless Steel OR Glass water bottle to refill. (klean kanteen and New Wave Enviro and SIGG offer these options)
Happy Drinking and Greening our lifestyles!!
Cheers!