Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #543226 in Books
• Published on: 2009-06-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780547073286
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

From Publishers Weekly
Canadian journalist Farquharson takes readers on her 366-day journey to live a more environmentally conscious lifestyle, making one positive change each day. While a few changes are worthy (the author sells her car), some seem a bit bizarre (she turns off her fridge and freezer—though she doesn't divulge exactly where her food is coming from after that point) and many are superficial or symbolic efforts rather than well thought out and executed commitments. In her first month, for example, she pledges to check her tire pressure and opt for natural glass cleaners, while three months later she's promising to fill the kettle with exact amount of water needed, recycle her wine corks and forgo Q-tips. While the details of her environmental crusade can weary, her griping about the efficacy of chemical-free shampoos and deodorants and the ugliness of sustainable footwear is fresh and funny; in these moments, Farquharson's appealing candor and nonsanctimonious attitude make other ecowarriors seem dour by comparison. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Toronto-based arts reporter Farquharson decides to take the green plunge and live as ecologically as possible for a year while blogging about her daily efforts and conundrums. Young and single, she worries about losing her hipster cred by acting like a hippie, so she begins her greening with “baby steps” while imagining Al Gore looking over her shoulder. Writing anecdotally with friendly candor and blithe humor, Farquharson makes each of her carefully considered attempts at reducing waste, pollution, and her carbon footprint entertaining and informative. Many of her strategies for sustainable living involve shopping, whether it’s using tote bags or selecting phosphate-free soaps and organic produce, and the very ordinariness of her choices drives home the fact that every aspect of our daily lives has an environmental impact. After she unplugs her refrigerator and gives up pajamas to cut down on laundry, Farquharson’s green year ends, and she discovers that her eco-practices have become a natural part of her life. Lively and specific, Farquharson’s forthright chronicle of the ups and downs of green awareness is the perfect book for eco-skeptics. --Donna Seaman

About the Author

Customer Reviews

Who would have thought green could be this fun?
To read about, that is - Vanessa certainly seems to have had her ups and downs over her year of making a new green change in her life every day. This book chronicles her 'greening' year, episode by episode. Each chapter covers a month, with a list of what changes she made that month first, and then a few select changes are highlighted with some commentary. (One of the few disappointments I had with the book was that a lot of the changes I was interested in weren't the ones chosen for commentary, alas!! But of course the book would have had to be a thousand pages long to include everything...)

Let's start with the lists at the beginning of each chapter - for one thing, if you are looking for some new ways to green up your own life, you are bound to find several things new to you here - Vanessa covers the gamut from, yes, selling her car and unplugging her fridge (which oddly enough she makes sound almost doable...) to tiny changes like 'eat ice cream only from a cone, not a cup' or 'shower in the dark' (she MUST have a window in her bathroom! I'd kill myself falling over something!!).

The commentary is great - no super-pious, greener-than-thou here! Sometimes she'll talk about some of her many misadventures along the way (worms from her compost bin on the living room floor), sometimes she'll talk about how something that sounds hard wasn't, or something that sounds easy, wasn't. Sometimes she takes herself seriously, sometimes not - which all in all, makes for a better read than a book that just takes one side or the other. It almost reads like - dare I say this for a 'green' book? - chick lit. If you enjoyed Julie and Julia, you'll enjoy Vanessa's similar tone (but not quite so many disasters!).

In keeping with the chick lit theme, yes, she does find love - I won't tell you who, but I will say I was surprised! It added a nice dimension to the litany of green episodes, gave it a 'hook'. I do wish she had spent a LITTLE more time telling us how they hooked up - one page she was beginning to think about him as a potential partner, a few pages later they are dating - aww, we missed the whole big 'he confesses his feelings' moment that any Jane Austen fan will tell you is by far the best part.

But that's a minor quibble - it is, after all, a book about how she greened her life, not a romantic diary. And BOY did she green her life - well done, Vanessa!! I got a lot of ideas for my own life (although DANG I'm jealous of the green options she has available in Canada that are simply NOT available in the Midwestern USA!), and I really enjoyed the book. If you are looking for a green read that's not oppressively heavy and guilt-inducing, and yet actually has some practical and out of the ordinary ideas, give this a read. You won't regret it.

Funny, endearing, not at all preachy.
What an enjoyable book! Vanessa Farquharson documents her 366 day year (aaargh. It had to be a leap year, didn't it?) of making one change per day to her lifestyle to become more "green." The author does not come off as smug or preachy AT ALL, though she makes some very radical changes in her life during her green year. She says, "...As more people ask me which [green] changes I think are most important to make, I now pause before answering, taking the time to consider what THEIR routine involves on a daily basis, where THEY live, and what THEY value---because while I, personally, was discovering how little I needed a fridge, not everyone can deal with vases full of carrots and room-temperature hemp milk. (165)" Indeed.

Some of the author's green changes seem uninspired, but she had to come up with one a day for a year, so that's understandable. Some of the changes are radical and shocking (worm-based compost in the living room, anyone?). Throughout the book, her struggle to make green choices and live with them is funny and endearing. She, like most of us, is trying to make good choices in a world full of conflicting information. "Does this mean we shouldn't bother making any changes because critics and scientists keep changing their minds? Of course not. But I do wish it were possible to get a better grasp on which ones have the biggest impact, rather than taking 366 stabs in the dark and hoping for the best. (258)"

I am not a vegan or nearly as green as I could be, but the book made me think of some small green changes I could make. I'm not giving up toilet paper, though. Yikes.

As a Vine reviewer, I was given a complimentary copy of this book. I try to help other potential readers by revealing whether I would have purchased this book, had it not been given to me, and whether I would have been pleased with my choice. I probably would have purchased this book, if I had heard about it, and I would have been pleased with my purchase.

Some genuine ideas for going 'green', others not that good.
The author explores quite a few 'green' ideas. What I enjoyed was that she was typically doing this on a low budget with easy-to-get materials. There are some genuinely excellent way to go green in this book that have little to no effect on your daily life - this is a big plus! Other ideas are a bit lame, but that's to be expected when you're trying to find a new 'green' living style every single day of an entire year.

Writing style is good, down-to-earth, a little inexperienced, but definitely funny in some areas. We are using 10+ of her examples in our daily lives now, but skipped a few others. For example, CFL light bulbs are great at 'sipping' energy, but they contain Mercury which means they MUST be recycled properly. The toxic chemical combined with additional energy required to recycle the bulb just doesn't seem that 'green'.

Overall, a fun read and you'll definitely learn a few ways to be more environmentally friendly... you'll also probably discover your green 'limits', or what you're not willing to do.