Title: Green Greener Greenest
Author: Lori Bongiorno
Publisher: Perigee (Penguin)
Genre: Nature/Organic Living
Length: 310 pages
Written by a journalist and freelance writer, GreenGreenerGreenest is a concise but thorough way to get up to date information and advice on how to handle the green movement in your life.
This is a handy reference book that should be on the shelf of every self-proclaimed hippie, home owner, or human being. Yes, it’s that useful and that important.
There’s so much information out there about how to live an eco-friendly life, and so many opinions on which way is correct. GreenGreenerGreenest takes all the advice, all the information, and categorizes it for you so you can select which option works for your life and budget. It helps people see clear cut options for how to go as green as you can in every area of your existence without shaming you for not being able to do it perfectly in all of them. Sometimes going green is what you can afford, sometimes being greenest is easiest, either way Bongiorno helps clear the red tape of confusion and spells out what is what.
There are a lot of things discussed that I already knew about, things I thought everyone probably knows. But there are twice as many things that I read that I had never given a second thought to. For instance, I had no idea you could get reusable menstrual pads, not sure why it didn’t occur to me, but it didn’t. It’s the greener option. (Green being using chlorine free and chemical free ones made by companies like Seventh Generation.) My response to that was similar to my response to Merriweather of Foraging Texas cooking June bugs for breakfast – I’m not that hippie yet. Bongiorno makes me feel like that’s ok. I can choose a greenest option in another category to make up for it.
Which I do in my house, little did I know. We have ripped out all our carpets and have concrete flooring. Mostly because we’re poor and concrete floors are cheap – your foundation is already there whether you like it or not. I already knew carpets weren’t the best for your health (dust, dust mites, allergens, dirt, overall ick), but I hadn’t thought of it as “green” living. We live with area rugs we can remove from the house to clean. Area rugs last longer and keep you healthier… and apparently is better for the environment as most carpeting is made with petroleum products.
Food and Beverages, Personal Care, Babies and Children, Transportation, and more, Bongiorno covers it all, and provides links and websites when helpful. Love it.
Photograph by Joel Robison
