The Funniest 'Green' Book You'll Read

Posted by Tara Lohan, AlterNet at 5:07 PM on January 14, 2008.

There's a lot of books out there about how to green you life, but the folks at Grist, took a stab at their own version (Wake Up and Smell the Planet). And it's very, well, Grist -- which, if you aren't a regular reader of their environmental news and commentary, means it's pretty damn amusing.

It opens:

We bet we can guess what your morning routine looks like: You gently click off your solar-powered alarm clock, crawl out of your hemp sheets, don organic cotton slippers and a recycled fleece robe, and shuffle across your bamboo floors to the bathroom, where you bathe in rainwater and botanicals harvested from your own garden.

Not quite? Good

The book is a reality check of sorts for the average eco-minded individual or those looking to get more green. The narrative follows the course of the day and provides information about everything from shaving tips to car choices to kitty litter disposal. The style is fun and engaging -- and at times, even downright funny. But that's Grist's trademark. As their editor's describe the book: "It's a guide to making it through your day with your values -- and your sanity -- in tact. And it's proof that you can help the planet and have a little fun along the way." Hey, if you can't laugh at global warming, what can you laugh at, right?

And if if you think you're pretty eco-conscious already, there is still some fun facts to learn. Here's some of my favorites:

• "Some 20 billion diapers are buried in US landfills per year, representing about 7 billion pounds of garbage."
• You can flush dog poop down the toilet but not cat poop (and ironically, it seems you can potty train cats, but not dogs -- drat!).
• "There is a Green Wi-Fi project, which has developed a solar-powered wireless router that can run for up to four weeks even in prolonged periods of gray skies."
• Burning a single gallon of gas produces 20 pounds of C02.

• Lunch boxes are hipper than tupperware.
• "Americans are said to throw away enough aluminum in three months to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet."
• "The average dishwasher uses about 15 gallons of water per load, while the average dish-washer (that would be you) uses about 5 gallons of water per minute at the sink.
• The US airline industry uses 53 million gallons of jet fuel each day.

Some of the information in the book, is pretty easy -- like changing your shampoo. But you can also take things to a higher level by considering your larger environmental impact in the way you travel and eat and how your place of employment operates. The sky is the limit -- so get reading.

Tagged as: green living, wake up and smell the pla, books, enviro, grist

Tara Lohan is a managing editor at AlterNet.