A Celebrity's (Green) Life
Written: Apr 18 '08 (Updated Apr 19 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good advice
Cons: None
The Bottom Line: Handy book, well organized and easy to use.
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| pambo's Full Review: Ed Begley Jr. - Living Like Ed |
If you've been paying attention lately, you may have run across a story about actor Ed Begley Jr. and his environmentalism. He pedals a bike to generate electricity; he drives a fuel-efficient car and so on.
But best of all, he tells his own story well, with his book, "Living Like Ed: A Guide to the Eco-Friendly Life," in which he explains, in a relatively humble way, his long commitment to living a sustainable lifestyle.
In addition, his wife, Rachelle, regularly chimes in with commentary and her candid explanations of her own reluctance to join in her husband's more thorough commitments.
He believes in trying to "Live simply so others may simply live," while she does, too, but also wants to live with style and class. No humble shack in the woods for her and together, they have put together a pretty nice yet sustainable lifestyle. As she says, "In this book, I speak for the "average guy," the one who can't always remember which kind of plastic can go into the recycling bin--or who can't understand why a rain barrel has to be big and orange and ugly. Surely there must be an attractive rain barrel out there someplace!"
So she weighs in with her thoughts just about at the point where Begley's proposals might seem a little daunting to someone just beginning to consider environmentalism.
He first addresses people's fears that going green means shivering in the dark (and as someone who has been turning down the thermostat all winter to save money and to cut down on wasted oil, I can appreciate that concern), and says it's not about suffering. It's about being smart, to simplify things, save energy, save money and improve the environment. These are not incompatible goals.
Begley outlines six main areas for going green and a few tips:
Home--change the lightbulbs, insulate, use the dishwasher less
Transportation--Bicycle, public transportation, try a fuel-efficient vehicle
Recycling--Sort your trash, reuse, donate
Energy--use off-peak, go solar, reduce
Garden and kitchen--grow at least some of your own food, plant trees, buy local food
clothing, hair and skin care--wear organic clothing, use organically produced cosmetics.
The book also offers a workbook at the end where readers can list what steps they've taken and, using Begley's estimates, figure out what they've saved by doing so.
Most of the ideas aren't terribly new; what's good is how they are presented, organized in a way by subject and cost so it's easy to pick and choose what might be the first thing to tackle.
And he puts them all in the context of:
Easy changes--those requiring little or no expense or effort, while most likely saving you money.
Not-so-big changes: These are likely to cost you anywhere from $50 to $500 but have measurable impacts.
Big changes: Significant upfront expenditures for longer-term goals.
Each of Begley's suggestions is accompanied by a little tree symbol because he sees making changes as analogous to picking fruit. Easy changes are just the little tree or low-hanging fruit, bigger ones a tree and a step ladder and big changes, a tree with a ladder reaching to the top of its branches.
For example, in the home chapter, buying earth-friendly cleaning supplies is easy; adding insulation could be a big change, costing $500 or more. On a dishwasher, adding a more efficient dishwasher might costs $200 or more; skipping the heated dry cycle is free.
And so it goes. Begley has a nice writing style and the little tree symbols are cute, though not too much so.
We even get some recipes, including lentil soup from Ed and poached salmon from Rachelle, and lots of pictures of Ed.
I'm particularly interested in his drought-resistant gardening techniques. I live in an area that seems more than adequately supplied with good water but someday, that might not be true. Why waste? I hope to explore his techniques a little this summer and have already taken steps to turn some lawn areas into gardens instead of grassy patches; the gardens will need less water.
Like a lot of early environmentalists, Begley has run into people a little concerned that he might be judging them for their behavior, he says, and the fact that he sells a line of cleaning supplies, Begley's Best, has some people thinking that he's hit rock bottom. But he soldiers on, committed to what works for him and trying, ever so gently, to make it easier for the rest of us to get onboard.
It's easy to make fun of celebrities climbing on the bandwagon of the latest cause but I've always thought that whatever it takes to persuade people to take action is okay--if you need a celebrity's encouragement, so be it. In Begley's case he's been taking on green issues since the original Earth Day in 1970. He's no johnny-come-lately and he's living what he preaches.
Please join in my Earth Day writeoff. Other reviews are linked from my profile page.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
pambo
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Member: Pam
Location: Long Island
Reviews written: 430
Trusted by: 225 members
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