Review by Erika Mitchell for The Consumer’s Guide to Effective Environmental Choices: Practical Advice from The Union of Concerned Scientists
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This book is a guide to spending your money in a way that does less harm to the environment than the way you are spending it now. The authors began their book by undertaking a project to identify the greatest environmental problems caused by consumer activities, and find ways to measure which consumer activities cause the most damage. First, they gathered data about environmental problems, compared the data and analyzed the numbers. Through this research, they determined that the greatest environmental problems in the US related to consumer activities are air pollution, global warming, habitat alteration, and water pollution. Having determined the greatest environmental problems related to consumption, they then looked at all the ways a household consumes, and quantified the percent of the household’s total environmental damage caused by each item on their list. This enabled them to determine which items on the list are most damaging. Another way they looked at consumption was to take the average cost of each item on the list, and calculate the environmental damage associated with each dollar of expenditure in that category. This is used to find which items on the list give us the worst bang for the buck.Based on these numerical calculations, the authors determined that the worst consumer activities that the average household engages in are cars and light trucks, meat and poultry, fruit, vegetables, and grains, home heating, hot water, and air conditioning, household appliances and lighting, home construction, and household water and sewage. With the worst activities identified in this way, they go on to make the following suggestions to address these specific items: choose a place to live that reduces the need to drive; think twice before purchasing another car; choose a fuel-efficient, low-polluting car; set goals for reducing your travel; whenever practical, walk, bicycle, or take public transportation; eat less meat, buy certified organic produce; choose your home carefully; reduce the environmental costs of heating and hot water; install efficient lighting and appliances; choose an electricity supplier offering renewable energy. The authors also point out some non-issues, like landfill space, paper vs. plastic shopping bags, disposable vs. cloth diapers, styrofoam cups, and cotton vs. synthetic materials for clothing. In each of these cases, either the environmental harm of the item is often played up out of proportion to the harm caused by other consumer activities, or the two choices are more or less equal in terms of environmental damage caused. The authors argue that if we really want to make a difference, we need to focus our efforts on the big items, like transportation, food, and housing, rather than on these minor items. There’s no sense putting a lot of effort into using cloth napkins instead of paper while ignoring the fact that you have an old water-hog clothes washer and an electric full-time water heater in a room lit by incandescent bulbs. The authors also include a chapter on priority actions government should take to decrease damage to the environment. There is an epilogue by Susan Strasser covering the history of consumption in America, an appendix, where the authors describe their research methods and results, a second appendix providing resources for concerned consumers, footnotes citing sources of data and statistics, and an index.Overall, I found the book quite interesting. In reading the appendix covering the methods and results, I am not completely convinced I agree with all of their methodology. In general though, the results the authors come to are plausible. One direction I would like to investigate next is to complete the cost-benefit analysis. In this book, the authors mainly focus on costs- -what are the environmental costs of each activity? But what if we were to focus on benefits instead, and ask, what are the environmental benefits of taking each action that they suggest? For example, if all Americans gave up their private cars and trucks tomorrow in favor of public transit and bikes, the environmental benefits would be obviously tremendous. But what would happen if all Americans became vegetarians tomorrow? How would the environmental impact shake out then? It would be interesting for the authors to do a follow-up study that quantifies potential environmental improvements based on each type of consumer action aimed at reducing environmental costs. These results could be compared with the costs of the associated actions to the consumers in terms of money and time. Then we would have even better answers about prioritizing our actions aimed at lessening our environmental load.

Review by Margaret E. Haynes for The Consumer’s Guide to Effective Environmental Choices: Practical Advice from The Union of Concerned Scientists
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This book is challenging but worthwhile for young people of college age, the ones inheriting our environment in the next century, for better or worse. On my first reading, I was struck by the motivating use of concrete examples and the effort by the authors to make complex issues clear. Most important, this book addresses the central ethical choices we are making each day which affect our environment, choices we too easily make without being aware of their implications.I selected this book to teach in freshman college composition at our community college because current research shows American high school students are more challenged by informational reading, but this is a book by which informational reading can connect directly to everyday life. With this concrete connection to their lives, students have much material to write about at various levels ranging from concrete to abstract.Students are challenged by the cause-effect implications in the book as well as by the numberical literacy involved in reading of various charts and graphs. I have provided worksheets and writing assignments to support student growth in this area. So far, the groans of the early part of the semester seem to give way to enthusiasm as students use the content and the resources in the appendix to develop their own research projects on topics ranging from Great Lakes Pollution to lightbulb or clothing choices.Some might criticize this book for its lack of illustration–the current generation reads much more enthusiastically with visual enhancements to text. However, since the appendix provides lists of related Web Sites, students can easily find their own access to related pictures.At first, I was disappointed that the authors did not discuss family size and population pressures in greater detail. But the three-page discussion that is included, roping off this area as one to be dealt with by individual couples with a right to their own faith and values, is sensitive and appropriate.One other critique might address the vocabulary level: Although I find the range of vocabulary suitable but challenging for community college freshmen, a high school class would have more difficulty with it. Nevertheless, I chose this book as the one to give for graduation gifts last summer–no material could be of greater importance to the high school graduate setting out on his or her own into the world of environmental choice

Review by Daniel McCauley for The Consumer’s Guide to Effective Environmental Choices: Practical Advice from The Union of Concerned Scientists
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This book is now a bit dated. The largest impact we make on the environment according to the authors is driving a car. What, in 2007, is the best environmental car choice, a hybrid (what happens when all these batteries die?) or a high mileage diesel that the European car makers are building?

Likewise, in home heating, now that there are tax credits for energy efficient home improvements, what is the most cost effective thing we can do that makes a difference?

I would like to read something a little more up to date on these topics, but this book was a good readable into to making good choices.