Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices: Practical Advice from the Union of Concerned Scientists

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Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices: Practical Advice from the Union of Concerned Scientists

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Topics include: common water pollution, toxic water pollution, intercity bus travel, impact per dollar, curbside programs, household operations, garbage crisis, comparative risk assessment, curbside recycling programs, yard care, yard equipment

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Paper or plastic? Cloth or disposable? Regular or organic? Every day, environmentally conscious consumers are faced with the overwhelming catch-22 of a capitalist society--reconciling the harm we do by consuming, while still providing ourselves and our families with the goods and services we need. It's enough to make a city dweller crazy. Fret no more! The Union of Concerned Scientists has put together a well-researched and eminently practical guide to the decisions that matter. The authors hope that the book will help you set priorities, stop worrying about insignificant things, and understand the real environmental impacts of household decisions. For instance, you may be surprised to learn that buying and eating meat and poultry is much more harmful to the environment than the packaging the meat is wrapped in, even if it's Styrofoam. This guide takes on both sides of the consumer-impact argument, goring sacred cows of the environmentalist movement (like the strident emphasis on recycling) and the industrialist perspective (like the relentless message to buy more, more, more). If you're confused and overwhelmed by all the environmental decision-making in the modern world, you'll find new inspiration in this book. --Therese Littleton From School Library Journal
YA-Brower and Leon, along with input from their colleagues, present statistics, describe solutions, and endorse steps for readers to take to live more ecologically based lifestyles as consumers of the Earth's resources. They encourage individuals to go beyond basic recycling and to look at changing the policies of government and large institutions, explain how negatively consumer choices can affect the environment, and present a quantitative analysis of which items most affect the environment. Important information is dramatically put forth in highlighted boxes of lists. The authors stress the fact that choice is the optimal word for today's consumers and some choices are easier than others. They wisely point out that some consumers don't have the leeway to make what might be considered the most ecological of choices available and present different styles of compromise in a variety of situations. A list of active Web sites for additional information and other pertinent resources is appended. Young adults interested in effecting change will find sources to help in their search as well as proven research to help them make their own decisions. Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist
With all the conflicting information floating around about environmental issues, many consumers are confused. The Union of Concerned Scientists has responded with sound, practical advice, based on thoughtful analysis of how our ordinary daily actions affect the environment. For folk who love lists, the volume ranks the leading consumption-related environmental problems (air and water pollution, global warming, and habitat alteration); suggests nearly a dozen "priority actions" in the areas of transportation, food, and household operations; urges readers to avoid or reduce "high-impact activities" (using powerboats, pesticides and fertilizers, gas-powered yard equipment, fireplaces and wood stores, and products made from endangered or threatened species); and provides "Seven Rules for Responsible Consumption" and "Four Key Government Strategies" for which citizens can lobby. Other useful features of the book include copious charts and graphs; an epilogue that traces American attitudes about consumption "From Walden to Wal-Mart" and contains an explanation of the authors' research methods and results; and a resource list (books, periodicals, and Web sites). Mary Carroll Review
"Too many people drive their Land Rovers to the grocery store and think that 'paper or plastic' is a meaningful choice. The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices will help you distinguish the crucial from the trivial and make choices that are congruent with your values." --Denis Hayes, Chair, Earth Day 2000 "This engaging book gives consumers the information they need to vote with their wallets for a better environmental future."
--Gary Hirshberg, President, Stonyfield Farm Yogurt Review
"This engaging book gives consumers the information they need to vote with their wallets for a better environmental future."
--Gary Hirshberg, President, Stonyfield Farm Yogurt About the Author
MICHAEL BROWER, PH.D., is a physicist and expert on energy and environmental issues. WARREN LEON, PH.D., is deputy director for programs at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Since 1969, the Union of Concerned Scientists has brought scientists and citizens together to work for a healthy environment and a safe world.

First Sentence:
"Amy Dacyczyn didn't start reusing vacuum cleaner bags, composting drier lint, and turning tuna fish cans into cookie cutters in order to preserve the environment, but some environmental activists have called her a hero."

Reviews:

If you're like me, you feel overwhelmed at times with environmental problems: global warming, water depletion and pollution, ozone alerts, animal waste runoff, garbage, plastic, etc. etc. So much seems to be broken that it's difficult to figure out what to begin fixing--especially when you're just an average consumer. Where to begin? And even if you do begin, can you really make a difference? The virtue of this *Consumer's Guide* is that the authors help us separate the urgent from the not-so-urgent, the easily doable from the this'll-take-more-time-and-effort. They pinpoint three major areas in our consumption in which we can make immediate changes that really do impact for the better on the environment: vehicle usage, how we heat/cool our homes,and what we eat. Almost all of us use our cars more than we need to, and a growing number of us have vehicles much larger than we really need; all of us can do better about insulating our homes, cutting down on electricity, and using environmental-friendly appliances; and we don't really need to eat as much meat as we do--growing food animals is a colossal waste of grain protein as well as a major water and air polluter. Just as handy, the *Consumer Guide* gives tips for social and political as well as individual action. Changing one's own behavior is essential; but building coalitions with others and putting pressure on corporations and the government to be more eco-responsible is essential too. Finally, Susan Strasser's concluding essay, "From Walden to Wal-Mart," a reflective analysis of our consumerist culture, is by itself worth the price of the book. Very nice indeed! So get this book, read it, and take hope: you CAN make a difference!

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.

I read this book about 2 years ago so the details have certainly gone in one eye and out the other (As opposed to ears). But, there is one idea this book told me about conservation. Don't sweat most of the small stuff. Concentrate on the 2 primary causes...everything else flows from that. **** There are only two things to be "concerned about" 1) Don't buy more house than you NEED (Not want) and live closer together or in multi-story condos/townhomes, which is related to 2) Don't be so reliant on cars - live closer to work and get educated and involved to encourage intelligent city design. **** This all makes sense. Generally speaking (With some additions of my own): Bigger homes = more stuff (furniture, knick knacks). More stuff = More giant sprawling, ugly superstores (Wal Mart, Home Depot, Target, etc...) with huge fields of asphalt (Low grade crude oil) parking lots. More giant stores = more consumerism. More consumerism = more slaving away at the job. More slaving = less vacation to get perspective. Less perspective = more belief that stuff is the cure for an "empty" life. More stuff = more "Catching up with the Jones (CUWJ). More CUWJ = more superficiality. More superficiality = less spirituality (If you didn't get there earlier). Bigger homes = bigger lawns = more pesticides = ground water contamination. (Oh yeah...more polluting "high emission" lawn equipment.) Bigger homes = More sprawl. More sprawl = more cars. More cars = more accidents and time wasted in traffic. More accidents = More danger for children. More danger = more reliance on parents as chauffeurs. More cars = less non-exercise walking. Less non-exercise walking = weight gain. More weight gain = more time wasted at gym to burn off extra calories from more eating. More eating = less animals, more grazing / farmland. Less animals = less appreciation for nature. Somewhere in there I missed: - More cars = more greenhouse gases = more global warming =
- More cars = more petroleum = more wars =
- Bigger homes = more wood required = more forest cutdown = less nature
- More weight gain = less attractive women (In my book anyway).
I could probably go on and on but you get the idea. Someday, if I think hard enough, maybe I will make an entire unbroken chain of connections. Improvements to this book (Again from recollection - so don't tar and feather me if I'm wrong!) could be more visuals. There were plenty of tables from my recollection, but more visuals like graphs and charts. I recommend for further reading Car Free Cities by JH Crawford. www.carfree.com ; Many ideas and places to consider visiting. To see for your own eyes that cars are NOT required at all or AS MUCH to live happily and harmoniously - and ideas that you can take to your city planners.