Living Green
Some people in the world have held demonstrations and campaigns for protecting the environment.
Others, however, have different concerns about it. They include health related concerns and an easy life on this planet. This book is a guide for such people, helping them on the measures that they can take to contain some of the environmental challenges in life. The general condition of the world has continued to worsen as a result of natural cataclysms, erection of nuclear power plants and increased industrialization, especially in the western countries. In fact, some environmental activists have observed that unless all individuals take full responsibility of the situation and take action, the world will be gone. The population of the world is increasing at an alarming rate.
Pollution has also taken centre stage in the developed countries. We have seen presidents of the G8 countries meeting to resolve the issue of pollution on several occasions. All this efforts have been futile, yielding little fruits. There is a need for everybody to take full responsibility of the environment around him or her, as well as his or her personal health. The types of foods that we take massively affect the overall health conditions of individuals causing health complications, especially among young children and the aged. Many at times misunderstand the concept of living a green life.
Anything we do that has a positive effect on the environment is living a green life. One can embrace the art of living a green life by accepting a new perception towards the environment and the way we relate with the things that we manufacture. According to this book, one can term living green as an attempt by individuals to meet and respond to present needs and wants, but not at the expense of future generations, future climatic conditions, and the general atmospheric conditions in the latter stages of life. In summary, this guide provides readers with basic knowledge on recommendations for living a green life. The first guide is about some of the organic foods that individuals should eat in order to lower the amount of herbicides, antibiotics, pesticides, or hormones.
In this section, the author gives recommendations on how some of the organic foods can help improve the general health conditions of individuals. He continues to ascertain that these foods must be in the right proportions and undergo a thorough preparation process. Majority of this foods are organic. This relates to going green in the sense that individuals will be more natural; a move that will improve thei immune system in an immense way. The author also highlights some ways that we can put in practice to reduce the effects of global warming, and the causes too.
In this section, he makes a number of recommendations. For example, he proposes that individuals should embrace the use of public transport means and not private cars. This will immensely reduce the level of pollution and depletion of O-zone layer. He also suggests that we embrace new sources of power generation, like wind power, which are renewable. This will immensely reduce carbon emissions. Another one is the reduction of electricity usage to maximum levels.
Most households are never serious on the way they use their electricity. Cases of leaving power on after use are very common. This contributes to global warming. He also gives suggestions on the most effective solutions to personal care and products that clean and maintain lawns. The book provides adequate alternatives to these solutions too.This guide also gives an analysis of the effect of soft plastic water bottles on the health of human beings and the environment.
Some of the suggestions that the book gives include filtering of tap water using a water filter. This is usually the case if an individual’s main concern is chemical components like lead and mercury. Another suggestion is the use of metallic water bottles, which are durable and safe. Alternatively, one can use biota-bottled water. The component of this bottle is pure corn, which is a renewable resource.
It can decompose in less than 80 days. This reduces health hazards, especially to soil. The book also gives an overview of facts and lies about hybrid and flex fuels. The guide gives a summary of reasons why individuals need to invest in organic mattresses. Analysis Looking at the contents of this book, one can see that there are quite a number of realistic suggestions to each of the requirements of living a green life.
For example, the writer suggests that one way of reducing pollution and emission of carbon wastes is by living near places of work. This, to some extent, is a realistic suggestion. We know that living near our workplaces will reduce the use of automobiles in commuting to and from work. Automobiles are the greatest sources of carbon wastes. Similarly, the suggestion of using solar hot water to charge mobile phone batteries, flashlights and other electronic gadgets is also realistic.
This is because, currently, most of these developments are afffordable to the average human beings. A closer look at most of this book’s recommendations gives a number of flaws. For example, in order to reduce the level of environmental degradation from the use of plastic bottles, the author recommends less consumption of disposable plastic items and plastic bags. Presently, most companies pack their products in plastic containers and bags. This is because plastic items are affordable. Therefore, suggesting the use of less plastic containers and bags is not realistic.
Building materials such as paints usually contain dangerous organic compounds. Some synthetic materials such as house carpets also have chemicals that are harmful to lives of human beings. The author suggests the removal of such materials in houses, a move that is positive but unrealistic. Critique One of the shortcomings of most of the suggestions from this guide is that they are unrealistic in nature. Despite the fact that most of the suggestions and prescriptions can facilitate living a green life, they require unrealistic inputs and sacrifice.
This is not practical in real life situations. Look at the suggestion of consuming natural electricity. Most individuals will opt for the opportunity to use readily available power, in this case, hydroelectric power. This power source is more reliable, predictable, and cheap on large-scale consumption. Secondly, the author recommends that individuals insulate their houses by use of long lasting roofing materials, high quality windows, and installing fans in houses.
As much as this is a positive suggestion towards fresh and healthy living conditions, many individuals are average income earners and coming up with these materials may be unrealistic to them. Another critique towards this book is the unavailability of some of the facilities that the author recommends for individuals. For example, he favors the use of organic mattresses /futons. We all know that these mattresses are not readily available on markets. In cases where it is available, the prices are extremely high. Another source of critique for this book is its perception about indoor and outdoor pollution.
According to the author, indoor pollution is more prevalent. This is not true as past research indicates that the rate of outdoor pollution is higher than indoor pollution. The book therefore does not give recommendations for reducing outdoor pollution.
