Searching for insights into budget green living or green gift ideas just in time for the holidays? Amazon.com is running an extremely generous special on my latest book – The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget. You can purchase it right now for just $2.30. That’s green living on a budget epitomized especially since the book is printed on 100% FSC-certified recycled paper. It was very satisfying to write this book because it forced me to research deeper in order to uncover green products and services that meet our requirements for price, quality and style. To be clear, my green living suggestions typically revolve around products and services. Some take issue with me and say that I’m just condoning consumerism. My perspective is that I’m simply acknowledging the reality that most people like to shop and that in our modern society, we meet our daily needs by purchasing products. Given that reality, I point people toward the best options that fit their lifestyles and also reduce their environmental impact.
What also distinguishes The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget is that I don’t just provide generic advice. For example, to me it’s not good enough to simply recommend to people that they use a low-flow showerhead in order to save money by conserving water (and the energy to heat that water) and then leave the conversation there. I recommend specific products that work well by using the litmus test: would I or someone else want this product even if it weren’t green?
My top showerhead recommendation is the Evolve Roadrunner because it 1) provides a strong, pleasing spray 2) reduces water flow from 2.5 gallons per minute to 1.5 gallons per minute and 3) saves further water by reducing the flow to a trickle once the temperature reaches 95 degrees until you release the water by pulling an integrated lever. Evolve recognizes that many people turn on the shower and then go off to finish eating breakfast or making the bed and allow the shower to run for ages before ever getting in. I’m not condoning the fact that that’s how many of us behave (I’m guilty of it too). Instead, I’m acknowledging it in order to recommend products that will truly work for budget-conscious, environmentally minded individuals who want to do the right thing for the planet but in the depths of their soul, secretly know that they aren’t willing to change very much. Since guilt-trips are neither fun nor particular effective, I seek green solutions that fit our lazy ways.
Other chapters delve into: green fashion, transportation, personal care, kids and babies, home furnishings, remodeling, household cleaning, energy savings, and office supplies. There are plenty of cool resources to be found like Toiletrebate.com, a site that helps you locate local and state rebates available on toilets and other water conservation devices, or Gazelle.com, a site that will pay you to recycle your electronics, or Denim Therapy, a service that will repair your coveted designer jeans that make your butt look super awesome so you don’t have to lay out cash for another pair.
