Suzuki’s Green Guide by David Suzuki and David R. Boyd- Review by Carlyn

source

A goal I had this year was to be more environmentally aware. My motivation to go green started from wanting to find cost effective solutions for living costs and reducing my carbon footprint. This book is a practical guide for the average person who wants to go green. David Suzuki is a Canadian environmentalist who has campaigned for sustainability for many years and David R. Boyd is an environmental lawyer. Their book features rising trends in eco-friendly innovations, alarming environmental concerns and tips for living the green life.

Most of the tips in the book are common sense and stuff that most people already do. For example, the book mentions recycling and electricity saving tips.  However, I did learn a lot from reading the book and my resolve to be more environmentally friendly was strengthened. What I did learn from the book is that everything is connected and the smallest thing impacts on the environment.

I’ve now become a green convert. I’m changing the way I shop, what products I buy and how I do things. Before, I use to not consider organic or natural products at all. I was more motivated by pricing and what the products promised. I never considered the packaging and the chemicals used for some of my favourite items. I also dismissed the idea of using natural or organic products because of the pricing and my doubts about the quality.

Now I consider a lot of things before I make a purchase. I try to buy locally; I consider ingredients, the packaging and fair trade. Through research, I discovered that some of the products I buy are actually from green company which was good so I don’t have to change anything. As for the pricing, thankfully the supermarkets have a few different green brands to select from and there is also the option of making homemade varieties.

Another thing I’m going to change is that I’m going to have to buy drink bottles. My family and I buy bottled water every week. We don’t buy it because we think the water quality is better than tap water. It all started after my brother got dehydration from being a hermit in his room. My mum started buying bottled water to encourage him to drink it. So, we just got in the habit of buying bottled water. It is costly to buy bottled water and not necessary when we have access to clean water. It is also not good for the environment as the bottles could easily end up in the landfill.

Something I’m still working on is how to reduce the amount of garbage that my family makes. Our bins are normally overflowing with garbage. We have a recycling bin too and that gets filled up faster than the rubbish bin. So, I learnt that we need to have less garbage in the first place. Also I need to flatten boxes and buy in bulk so we won’t have lots of small containers, boxes and jars lying around.

Read about my other goals here.