A Guide to Going Green

Mother-daughter team Sally and Sadie Kniedel want you to know that, yes, it does matter what kind of cereal you buy in the supermarket. They also want to tell you that buying the right cereal will help save the world. This is the theme of Going Green: A Wise Consumer’s Guide to a Shrinking Planet by PhD-holding Sally and political activist Sadie. The book, published by Colorado-based Fulcrum Publishing, contains information, statistics, and advice on all aspects of reducing your waste and damage to the environment.

But don’t expect the standard “green” suggestions of getting a reycling bin and turning down the A/C. While the guide starts off light with a chapter on transportation, later sections are only for the very bravest of the eco-warriors: learn how to build a house out of straw, maintain a sustainable pig farm, and reduce global warming -- by going entirely vegan.

This resource is definitely not of the easy-read pamphlet variety, treating eco-friendliness as more of a scientific study than simply a matter of taking the bus to work. Despite a multitude of facts and figures, however, the passages prove to contain relevant information and interesting real-life examples. Going Green aims to teach even the non-believers -- those who declare “Hemp clothes are for hippies!” or “Solar panels are for rich people!” as the book’s introduction says -- that even extreme changes are not impossible for the modern-day consumer with the “green” itch.

--Maddie Wolberg