Book Review: How Good Are You?
Author Julian Lee and How to Live an Environmentally Friendly Life
It isn't always easy to make environmentally responsible choices. This complex issue is explored with insight and a healthy dose of humour in this practical book.
Environmental concerns are increasingly prevalent in daily news and current affairs reports. A growing number of individuals are seeking to reduce their environmental impact through their everyday consumer choices. In How Good Are You? Clean Living in a Dirty World, (William Heinemann, 2008) journalist Julian Lee shares his personal journey to become more environmentally conscious in his lifestyle and choices.
A Personal Journey of Discovery
With a self-deprecating sense of humour and realistic evaluation of the difficulty of making informed environmental choices, Lee avoids the overly righteous and guilt-inducing tones of so many books advocating greater personal environmental accountability.
His personal quest to reduce the impact of his family on the environment was initiated by a writing assignment. Provided with a shopping list and two days, his task was to research and write a newspaper article on the accessibility of ethical products. Surprised by the difficulty he encountered, he began to investigate the issue in more depth.
Misleading Labels and Misinformed Consumers
One of the most significant impediments to genuinely informed consumer choices is the current standards for product labels and lack of consumer awareness about what these labels actually signify. Lee offers background information into the variety of definitions offered for words such as “organic” and “biodegradable”, illustrating the ambiguous way in which many manufacturers use these to attract shoppers.
highlights the need for consumers to be informed about their choices before entering the marketplace. Manufacturers and advertisers manipulate the desires of an individual to make healthy and sustainable choices. Lee acknowledges that the lack of clearly defined labelling makes it even more difficult for consumers to make choices consistent with their desire to purchase environmentally friendly products.
How Good Are You?
Environmental Issues For Householders
Lee takes his examination of environmental issues beyond the superficial, discussing the need to look at the ethical practices of companies and manufacturing processes as well as the sustainability and impact of a particular product. He avoids burdening readers with a sense of futility at the enormity of the issue by discussing a process of making gradual lifestyle changes that are consistent with personal priorities. At the most basic level, he simply encourages readers to gather as much information as possible and do their best to make choices that will reduce their environmental impact and support businesses that are seeking to provide ethically sourced goods and services.
A Range of Environmental Concerns
How Good Are You? covers a range of topics including:
- Cleaning products and environmentally friendly home practices including reducing packaging and limiting household waste.
- Free-range and organic products and the impact of the meat industry on the environment.
- The fashion industry
- Ethical marketing
- Corporate responsibility and the importance of supporting businesses dealing ethically with producers and consumers.
- Travel
- Commonly perceived environmentally friendly products and choices.
Equipping Modern Consumers for an Environmentally Sustainable Lifestyle
Julian Lee provides more than general information on environmentally sound products and services. Instead, he equips readers with a framework of questions and priorities to help them to make their own choices. He encourages readers to look beyond the superficial to the real issues that will make an impact on preserving the environment for future generations.
is a well-written and enjoyable book that avoids the moralistic lecturing and emotional blackmail of many other offerings in this genre. Instead, Lee encourages consumers to become better informed in their choices, to choose to deal with businesses that maintain environmentally friendly and ethical practices, and to take responsibility for lifestyle choices that are not environmentally sustainable.
How Good Are You?
