The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices: Practical Advice from the Union of Concerned Scientists

Hard Numbers, Weak Message (2008-05-22) Rating: 3/5
The goals of this book are admirable, but the authors (on behalf of the Union of Concerned Scientists) fail to deliver a truly practical message. Brower and Leon constructed a pretty impressive quantitative methodology to measure the true environmental impacts of a wide variety of consumer activities. But while the numbers are impressive, the authors transformed them into confusing and contradictory recommendations for the concerned citizen. The authors certainly found that some consumer behaviors that seem to be harmful to the environment, such as buying the occasional over-packaged grocery item, are not worth worrying about so much (taken individually) when you crunch the numbers. This is the authors' overall message - look at the numbers to determine which consumer behaviors actually harm the environment the most, and which can be worried about a little less by the conscientious citizen. But the problem is that the recommendations lose their focus and bleed into a very inconsistent message for the reader.

Regardless of whether the one Styrofoam cup I use today has a quantitatively small impact on the environment, I'm not buying the authors' contention that I shouldn't worry because it's just one cup amongst billions of tons of waste produced by business and industry. Maybe so, but things add up, and if many people care a little, then even the authors' quantitative methods would detect the long-term benefits. This book is docked an additional star for the epilogue about the history of American consumerism (written by a third author), which is fairly interesting but reads like the literature review for a graduate student thesis. This epilogue is filler at best and not consistent with the general themes of the rest of the book. On the good side, the extensive bibliography, though outdated, offers a plethora of books and websites that would probably tackle the matter of environmental consumerism better than this book does. [~doomssdayer520~]
Are these scientists REALLY concerned about the Environment? (2008-02-20) Rating: 2/5
I do agree that it is often important to look at the bigger picture of things. This book helps the reader to focus on the big contributors of environmental damage. However, I disagree on number of things that the the authors claim that people should not be highly concerned about.

The first one is "...by remembering the small weight of many consumer products, you can reduce your guilt and anxiety levels dramatically. Light non-toxic products, such as plastic trash bags, paper napkins, and leather wallets, do not deserve to be high priorities for environmental concern." (pg. 126) If plastic bags are not of high environmental concern, then why do countries like Ireland, Taiwan, and some cities in the US either outright ban or tax the use of plastic bags at grocery and convenience stores? Is it because of the excessive use of these petroleum-based goods (the US alone uses 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually) is creating a problem in landfills, our cities and the ocean?

I also love they way they make us feel so smug about using spray cans, stating that "Most spray cans currently rely on hydrocarbons such as methane, ethane, propane, cyclopropane, butane, and cyclopentane. They do not contribute to ozone depletion, have low toxicity, and have relatively LITTLE impact on global warming given the small quantities in a spray can. You should not feel embarrassed or guilty to SPRAY AWAY." (pg. 135) Please Wikipedia some of the gases mentioned above and perhaps you'll read about it's greenhouse gas effects and toxicity levels.

On page 133 they write "The throwaway drinking cup has become a powerful symbol of America's wasteful, polluting society. Nevertheless, it is not a major sin against the environment to use an occasional paper or plastic cup....of course, you don't want to be wasteful, but a few dozen, or even a COUPLE HUNDRED, disposable cups a year will have relatively little environmental impact." Let's see, a couple hundred cups a year multiplied by 300 million Americans = a HUGE impact to the environment, especially when there are things we can do to not rely so much on disposables like carry your own mug to Starbucks!!!

These are just a few of a number of outrageous claims from the Union of Concerned Scientists that are presented in this book. I don't think this book is entirely worthless. But please use some common sense when taking in their advice.


EVERYONE should read this book (2007-09-30) Rating: 5/5
Impeccably researched, well-referenced, and very convincing. This book will convince the shrewdest skeptics. It focuses on high-impact habits, and doesn't harp on the little tiny details that don't make a big difference. A fantastic book; true to its title!
Some good ideas (2007-08-23) Rating: 4/5
This was purchased as a gift for someone who is very interested in the health of our environment. It is a good book for those who share that interest.
Short and practical (2007-07-04) Rating: 4/5
This short and practical guide tells us how we can make a difference in protecting our environment...and also tells us what behaviors do not.

It sheds a lot of insight on the topic, while also dispelling lots of myths concerning different options and choices available to today's consumer (paper or plastic?, cloth or disposable?, etc., etc.)