The Green Living Guide

edited by Hugh Bowring

The Green Living Guide is a MagBook, published by Dennis Publishing Ltd. ‘What's a MagBook?' I hear you ask. As the name suggests, it's a publication that is halfway between a magazine and a book, focusing on one particular subject.

The Green Living Guide has the look and feel of a magazine, despite being just under 200 pages long. This impression is reinforced by a quick flick through the pages: it is highly illustrated with catchy, colourful artwork, with text ranging from short, easy to dip into blocks to longer, more in-depth articles.

The Green Living Guide is comprehensive. It has six chapters, Home & Garden, Family & Children, Food & Drink, Work & Office, Fashion & Beauty and Transport & Motoring. Each chapter is split into several sections, for example Home & Garden contains sections on waste and recycling, heat and power, appliances, cleaning products, furnishing and garden. The garden section covers lawns, patio heaters, bees, creating an eco-friendly garden, and water-saving tips, and also gives a profile of a new eco home which can be purchased in a kit, complete with solar panels and a pellet boiler.

So, having, I hope, given you a feel for the breadth of the information contained in this guide, what about the depth? I found this to be pitched very well. At no time do you become bogged down in detail, but there is a wealth of useful, practical information, such as that washing clothes at 40°C uses half the amount of energy as washing at 90°C. Many suggestions will seem obvious to most BGI supporters, such as that washing machines and dishwashers should be filled before running, and clothes don't need to be washed when worn only once, but this is inevitable in a publication aimed at a wide readership. On the subject of washing machines, there are also useful links for finding out which are the most efficient machines, so you can make sure that your choice is based on up-to-date information. I was disappointed, however, that the only alternative to standard laundry detergent suggested was EcoBalls, and no mention was made of the many other alternatives, including soapnuts.

The consequences of our current lifestyles are made clear, but not sensationalised - there's no need for that, the facts speak for themselves. For example, ‘People will have to be rationed to four portions of meat and one litre of milk a week if the world is to avoid run-away climate change, a new report [from the Food Climate Research Network] warns.'

The guide also avoids taking a fixed position which may go beyond the available evidence. It extols the many virtues of organic food but makes it clear that there is no undisputed evidence that it is better for one's health. As the guide points out though, there has been very little research into the potential long-term health risks of chemically treated food, so eating organic produce is erring on the side of caution. The contentious issue of genetic modification (GM) is raised, but the guide restricts itself to giving a few opinions from experts. I would have quite liked an explanation of what genetic modification entails, and the opinions given are not really sufficient for someone to make up their own mind on this issue, but this is a huge subject and beyond the scope of this guide.

Flicking through the guide brings up some unexpected but very useful gems, such as what to consider when choosing beverages from wine to water, and coke to coffee, and the different sort of bikes you should consider if you want to commute in green style.

Overall, the Green Living Guide is an intelligent, well-balanced and comprehensive starting point for anyone who either wants to start moving towards a more sustainable life, or who has already made some changes but who wants to find out what else they can do. It won't provide all the answers, but gives plenty of links and references to enable the reader to find out in more detail what they want to know. It is also extremely accessible, and pages of tips to green up your life in different areas give plenty of inspiration. Although I mentioned that some worthy cleaning products didn't get a mention, giving exhaustive lists could leave to more confusion and less action, as the reader gets bogged down in yet more choices. The ‘case studies', such as the profile of the family-run Beanbag Natural Health Shop, also keep you reading and demonstrate how people have put their green principles into practice.

The MagBook is available through magbooks.com and Amazon.

Judy