Blog Update!
For those of you not following me on Facebook, as of the Summer of 2019 I've moved to Central WA, to a tiny mountain town of less than 1,000 people.

I will be covering my exploits here in the Cascades, as I try to further reduce my impact on the environment. With the same attitude, just at a higher altitude!

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Living Like Ed

Living Like EdToday, I have a book post of a different sort as it is the release date of a new book, Living Like Ed, A Guide to the Eco-Friendly Life, by, not too surprisingly, Ed Begley, Jr. I managed to get an advance copy using my crunchy wiles and here's the scoop.

Ed Begley, Jr. has been Hollywood's gold standard of environmentalists for decades now and, as you may remember in my celebrity poll from last year, he beat the pants off the rest of the contenders.

You may also remember that he had a show on HGTV last year called, Living with Ed and I had the pleasure of interviewing him right before the second season started. Well, in this follow-on book, Ed dispenses advice on going greener with his usual goofy style.

In the book, the eco-friendly changes suggested are qualified starting by doing the "low hanging fruit" first and foremost. In other words, the changes with the most bang for your effort. He lists the changes by type to make it easy to see what you're getting yourself into. The different types are: easy changes (mostly things that don't cost a whole lot of money), not so big changes (small investment), and big changes (things that cost a lot but save you money in the long run).

Since Ed is also a cheap-ass (I mean, a frugal individual), he points out how implementing many of these changes can lower your household budget. He even provides worksheets for monitoring the changes so you can track how much you are saving.

It makes for a real easy read and I even learned a thing or two. Actually, I learned a lot. Like don't let Ed drive you to the hospital. All kidding aside, the book is really well researched and thorough in its analysis of things, explaining details that often get glossed over. But the information is not presented in a preachy, drawn out or boring way. Plus, it's Ed! You really can't go wrong.

Ok, maybe I'd like to see him step things up a notch. The rest of us are catching up to your nutty environmentalism, Ed! So, if you want to stay on top you better start pushing your own limits. I don't want to hear how George Clooney is leaving you in his dust by using a composting toilet and cloth wipes (how much do you think those would go for on eBay?). Unless, of course, it means I get to interview George, too.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

*green with envy*

Thanks fo that review! Can't wait to read it myself! :)

RVM

homebrewlibrarian said...

Turns out my library is a bit slow and hasn't ordered Ed's book yet. So I ordered one for me!

Someone in my church decided that all those disposable cups thrown out after each service was a complete and total waste. So a coffee mug round up was begun to replace the disposables AND a weekly sign up sheet to wash all the mugs afterwards was created. If that wasn't enough, the pastor created a "blessing of the mugs" prayer that about had us doubled over from laughter. At fellowship afterwards, everybody had a mug in their hand.

Hm. Seems like my church is ready to start looking more closely at stewardship of the earth. Ed's book comes at a good time. I think perhaps I might use it as a study guide for further efforts.

Wish me luck!

Kerri

Unknown said...

I am a small government conservative who who doesn't believe regulation is generally the answer to these issues. I think global warming is a real, if exagerated, issue. I have am concerned about the world we live in, especially the lack of habitat and lack of flowing rivers that have been damned creating a loss of habitat. I think a lot of environmentalism is a religion that isn't really based on good policy, like cutting 6 pack rings apart and banning DDT in malaria prone areas. Is this a book someone like myself would like? That is an honest question.