Going Green Without Going Broke

By Diedra “DD” Holley

From the back of the book:

If you have ever picked up a book on going green, you most likely put it back down after a quick glance. They all seem to have the same problem; these books are made for people with money! Buy solar panels, get a wind turbine, go geothermal, new insulation and such. These things cost a lot of time and money. Going Green Without Going Broke was written for those of us who have limited resources. You may have some money set off to the side, or you may not. Either way, this book is for you. The suggestions in this book range in cost from FREE to about $80. Between these covers you will find 25 ways to go green without emptying your wallet. Most of them will even put a little green back in! … Minimal impact on your wallet, minimal impact on your lifestyle, BIG impact on the environment.

Just my opinion:

The author sent me this book to review a while back, but I chose to hold on to it until today because it’s Earth Day! It’s the day we celebrate our planet and look at ways we can help improve our environment and appreciate what we find around us.

This year, Earth Day's theme is A Billion Acts of Green and we are asked to look at ways we can generate acts of environmental service and advocacy. Going Green Without Growing Broke is a great start to finding ideas to do just that.

I was actually quite impressed with this little book. It’s only 106 pages, but there is so much useful information packed into it. And the ideas truly are simple to implement and easy on the budget.

For example, take your old worn-out sheets, blankets and towels to your local animal shelter. They can certainly use them and you’ve now avoided a few less items being dumped into the landfills. This costs absolutely nothing! Limit your use of paper towels by switching to cloth dishrags or sponges. Most of us already have these items on hand, so the initial cost is nil or minimal. Yet, in the long run, you will save yourself the cost of paper towels (the author saved $20 a month) and you are, again, reducing waste in the landfills.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? These are only two of the 25 suggestions Diedra has in her book. She also adds some ideas from friends and others on how they reduced their drain on the environment in easy ways.

I think you’ll enjoy browsing this book. Not only does it provide some excellent suggestions on how to go green, it’s also well-written and fun to read. Do you have ways you help our planet? I’d love to hear some of them.