50 Ways to Make Your House and Garden Greener
by Sian Berry
Paperback: 128 pages
Publisher: Kyle Cathie; 1st edition (10 Jan. 2008)
ISBN-10: 1856267725
ISBN-13: 978-1856267724
I bought this book last year. It was brand new and 50p. This tends to suggest that after eight years they are struggling to get rid of the first print run, despite the author having an impressive record in the area.
I can’t think why, because as a quick run-down of ways to make a difference to global warming it can;t really be bettered. It has its fair share of expensive things to do, but set against that there are plenty of cheap things to try.
As the author says:”Follow the tips you can, and don’t feel guilty about the ones you can’t.”
Put lids on pans when cooking, don’t leave your phone on charge overnight and leave an untidy corner for wildlife in the garden.
Clearly I find one of those tips easier to follow than the others, though I rarely charge the phone overnight and normally use a lid on the pan.
That’s the tone of the book – plenty of sensible reminders and small steps. There are also more tips than the 50 in the title – many of the 50 tips are subdivided into smaller points.
An interesting and highly recommended read, and you won’t often hear me saying that about a book on being green.
You would probably enjoy reading about Ruth Stout and her approach to gardening, too, Quercus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Stout
Rex Stout’s sister! It’s a small world… I like her philosophy.
Thanks very much for the review of this useful book, Simon.
No problem. I’ll soon be back to my normal curmudgeonly review style.:-)
Good to know! 😀
🙂
It sounds like a useful book. Simplicity is not to be despised. I am currently reading a book on home composting which has similar handy tips such as ‘have a compost bin’.
I had a friend who obtained two compost bins from the local council and sited them on the concrete floor of his garage as his wife thought they looked ugly.
Result – smelly black liquid running under the garage door.
There is a place for a nice simple book on composting.
🙂
Lesson one in the book is don’t put your compost bin on a concrete floor. We have two of our heaps on concrete but they are fairly well rotted before they get there.
I think that’s the difference – his never had a chance to draw bacteria from the soil and just putrified.
Sounds likely.
🙂
Good for 50p. Sadly, I somehow doubt we can prevent environmental catastrophe, so maybe it’s not being bought due to pessimism!
Well, if we have an environmental catastrophe it won’t be because I left the lids off my pans or failed to leave an untidy corner in the garden. 🙂
😊
🙂
Sounds like my kind of book. And what a bargain!
She has done others on green travel, shopping and water.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?ie=UTF8&text=Sian+Berry&search-alias=books-uk&field-author=Sian+Berry&sort=relevancerank
Thanks for the links!
They look interesting, but I’m trying to slow down the book buying. 🙂