Green Chic Review

Green Chic  Saving the Earth in Style  by Christie Matheson

  Although this book is not a "wedding" or "event" book per se, it is filled with helpful hints and smart remarks, making it an easy and intelligent read, to say the least.  It's also filled with great ideas that can be used in the  wedding and event arena, as well as every day of our lives.  So why not?

 Over all, I would say it's worthy of being picked up if you are looking for some green motivation.  It may also be helpful if you are  fairly feminine.  As the cover suggests, it's probably written for women.  However I think it's readable for just about anyone.  If a section dives into nail polish and you're not digging it, skip it.  There's some good info in there about  cleaning toilets and I think that is both a male and female issue, or at least it should be. Despite the title and the occasional inclusion of girlie info, the book is written very smartly, succinctly and it's pretty compact.  There are a good amount of suggestions as well as scary statistics to promote behavior change.  This, of course, is the whole reason you might be reading this type of book anyway, to change your behavior. There were some occasional steps I thought Christie could have taken to be slightly greener, but maybe that would have been pushing the envelope.  She does give a whole-hearted try for some of the more "hippie" products out there like natural deodorants and she does mention the menstrual cup, but I think there could have been a little more pushing in some areas or at least mentioning of the many options available.     I know just reading the book has influenced me and I think of myself as pretty well educated about green living, health and sustainability.  But, sometimes we forget the everyday actions we take that can have such a massive affect on our world and the people around us, not to mention our own health.  So, getting a little reminder is good for even us greenies. One piece of knowledge that I have heard before but was happy to hear again was about Bottled Water.  I know you've probably heard, drinking from the tap is way better for the environment and possibly for you.  It's also cheaper.  But did you know that we go through 70 million of those pesky bottles a day?  Think of it.  Families across America buying 24 and 48 packs of plastic water bottles at Cosco each week and how many of those bottles end up in the landfill, or better yet, in the ocean floating around as a giant island of plastic trash.  Not to mention that 1/4 of those bottles don't hold special water from fijian springs, but plain old tap water.  So why are we spending so much on this special bottled tap water?  Well for some more insight and suggestions, try the book.  It might just change the way you behave around plastic.  And paper.  And cotton...  until next time, G&G