cover image David Suzuki's Green Guide

David Suzuki's Green Guide

David T. Suzuki, David R. Boyd. Greystone Books, $17.95 (175pp) ISBN 978-1-55365-293-9

Suzuki is a Canadian scientist and environmentalist, known best for his CBC television science show The Nature of Things. With Boyd, a Canadian environmental lawyer and writer, he provides concise but thorough advice, in clear and readable text, for those who want to live greener but are overwhelmed by confusing media reports. Broken down into sections on home, food, travel, waste management and green citizenship, Suzuki and Boyd cover all the major and most of the minor issues, showing how everyday steps (like label-reading, on which they provide a tutorial) can reduce one's carbon footprint. Focusing on well-being and the big picture, Suzuki turns around the conventional wisdom that living green means sacrificing comfort and convenience; providing information that the green life is frequently healthier and happier, he argues that unsustainable practices in housing, transportation and food production present a greater threat to day-to-day comfort and convenience, as well as to survival. Summarized in a simple-if-broad Twelve Guiding Principles of Sustainable Consumption, Suzuki's approach is easy and joyful, ideal for the person who thinks going green is impossible or who is at a loss on how to begin.