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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
fantastic detail, not a light read., 21 Jun 2009
This review is from: Time to Eat the Dog?: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living (Paperback)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
This is not a light, jolly through the joys of sustainable living - don't think 'This Morning series'.
Rather this is a detailed look at the pros and cons of how we live, have lived & could live our lives. Everything is broken into the facts and figures for example how much energy and resources are used to make a dishwasher, dishwasher tablets, vs washing up liquid, sinks, & bowls, vs soap flakes etc then the energy used to actually perform the task at hand (washing up in this case) to decide what is more 'sustainable' this goes right down to the food we eat to give us energy to do the task & what we ould grow in how much space to provide the food...
If you've ever watched a 'this morning' style section and wondered, if, really, when you worked it all out...but couldn't be bothered to work it out for yourself, then this is the book for you.
Everything is referenced and it's truly fascinating and highly detailed. it's a book that I'll take tips from it now - I'm all up for a wormery - and go back later to get more info most likely when I see something else that brings me back to wondering...sadly I wont follow all of the most sustainable ideas right away (I do feel bad about that) but I think over the next few years I'll build up to many of them.
I highly recommend this book for any environmentalist or would be and for those on 'the other side' too.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Well researched, lots of detail, but not a light read, 18 July 2009
This review is from: Time to Eat the Dog?: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living (Paperback)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
This is a really unusual book. From the cover it looks like it will be an unchallenging read, telling us how the world is doomed and that a bit of recycling, driving less and holidaying at home instead of abroad will save us all. It's not that at all - it's actually full of researched material, the sort of thing that you have to present when submitting assignments on degree courses, lots of tables, comparisons, etc, but somehow without becoming overly dry. It's a fairly hefty tome, but worth reading.
The basic premise is that if you divide the useable surface area of the Earth by the number of people on the Earth you work out how much useable land is available to support you personally, to feed you, to water you, to provide you with shelter, to provide you with all those consumer items you want, to provide your transport, your entertainment, even your dog's food. That's the premise and the calculations etc relate back to that. It becomes repetitive, but it's a message worth hammering into people. I suspect, though, that the consumers with the largest footprint are not necessarily the people who will read this book. More likely is that people who have already reduced their footprint will be the type of people who read this. They might then reduce their footprint a bit more, but it's the wider population who need to get the message.
Even Al Gore avoided some of the subjects covered in this book (e.g. comparing the footprint of eating meat against the footprint of eating vegetables, comparing rice with locally produced, seasonal vegetables etc). Those are subjects that the wider population needs to understand, but these are subjects that some people seem to find difficult to even contemplate. It will take a brave politician to announce a programme to encourage people to reduce their meat intake, or to keep a hamster instead of a dog, or even better, to make friends with their neighbours instead of keeping a pet for company. It will happen one day, but I can't see anybody in our current government announcing that programme.
Similarly, I cannot imagine any current politician pointing at Cuba and telling people that everybody will have to survive on the amount of food available on the Cuban ration system, in the post-Soviet era. Whilst travelling some years ago, I experienced the Cuban ration system first hand - it was a shock and something I remember vividly.
So, this book contains a huge amount of useful information and I have found reading it fascinating. I'd recommend it to anybody already interested in sustainability / permaculture etc. However, with the amount of tables and data present in the book, I suspect that this book will not suit everybody.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Clear and level-headed., 15 July 2009
This review is from: Time to Eat the Dog?: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living (Paperback)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
It's obvious to many that we are at a point in the human story where we need to to make some serious decisions. An exponentially growing population striving to reach the levels of attainment enjoyed in the developed world is just not feasible. Indeed as is pointed out in this book the products of at least three Earths would be needed for everyone to live the way the modern American does. In order to make our decisions we are going to need to base them on sound evidence, this is what Robert and Brenda Vale have set out to do and they have succeeded admirably.
There is a lot of well-referenced and researched material here, presented accessibly in a clear and straight-forward manner. In keeping there arguments convincing the authors' have gone into a lot of detail; you'll need to be prepared to work a little to get the most out this book. That's not to say that reading this is a chore, not at all, rather we're encouraged to engage with what's presented and draw our own conclusions.
Much of the information is in the form of tables and figures, all of which are easy to read and often illustrate a point much more succinctly than the text. In fact these tables and figures are so good I wish there had been more of them to help with every eventuality. Of course that would have created a ridiculously long book (not to mention self-defeating).
At heart this is an optimistic book because it shows us we can be better. If we heed the authors' advice we can begin to avert real disaster before it's too late.
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