The Book “It’s Easy Being Green: A Handbook for Earth-Friendly Living” by Crissy Trask

Topic: Environment Words: 1614 Pages: 6 Apr 10, 2022

Tombstone

Crissy Trask is the author of the book It’s Easy Being Green: A Handbook for Earth-Friendly Living. The book was published in 2009 by Gibbs Smith. The book is available on google books library and other online libraries. Crissy Trask embarked on a course to influence society to assume environmentally friendly lives in the 1990s. Her journey has been a rough one because her ideas have been extensively ignored by the majority of the people in the society. Trask is a freelance writer who has published three bestselling books about environmental sustainability. She also owns a website (http://www.greenmatters.com/), which she uses to coach people about developing a green lifestyle (About, 2015). Some of the important details about the author and the book are as follows:

Trask is a book and article writer, and she runs a website that covers green lifestyles.
She covers findings from various research institutions about eco-friendly lifestyles.
She is a blogger who strives to educate the society about conservation of natural resources.
She lectures in various environmental conservation campaigns across the United States.
She is also actively engaged in studying the best ways to go green for society.
Her work has been featured in various environmental issues in newspapers and magazines.

Some of the important points from the book It’s Easy Being Green: A Handbook for Earth-Friendly Living include:

Most Americans are aware of their responsibility to assume green lifestyles.
The majority of the population has ignored the obligation to conserve the environment.
Individuals need to align their goals in developing environmentally friendly lifestyles with the national objectives on the same.
The development of an eco-friendly culture should be gradual, and the tips provided in the book can effectively help the society reverse the negative environmental effects of their activities.

Structure of the Book

Chapter 1: Green Living Myths

Human activities are the leading cause of the current global environmental issues.
People should be compelled to start making small improvements in their relationship with nature and continue enhancing their eco-friendly lifestyles.
The cost of being eco-friendly is high; hence, people should be ready to make financial commitments to conserve the environment.
Consumers have the power to influence the sustainability traits of the manufacturing companies through their consumption behaviours. This should be used to promote eco-friendly manufacturing processes.

Chapter 2: Making a Difference

Daily human activities have an impact on the environment.
People need to understand the relationship between their daily activities and the impact on the environment.
A sense of responsibility for environmentally friendly lifestyles can only be developed from understanding the cause and effect of individual activities.
Society should make incremental goals in assuming greener lifestyles.
People should stop using plastic bags because they are not desirable for environmental conservation.
Water conservation should be a primary goal for everyone.
Focus on adopting consumption behaviours that influence eco-friendly lifestyles.

Chapter 3: Eco Tips for Living Greener

People always have several choices to limit their negative impacts on the environment owing to their daily activities.
Improving the relationship between man and nature should be a goal embraced by everyone in the society.
Make it a habit to recycle and to purchase products that have minimal negative effects on the environment.
Attain high flexibility in purchasing, and be willing to accept the cost of living a greener life.
Limit wastage of natural resources by utilising the available resource efficiently.
People should develop a new culture of consuming natural resources efficiently.

Chapter 4: Buying Green

Consumer behaviour should be inclined toward eliminating products that have a big carbon footprint.
Avoid purchasing products that are associated with pollution of any kind.
Force the manufacturing companies to change their manufacturing processes by creating demand for eco-friendly products.
Consider buying products made from a natural material rather than synthetic products that can pollute the environment.
If it cannot be recycled, leave it.

Chapter 5: Green shopping Online

People can reduce their carbon footprint by shopping online.
This strategy reduces the amount of air pollution attributed to transportation as people drive to the stores.
There are many green products provided by green online stores at affordable prices.
Increasing the consumption of green products will ultimately lead to the elimination of products that are not eco-friendly.
Consider the environmental effect of the daily activities one undertakes.
Focus on attaining sustainable consumption of natural respurce to secure the future of humanity.

Chapter 6: Getting Involved

People are aware of their responsibility in environmental conservation, but they are reluctant to participate in assuming greener lifestyles.

Everyone should play their part by starting with simple lifestyle changes and increasing their awareness of environmental conservation.
Everyone should compel the people in their social circles to start going green in their consumption behaviour.
If everyone plays their role in assuming greener lives, the current environmental crisis can be eliminated.
Environmental conservation should be a value held strongly by every individual in the society.

Chapter 7: Resources to Help the Earth

Over-exploitation of the earth’s resources poses a risk to the future of humanity.
It is important to develop consumption behaviours that promote the conservation of natural resources like water.
People should refrain from taking part in activities that pollute natural resources.
Collective efforts to save the earth should be employed.

Point of the Book

Crissy Trask wrote this book to help people develop an understanding of their role in conserving the environment. It is apparent that through her encounters with many scientists and environmentalists, Trask has developed a clear view of the steps that need to be taken by individuals in the society to increase their contributions to conserving the environment. Going green is a concept that entails people taking the responsibility to eliminate pollution, and to limit the negative impacts of their daily activities. According to Trask, the consumption behaviour of people in the world is among the biggest contributor of environmental degradation. Trask wrote the book to highlight some of the consumption behaviours that people need to address. For instance, her book emphasises on the elimination of plastic bags as options for carrying shopping from the stores. She has conducted extensive research on the need for people to start consuming products that have minimal carbon footprints. She wrote the book to compel the society to start purchasing greener products, and she particularly advocates the adoption of green online shopping. Trask’s opinion is that people can easily go green by starting with simple changes in their lifestyles, then focusing on an incremental change of behaviour. She believes that people should align their goals with the objectives set at a national level by environmentalists. Trask encourages people by giving them tips to follow in their quest to attain an eco-friendly lifestyle. Her advice to people is the application of simple changes in lifestyle, and most of her tips entail a change in consumption behaviours. She suggests different ideas that can be applied to enhance environmental sustainability at an affordable cost (Trask, 2009).

Connection with the Worldviews

Trask’s book best fits in the human exemptionalism paradigm (HEP). This worldview is popularly known for its elements that claim that the superiority of humans allows them to facilitate solutions for natural problems (Environmental Sociology, 2015). The human exemptionalism paradigm claims that the environmental forces can be tamed through the development of a culture that suppresses their negative effects (Williams, 2007). Trask’s opinion is that everyone in the society should look at developing a culture of making green choices. She believes that the solution for the current global environmental issues lies in the integration of simple changes in lifestyle. Trask advocates the development of a culture of recycling and conservation of natural resources. Her approach is innovative, and its cumulative results have the potential to alleviate the current environmental crisis in the world. The viability of her strategy is validated by the scientific studies that she has conducted and cited in the book. She is acquainted with sufficient knowledge about environmental conservation, and the best approaches toward influencing the global society to assume a green lifestyle.

The HEP theory reveals that humans have absolute power over their destiny (Dunlap, 2002). Culture plays as an important tool to facilitate change aimed at balancing human activities and their impact on nature. Culture facilitates the development of a balanced relationship between people and nature. Trask’s sentiment is that society has shifted the equilibrium in their relationship with nature, and this has led to the global environmental crisis. Her book is not only an attempt to lure people back into the culture of environmental conservation, but also to provide them with a distinct course of action toward the same (Dunlap, 2008). This book fits the HEP theory because it highlights the practical application of the model. The author begins by identifying the problems facing the global society in the development of an eco-friendly lifestyle. She highlights the underlying issues that face humans in their quest to embrace an environmentally friendly lifestyle. These issues include the cost of a greener lifestyle, the availability of cheaper alternatives to the expensive green products, and ignorance among the people. Trask then motivates her audience by revealing some of the simple options that people can take to start living a greener life (Feinberg & Willer, 2013). She calls for the people to start changing their consumption behaviour to influence the manufacturing companies to reduce their carbon footprint. She also advises people to start reducing their wastage of natural resources like water and to become more efficient in their use of products. In essence, the book reflects on the elements of the HEP model, and it emphasises on the development of a new culture to save the earth.

References

About. (2015). Web.

Dunlap, R. E. (2002). Paradigms, theories, and environmental sociology. Sociological theory and the environment: Classical foundations, contemporary insights, 329-350.

Dunlap, R. E. (2008). The new environmental paradigm scale: From marginality to worldwide use. The Journal of environmental education, 40(1), 3-18.

Environmental Sociology. (2015). Web.

Feinberg, M., & Willer, R. (2013). The moral roots of environmental attitudes. Psychological Science, 24(1), 56-62.

Trask, C. (2009). It’s Easy Being Green: A Handbook for Earth-Friendly Living. California: Gibbs Smith.

Williams, J. (2007). Thinking as natural: another look at human exemptionalism. Human Ecology Review, 14(2), 130.