Green Made Easy: The Everyday Guide for Transitioning to a Green Lifestyle

by Chris Prelitz

In Green Made Easy, author and green pioneer Chris Prelitz shares how to be both environmental and economical at the same time. Going green is not only good for our planet, it's good for your pocketbook. For over 20 years, Chris has been helping businesses, home owners, and corporations lower their monthly expenses by going green. Chris and his wife, Becky, share a green solar-powered home in Laguna Beach, California, which Chris designed and built. Most months they produce more power than they use and receive a credit from their power company instead of a bill! In this book, Chris shares personal experiences, lessons learned, and reflections that humorously touch the heart and inspire the spirit. The chapter "Busting Green Myths" will sway even the most cynical person toward better eco-choices that will also save money. Chris says, "We're rediscovering that it's so much healthier, more lucrative, and better for every living thing to transition away from wasteful, polluting technologies and make choices that work in harmony with nature." Green Made Easy is written in a friend-to-friend, conversational style and examines our daily lives from personal care and cosmetics to solar-energy systems. This book will delight and inspire any and all who dream of making a difference and wish to create a thriving, healthy future for generations to come.

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Green, Health

272 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2009

Reviews

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bad reference book to which one can learn how to reduce their own carbon footprint but I think the main problem is the book is now over a decade old and many of the tenements it preaches is more mainstream knowledge at this point. Which itself is actually a good thing as it indicates its message has permeated the choices and actions of everyday people instead of existing as a subculture of the environmentally enlightened I suppose. The book is divided into sections such as greening your home, your kitchen, your wardrobe etc so you can read portions which pertain to what you want to tackle first in your life instead of cover to cover. There are innumerable references to online sources of information but given the fluidity of the world wide web, certainly some of these sources may be outdated which is a flaw. For the individual with truly no knowledge base as to how to "green their life", this book is extremely resourceful and could be referenced again and again, helping one to get their feet wet in making small lifestyle choices. While the majority of the book did not pertain to me per se as I already do many of the things discussed by Prelitz, I still found little nuggets of useful information and feel most readers interested in the topic would as well.

[Kelly Cahill · Rating 1 out of 5]

Perhaps the most pretentious book I've ever read. There is no new knowledge to be gained by reading this book about living a greener lifestyle and the author has an entitled air in the writing style.

Not a fan, this book was a waste of time and I threw it right in the trash. Glad I only paid $0.75 for it at a used book store.

[Rosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a 2011 Christmas gift from the family :) It’s the perfect book for the person who wants to live greener, and is ready to move beyond what’s become relatively mainstream knowledge, getting serious about their personal actions. The author pitches his content as the easier basics, but I must admit that my first reaction was the quick realization that I don’t know as much as I thought I did.

Green Made Easy is a very fast read when you continue through it page to page (I read most of it on a trans-Pacific flight), but it’s also packed with web resources that can push you forward to learn more, or wring out the details of the overview Prelitz provides. Do expect some link aging though: the book was published in 2009, and the author’s own website was a disappointment for me, though it appears he’s progressed significantly.

Each section of the book (20 categories, a chapter each: “Green what you eat” “Green your kids” “Green your furnishings” “Green your mobility and travel” etc.) is prefaced with a short story as introduction, and I enjoyed Prelitz’s writing style. There is a highly efficient brevity about the book, but he covers a lot in total, and Prelitz does deliver on his promise to illustrate how we can “save money and help the environment — at the same time.”

Green Made Easy will continue to be a reference and resource guide for me as I learn more, and do more: The book inspires you to take action, and I can foresee turning this paperback into an annotated journal of my own living green progress.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting a book with tips on how to reduce your effect on the environment, and while this book did provide that, I thought more time was spent on looking at using natural products, and the benefits on your own health in doing this. That was still interesting, but not quite what the title led me to believe.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. I didn't find this book to be all that life(style) changing. I'd read most of the information before, and I didn't particularly care for the author's tone (I think he was simply trying to share his experiences, but the book had a holier-than-thou feel to it). That said, it was an $0.89 Kindle read!

[Jack · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of advice on a green lifestyle, but unfortunately for me, aimed firmly at the US.

[Collin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains a broad range of information. It is well organized and will be a great resource to refer back to.