In this post: We review some of our favorite books on sustainability that can help you continue to make your life and home more eco-friendly.
The Home Green is reader-supported and may receive a commission if you decide to make a purchase through a posted link, at no cost to you. I only include products I would consider for my own home.
Unleash Your Shopping Superpower!
by Diane Osgood, PhD.
One of the truths about writing is that it’s much harder to be concise than verbose. It seems counterintuitive, but if you’ve ever struck out to write something that leaves an impression, you know it’s true.
This is fundamentally what makes Diane Osgood’s (free!) ebook, Unleash Your Shopping Superpower!, so good and one of our favorite books on sustainability. She breaks a topic like conscious commerce down to give you a clear path to change.
Based on the fact that Diane is both a PhD and has experience working with U.S. Presidents and huge corporations, it’s almost certain that she could write a novel on each topic in her ebook. Instead, she boils down the salient actions you can take right now to better match your shopping habits to your values. What could be easier and more fun than shopping to make the world a better place?
I urge you to download a copy for yourself and check it out. In just 15-20 minutes, you’ll have a wealth of resources at your fingertips and a plan to go from wishing the world was better to contributing to making it that way.
Give a Sh*t
by Ashlee Piper
I have to confess that what caught my attention about this book was the title – I figured, if nothing else, it wouldn’t be boring. That assumption was correct. Ashlee Piper does a great job of making the topic of sustainable living pretty darn engaging.
The write-up for “Give a Sh*t” describes it as “a practical handbook” and, in my opinion, that is really the best way to use it. I have to confess that reading (or in my case listening) straight through was a smidge overwhelming. Depending on where you are starting from, trying to implement all of Ashlee’s suggestions right away could be a significant change, and in my own experience, it’s hard to maintain huge, drastic changes.
What is working for me, however, is using the book as an overview of how each aspect of my life could be made more sustainable. For example, one thing it has reawakened in me is my resolve to be less carnivorous. This section made me face the hypocrisy that I both love animals and eat them. Plus there’s the startling statistics about just how terrible the meat industry is for the planet.
There is a ton of great information in this book – great news for the readers of this blog, the most extensive section is Chapter 2 that focuses on the home and covers things like composting, more sustainable furnishing, the benefits of houseplants, and much more.
For anyone seeking anything from a full immersion to a refresher in sustainable living, “Give a Sh*t” (and bonus PDF that accompanies it) is one of the most actionable books on sustainability available. This will definitely be something I’ll be coming back to in the future.
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