Cover image from LibraryThingVanessa Farquharson committed to doing something green everyday for a year.  Inspired after watching Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, Farquharson, an arts reporter for the National Post in Toronto decided she needed to do something.  She began her blog, Green as a Thistle to chronicle her adventures in green living and from it her book Sleeping Naked is Green developed.  Farquharson's adventure began March 1, 2007 with a switch to using recycled paper towels.  Each day she chose a new task or life change that she would have to follow until February 29, 2008 when her year of green living ended.  She did simple things like showering in the dark or shutting down her computer at the end of each day or switching to electronic billing.  She did more challenging things like "eating only free-range, organic, hormone-free (and if possible local) meat, restricting my intake of beef and chicken to no more than once per week" and "spending part of each day educating myself about environmental issues."  The most challenging thing for her was remembering all of the things she had committed to do or not do and sticking with it the rest of the year.  You can find the full Green List on her website.  Initially I was expecting a funny book with pages of laughter (there are moments), however, I was wrong and once I realized that was not the point of Sleeping Naked is Green I really began to enjoy the book.  Farquharson desires to share her experiences as she challenges herself to live a more environmentally friendly life.  In the end, I really enjoyed the book and look forward to trying some of the changes she made in my own life.  The one thing that would have made this book even better is a resource or reference list.  Farquharson mentions multiple times researching the green lifestyle changes, but fails to share specifically and the exact resources that she finds.  I would have appreciated a list of websites or other resources to visit after finishing Sleeping Naked is Green, especially since she is no longer updating her blog.

 

Why I was interested:  The title caught my attention and the description reeled me in.  I am always up for a book with humor.

 

Why I finished it: I really wanted to know how she did it and if she successfully made it the whole year adding in one green change each day.

 

I'd share it with: People who are interested in greening up their lifestyle and learning a bit with a bit of humor.  I will admit I learned a lot even though I thought some of her changes were a bit trivial and even questioned whether they were really greener then the alternative.

 

Other books & movies to try: No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process by Colin Beavan, also a green blogger.  There was also a documentary made from Beavan's experiences.  Other films to check out are King Corn and Food, Inc. which look closer at the food we eat and the environmental impact that it has on us and our environment. An Inconvenient Truth, a documentary by Al Gore, explores global warming and the inspiration for the author to begin this challenge.