B. Fleishhacker

A fairly standard enviro guide

"101 Ways To Save Money and Save Our Planet" is one of a dozen or so "how to save money while saving the planet" guides that I've read in the past few months. I'm in the midst of conducting a thorough literature review for a book I'm writing on environmental issues, and I literally borrowed every relevant document I could find at my local library.

As far as these types of guides go, "101 Ways To Save Money" is pretty standard. It features 101 practical tips, grouped into several topics (Household & Garden, Energy & Water, Personal, Automotive, and Other), and arranged alphabetically. Most of the advice contained in environmental/financial how-to guides is fairly commonsensical and interchangeable, and "101 Ways To Save Money" is no exception. For example, the recommendations to use cloth napkins instead of paper towels or rechargeable batteries as opposed to non- rechargeables aren't exactly groundbreaking. However, there are a few gems in this particular guide, including recipes for homemade, non-toxic household products, such as drain cleaner and furniture polish.

One caveat, however: the authors suggest using garlic as a flea repellant for your canine companions, but this is merely an old wives' tale (I've also done extensive research into canine nutrition, and all the reputable resources I've read have refuted this claim). Though this is a minor error, it certainly doesn't boost my confidence level in regards to the rest of the advice offered. I can't say that I've run into any problems with any of the other information, though, so perhaps it was the lone mistake in the book.

The only other gripe I have with "101 Ways To Save Money" is the authors' shoddy documentation of their references. At the end of the volume, they list two pages of sources that were "used to create this book." Nonetheless, they fail to reference any of this material in the text of the book, so the readers have no way of knowing what information was pulled from which sources. This not only cheats the audience (i.e., we have no way of knowing which sources we should consult for additional information on any one given topic), but it deprives the authors of the credit that they rightfully deserve.

Finally, like most guides of this nature, the authors of "101 Ways To Save Money" make vague environmental claims without providing any documentation whatsoever. Although I consider myself an ardent environmentalist and heartily believe that we're rapidly destroying the planet, I don't see how such superficial and unreferenced arguments are going to convince non-environmentalists that there is a crisis (and that it's our responsibility to address it). Though I understand that this wasn't necessarily the aim of their book, I still think it behooves the authors to include a few scientific references in their bibliography in order to persuade the nonbelievers to heed their warnings.

For those who are already convinced that we need to "Save Our Planet," "101 Ways" is a decent guide, but nothing special. If you already own one or more books on this topic, pass "101 Ways To Save Money" by - you probably won't find anything new here.

http://www.easyvegan.info/2005/05/10/one-hundred-one-ways-to-save-money-and-save...… (lisätietoja)