You can now find The Green Book by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas M. Kostigen in your local bookstores. It is a nice, portable-sized paperback to fit in your organic cotton backpack. It is not very narrative; rather, it’s a good reference manual to flip through for basic tips on how to live greener, divided into a spectrum of situations in life: Home, Entertainment, Travel, Technology, School, Work, Shopping, Health and Beauty, Sports, Finance, Building, and Going Carbon Neutral. For example, do you want to know how to conserve a little more water in your home? Then flip to page 6: "Instead of letting the water run when you brush your teeth, brush while you’re waiting for the water to get hot for your shave." The book is filled with such tips interspersed with personal essays by celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston, Owen Wilson, Tyra Banks, Will Ferrell, and Martha Stewart.
Elizabeth Rogers worked with the Clinton campaign and created and produced MTV’s eco-show Trippin‘. She is currently an environmental consultant living in Venice, California. Thomas M. Kostigen writes the "Ethics Monitor" column for the Dow Jones MarketWatch. I was supposed to interview both authors via e-mail, but for some reason, only Elizabeth was available to answer my questions:
Jenni: With countless "green"
books on bookstore shelves today, what made you want to write
this book? What is your vision?
Elizabeth: The idea for the book came from
a show I had co-created on MTV called Trippin‘, and on that show I tried to leave the audience with one simple shift of habit
they could do in their daily life that would have an impact. I
was shocked that the information wasn’t out there. After I
wrapped the show, I set out to answer all my own questions and make this
information as user-friendly and simple as I possibly could. Plus,
I was shocked that this information didn’t exist already and I really
wanted to know the answers to most of the questions in the book for
myself! So my writing it was partly selfish. I wanted to know the
answers so that I could apply them to my daily routine.
At times it seems that environmental
issues convey "gloom and doom" and pessimism. Do you see hope in our future and change for the better?
Why?
I see it every day in my son.
He is my inspiration and the BIG reason I do this work and have real
hope for this planet. He is so inspired by what I do, by recycling, nature, and the environment - it’s crazy. When you see
such pure passion and hunger to learn more and want to do good it makes
you believe that there is hope.
How did you come
to be passionate about green living? And other than the book,
how are you involved to support green issues?
It sounds cliché, but since
I was little I’ve always been connected to the environment,
wanted to be a part of it, and in some way make a difference. I
have always given back and done work that is cause-related, but five
years ago I made a big move and went to work consulting for the NRDC (National Resources Defense Council).
I quit a very high-powered job in business and went full-time for the
environment. Best move I ever made. I am now an environmental
consultant, as well as about to embark on several eco-minded business
ventures. If you are ever on the green edge like I was all those
years ago, take a leap into green, it won’t let you down!
What led you to include
the celebrity pages? How did you select each celebrity?
I think that until you can
integrate content into pop culture it doesn’t become totally mainstream,
cool, user-friendly, and the thing to do. That is my goal with
"green." I am trying to give green a new image by making the content
accessible and empowering to all. There is a starting point for
anyone who picks up this book and with twelve pop culture icons lending
their personal anecdotes, it gives a reader twelve more "ins" to the
book and casts a wider net for the content.
Each celebrity was chosen to
reach a different reader and demographic. Hopefully they will
all be entertaining and there will be something for everyone in the
green book.
The Green Book is a good
resource. It is full of clear, helpful information, but what are
a few of the simplest ways people can make a difference to have a real
impact on healing our environment?
Recycle. If everyone
just separated their paper, plastic, glass, and aluminum products from
the trash and put them in the recycling bin, we could decrease the amount
of waste sent to landfills by 75%. Get rid of your water
bottles: we throw away 60 million water bottles a day in America. Drink tap water
when you can. Take a cloth bag to the supermarket: U.S. households
dispose of nearly one hundred billion plastic bags annually. And
please, don’t forget to turn off the lights when you leave the room!
One last question:
whatever happened to MTV’s Trippin‘? I loved that show!
Trippin’ was only a ten-show
series. We only sold/created ten of them and that was all it was
meant to be. I’m glad you liked it; we sure had fun making it!
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