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 writethis book? What is your vision? Elizabeth: The idea for the book came froma show I had co-created on MTV called Trippin‘, and on that show I tried to leave the audience with one simple shift of habitthey could do in their daily life that would have an impact. Iwas shocked that the information wasn’t out there. After Iwrapped the show, I set out to answer all my own questions and make thisinformation as user-friendly and simple as I possibly could. Plus,I was shocked that this information didn’t exist already and I reallywanted to know the answers to most of the questions in the book formyself! So my writing it was partly selfish. I wanted to know theanswers so that I could apply them to my daily routine.At times it seems that environmentalissues 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 realhope for this planet. He is so inspired by what I do, by recycling, nature, and the environment - it’s crazy. When you seesuch pure passion and hunger to learn more and want to do good it makesyou believe that there is hope.How did you cometo be passionate about green living? And other than the book,how are you involved to support green issues? It sounds cliché, but sinceI was little I’ve always been connected to the environment,wanted to be a part of it, and in some way make a difference. Ihave always given back and done work that is cause-related, but fiveyears 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 theenvironment. Best move I ever made. I am now an environmentalconsultant, as well as about to embark on several eco-minded businessventures. If you are ever on the green edge like I was all thoseyears ago, take a leap into green, it won’t let you down!What led you to includethe celebrity pages? How did you select each celebrity? I think that until you canintegrate 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 contentaccessible and empowering to all. There is a starting point foranyone who picks up this book and with twelve pop culture icons lendingtheir personal anecdotes, it gives a reader twelve more “ins” to thebook and casts a wider net for the content. Each celebrity was chosen toreach a different reader and demographic. Hopefully they willall be entertaining and there will be something for everyone in thegreen book.The Green Book is a goodresource. It is full of clear, helpful information, but what area few of the simplest ways people can make a difference to have a realimpact on healing our environment? Recycle. If everyonejust separated their paper, plastic, glass, and aluminum products fromthe trash and put them in the recycling bin, we could decrease the amountof waste sent to landfills by 75%. Get rid of your waterbottles: we throw away 60 million water bottles a day in America. Drink tap waterwhen you can. Take a cloth bag to the supermarket: U.S. householdsdispose of nearly one hundred billion plastic bags annually. Andplease, 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-showseries. We only sold/created ten of them and that was all it wasmeant to be. I’m glad you liked it; we sure had fun making it!
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