Book Review: Building a Better World in Your Backyard

How many of you have spent some of your extra home time reading a good book? I have one that’s well-written and filled with lots of interesting ideas. It’s by Paul Wheaton and Shawn Klassen-Koup.

The aim of the book is to help you make an impact—not by being a better and louder complainer, but in realistic practical ways and without sacrificing personal comfort. The authors define this as “luxuriant environmentalism.” That in itself ought to grab your attention, because most people claiming to try to save the planet tell us we need to make personal sacrifices to do that saving. The ideas in this book, however, offer less wasteful but comfortable lifestyle changes that will also save you money.

Do you already consider yourself environmentally conscientious? The first section of this book will absolutely challenge you on that. The authors begin with a very simple test, and then challenge some of the popular eco-ideas with which we’ve been greenwashed. This section wraps up by presenting three different footprints which can all be reduced without a sacrifice to personal comfort: carbon footprint, petroleum footprint, and toxic footprint.

Part 2 addresses general strategies to reduce these three footprints. It begins with the Wheaton Eco Scale, which gives the reader a chance to see how they realistically line up in a scale of zero to ten.

Several interesting ideas are presented. One is a system of rating the production of food according to its carbon footprint: from the Standard American Diet (SAD) of purchased foods with its footprint of 10.5 tons of carbon, down to VORP grown (virgin—i.e. raw, fresh, or minimally processed—, strictly organic, rich soil, polyculture/permaculture) with a carbon footprint of -1. Another interesting idea is to label foods with a GAT score indicating the amount of government-mandated acceptable levels of toxicity in each food item.

Part 3 addresses reducing energy consumption within the walls of your home, but without sacrificing personal comfort. Analyzes general energy usage in typical homes and numerous small and easy ways to make a big impact. Chapter 15 offers numerous ways to reduce the toxic footprint in your home, all economical and easy to do.

Part 4 is entitled “More Than Half of Each Footprint Can Be Resolved in a Backyard.” Of course, not everyone has a backyard, but you’ll still find an interesting discussion of one’s possibilities. The ideas in this section start with the easiest (“Double the Food with One Tenth the Effort”) and progress to ideas that will take a little more work but reap huge benefits (“Harvesting Electricity in Your Backyard” and “The Conventional Lawn vs a Mowable Meadow.”) Also discusses the dark side of native plants, 20 things to do with twigs that fall in your yard, not composting, and greywater recycling.

Part 5 offers even more ideas for those with the ability to homestead. Entitled “Counter the Footprint of 20 People on a Homestead,” it discusses the benefits (to everyone) of livestock, replacing petroleum with people, dealing with poop and pee, natural swimming pools, and why you should destroy your orchard! (Shocked? Read the book for a great reason why!) For those entertaining the idea of building their own home, there’s an excellent chapter on “A Building Design That Solves Almost Everything.”

Part 6, “Conclusion,” summarizes the book’s message nicely.

One thing that impresses me about the authors is that they respect folks who have a different opinion regarding environmental problems and their causes, yet still give an extremely compelling rationale for adopting the ideas advocated in the book. This respect is extremely important. The current trend of trying to belittle those with different opinions by calling them names will never solve the problems. If we truly believe things need to be changed, then we can only be successful through cooperation. And cooperation requires respecting one another, something that’s completely disappeared in politics, activism, and  journalism these days.

The only thing that’s missing in this book is an index in the paperback edition. I always prefer paperbacks and often use an index, so that’s a feature I will miss. However, the sections and chapters are clearly defined in the contents, so I’m sure I’ll be able to go back to ideas I want to explore further.

So. Do you want to make a difference without sacrificing comfort? Then this book is for you. Do you want to cut your bills and save money? Then this book is for you.

It’s available in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook at Amazon.