Green Reads – Eco Living Books for Ideas and Information

I figured this would be a good time to share with my readers what books I read and refer too. With so much information out there, these are the sources I find to be the most helpful, well designed and put together, all with the eco-minded features I enjoy. These are all easy read, enjoyable books that offer great practical everyday options to green up your life. Centered around the home, shopping, and silly everyday things that many of us overlook, you will be on your way to a greener, eco chic planet saver in no time.

First up is Wake Up and Smell the Planet: The Non-Pompous, Non-Preachy Grist Guide to Greening Your Day which comes to us from Grist Magazine, a big influential environmental group up here in the Northwest. It’s a quick, easy and fun read with tips that anyone can find useful to greening up their life with just little everyday choices that can add up to make a big difference.


Along those lines is a more design conscious book that features pretty pictures and a green Martha Stewart type approach. Easy Green Living is structured around your household with specifics on food and diet, cleaning and decorating. A wonderfully creative and practical book packaged into a more traditional Sunset Magazine style informational read.


If you have kids in the house, 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth is a great book for them to understand how their actions affect things like energy use and waste, and translate it into terms they can understand. It’s a good thing to instill earth friendly values of conservation in children so that they carry it through their whole lives, and they can share what they learn with their peers.


For those who are into green home design, and would like a nice coffee table to complement their green home lifestyle, I would recommend Good Green Homes. Its a great hardcover featuring homes constructed with green materials and built in a environmentally friendly way. It doesn’t get too detailed into the process, and is more of a beautiful design book which the pictures are wonderful to oogle at.


Green Chic is what I am all about here, so how could I not include a green fashion type book- Green Chic. This explores shopping, fashion and being hip and green. Great for teenagers, and anyone that needs to be in on the chic, this read has more of a trendy feel to it.