Some of his suggestions for parents are worse, for example, the list on pages 177 & 178 from his book titled Superbia!, on how to make the neighbourhood you live in sustainable:

"10. Create a neighbourhood mission statement.
"...16. Replace asphalt and concrete with porous pavers. [I'm so sure the Town would love it if we started ripping up the street.]
"...23. Establish alternative water and waste systems. [Sure! Because don't most of us own garbage trucks? And isn't a good weekend project to rip out a few miles of sewer pipe to refit it to a locally-built water treatment plant?]
"...28. Narrow or eliminate streets, converting more space to park or edible landscape, walkways and picnic areas. [Again, I have to think the Town would have something to say about that.]
"...30. Create a mixed-use neighbourhood. [What, you mean the people on my street should just up and decide to have a mixed-use neighbourhood? "Say, let's kick Joe and his family out of the house on the corner and turn it into a factory, and Susan and Paul at the other end can move into Mary and Joel's house and we'll turn the empty one into a grocery store."]
"...31. Foster diversity."

(sigh)

Maybe it's because I have experience and education in the area that I was so frustrated by the book; the environmental information was both too basic as well as outright wrong on occasion--for instance, when he claims that hydrogen is a root-level solution for air-pollution. Which it would be, if hydrogen weren't produced with electricity generated in coal-burning power plants. The root-level solution requires shutting down those coal plants and getting our electricity from somewhere else; then and only then will hydrogen be a clean fuel.

Too much of what was intended for the kids came off as preachy, and I can't see most kids swallowing it easily. That kind of child-programming is what leads to college-age rebellion, which isn't my goal or the goal of most parents reading the book, I imagine. I'd rather give my kids the information and help them learn to think critically and let them come to their own conclusions than try to stuff a pre-determined set of values down their throat, where they are sure to choke on it. My parents tried very hard to turn me into a Good Little Baptist Girl (tm); now I'm a witch. Didn't work very well. But taking me to the woods and sending me to camp turned me into an environmentalist even though they never once preached at me about it.

Or maybe I'm weird. But I've read now in several places (including this one) that surveys of well-known adult environmentalists in various fields consistently find that a universal or near-universal factor leading to their vocation is early positive childhood experiences in nature. So it seems that you can spend a lot of time outdoors and still grow up to be an anti-environmentalist, but if you don't get that experience, you almost certainly won't care deeply about the environment and turn that caring into consistent action.

There are some redeeming passages. There's a good list on pages 51-52 of developmentally-appropriate outdoors activities for kids by age. The list for kids age nine months to seven years includes getting a pet, visiting petting farms and zoos, local butterfly pavillions and reading animal stories. Doable, and not didactic. For ages 8-11, he recommends taking kids to local or State parks or forests, meadows, lakes, ponds, etc., and sitting still while they play however they like. I can see that.

Unlike, on page 52, "Sign your child up for a work trip with a local conservation group to build or repair trails or plant trees. Go along with your child, if possible, to share in the work and the fun. Talk about why you are doing it, especially the benefits your work will create."

Yeah. I'm sure kids would love that. And they wouldn't resent it at all, or be at all bitter, or decide to rebel by ripping out tree seedlings.

No, it's not as terrible as that; but the annoying parts were really annoying. The idea is a good one and a lot of the basic environmental information is decent, so if you are looking for an introduction to the issues and different actions to solve them, it's not bad. It isn't my favourite, but then, I've been reading this stuff for well over a decade now, so I'm pretty hard to please.

I'll leave you with something positive, if overly simplistic and preachy: The list from pages 161-162 of "Twelve high-impact activities" that families can stop doing to have a lighter touch on the earth, which by and large are both doable and applicable to a wide range of homes and family situations in a wide range of areas:

1. Use compact flourescent lightbulbs.
2. Add insulation to attic and walls, use insulated curtains and shades, do a blower door test and seal cracks and openings.
3. Keep the thermostat at 68F/20C in the winter and 78F/25C in the summer; plant shade trees to help keep the house cool in summer. [Note: if your big windows are right over the driveway, as mine are, this won't work for you.]
4. Install water-conserving fixtures and toilets and replace worn-out appliances with water- and energy-efficient models.
5. Water the lawn sparingly, early or late in the day; use grasses and plants that don't need a lot of watering.
6. Recycle everything.
7. Compost everything.
8. Eat more vegetables and less meat and eat organic. [I have so much to say in disagreement to this one; but it would be a post of its own.] Start a garden or join a community-supported agriculture group [those services that deliver a weekly or bi-weekly box of organic veggies to your door].
9. Carpool, ride your bike, walk or take the bus; use fuel-efficient cars when you need to drive.
10. Curb consumption.
11. Reduce pets.
12. Lose weight.

Oh lord, I can't end it on a high note after all, can I? Lose weight? His idea seems to be that if you're fat it's because you're eating more than your share, and if you cut back then naturally less will be grown, or your extra portions will somehow transport themselves to the plate of a hungry person in the third world. What's more likely is that the uneaten food will be thrown out. Ask a grocery store what happens with produce or meat left after its best-by date. (In some unscrupulous places they simply repackage the meat and stick a new sticker on it, but let's ignore that; usually, they pitch it.)

Really, it's not a terrible book; it's a lot like that list. You can read for a few pages where everything seems reasonable, but then, BAM! Some little nugget of kryptonite leaps out and smacks you in the face, leaving you slack-jawed and wondering if the whole thing is a spoof.