Brilliant Book Review
This little reference book by Ellis Jones, professor of sociology at University of California, Davis is a pocket primer for shoppers who want to change their habits, their ecological footprint and, in their own small way, change the world. This 2008 edition is an updated version of the 2006 book, because a lot has happened in two years. The author published The Better World Handbook in 2001. The shopping guide is a pocket sized concise addition to that more in depth project, in order to “make it available in a form that people can actually use in their everyday lives.” (P 2)
The first section of this book consists of small chapters, a page or two at the most, categories such as “The Problem” and “The 10 best list” as well as instructions on using the guide. Any reader experienced in the world of eco shopping and co-ops and organic companies may find some things redundant, but it is a great source of info for a newbie. With that said, even those of us with years of experience shopping at Whole Foods and local green and organic shops will benefit from the rankings in the book, drawing from over 20 years of data collected from private, public and non-profit sources. Some data may surprise the most seasoned green shopper; such as the finding that bread bought from a local bakery still far outranks many “health” brands. (And did you know Wonder Bread had a major racial discrimination lawsuit??) The tidbits of information are helpful, entertaining and insightful.
The shopping guide is alphabetically organized in two page sections from Airlines to Wine, including Banks, Clothing, all types of food and Gasoline. It’s easy to look up something and find out who is the top ranked A+ all the way to F scoring participants. Helpful information about what to look for, buying tips and online resources are listed with each category. I learned a phenomenal amount of information in a short time paging through this… of particular interest, Pfizer (pharmaceutical) spent 44 million on Washington lobbyists and was #17 in top corporate criminals. (P 111) I also was surprised to discover that Levi’s and the Gap scored much higher than Ralph Lauren, Polo, and even Land’s End! (P 56)
Being a seasoned green shopper and business owner I may have never picked it up to read myself, thinking I know the basics already. I have been humbled and thrilled by the content of this tiny, inexpensive and easy to read guide.
Highly recommended.
Available at Brilliant Stranger www.brilliantstranger.com
The Better World Shopping Guide
By Ellis Jones
Copyright 2008 New Society Publishers
$9.95
