Green Chic: Saving the Earth in Style

Picture this-21st January, 2006-0500 hrs PST-Tring-Kring! Tring-Kring! "Hey Nids, Gd Morning buddy- I wonder Why is everything so BIG in this country?, Why do people utter sweet one liners like "Hey-How you doin'?", How come streets are so clean? Why do people grab a Coffee on their way to work?" ...and before he could bombard me with dozen other questions-I muttered (quite strongly though;)) "Can we talk later pls CG? Its way too early here in West Coast !" And perhaps I heard the anticipated "Oh, I am so sorry Nids."-. Yeah, I am referring to one of the contributors on this blog and the incident refers to the 1st phone call he made to me upon arriving here in the land of way too many opportunities. By the way this blogger (any guesses?;)) is by far one of the most inquisitive persons I have ever come across on this planet(or even in Milky Way). You really have to be super patient to hear his never ending questions and bunch of crazy ideas/solutions he comes up with to deal with everyday problems. But watching him actually execute few of those fanatical ideas despite facing stiff resistance or unsweet criticisms most of the time (this blog is an example) can be seriously inspiring and entertaining at the same time !

Anyways here goes the review of "Green Chic:Saving the Earth in Style"-a brilliant book I read on my way back from NYC this Saturday. The book as the title suggest is all about adopting a smarter and greener lifestyle. If you observe closely you'll realize that nowadays almost every corporation(including the consulting firm I work for) loves parading the "Going Green" Mantra around in Press Releases, in Shareholder Meetings and in every possible public appearance of the firm. After all they wish to communicate that they are concerned about the environment, the mother nature, the ecological balance, the rising CO emissions, the alarming Ozone depletion and what not! Well, all that sounds good and sometimes such initiatives actually work too but we all know the ground reality. I mean c'mmon leave the organizations aside-given a chance I (or for that matter most of us) would love to drive a Ferrari (~ 20MPG avg), go on a cruise trip to Bahamas or fly a private airplane. So here I am almost on the verge of hurting land, sea and air habitat.

Well, this bestseller by Christie Matheson is centered around the belief that "No one can do everything but everyone can do something". Her writing style resembles that of a blog and she has loads of creative recommendations for pursuing Greener lifestyle at home, at parties, at workplace and almost everywhere. The author understands that in modern times-its very vital to live a stylish life but she adds by saying that habituating a few educated choices in our everyday activities can certainly make our world a little greener and sweeter place. One of the coolest things about the book (Thank-you Google!) is the fact that it's printed using Vegetable based inks on a certified recycled paper which conveys the book's message even more strongly-she sure practices what she teaches. Some of the tips I loved are:

• Create a cute recycling setup
• Skip soda and consume organic foods
• Watch your workout gear
• Be a material girl
• Get Green Bling (They do prove to be instant head turners for men:))
• Let there be [LED] Light
• Be picky about paper products

I would certainly recommend this humorous and entertaining book to eco-committed stylish readers (savvy chcis in particular). Wish you luck (you'll need plenty :)) on your march towards Going Green and being super stylish ! It's been months since I wrote something and seeing my thoughts in black and white here somehow leaves me feeling so good inside-Thanks CG!