Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don't Know You Have

By Tatiana Schlossberg

Book Overview

*First Place Winner of the Society of Environmental Journalists' Rachel Carson Environment Book Award*

"If you're looking for something to cling to in what often feels like a hopeless conversation, Schlossberg's darkly humorous, knowledge-is-power, eyes-wide-open approach may be just the thing."--Vogue

From a former New York Times science writer, this urgent call to action will empower you to stand up to climate change and environmental pollution by making simple but impactful everyday choices.

With urgency and wit, Tatiana Schlossberg explains that far from being only a distant problem of the natural world created by the fossil fuel industry, climate change is all around us, all the time, lurking everywhere in our convenience-driven society, all without our realizing it.

By examining the unseen and unconscious environmental impacts in four areas-the Internet and technology, food, fashion, and fuel - Schlossberg helps readers better understand why climate change is such a complicated issue, and how it connects all of us: How streaming a movie on Netflix in New York burns coal in Virginia; how eating a hamburger in California might contribute to pollution in the Gulf of Mexico; how buying an inexpensive cashmere sweater in Chicago expands the Mongolian desert; how destroying forests from North Carolina is necessary to generate electricity in England.

Cataloging the complexities and frustrations of our carbon-intensive society with a dry sense of humor, Schlossberg makes the climate crisis and its solutions interesting and relevant to everyone who cares, even a little, about the planet. She empowers readers to think about their stuff and the environment in a new way, helping them make more informed choices when it comes to the future of our world.

Most importantly, this is a book about the power we have as voters and consumers to make sure that the fight against climate change includes all of us and all of our stuff, not just industry groups and politicians. If we have any hope of solving the problem, we all have to do it together.

"A compelling-and illuminating-look at how our daily habits impact the environment."--Vanity Fair

"Shows how even the smallest decisions can have profound environmental consequences."--The New York Times

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1538747081
• ISBN13: 9781538747087
• Release Date: August 2019
• Publisher: Balance
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Great book for environmentalist

I really enjoyed this book. Checked it out from the library, and loved it so much that I am going to get a copy for myself. She really explains the issues that we and corporations create and how we can work on fixing them. The information also got me really angry with how these issues developed and how they are being treated. I see now why the climate is changing and it isn't a simple fix. This book is a must read even for anyone just looking to learn more about the environment.