Sustainable Home: Practical Projects, Tips and Advice for Maintaining a More Eco-Friendly Household by Christine Liu is a guidebook to maintaining a more environmentally friendly household. Sustainable lifestyle blogger and professional Christine Liu takes you on a tour through the rooms of your home – the living area, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom – offering tips, tricks and 18 step-by-step projects designed to help you lead a more low-impact lifestyle. Whether it is by making your own toothpaste, converting to renewable energy sources, reducing your consumption of plastic, growing your own herb garden or upcycling old pieces of furniture, there are numerous ways – both big and small – to make a difference. The desire to make small changes on an individual level is on the rise; this book will guide anyone hoping to make a difference, but who perhaps don’t know where to begin.
Sustainable Home was a mixed bag for me. Decluttering and trying to reduce, reuse, and recycle are things that I think anyone picking up this book already knows about, but they are necessary reminders and suggestions. I liked the suggestions about how to find items that have been made sustainably and by companies that are working to minimize their carbon footprint, and that of their product. The growing your own food, and increasing the amount of plant based food was good. I like that while the suggestions do offer some big options, it also mentions small things that people could do regardless of kitchen size and the possible lack of time or a yard that would be required for significant gardening. The ideas, instructions, and recipes for making things for yourself rather than buying them are good, and some I might even try.
However, some of the suggestions are completely impossible for people depending on where they live. While some libraries and organizations are getting tool libraries, repair and make it spaces, and what not set up and available to the public. These tend to be in places where to local government has enough money to fund them and might not accessible to those with limited transportation options and resources, or those working many hours or multiple jobs to make ends meet which might make it next to impossible to make use of local options. Many of these kind of suggestions will only work for those privileged enough to have access to them, or the time to research options or make a special trip.
This book has good information and suggestions in it. However, I feel like it is for people with a little too much time and money on their hands rather than the average person or household. I feel like there are good intentions here, but a lack of understanding of what life is like beneath a certain income bracket, or in areas without the resources so casually mentioned in the book.
