Worthy and well meant, if readable only in small doses, this compendium gathers advice and personal testimony from a host of active writers about ways to cut down on energy use and waste. With some exceptions, such as Robert Lipsyte’s Ten Rules to Save the Planet (“Never flush the toilet. When it gets hot in the house, walk around naked”), the entries are earnest in tone and practical (if repetitive) in content: Carry water and lunches in reusable containers; find alternatives to plastic bags; set up a community or school “swap shop.” For would-be activists, Susan Cooper offers the tried and true “Ask questions; create guilt,” and Bruce Balan cranks that up a notch: “Adults are destroying your world. So let them know about it. Shout it out. Get in their face.” The one- to three-page statements march on relentlessly to the large annotated list of websites at the end. The contributors’ names may draw well-read audiences, but the project-oriented approach in the likes of Anne Jankeliowitch’s 50 Ways to Save the Earth (2008), illustrated by Philippe Bourseiller, provides clearer blueprints for promoting a green agenda. (Nonfiction. 10-13)
