Product Description

"It's Not Easy Being Green" follows Dick Strawbridge and his family as they leave their comfortable home in the Midlands to tackle a remarkable self-sufficiency project - New House Farm in Cornwall. Their main objective is to have as little negative impact on the planet as possible by producing no waste and removing their dependency upon fossil fuels - all without compromising on their comfortable, modern 21st-century lifestyles. It's a laudable aim, but they are definitely not eco-warriors! With his hands-on, flamboyant approach, Dick offers practical tips on everything, from constructing water wheels, gadgets and greenhouses, to the trials of living with animals and knocking up 'proper' wholesome food. Packed with information about the cost of power, sourcing building materials, taking up permaculture and finding transport alternatives, "It's Not Easy Being Green" highlights the small steps that can change your life and is a simple, inspirational guide for everyone considering the path to green living.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #77861 in Books
• Published on: 2009-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

About the Author
Born in Burma and brought up in Northern Ireland, Dick Strawbridge has had more than twenty years' distinguished service in the army, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. In 1993 he was awarded an MBE. Dick is regularly on screen, appearing in many television programmes including Planet Earth Challenge, Coast, The Reinventors, The Big Idea, Planet Mechanics and Scrapheap Challenge.

Customer Reviews

Moustached wonder
A brilliant book with a lot more information than the TV programme. It's a nice change to have a book about a family wanting to live an environmentally aware life, rather than a eco-warriors telling us to go live in a teepee. Although many of the things they have done with their house are not possible for many of us, it gives good links and advice on how to alter your life without losing the comforts of 21st century. Strawbridge covers many issues around questioning how we live our lives when it comes to energy and food without jumping to traditional hippie view points.

Not only does it give good advice, he and his family came across as a decent bunch and this comes through as it's very easy to read and use for reference. I even managed to understand the engineering side of things.

The only fault with the book is that it could have been proof read a little better as there are a few typos, but that doesn't matter when you get to see photos of that amazing moustache.

Not What I Expected
I expected a book with loads of practical hints and tips to get me started on a similar path, but it isn't that at all. It's really a more permanent record of the Strawbridge family's own experience and as such is accurate and evokes the feeling of the programme. There are web addresses, etc. and I've bought stuff from some of them; I also found some inspiration to become more 'green' through reading it, but I do think it should have been made clear, when the book was touted at the end of the programmes, that it wasn't meant to be a practical manual. Nevertheless it is an enjoyable and inspiring read, even though most of us could never do things on the same scale...

It isn't easy being green
I think some of the reviewers have missed the point, don't think this book is supposed to be a technical manual there's plenty of those elsewhere. It's more a thought provoking set of ideas to get you going. Combined with the show it's certainly changed a lot of my thoughts and made me actually get up and install a rainwater harvesting system, start to grow some of my own veg in pots and growbags on a deck together with recyling nearly all my rubbish! so it worked for me!

It's a great read and written by a real family, highly recommended!