book review vol. eleven

I bought this book after it was brought to my attention with a high recommendation from Allen Duty. You may recall the title from the review on the Duty's blog. Well now I've completed the book and it's my turn to give my two cents.

There is no question that at this point in history, the scientists, environmentalists, conservationists and preservationists have successfully informed the public of the deteriorating state of our world to the point that it is now very chic to be (or at least to appear) green. Some people are legitimately doing it, others fake it - not unlike claiming the name of Christ. Matthew Sleeth and his family are doing it. This gives him credibility in writing a book on the topic.

One of the biggest points that Sleeth gets across in this book is the fact that a part of obeying certain well-known commands from scripture (i.e. "Love your neighbor") includes living in such a way that minimally impacts the environment, both for the benefit of future generations and those living in today's third world countries. He teaches that our motivation for living green ought to be love, which comes from the Lord. That's true, and it's something that I'm sure a lot of people need to hear.

However, I came into this book already believing that it is our duty as believers (not to mention humans) to live modestly, and even sustainably. Though this book did open my eyes to a few areas where I could reduce my impact on the environment, most of what he taught I either already knew or could have figured out without too much thought. Now that isn't to say I'm practicing it, so it's good for me to hear, but still, it was less practical than I'd hoped.

I was also pretty disappointed with most of Sleeth's references to scripture and how he used them to make the point he was making. I found the majority of his arguments far from convincing. To say that you are experiencing "the peace that surpasses all understanding" because you were gardening with your wife just like God created you to... come on, that's weak. And I'm pro-gardening and certainly pro-wife.

In his defense, Sleeth did have a nice little collection of pages there in the appendices that were a lot more practical than the 200 pages that precede them. Unfortunately I found even those to be lacking. The theme of what he taught was to pick the appliance that used the least energy when purchasing new ones, and to make sure to turn things off when they aren't being used.

So thank you Allen for the book recommendation, I appreciate your thinking of me. But to my readers: I don't recommend this book to you unless you truly feel at a loss as to where you stand on environmental stewardship. If you find yourself unsure of what our role as believers is, then by all means pick up the book. I'll let you borrow mine. If you think you've got a pretty good grip on how we ought to treat our world, and what motivates us to act that way, you don't need to read this book. What you do need to do is check out the Supercinski's blog, where they're doing a series on getting greener. I do recommend this, and I strongly believe it will not be a waste of your time.