The Economical Environmentalist: My Attempt to Live a Low-Carbon Life and What it Costs

The economy is imploding: it's impossible for first time buyers to break into the housing market, jobs are vanishing faster than high street banks and the price of home heating and organic muesli has shot up. These are some of the challenges facing people struggling to reduce their carbon emissions in an economic down-turn. But saving the planet doesn't have to cost the world and nor do tough economic times need to relegate concerns for the planet to the back burner.

In this book, Prashant Vaze, an environmental economist, distills and builds on his experience of trying to live a low carbon life in London. In doing so he helps navigate the choices that confront us all when making decisions about what to eat, how to travel and how to keep warm in the era of climate change and economic turmoil. The book is an irreverent but rigorous reference guide to low-cost, low-carbon living for everyone in tough times. Readers are taken through the choices of three real people who are trying to decarbonize on a budget: a twenty-something starting out in work, a father with two school children holding down a hectic job and a pensioner on a fixed income. It's brimming with up-to-date information on current and future technologies, tips and ideas for every budget for how to spend the least for the biggest carbon reduction gain and insight from the experiences of people trying to live a low carbon life.

Ultimately the goal is to help all of us, regardless of means or background, maintain our environmental commitment and lower our carbon footprints while saving money in the face of hard economic times.