Farewell My Subaru: An Epic Adventure in Local Living by Doug
Fine
Today we're having for our green books
series a funny and inspiring story of Doug Fine, who "grew
up on concrete eating pizza" in American suburbia, and
his attempts to kick oil while still living like an American
in a small farm in New Mexico.
Our book for today is:
Farewell, My Subaru: An Epic Adventure in Local
Living
Author: Doug Fine
Adventure journalist, NPR contributor and Cosmos-nudger Doug
Fine speaks several languages, including suburban American,
rural American and Alaskan American. He has reported and sent
panicky emails from Rwanda to the Arctic Ocean. At last sighting
he was living in New Mexico with too much livestock and just
the right smear of stars.
Publisher: Villard
Publishing date: March 2008
What it is about (from the book's
page on Amazon.com): Like many Americans, Doug Fine enjoys
his creature comforts, but he also knows full well they keep
him addicted to oil. So he wonders: Is it possible to keep
his Netflix and his car, his Wi-Fi and his subwoofers, and
still reduce his carbon footprint?
In an attempt to find out, Fine up and moves to a remote
ranch in New Mexico, where he brazenly vows to grow his own
food, use sunlight to power his world, and drive on restaurant
grease. Never mind that he’s never raised so much as
a chicken or a bean. Or that he has no mechanical or electrical
skills.
Whether installing Japanese solar panels, defending the goats
he found on Craigslist against coyotes, or co-opting waste
oil from the local Chinese restaurant to try and fill the
new “veggie oil” tank in his ROAT (short for Ridiculously
Oversized American Truck), Fine’s extraordinary undertaking
makes one thing clear: It ain’t easy being green. In
fact, his journey uncovers a slew of surprising facts about
alternative energy, organic and locally grown food, and climate
change.
Both a hilarious romp and an inspiring call to action, Farewell,
My Subaru makes a profound statement about trading today’s
instant gratifications for a deeper, more enduring kind of
satisfaction.
Why you should get it:
1. Nothing like a good story about experiencing green living
with a self-deprecation sense of humor.
Need an example? just read Doug's description of the book:
"Farewell, My Subaru is the account of everything that
can go wrong (and then right) when a regular guy tries to
get oil out of his life. It details, among other embarrassing
(but, my editor insists, inspiring) realities: coyotes eating
my chickens, my near-death due to clumsiness during solar
panel installation, and my suffering from Extreme Munchies
thanks to the exhaust of my new carbon-neutral, vegetable
oil-powered R.O.A.T. (Ridiculously Oversized American Truck)."
2. I like the fact that he connects the ideas of being greener
with being more happy. We hear too often about the hurdles
of getting green, but not too much about the happiness it
brings to people's life.
3. Although Doug lives in a farm in New Mexico in a way that
most people won't find a good fit for themselves, his ideas
about combining the digital age with green living, when you
don't need to give up amenities like Netflix or ice cream,
can be relevant for many people who are looking to find the
right path.
What others say about it:
“The details of Doug Fine’s experiment in green
living are great fun…what we are built for. It’ll
make you want to move!” –Bill McKibben, author
of Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable
Future
“This is Green Acres for the smart set––
a witty and educational look at sustainable living. Buy it,
read it, compost it.” –AJ Jacobs, author of The
Year of Living Biblically
This green
book review was originally posted on Eco-Libris blog.
More resources:
1. The book on Amazon.com
2. Doug
Fine's website
3. The
short film: Farewell, My Subaru
4. Interview with Doug Fine on TreeHugger - Part
1 and Part
2
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