(it’s less scary)

Stop Global Warming: The Solution is You!, by Laurie David

November 22, 2006 1:55 PM - Meg O'Neill, Newport RI

Laurie David’s latest project to get people marching in her virtual Stop Global Warming campaign is The Solution is You!, a handy pocket guide to curbing climate change. Part autobiography, part activist’s toolbox, the book, which weighs in at less than 75 post-consumer-recycled pages, is a quick read, but chockablock with all the facts, figures, and fury you’ll need to arm yourself in the war against global warming. From statistics that’ll have you squashing dissenters in any debate to handy tips on how you can reduce your own everyday emissions, you’ll want to dog-ear nearly every page.

David is refreshingly unafraid to call a spade a spade in her tiny tome: She’s fast to point out flaws in specific politicians, but without drawing party lines. She explains why the White House prefers the term “climate change” to “global warming” (it’s less scary) and talks about the administration’s predilection for editing and censoring reports from NASA right on down to the NOAA. She talks about the little things, like how poison ivy is getting worse and that we could we soon live in a world without maple syrup (seriously) to hot-button topics such as fuel standards, the coal industry, and the consequences of Hurricane Katrina.

Peppered throughout are little pearls of wisdom from a woman whose first step toward her dream of working in TV began with a job at a car dealership, but who, with determination and perseverance, went on to produce Seinfeld and An Inconvenient Truth. “Never let knowing next to nothing stop you,” she writes. It’s not just a piece of advice—it’s passionate plea from a maelstrom of a woman whose energy and enthusiasm are both evident and infectious.

The Solution is You! is a must-read for everyone—from the uninitiated looking for a perfect primer, to believers who want to do more, to skeptics who need a good dose of the cold, hard facts. Leave this book out on your coffee table, buy it as a stocking stuffer, pass it on to everyone you know. The fact is, each of us has a role to play in curbing our collective appetite when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions. As David puts it, “It’s not about any one person doing everything; it’s about all of us doing something and then maybe a little more.” ::Stop Global Warming Read another review at ::The Huffington Post: Fearless Voices