Green Made Easy

Green Made Easy

The Everyday Guide for Transitioning to a Green Lifestyle.

Chris says that "It only takes small shifts in how we go about our daily routine that translates to big changes on the planet. By following a green lifestyle you will find you are not only saving money, but also saving vital resources for many generations to come."

In Green Made Easy, author and green pioneer Chris Prelitz shares how to be both environmental and economical at the same time. Going green is not only good for our planet it's good for your pocketbook. For over 20 years, Chris has been helping businesses, home owners, and corporations lower their monthly expenses by going green. Chris and his wife, Becky, share a green solar-powered home in Laguna Beach, California, which Chris designed and built. Most months they produce more power than they use and receive a credit from their power company instead of a bill!

In this book, Chris shares personal experiences, lessons learned, and reflections that humorously touch the heart and inspire the spirit. The chapter "Busting Green Myths" will sway even the most cynical person toward better eco-choices that will also save money. Chris says, "We're rediscovering that it's so much healthier, more lucrative, and better for every living thing to transition away from wasteful, polluting technologies and make choices that work in harmony with nature."

Green Made Easy is written in a friend-to-friend, conversational style and examines our daily lives from personal care and cosmetics to solar-energy systems. This book will delight and inspire any and all who dream of making a difference and wish to create a thriving, healthy future for generations to come.

Chris Prelitz is the son of an ocean and aerospace engineer father and a mother of Native American descent who grew up on a rural farm. Raised in the midst of these two extreme views of life provided Chris with an appreciation for both high-tech and simple indigenous principles that have stood the test of time yet have been mostly forgotten. Chris is a pioneer of the green movement, heading a successful design-build firm with projects ranging from off-grid solar ranches to the first solar-powered restaurant and solar auto dealership in the U.S. He has served on environmental advisory boards at city, state, and national levels. Chris now touches audiences globally with his uplifting green message, appearing regularly in the print and broadcast media, including the premier episode of the Discovery Channel's Greenovate show.

Green Made Easy
Hay House
Author: Chris Prelitz
ISBN: 9781401922849
Price: $22.95

Interview with Chris Prelitz

What are a couple of 'green' changes we can make in our every day routine?

Chris Prelitz: 1. Only buy products that do NOT have a WARNING or CAUTION label, - a sure sign they contain toxins or poisons. Healthier choices are available for everything from soaps and shampoos to cleaning products and even toothpaste.
2. Put a reusable cloth shopping bag in your car or bike bag and you'll never need to use disposable paper or plastic bags again.
3. Start carrying a reusable stainless water bottle and you'll never have to buy water in a disposable plastic bottle again.


How can we make greener choices in regards to our work?

Chris Prelitz: There are plenty of ways to green in the workplace, that will not only be better for the planet, but probably better for the bottom line. If you're workplace provides plastic water bottles, see if you can have a water filter installed and ask folks to carry reusable stainless water bottles. You could also replace Styrofoam coffee cups with individual ceramic mugs. Start a "Kill the Power Vampires" contest. Power Vampires, or Phantom Loads are little leaks of electricity that appliances suck 24/7 even when they're turned off. This costs us electricity and money. A New Zealand study by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority found that 40% of microwave ovens used more electricity to power the clock and the keypad over the course of the year than actually heating food. A computer left turned on can potentially draw as much current as a refrigerator. You can use a power strip to turn off the power completely except when you need it.


What can we do around the kitchen and the home to improve a green lifestyle?


Chris Prelitz: The best advice I feel I can share is to make your bedroom and kids bedroom's a healthy, nurturing sanctuary where your minds, bodies and spirit can recharge every night during sleep. Our outer world is so filled with toxins today, that we need and benefit greatly from having our bedrooms be healthy and rejuvenating. That's where we spend about a third of our lives.
Start with removing any toxic soaps, shampoos and replace with healthy non-toxic products. Remember, if it gets on our skin, it gets 'in' our bodies. Our skin absorbs surface chemicals. That's how nicotine patches work.

Next, consider organic sheets and pillow cases and even blankets and comforters. Trace amounts of pesticides and flame retardants aren't good for anyone.

Go with a healthy plant based washing detergent to make sure that your new organic sheets aren't left with petroleum based chemical residue.

Move away any electrical appliance like clock radios from at least 2 meters from the bed to protect from EMF exposure, which has been linked to autism, leukemia, and other conditions.

Those are some of the first steps. Many more are listed in my book.


How does your book, Green Made Easy, help those willing to put in the effort to live a greener lifestyle?

Chris Prelitz: I've taken 20 plus years of green living and simplified it so that anyone can start making better choices that are environmental and economical at the same time. There is an awful lot of 'greenwashing' out there. I'll help you separate the truly healthy and green from the not so green. The book also contains lot's of tips, resources, and recipes that will save a ton of time trying to find.


What affect can the above tips have on the planet?

Chris Prelitz: A couple million or even billion people making better ecological choices have a huge positive planetary impact. If we could just stop purchasing disposable plastic water bottles we could save millions of barrels of oil used each year to manufacture and transport those bottles. And, nearly 90% of water bottles are not recycled and end up in landfills. That's just one product. The same impacts are true for everything from paper napkins to Styrofoam cups.

Environmentalist Joanna Macy has coined a phrase for this moment in time that we are living in now... She calls it "The Great Turning" where we need to witness and hospice the death of those entities, organisations, and corporations that are dying because they are not in harmony with nature. And, at the same time, we are witnessing and midwifing the birth of new entities and organizations that are in harmony with nature.

We have 2 million organizations doing work to foster social and environmental restoration? all without a single leader. There is a stirring of the human heart within many that knows on a very deep level that we need change now and leave a healthier and more vibrant planet for generations to come. Each of us doing our part adds to that new future.