How Many Lightbulbs Does It Take to Change a Planet? by Tony Juniper

In 2005 publishers were churning out guides to reducing your carbs; two years on and it's our carbon footprint that needs trimmed. One of many guides to ethical living, this book promises 95 ways to save planet earth. It's a somewhat arbitrary figure, last used to make an impact when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to a church door in 1517.
The title suggests an encyclopedia of handy hints (you know the thing – replace every light bulb with one which scorches your retinas, eat only what can be found in your postcode etc) but the contents are rather more epic. One planet-saving solution calls for the creation of a UN endorsed global treaty for action on climate change: good luck fitting that into your lunch hour.
Written by Friends of the Earth director, Tony Juniper, this is really one long press release aimed squarely at the British Government, with pleas to spend taxes on environmental protection and change planning laws to keep Britain green, plumped up with some fine self-aggrandisement. Flabby and imprecise, it fails to engage with the average reader who wants to make a difference.
As with much writing on the environment, the line between optimism and delusion is thinner than the South Pole's ozone layer. "Immediately and unconditionally cancel world debt" demands one point. "Close the IMF and World Bank" another. It's rhetoric that would make even the most optimistic toilet wall scrawler blush. If Juniper is so keen to save the planet, perhaps he should come back down to Earth. [Graeme Allister]