Consumerism With a Conscience

As the editor of Ecologue: The Environmental Catalogue and Consumer's Guide for a Safe Earth'' (New York: Prentice Hall Press, $18.95), Anderson takes pride in providing consumers with information that changes their lives.''

A lot of people feel overwhelmed,'' says Anderson in an interview. The information to make consumer choices that support the environment just wasn't there, he says, explaining one of the reasons he created the catalog.

The catalog touches so many aspects of life, that people really realize that everything they do from their mascara right to their cars and food they buy affects the environment,'' says Anderson, president of the International Environment Group, Inc. Nearly five pages are devoted to diapers, for example. Many pages feature blurbs on what you can do,'' lifestyle tips, ecotrivia, and inspirational quotes.

It's a terrific book,'' says 1990 Earth Day Chairman Denis Hayes, whom Anderson succeeded as chair of the solar energy lobby in 1980. It takes a good first cut of looking at products across the board. If you're going out and buying anything, it would be useful to look at the book and the questions it raises,'' he adds. Product samples went to friends, neighbors, relatives; and their friends, neighbors, and relatives'' along with a response form, says Anderson, who has referred to Ecologue'' as a cross between the Whole Earth and Sharper Image catalogs.

Not every product got positive reviews. We quoted our testers in here because they're ordinary people who are using these things,'' explains Anderson.

But are we being fooled into thinking that a few efficient light bulbs or cloth diapers are going to make enough of a difference?

It's the accumulation of all these little decisions that have created the problem, not any one single overwhelming thing we've done wrong.'' It all adds up, he says. There's no question that energy consumption is the biggest issue and the focus on reducing our energy consumption  on cars that get better mileage, insulating our homes, or using more efficient air conditioners, or whatever  that would make the biggest difference.''

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