The Virtuous Consumer

The Virtuous Consumer
Leslie Garrett
New World Library
ISBN: 1-930722-74-5
Non-Fiction, Environment
Reviewed by Dr. Tami Brady

I think that many of us believe that we are doing our part to preserve our world for our children and grandchildren. We happily recycle what we can. We donate our old clothes to good will. We enjoy local foods and even buy organic sometimes.
The Virtuous Consumer shows the consumer that there is so much more that we could be doing. This book examines better options in every single consumer category from food and clothing through energy consumption and pesticide free gardening to adopting a pet and buying a car. Reading this information for me was rather eye opening. I really hadn’t thought about how my pads and tampons were adding to the landfills. I had never even considered that there might be other options. Likewise, I had never spent even a single moment thinking about the pesticides used to grow my cotton clothing, what my laminate flooring was really made of, or the chemical composition of my children’s toys.
The Virtuous Consumer is an interesting read. I don’t see myself following the author’s guidelines to the letter or worrying about how every purchase I make effects the world. However, I did find a handful of things that I could conceivable do within my regular routine and a few new products that I’d like to check out. I am also armed with a little more information that will likely affect my buying practices and choices.