Book Review

Plan C: Community Survival Strategies for Peak Oil and Climate Change
by Pat Murphy
Review by Tammie Ortlieb
PLanC

Interested in living a life more in tune with friends, family, and neighbors? Want to do this in a way that benefits the environment, your sanity, and ultimately your health? We Americans have become so reliant on convenience that this instant gratification is pulling us away from community, stressing our minds and bodies, and ruining the earth. Pat Murphy, in Plan C, suggests that now is the time to make drastic changes to the way we are choosing to live. Now is the time to return to a slower, more enjoyable, closer to home and hearth type of lifestyle.

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Be forewarned, though, Plan C is not a sitting with the kids at the pool page a minute best seller. It is definitely a brain on the treadmill, full cranial workout. Come to it with a desire to learn and a recollection of those old college textbooks. Packed with charts, graphs, statistics, data, and loads of research, it tends to border on class lecture more than chatting up a friend. In addition, Murphy at times leans toward a doomsday approach and presents his material in a preachy manner. And just a note for you strict herbivores, this is not a veganism is the only answer type solution. Murphy does suggest setting up one's own henhouse, for example, as a way to reduce the proverbial carbon footprint. Nonetheless, the message is clear and it is strong. Climate change and the draining of our natural resources are happening faster than scientists originally predicted. We must do our part on an individual level to reduce consumption.

Curtailment, drastically reducing our dependence on fossil fuel energy and products that require this energy, is necessary to eliminate our high-consumption patterns. Different from simply conserving, curtailment involves "buying less, using less, wanting less, and wasting less." It means getting back in touch with the land and community through learning about nutrition and growing our own food. It means reducing or eliminating meat consumption and eating organic foods in season that are grown close to home. It means putting an end to purchasing processed packaged foods and heavily marketed soft drinks. It means eating in, eating less, and reintroducing the art of canning and preserving so that we can enjoy local foods throughout the year. Curtailment, Murphy suggests, will not necessarily be easy. In fact, it will probably be difficult and uncomfortable. But it will be necessary.

Beyond food, Murphy discusses the importance of curtailment in transportation, work, and buildings. He recommends working from home or within the community to eliminate a fossil fuel draining commute. He lauds the benefits of biking, walking, or sharing rides. He supports the notion of living in smaller homes rather than cavernous McMansions with high ceilings and walls of glass. He proposes the idea of connecting again with those around us through local events, festivals, neighborhood potlucks, or simply game nights with friends, all in an effort to reduce energy draining reliance on media for entertainment-television, video games, I-Pods, computers-or to eliminate fossil fuel intensive trips to concerts out of town, vacations away, or afternoons at the movies.

While I found this book much like a homework assignment that I was forced to do before I could go out and play, I nonetheless appreciated the message. A bit overwhelming and definitely dark at times, Murphy was able to support his grim outlook on the future with a hefty load of statistics and research. The strength of Plan C is that, yes, climate change is happening. We know that. But Murphy tells us in no uncertain terms what we can do on a personal level to rescue this troubled land.

Tammie Ortlieb is a freelance writer and adjunct instructor with a Master's Degree in Developmental Psychology. She resides in southwest Michigan with her omnivorous husband, four veg kids, and small menagerie of pets. Tammie writes for various vegetarian sources, mostly on being okay with your vegetarian self. She's a book nerd, a research nerd, a health nerd, and a huge glass of soymilk half full kind of creature. Visit her blog at www.middle-agedveganchick.blogspot.com.

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