We have two kids, two dogs, two cats, two cars, an average house in a nice Midwestern town, and the kind of busy work and family schedule I see in most of our neighbors’ lives. We’re middle class. We struggle to get things done and make ends meet. We feel too busy much of the time to take on new things. We recycle. We talk about using less energy, reducing our carbon footprint. We discuss global warming with our friends and neighbors. We find each other saying things like, “Yes, we really need to do something about that.” But that ‘something’ doesn’t seem to materialize. We don’t change.

Here’s what stops us: we don’t know what to do. Short of leaving our community behind and moving to a tent in the tropics, we don’t know how to conduct our lives without harming the globe. We hear people around us say, “Sure I’d like to use less energy and fewer resources, but I don’t see anyone around me lowering their standard of living, so why should I?”

Do we really have to lower our standard of living to live more responsibly?

Carbonwise seeks to answer that question by following my family through a yearlong experiment in changing the habits, tools, and materials we use to live. We chronicle the journey and record the practical steps as well as the choices and dramas along the way, producing a story, user manual and narrative guide for those who are curious or would like to take a similar journey.

In the end we answer the questions that inspired the journey. How much can we save, and how much can we change without sacrificing our standard of living? And when it comes to the quality of our lives, did we lose? Or did we gain?

We’re not scientists or environmental experts; we’re an average family who must learn the ropes and deal with the roadblocks as we go. We are our own target audience: a middleclass family who should be able to make substantial, positive change in how we impact the earth but have never seen past those first hurdles.

Author Jon Roth, who holds a day-job in Web technology, is developing a Website with built-in social networking elements that will allow visitors to see the project progress and submit their own comments and ideas to each section of the material.
Roth will use the Web structure to organize and store information, as well as blog the journey. He will also monitor visitor input and follow relevant leads to enhance the book’s content.

Carbonwise: An Average Midwestern Family’s Search for a Responsible Standard of Living entails a year-long journey. Follow along or become part of the story at Carbonwise.

This soft-cover print edition of Carbonwise is priced at $9.95, plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Use the "Add to Cart" button below to purchase a copy of the print edition.

The book also is available in downloadable (PDF) format for $5.99.

ISBN: 978-0-9818708-3-0
Publication Date: November 2010

About the Author

Jon Roth