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Farewell, My Subaru: An Epic Adventure in Local Living |
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Farewell, My Subaru: An Epic Adventure in Local Living
List Price: $24.00
Our Price: $16.32
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Villard
Author: Doug Fine
Binding: Hardcover
Publication Date: 2008-03-25
Publisher: Villard
Label: Villard
Number Of Pages: 224
Features:
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Editorial Review:
Advance praise for Farewell, My Subaru
“Fine is Bryson Funny.” ——Santa Cruz Sentinel
“Fine is an amiable and self-deprecating storyteller in the mold of Douglas Adams. If you're a fan of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy-style humor -- and also looking to find out how to raise your own livestock to feed your ice-cream fetish -- Farewell may prove a vital tool.” —— The Washington Post
“Fine is an eco-hero for our time..” —— Miami Herald
“An afterward offers solid advice and sources for learning more.” —— On Earth Magazine, Natural Resources Defense Fund
“This is Green Acres for the smart set—: a witty and educational look at sustainable living. Buy it, read it, compost it.”
–A. J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically
“The details of Doug Fine’s experiment in green living are great fun——but more important is the spirit, the dawning understanding that living in connection to something more tangible than a computer mouse is what we were built for. It’ll make you want to move!”
–Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future
Like many Americans, Doug Fine enjoys his creature comforts, but he also knows full well they keep him addicted to oil. So he wonders: Is it possible to keep his Netflix and his car, his Wi-Fi and his subwoofers, and still reduce his carbon footprint?
In an attempt to find out, Fine up and moves to a remote ranch in New Mexico, where he brazenly vows to grow his own food, use sunlight to power his world, and drive on restaurant grease. Never mind that he’s never raised so much as a chicken or a bean. Or that he has no mechanical or electrical skills.
Whether installing Japanese solar panels, defending the goats he found on Craigslist against coyotes, or co-opting waste oil from the local Chinese restaurant to try and fill the new “veggie oil” tank in his ROAT (short for Ridiculously Oversized American Truck), Fine’s extraordinary undertaking makes one thing clear: It ain’t easy being green. In fact, his journey uncovers a slew of surprising facts about alternative energy, organic and locally grown food, and climate change.
Both a hilarious romp and an inspiring call to action, Farewell, My Subaru makes a profound statement about trading today’s instant gratifications for a deeper, more enduring kind of satisfaction.
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Customer Reviews
Average Customer Rating: 
The green life--not for the faint of heart  2009-01-04
Journalist Doug Fine wanted to "reduce his carbon footprint" so he moved to a remote valley ranch in New Mexico and set out to find a sustainable way of life, as long as he didn't have to give up ice cream and his subwoofers. Farewell, My Subaru: An Epic Adventure in Local Living (Recorded Books Unabridged) is the highly entertaining report on his first year.
Fine's not afraid to laugh at himself as he launches his story with the Pan Sisters, the goats he bought from Craig's List to secure his future ice cream needs. He trades in his 12-year-old Subaru for a Ford F250 truck and has it converted to run on waste vegetable oil (with delicious Kung Pao-inspiring exhaust). Solar conversion, animal husbandry, toxic plumbing, drought and flood, and desert farming round out the year's challenges.
On the plus side, the funny stories are a vehicle for Fine's expression of commitment to a sustainable, carbon-neutral life. He acknowledges that most people can't move to New Mexico and go "off the grid," and offers many incremental changes that can take the United States in the direction of sustainability. His afterword details five steps each of us can take toward a sustainable future; even if you don't have the time or interest for the whole book (which is very short), the afterword is worthwhile. Hint from the afterword: to effect change, start at the polling booth.
On the minus side, Fine's still thinking like a journalist and infusing his work with liberal politics. His environmental message is so important that he may want to consider separating it from a particular political stance. When people feel the urge to shoot the messenger (as some readers surely will), they probably aren't going to take the message in very well.
I listened to the audio so missed out on the sidebar material; it was a quick and very entertaining audio and I'll be keeping my eye on the author's website to follow up on his ranching adventures.
Linda Bulger, 2009
It isn't easy being green 2009-01-01
Not that long ago, journalist and New York native Doug Fine was ready to do green. He vowed to use as little fossil fuel as possible, power his life by renewable energy, eat as locally as possible and not get himself killed in the process. "Farewell, My Subaru" is his account of making the leap. He's still alive but it hasn't been easy. For every two steps forward, there was a step backward.
He bought a ranch in sunny, remote rural southwestern New Mexico intent on converting to solar energy, which he did. But he also learns how expensive the components are, that pipes must be soldered with a toxic purple brew that can't be environmentally friendly, that batteries are made with lead and present a disposal problem at the end of their lives, and, interestingly, extreme hot weather can work against, not with, the efficiency of solar panels. He buys a new ROAT--Ridiculously Oversized American Truck--because it has a diesel engine that can run on vegetable oil from fast food restaurants. The ink wasn't dry on the bill of sale before he was informed that the Big 3 automaker would cancel its warranty if any product but Big Oil's was put in the tank. Nonetheless he persevered in some cholesterol-ridden adventures while negotiating for the restaurant grease that has left him emitting Kung Po chicken fumes wherever he goes. He also found that dairy goats do not observe human boundaries, and neither do rattlesnakes or coyotes.
Fine gets beat up a lot because he possesses that English major capacity to mentally check out when the instructions get too technical. That said, this eternal optimist is still ahead at the end of the book, a breezy account that can be read in a night or two. He mines the slapstick and irony for all it is worth. One of the larger revelations is that the green flag waving author has many life goals and pursuits in common with his right-wing survivalist neighbors who are also moving off the grid. The topical references are all current. The only criticism I have is that Fine occasionally sets off a startling fact as a sidebar but does not cite the source or pursue the revelation further. His "Further Reading" list is all internet websites.
Breath of fresh air  2008-12-17
Finally, finally, in a sea of way-too-serious takes on the same theme, I discover a book about living sustainably that's laugh-out-loud funny. I've been smiling for days just thinking about Doug "meditation-milking" those little baby goats. What a total breath of fresh air. Thanks, Doug, for a fast, fun read about a regular guy who is enjoying the journey as much as the destination.
Some good story telling marred by political diatribe  2008-11-28
There are some truly entertaining anecdotes about trying to live an independent, green lifestyle. I have goats, and his escapades with them certainly ring true. But far too many other things detract from these highlights. Completely unsubstantiated gray fact boxes appear far too often. e.g. "Toyota's 2005 profits were $2.5 billion in 2005". And if it is true, who cares? -- it had nothing to do with the paragraphs it separated. Also there is a limit to the number of times I can tolerate ready such overly cute names as "LVOEsubee", "ROAT", and "Funky Butte Ranch" (which seemed to be on every other page).
He later writes of George Bush has a "coke-headed draft dodger". I guess the author thinks it is better get a quick laugh than to discuss issues. It was a short book, but it could have been made even shorter without subjecting to me hearing about the local women he has slept with --- it gives a new meaning to the word Locavore.
Narrow Minded 2008-11-24
If you are a narrow-minded liberal, then this is a fabulous book for you. However, if you are Just Anyone who is interested in treading lightly on the Earth, please check out Barbara Kingsolver's excellent book, "Animal Vegetable Miracle." Very sad that Doug Fine takes the offensive on other people's views - he could get his message out to a much broader audience if he did not choose to be so pig-like every other page. I'm giving this two stars, because I did enjoy the writing and some of the stories. The narrow-mindedness was a huge turn-off.
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