THE GREEN CONSUMER by Joel Makower...

THE GREEN CONSUMER by Joel Makower with John Elkington & Julia Hailes (Penguin: $11; 339 pp.) and SAVE OUR PLANET: 750 Everyday Ways You Can Help Clean Up the Earth by Diane MacEachern (Dell: $10.95; 212 pp.). People in the U.S. tend to think that environmental damage is the result of major industrial disasters--the Chernobyl explosion or the Exxon Valdez spill. But the output of a bloated consumer economy adds up: Every year, Americans throw away 1.7 billion pens, 2 billion razors, 2.5 billion pounds of batteries and 18 billion disposable diapers. Reissued in conjunction with the 25th anniversary of Earth Day, these two books offer ways to minimize the individual’s effect on the planet. Both authors focus on the three R’s of ecology: Reduce, Re-use and Recycle: Choosing products made from renewable resources, avoiding unnecessary packaging, controlling households pests without toxic chemicals, etc. require only minimal sacrifices from consumers, but their potential impact is enormous.