How Bad Are Bananas?

The Carbon Footprint of Everything

A smart, practical, and accessible guide to measuring (and reducing) our carbon footprint, from internationally recognized expert, Mike Berners-Lee.

Part green-lifestyle guide, part popular science, How Bad Are Bananas? is the first book to provide the information we need to make carbon-savvy purchases and informed lifestyle choices and to build carbon considerations into our everyday thinking.

The book puts our decisions into perspective with entries for the big things (the World Cup, volcanic eruptions, the Iraq war, and other instances of globalization) as well as the small (email, ironing, a glass of beer). And it covers the range from birth (the carbon footprint of having a child) to death (the carbon impact of cremation).

Packed full of surprises -- a plastic bag has the smallest footprint of any item listed, while a block of cheese -- even from your local farmers market -- is bad news; the book continuously informs, delights, and engages the reader. Solidly researched and referenced, the easily digestible figures, statistics, charts, and graphs (including a section on the carbon footprint of various foods) will encourage discussion and help people to make up their own minds about their consumer choices.

"Mike Berners-Lee knows more about carbon footprints than anyone else in the U.K. Enjoyable, fun to read and scientifically robust. A triumph of popular science writing." -- Chris Goodall, author of Ten Technologies to Save the Planet

"I can't remember the last time I read a book that was more fascinating and useful and enjoyable." -- Bill Bryson

"How Bad Are Bananas certainly puts the right footprint forward." -- Good Magazine