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WEEK of October 15, 2007
@BFS! archives

Going Green

PAT Speaker Series Hosts Josh Dorfman, “The Lazy Environmentalist”

The Brooklyn Friends School PAT (Parents and Teachers Association) kicks off its third annual Speaker Series with Josh Dorfman, aka “The Lazy Environmentalist” on Tuesday, October 23 at 7 pm. The event will take place in the school meetinghouse, 375 Pearl Street. Admission is free and open to all members of the community. (Childcare is available—download a form to request free childcare or order Dorfman’s book.)

The host of Sirius Satellite Radio’s “The Lazy Environmentalist,” Josh Dorfman has served up the consummate insider’s guide to buying green in his new book, The Lazy Environmentalist: Your Guide to Easy, Stylish, Green Living. Who knew, for example, that typing in the word “recycle” at homedepot.com would unearth a ton of green building ideas? From clothing to cars, real estate to recreation, and home furnishings to financial investments, Josh provides a comprehensive guide for the stylish who wish to be eco-friendly to boot.

This book contains “everything you always wanted to know about greener living but were afraid to spend the rest of your life researching,” says Who Killed the Electric Car? director Chris Paine. Adds Preston Koerner, a green building expert, “Josh is bridging the gap between idealism and behavior, finding ways for everyone to live happier, healthier, and more plentifully—there is nothing lazy to his approach.”

In addition to his book and radio show, Mr. Dorfman is the founder and CEO of Vivavi, a furniture company that merges modern style with environmental awareness to provide consumers with outstanding options for furnishing their homes. Josh is also the founder of Vivavi’s companion resource, Modern Green Living, which helps consumers locate green homes and green home professionals throughout North America.

Josh’s talk at BFS promises to be informative and entertaining. Most recently, he appeared on the Martha Stewart Living television show, and he’s also slated to be at the Texas Book Festival. Asserting that “The environmental movement has achieved significant successes in terms of influencing law and public policy,” Josh believes that the environmental movement can be transformed into an innovation movement, attracting people to it instead of repelling them and putting them continually on the defensive through guilt-trips.

“I hope that this book is part of the conversation that really needs to happen that says, ‘Yes, let’s acknowledge that these environmental challenges are real, and let’s get excited that we really have solutions that can solve these problems,’” said Josh. “I’m very optimistic, and the book is written in such a way that I hope people come away with the feeling that there really are solutions here, and we can explore this more and talk about it because the solutions really are at hand.”