Advance praise for Farewell, My Subaru
โFine is Bryson Funny.โ โโSanta Cruz Sentinel
โFine 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.โ โโ The Washington Post
โFine is an eco-hero for our time..โ โโ Miami Herald
โAn afterward offers solid advice and sources for learning more.โ โโ On Earth Magazine, Natural Resources Defense Fund
โThis is Green Acres for the smart setโ: a witty and educational look at sustainable living. Buy it, read it, compost it.โ
โA. J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically
โThe details of Doug Fineโs experiment in green living are great funโโbut 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. Itโll make you want to move!โ
โBill 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 heโs 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 โveggie oilโ tank in his ROAT (short for Ridiculously Oversized American Truck), Fineโs extraordinary undertaking makes one thing clear: It ainโt 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 todayโs instant gratifications for a deeper, more enduring kind of satisfaction.