The Armchair Activist's Handbook by Ruth Stokes

When I first came across a review of this book on the For Books' Sake blog I was immediately attracted by it's title. Being an activist is a big part of my life and I like to feel like I'm standing up and saying no to the unethical practises that I see going on around me, but traditional activism has always been a dangerous avenue for me as sit-ins and marches can sometimes lead to arrests and as I love my job working with children this is something that I am not willing to risk. Stokes' book offers more peaceful, everyday alternatives and are things that can easily be implemented by almost everyone.

Buying this book was a hard decision right from the beginning as the only way that I could purchase it was as an ebook on the Amazon website. I have been boycotting Amazon for their questionable ethical conduct for just under 6 months now, but after weighing up the impact of buying this one book (costing £1.59) against all that I could learn about moral living I decided to grit my teeth and go for it.

I'm glad that I decided to make the concession and purchase it as a picked numerous ideas about how I could tweak my life in order to be better to the environment, to other people and to my local community. Here is a quick overview of the tips that I picked up:

• Forage for food eg. nettles etc.
• Use veg box schemes
• Use local butchers and bakers
• Shop at independent shops
• Use Asian grocers as alternatives when necessary
• Swap seeds
• Join local energy schemes
• Research boycotts
• Write to retailers/MPs about boycotts
• Create 'green' spaces
• Shop for ethical clothing
• Go to swap shops 
• Buy second hand
• Rent don't own a car
• Cycle
• Transfer to Credit Union
• Use a Building Society or Post Office instead of banks

These are just the main ideas that I picked up and wanted to start doing in my life as soon as possible, but there are plenty more that others might pick up on. As a book it is very well structured with each chapter focusing on a different issue which makes it very easy to dip in and out of. In addition to this I have now also discovered Stokes' wonderful journalism which can be found here.  At times I did find it to be a bit too anecdotal in tone which confused some of the chapters as Stokes' journey to activism was happening simultaneously, but this is a minor complaint. Overall I felt that this book was a very good read and very useful.

Rating: ★★★★