Well, at least according to Alma Gaul, a journalist at the Quad-City Times in Davenport, these are the lessons I learned after the year-long No Impact project: “First, he learned that it is possible to live with a much lower impact and that individuals can make a difference. ‘This has become explosive,’ he said. ‘There’s […]
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The economic meltdown
Click image to enlarge I’ve been getting a lot of emails from readers asking me my thoughts on the mortgage crisis and the market meltdown. So here goes. First, this from Sheryl Canter over at Climate 411: Former President Bill Clinton gave an interesting analysis last night on the Late Show with David Letterman of […]
Do cars make us fat?
Click on the above image to enlarge it. Look at the graphs. The red line shows the rates of obesity for various countries. The green line shows the percentage of trips made by walking, cycling and public transit (as opposed to cars). What you can see is that the less the citizens of a country […]
“The Impact of Having No Impact”
I’ll be giving a talk in Davenport, Iowa, on October 11 (details here). For that reason, the River Cities’ Reader ran a story about the No Impact Project. It begins: Colin Beavan’s thought was hardly unusual. Most of us have wondered whether all our accumulated belongings and technology make our lives better. “We’re consuming way […]
Peace in myself makes peace in the world
I’ve had this hammered home to me lately, that if I want to manifest peace in the world, I have to find peace in my mind. They say a peaceful mind makes a peaceful man. A peaceful man makes a peaceful family. A peaceful family makes a peaceful village. A peaceful village makes a peaceful […]
How do I want my little girl to spend her time
Shopping is America’s second favorite pastime. According to Annie Leonard’s Story of Stuff, we spend three to four times more time shopping than the average European. Only TV viewing racks up a larger portion of our leisure. Why do we spend so much time shopping? Is it partly that the culture doesn’t provide that much […]
Had to take a day off folks, see you tomorrow.
9/27: Green Jobs Now National Day of Action
From the GreenJobsNow website: On September 26, we will watch the first presidential debate of this election. The next day, the candidates will watch us. On Saturday, September 27, we’re launching a national mobilization to say, “I’m ready for the green economy.” We are ready to tackle the climate crisis by building a green economy […]