Making cities excellent for living in, by the way, is a crucial step forward if we are to maintain the planetary habitat that people depend on for their health, happiness and security. Indeed, “smart growth” and compact living are central pillars in the energy policies of many environmental organizations. To make such policies successful, though, […]
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New Yorkers, let’s please breathe easier
Apropos of today’s earlier post about the problems with cars, two easy steps you can take, if you’re interested, to help reduce car traffic and air pollution in New York City, and in making the City more livable. First, if you’re a New York State resident, click here to send a fax to State Assembly […]
Is making a better car like making a better cancer?
The thing is, we’re looking for the better automobile, but couldn’t we do much better for ourselves by finding ways not to have to spend so much time in them in the first place? Here’s a list of thoughts. Some of them are my own. Some of them are sparked by WorldChanging’s Alex Steffan’s recent […]
When economic growth isn’t progress
Policy makers and even the voting public make the mistake of thinking that growth in gross domestic product (GDP) is an indicator of societal progress. In reality, though, GDP is nothing but an indicator of national spending with no distinctions between those transactions that add to our well-being and those that diminish it. Chop the […]
Biofuels far from a silver bullet
You may know that biofuels produced from plant matter such as corn and soybeans have been touted as the great hope for replacing petroleum to fuel cars and heat buildings. But though policy makers have rushed to the technology, it’s turning out that the costs may far outweigh the benefits when it comes to global […]
Sustainable development vs reducing consumption
Michael Shellenberger of The Breakthrough Institute sent me a post from his blog that is written by Siddhartha Shome and starts like this: Car A gets a fuel efficiency of 46 miles per gallon. Car B gets about 50 miles per gallon. Car A is called the Toyota Prius and is hailed by environmentalists as a step […]
What it’s like being me
Fun. Tiring. Exhilarating. Depressing. Interesting. Worrying. Way back when I started this whole No Impact thing, I felt so frustrated with the political process and so voiceless that the only thing I felt I could do about what I considered to be an international emergency was change the way I lived. I wanted to shout […]
Persuading the presidential candidates
Obama, Clinton and even McCain have decent proposals on climate change. The question is, what will it take to make climate change one of the defining issues of the next presidency? How can we convince both the presidential candidates and our congressional representatives to make this the most important item of the coming term? From […]