One of the debates within environmentalism is this question of whether to solve the planetary crisis we will have to use fewer resources or whether we will just have to use them more efficiently and cleanly. There are those, in other words, who seem to believe that we will get to keep driving around in […]
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The truth
I want to give Bill Richardson credit for speaking it–meaning the truth–during the Democratic debate tonight. He said that oil, coal and nuclear are not sustainable, that we need to move to renewables, and something like “and I’m going to be honest, Americans are going to have to make sacrifices and use their appliances less.”
Should I change or should they?
That’s one of the questions lying behind the perceived antagonism between individual and political environmental action. But I don’t perceive the antagonism. Which is better? To me, that’s like asking–apples or oranges–which are better? Change is either top-down nor bottom-up but every which way including sideways. I know there is an argument that one person changing […]
Environmentalism’s crucial challenge
People are worried as hell about climate change, but that worry is combined with an overwhelming sense of helplessness. Why? Partly because of the assumptions people have. Look below at these two slides from a talk I gave at Cooper Union last night. Slide One shows what many people believe and why they feel hopeless: […]
Entertaining Isabella without TV
Sorry, if you’ve seen this one before, but if you haven’t, I think you’ll enjoy it… A reader named Chrissy wrote to me and asked how we entertain Isabella without TV or video games: We build towers from a set of wooden blocks and laugh our heads off when the towers fall down. Towards bedtime, we sit […]
What our cities could be, part 2
You may remember a while back when I posted about what our cities could be. I said that there were tremendous opportunities in our environmental crisis to make life better for ourselves while saving the planet. For example, planting trees in the cement maze that is New York City have the environmental benefits of: Keeping […]
A herd of student no-impacters
You’re all invited to a public talk I’ll be giving at New York University on Monday night, November 12. You’ll find the details at the bottom of this page. Please come. And if you plan to throw tomatoes, please make sure they’re local! One of the hard things about the No Impact experiment is the […]
Sometimes it’s like riding against the traffic
When you ride your bike around New York City, you get frustrated by the number of cars parked in the bike lanes, forcing you to ride out into the traffic. It’s particularly frustrating when the car happens to be driven by a law enforcement officer. Today, I rode home from giving a talk up at […]