I’ve heard it said that our culture will never be able to live sustainably because “people are just too selfish.” But I don’t believe that people are selfish. They may not concern themselves with the far-reaching consequences of their actions as much as they do with the local consequences–on their children, on their friends, […]
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Never mind CFLs, says LA Times, eat less meat
Thought you all might be interested in a recent Los Angeles Times editorial, “Killer Cow Emissions,” related to sustainable eating. Basically, the article says that livestock is responsible for 18% of the greenhouse gas emissions worldwide (in the form of mostly methane and nitrous oxide), more than the entire transportation sector, and that, to add to the bad […]
It pays to be charitable
Around the time I started the project, I became friends with a professor at Syracuse University named Arthur Brooks. Arthur had just come out with the book Who Really Cares, his study of charitable giving that showed, among other things, that people who give to charity end up wealthier. In other words, to generalize, it is in our best […]
Winning enviro-conscious customers part 2
About the green market place, marketing guru Seth Godin wrote: “The richest and best-educated people in our economy are shifting, and pretty quickly. They’re just as willing to spend money as they always were, but now it’s not focused on fancy organic stuff at the Whole Foods Market or giant bulletproof cars from Germany or private jet travel. […]
Save the planet–a job creation scheme
People talk about how increased retail consumption will lead to the trickling down of wealth to the underprivileged. This old, scrap-off-our-table approach to economics not only doesn’t work but it’s wrecking the planet by wasting its resources. But one of the priorities adopted by Saturday’s Step It Up 2007 national action on climate change–together with […]
The auto industry’s trick is no treat
Thanks to Jonathan, a reader, who alerted me to the Halloween action by the Pew Campaign for Fuel Efficiency. They’re delivery candy and fact sheets to members of congress to let them know that what the auto industry is trying to do to the Energy Bill is is a trick not a treat. From the […]
Winning enviro-conscious customer loyalty
First off, readers, please, please, please comment on this post. Please help me. I want to understand what it would take to get all us enviros to engage happily with a company. Now, onwards… One of the reasons I embarked on a low/no consumption approach to environmentalism for the No Impact project is that I […]
I want electric lights!
An announcement about a couple of my upcoming public talks at the bottom, but first… If you follow the No Impact project at all, you know that we have had no mains electricity now, in the middle of Manhattan, for six months or so. Also, you’ll know that the project–at least in its current incarnation–comes […]