I spent today in the Hunts Point neighborhood of the Bronx working alongside a bunch of really great young Rock Corps volunteers to help the excellent Sustainable South Bronx (SSB) organization clean out “tree pits.” Tree pits are the square holes cut in sidewalks for trees to grow from. Cleaning them out helps saplings planted by SSB in […]
Activism and Social Change
The green transportation hierarchy
“The green transportation hierarchy is the basic concept behind transportation reform groups all over the world, including Transportation Alternatives. The hierarchy puts city-friendly cyclists and pedestrians first. It rewards their low cost, space efficiency, and zero environmental impact. Trucks are not last because they perform vital commercial functions in cities. An important part of the green transportation hierarchy is that trucks […]
The mistaken rhetoric of environmentalism
The No Impact experiment in environmental living means that, as part of trying not to harm the planet, we eat better (local food), exercise more (biking everywhere) and waste less time on screen addiction (using no mains electricity). A list of the benefits we’ve noticed, abridged to only the health-related, includes: Twenty pounds off my gut, […]
The most radical political act there is
The other day I posted about turning New York into “one big vacation” by reducing the traffic that make our streets dangerous and our air filthy, making the rivers swimmable, building more parks and planting more trees. A couple of commenters responded by saying that I should be realistic. I am not realistic. I never want […]
Interview with Senator John Edwards
As you know, No Impact Man as a project asks the question, “What can I, as an individual, do to help the planet?” And I believe strongly that individual action is important, but I don’t believe it replaces political action. I believe the two are complimentary and strongest when they come together. For that reason, […]
Some reasons I don’t let plastic bottles cloud my water
“Bottled water has already turned tap water into a commodity, and corporations are stepping up their efforts to privatize public water systems.” —Letter to the New York Times by Gigi Kellett, campaigns director, ”Think Outside the Bottle,” Corporate Accountability International. “At the same time, to ensure maximum profits, these companies are lobbying to weaken water quality standards, and pushing for trade agreements […]
On not letting eco-dogma start the next war
Some green thinkers believe it is best to be vegetarian, some believe you should eat meat and support humane animal husbandry. Some think you should shop local, some think your dollars should support fair trade in far away countries. Some think we should buy more Prius’s to support the hybrid car industry, some think we shouldn’t buy cars at […]
If rich people don’t buy stuff, how do poor people make a living?
A while back, I got an email from Emily Hauser, an OpEd writer for the Chicago Tribune, who rightly said, essentially: It’s all very well saying plastic bags are the devil, but what about the jobs of all the people who work in plastic bag factories? What do we do about them? Yesterday, here on No Impact Man, we […]