The following article was originally published in Yes! Magazine at this location. Other articles I've published in Yes! include: "Ten Ways to Change Your Life," "Fight Climate Change: Live the Good Life," and "Christmas with No Presents." So many of us have good ideas for helping the world. But we tuck our ideas away. I […]
Best of No Impact Man
Taking responsibility for preventing further oil spills
The New York Daily News asked me to write an OpEd about our individual responsibility for the oil spill. Unfortunately, they titled and subtitled the piece: "We are a nation of oiloholics: Instead of ranting at oil companies, pols, let's look in the mirror." I wish they had said "As well as ranting at oil […]
What are we coming to?
One thing I think and talk a lot about and mention in my book No Impact Man is that we are wrecking our planet for lives we don’t even necessarily enjoy. As I say in the book: What really filled me with despair, though, was that I didn’t believe that the way of life that […]
Progress
The Guggenheim Museum in NYC asked me to write something on progress for one of their exhibitions: 2009 had cooler cell phones than 2008. 2010 has cooler cell phones than 2009. 2011 will have even cooler cell phones than 2010. That won’t be progress. Year in, year out, we have cooler cell phones. If it’s […]
Working for the good instead of complaining about the bad
Trust the spark within and find your own path
Since the release of the No Impact Man book and film I have been privileged to be in conversation with many groups. And always, someone asks me with great earnestness, “What can I do?” Many times, in other words, people ask me for how-to-save-the-planet directions. “Just start,” I say. And then I pause while they […]
If you’re at a loss for how to help
This post is dedicated to my friend Amy Wilson. Lately, I’ve been giving a lot of talks and answering a lot of questions and, often times, people ask how they can help. This is a wonderful question, but waiting for someone else to answer it is not quite as wonderful. Let me say why. The […]
Michelle’s lessons from No Impact
This is a guest post by my wife, Michelle Conlin, who bravely joined me in the No Impact year. The post appeared on BusinessWeek.com, where there are a full sweet of features to do with No Impact. Check them out! My author husband, Colin Beavan, decided in late 2006 that he wanted to stop writing […]