A lot of people are talking about improved energy efficiency as a means of solving the climate crisis, which is great. But I am not convinced that technology will bring us quite enough increased efficiency to make the required reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. I think, too, that the climate crisis—not to mention the planet’s numerous other environmental problems—calls […]
Consumerism and Materialism
Why eating less meat helps the environment
According to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization’s November, 2006 report, “Livestock’s Long Shadow–Environmental Issues and Options”: 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from livestock (more than from transportation). 70 percent of previously forested land in the Amazon was cleared to pasture cattle. Two-thirds (64 percent) of anthropogenic ammonia emissions, which contribute significantly to acid rain and acidification […]
Teach a man to dumpster dive and feed him for life
My friend Mayer Vishner, whose community garden plot I help out with, joked that the Freegans’ slogan should be “give a man a meal and you feed him for a day, but teach him to dumpster dive and your feed him for life.” Freegans, you see, make a political statement by trolling the world’s trash […]
The ultra-cool reusable shopping bag
We’ve talked before about how plastic bags are the devil. On the other hand, a brand new reusable canvas bag has its own environmental impact. So…no plastic bags, but you don’t want to buy something new, what do you do? The other day, my friend Gary dropped off a couple of reusable cloth bags he’d […]
Wisdom trumps science
The other day, the environmental blogosphere was atwitter (Treehugger’s reader forum and Ask the EcoGeek, for example) when a report in the Times suggested that, because of the environmental impact of growing the food that fuels our bodies, walking is worse for the planet than driving. When science can say a thing like that, and we take it seriously […]
World’s easiest-ever green living tip
How, in a city like New York, can you not make trash but still have exactly what you want exactly when you want it? You know, like coffee, bagels, fresh juice… It all comes in throw-away containers. My solution, in the beginning of the No Impact Man project, was to run out and buy a reusable cup. That […]
How to be an extreme, green take-charge-of-your-life machine
Somehow I got invited to be part of the LifeRemix network of talented bloggers who write mostly about productivity and other elements of how to live your life (I provide the environmental contribution). Once a week we write a group-authored post, and this week it was about—you guessed it—productivity. Each of us had to offer […]
Yummy chemicals in your tum-tum (and your testicles or ovaries)
You know how I have been going on about plastic water bottles and how bad they are for the environment and such? Well, what if, for kicks, I was to tell you that not only is bottled water awful for the environment and awful for ensuring a good, clean water supply, but that some plastic bottles—along with a bunch of […]