Today’s post is by Professor Arthur Brooks (pictured here), director of the non-profit studies program at Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Arthur has been a fervent supporter of the No Impact experiment and a great personal morale booster since No Impact started. His ideas on the unnecessary cleft between individual […]
Environment
I hereby sacrifice my teeth to the environment (kind of)
A newspaper reporter asked me today by email to confirm that, among other measures, we stopped using toothpaste and started using baking soda to brush our teeth. She also asked why. Here is what I said (in slightly improved words): We’re taking actions now that I’m pretty sure are sound but for which I don’t […]
Bits and pieces
Today is a day for some practical living details on our No Impact lifestyle, answering questions that have come in comments and private emails, and mentioning a couple of news stories that are kind of alarming. Too hot for comfort—The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced on Friday that the 2006/2007 winter has been the […]
You can’t buy a clean conscience
Ben Elgin, writing in this week’s BusinessWeek, begins his article “Another Inconvenient Truth“, about carbon offsets, by mocking the Academy Awards for declaring “all their celebrity presenters to be ‘carbon-neutral.’” He goes on to say: “A growing number of organizations, corporations, cities, and individuals are seeking to protect the climate—or at least claim bragging rights […]
It’s NOT the economy, stupid. It’s people!
Before I get to the point, I have to tell you that No Impact Man is featured on Treehugger today on a very kind post written by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg (who also muses on the environment on his own Sustainablog). Mentioning the Treehugger piece feels a little like kissing myself in the mirror but—what can I […]
Let there be really cool light
What I feel like telling you about today is the great place I get our low-energy compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) and how you can get them there, too. But first, in case you’ve somehow missed the recent coverage (see here and here, for example), I’m going to shed some light on the subject (oh, the fun of the pun). […]
Growing
This afternoon, I’ll be going to the Laguardia Community Garden (LCG) to help build a trellis to grow snap peas—apparently an early season crop. I’ll be building it with my new friend Mayer Vishner on whose 10 foot by 15 foot plot I am going to be a sort of share cropper. To grow your […]
A Mercedes Benz or a best friend? Hmmm….
Yesterday, I felt like a drought ended when I got to spend an afternoon with my best friend Tanner for the first time in a couple of months. I’m going to tell you about that, but first I want to talk about the question that titles this post. The question might seem dumb, and I’ll admit it’s hyperbolic, […]