In a nutshell, the degradation of our planetary home is caused by overconsumption of resources. We in the developed world consume so many resources–we feel we need so much stuff–in part because we are alienated from each other and need consolation prizes. If we build proper communities, not only will we help the planet by […]
Happiness and Life Satisfaction
A balanced approach to climate change policy
OK. The title sounds over-grand, I’ll admit. But below you’ll find the last installment in my debate with Break Through author Michael Shellenberger, which I’ve just realized sums up my position on what we need as a culture. As you know, he has been arguing that reducing our cultural carbon footprint is not the way […]
Another installment in the environmental tiff
As you know if you read this blog, I’ve been involved in an email quasi-debate with Michael Shellenberger, co-author of Break Through: The Death of Environmentalism and the Politics of Possibility. Scan below to the non-italicized text, for the latest installment, Michael’s second email to me. You can read the first two installments here and […]
A disagreement about how to save the world–Part II
The other week, I got in a goodhearted little email tiff with Michael Shellenberger, who as you know if you read this blog, is a co-author of Break Through: The Death of Environmentalism and the Politics of Possibility. Our email dialog turned out to be really interesting. In the first part exchange (which you can […]
Pitting jobs against the environment
I’ve been reading Heather Rogers’ excellent book Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage. In it, she points out that it has long been industry’s strategy to pit labor against what the industrialists say will be the negative economic consequences of reducing resource use to keep safe our planetary home. Rogers writes, “The common refrain–that […]
How to talk to people about human health, happiness and security (or what some people call “the environment”)
I’m in the business of trying to get people to see that we could be happier, healthier and more secure with some adjustments to how we run our country and our lives. How we live our lives affects how we run our country. How we run our country affects how we live our lives. This […]
Happiness versus consumption
This graph (which will get bigger if you click on it) comes courtesy of the scientist in me (believe it or not, I have a PhD in engineering). The point is to show one of the things I learned from being No Impact Man–the relationship between quality of life and the consumption of our planetary […]
The No Impact Dear Santa letter
Dear Santa, I was thinking about how much I love playing with my little girl Isabella and talking to my wife Michelle and joking around with my best friend Tanner. You know what I realized? There is nothing more fun than just laughing with the people I love. There isn’t a gadget or a game […]