Recently I wrote that “if a few big environmental organizations start shouting from the rooftops about the power of one, that each one of us can make a difference, more of us will come to believe it and will act as though it is so.” In response, Barbara reminded me of a series of public […]
No Impact Man
I killed a pigeon
The other week, when I was riding my bike to the South Bronx to go canoing in the polluted Bronx River with kids from Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice (see here), an old man was feeding pigeons right in the middle of the bike path. I was running late and worried about time and […]
Maybe they’ll understand…
PS This “change the message” ad is completely available for reposting or sending around. Please put it wherever you want. PPS This could be just the first in a series of change the message ads. If you feel like making your own and emailing it to me, maybe we can post it here on No […]
Are we too selfish to change?
What changed that? Marketing. Factory owners wanted to keep their production lines churning and factory workers wanted to keep their tummies full. Repetitive consumption seemed like the answer. Slowly but surely we convinced ourselves that new was better than old. It became ok to throw things out. It became ok to waste. In fact, out with the old […]
A day in our life
One of the questions people ask me again and again is to describe a day in the No Impact life. I always think it’s a funny question, because I’m so used to it now and it seems so routine. All the same, I thought I might as well answer it: If I get it together, I wake up […]
On not throwing the baby out with the bathwater
A few months back, I was at the farmer’s market with Michelle, and a gorgeous woman with a mane of blonde hair rode by on a tricycle with a bench for her child on the back. Michelle had noticed the woman a bunch of times before and had told me about her. “There she is!” […]
The power of one
People ask me this a lot: what is the point of one person trying to reduce their consumption to help the environment? Isn’t that a meaningless drop in the bucket? No. It’s only meaningless if we think it’s meaningless, because if we think it’s meaningless, we’ll do nothing. Optimism, as I’ve said before, is the […]
Using less
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 […]