When we first started the No Impact experiment, Michelle made it clear that, if I thought she would ride a bike in Manhattan—or even worse—let Isabella ride on the back of one, I was cracked. Then we went by train to my hometown in Massachusetts for Christmas—a concession we made to plans arranged long before the project began—rented bikes […]
No Impact Man
On not getting too down about the world
Someone emailed me the other day and asked me something along the lines of, “how do you keep going forward without getting too depressed about the world and everything that is going on in it?” First let me say, I don’t think that my “going forward” is so particularly commendable. There are lots of people who have been […]
When the lights go out…Gulp!
As you probably know by now, the No Impact experiment works by our making our life changes in stages. So far we’ve worked through the self-propelled transportation, no trash, local and seasonal food, and sustainable purchasing stages. I’m hoping to begin the no electricity phase in about three weeks (sustainable water use comes after that). The bad news is, […]
A fish is an animal that livED in the sea…
…at least that’s how the song is going to go about 50 years from now if nothing changes. The oceans are going to turn into liquid deserts. Goodbye sushi for the up market and fish and chips for the down. If you follow eco-topics at all, and you read the New York Times or The Independent or the BBC’s […]
How to negotiate a marital eco-fight
Back when we were in the trash phase of the project, Michelle and I went to the farmers’ market at Union Square and walked up to the booth of the Lower East Side Ecology Center. I said, “Let’s look at the worms.” “Worms,” Michelle said. “What worms?” “They sell worms which you keep in a bin and they make […]
The point of it all
Sometimes people tell me that they are very concerned about the environment but that they don’t feel their efforts can make the slightest difference. I like to tell a mushy story my friend told me about a little girl on the beach. Thousands of starfish have been washed up by a rip tide. They are dying in the sun. […]
A word to the critics and a story about a cat
So you guys–and by you guys I mean my critics–I welcome your remarks as long as it’s dialog and not invective, but I do think it might be nice if you took the trouble to get your facts straight. Attack my ideas, but saying my ideas are worthless because I have “a housekeeper”–when, in fact, […]
Boys, girls, and whose job is it to take out the compost?
So I got this email today from a woman named Nellie Wieland. I Googled her and she appears to be a professor of philosophy or something like that who has reviewed books by Noam Chomsky. Now, I love Noam Chomsky but only when someone else explains to me what he’s talking about. This is by […]