[Sorry, but I forgot to mention when I first put this post up that I will be on PRI’s Fair Game tonight (March 29). You can listen here at 8:00 PM EST if you’re interested. You can find the archived show if you missed it.]
You know how I’ve written that plastic bags are the devil, in part because of all the animals they end up killing? Well, it turns out that out in San Francisco it is the plastic bags that are finally getting killed. Yippee! From the Independent:
San Francisco has become the first American city to ban plastic bags from large supermarkets and chemists’ shops – attracting the applause of environmentalists but also scepticism from business owners and many heartland Americans who feel that the quintessential “Left Coast” city has once again dived off the deep end (read more).
I’ve been asked for the second time this week by a journalist what I think of the recent controversy surrounding Al Gore. You know, the journalists have said, people say Gore is fast and loose with the facts. People say he flies everywhere in airplanes and has two huge houses, one of them empty. He is a one person greenhouse gas manufacturer.
And? I say.
And what’s your take, the journalists say?
My take is that what I’m trying to do this year is to very imperfectly take responsibility for how I treat the world. It’s really hard and I make lots of mistakes and I have selfish motives as well as altruistic ones and I’m human. And I guess that probably goes for just about everyone.
So God bless Al Gore and anyone else who is stumbling along trying to do their best. I’ve spent enough of my life pointing out the specks in my neighbors’ eyes. The No Impact experiment is about rooting out the plank in my own.
Frankie, our dog, pictured here, has released the following statement:
“It has come to my attention that Colin has received a number of emails that say things like, ‘You have a dog but you call yourself No Impact. Ha!’
“Ha? I just want to say that I only eat food made from the scraps of meat that no people would eat, and not only do I not flush when I pee, but I don’t flush when I poo either.
“Besides that, I am the nature representative on the project, and it’s my job to remind Colin, Michelle, Isabella and others that animals are people too. Also, when Isabella spills milk and crumbs on the floor, I make sure they don’t go to waste.
“Once, when Isabella saw sea lions, she shouted “Frankie!” She automatically loved them because she loves me (even though I killed her stuffed monkey). Isabella will probably always think twice before doing things that hurt animals. I take credit for that. Pets like me do the job of helping to connect people, especially city slickers, to animals and nature and the planet that supports them.
“You probably think that sounds all new age and kumbaya, but what do I care what you think? I’m just a dog.
A vote of confidence from marketing guru Seth Godin:
Ever since he was written up in the Times last week, No Impact Man has been causing shockwaves. Here’s a guy who, with his family, is going without… reducing his intake to local foods and his output to a tiny fraction of the typical American’s…
…I think this story has legs and is going to be around for a long time. Zero is the new black.
Read more here.