When one group of scientists first said smoking was bad for you, the tobacco industry funded another group of researchers to say the science was inconclusive. When dietitians began saying saturated animal fats hurt your heart, the beef and dairy industry rolled out their own group of gurus saying “not so bad.” And now that […]
climate change
Visit your senator and representative and tell them what counts!
Talk about fun! 1Sky.org is giving us the chance to work together to show that each of us make a difference, and that we make even more of a difference if we work together. You see, in just a few weeks, from March 14 to March 31, our senators and representatives will be heading home […]
Too cute to drown
I know, I know. It’s not about the polar bears. It’s about human health, happiness and security as it depends on the well-being of our planetary habitat. At least that’s the rather cumbersome phrase I coined in order to get away from the “environment,” which to so many connotes something alien, outside of ourselves and […]
Biofuels far from a silver bullet
You may know that biofuels produced from plant matter such as corn and soybeans have been touted as the great hope for replacing petroleum to fuel cars and heat buildings. But though policy makers have rushed to the technology, it’s turning out that the costs may far outweigh the benefits when it comes to global […]
Sustainable development vs reducing consumption
Michael Shellenberger of The Breakthrough Institute sent me a post from his blog that is written by Siddhartha Shome and starts like this: Car A gets a fuel efficiency of 46 miles per gallon. Car B gets about 50 miles per gallon. Car A is called the Toyota Prius and is hailed by environmentalists as a step […]
What it’s like being me
Fun. Tiring. Exhilarating. Depressing. Interesting. Worrying. Way back when I started this whole No Impact thing, I felt so frustrated with the political process and so voiceless that the only thing I felt I could do about what I considered to be an international emergency was change the way I lived. I wanted to shout […]
Persuading the presidential candidates
Obama, Clinton and even McCain have decent proposals on climate change. The question is, what will it take to make climate change one of the defining issues of the next presidency? How can we convince both the presidential candidates and our congressional representatives to make this the most important item of the coming term? From […]
More on community versus consumption–smart growth
There is an ad I saw at the movies. A man wakes up, presses the snooze button, gets up late and arrives at a work meeting disheveled and disorganized. All his colleagues frown. Cut to the scene replayed. The alarm goes off. The man scoffs down a Pepsi. He jumps out of bed, puts on […]