Yesterday, for the purposes of provoking conversation, I posed the question of whether the earth would be better off without people. I, of course, don’t believe this at all. But I do think dealing with the question causes interesting conversation. I was particularly intrigued by the response of Ruchi, who writes the blog Arduous. She […]
global warming
The big question
I was in conversation with a product designer today. He works hard on sustainability issues. He starts, with a new client, by designing exactly what the client wants exactly the way the client wants it. Once he’s worked with a client for a while, and has gained the client’s trust, he can begin to suggest […]
Let’s go viral with this excellent action on bottled water
The Center for a New American Dream emailed me to ask for our help, so before I even start, let me ask you to email this post to everyone you know. Blog about it. Give it love on Digg, Reddit, all the other sites and send it to your grandma. Because we have a chance […]
Boiling down the lessons of the No Impact project
Well, at least according to Alma Gaul, a journalist at the Quad-City Times in Davenport, these are the lessons I learned after the year-long No Impact project: “First, he learned that it is possible to live with a much lower impact and that individuals can make a difference. ‘This has become explosive,’ he said. ‘There’s […]
Do cars make us fat?
Click on the above image to enlarge it. Look at the graphs. The red line shows the rates of obesity for various countries. The green line shows the percentage of trips made by walking, cycling and public transit (as opposed to cars). What you can see is that the less the citizens of a country […]
An open letter to NY State Senator Jeff Klein, who yesterday called me a f—ing assh-le after nearly hitting me with his Mercedes
[Update on 9/19: The Senator has agreed to meet with me so no need to call him. Thanks for everyone’s support! If you call nonetheless, please be kind to the staff you talk to.] You’re never going to believe it folks, but today I had another close call on my bike, but this time the […]
Eliminate 40% of manufacturing-associated greenhouse gas by getting rid of packaging
I used part of my last day of my car-less vacation going to the dump to throw away three 60-gallon bags of trash. I try. I try really hard not to make trash. But when you go to a new place, you have to start figuring out all over again how to do it. And […]
Top UN climate scientist says eat less meat, I’m teaching a course at NYU, and Park(ing) Day is coming
I want to tell you about a course I’m helping to teach at NYU and about my plan to turn a NYC parking space into a park, but first, according to the BBC: “People should consider eating less meat as a way of combating global warming, says the UN’s top climate scientist. “Rajendra Pachauri, who […]