Cure the planet's fever

I expect a lot of new visitors here today, so I’m going to devote this post to a quick survey of consumer-related activities that contribute most to the planet’s pressing environmental problems and some measures each of us can take in our own lives to improve things. But before we get to that, let me tell you why I’m expecting all the new visitors.

First, I’m going to be on WYNC’s The Brian Lehrer Show live at 10:06 AM EST today, March 21, 2007 (you can also listen to the recorded show if you missed it live). We’ll be taking calls (212-433-9692), so please phone in! I will not be nervous…I will not be nervous…Well, that’s not working.

Second, there’s a New York Times story about the No Impact project on the front page of today's House and Home Section. It’s the result of reporter Penelope Green following us around for a few days asking all manner of personal questions about our No Impact lifestyle. 

(One thing I wish I could change in the story is this idea that we are doing this project  because it "was the only one of four [book ideas] his agent thought would sell." If I could change that bit, it would read, "Mr. Beavan had decided that with so many urgent problems in the world, writing more history books felt irrelevant. He decided to change the course of his career. When he presented ten ideas about the environment to his agent, Beavan was surprised that his agent most liked Beavan's personal favorite--the No Impact Man idea.")

But the point of today’s post is to point you towards things we can do to cure what Al Gore yesterday called the planet’s fever. When it comes to helping the planet, I’m just a schlub trying to figure it all out myself, so I hope you won’t mind that I’ve borrowed from the Union of Concerned Scientists’ The Consumer’s Guide to Effective Environmental Choices (you can read the first chapter online).

I’m going to mention, first, the consumer-related activities--which your purchase and activity choices can affect--that most harm the environment. According to the Guide, they are (in order of importance):

1. Driving (because of air pollution and greenhouse gasses)
2. Production of meat and poultry (because of land use that destroys natural habitats, use of water, water pollution, and production of methane, a greenhouse gas)
3. Cultivation of fruits, vegetables and grains (because of water use, soil erosion, and water pollution through pesticide and fertilizer use)
4. Home heating, hot water and air conditioning (because of air pollution and greenhouse gasses)
5. Household appliances and lighting (because of air pollution and greenhouse gasses)
6. Home construction (because of land use that destroys natural habitats, timber harvesting, and water pollution due to materials production)
7. Household water, sewage and solid waste disposal (because of water pollution and air pollution from incinerators)

So what can you do? Well, for one thing, now that you have a really brief understanding of the problems, you can come back here to No Impact Man to see what me and other folks or up to. But for today, I’m going to send you on your merry way to the following places for actions each of us can take to make our own lives, if not No Impact, then at least Lower Impact:

• Ten personal solutions from the Union of Concerned Scientists
• Ten things to do from Climate Crisis
• Ten things you can do to help from the Sierra Club
• Take Action! from Stop Global Warming

Also, please don’t forget that April 14 is the National Day of Climate Action, when tens of thousands of Americans will gather all across the country to call for action on climate change. To find out what is happening in New York City, go here. For elsewhere in the country, go here.

Comments

[GS Chandy]

My congratulations to you for you for bravely trying, at doubtless considerable cost to your and your family's personal convenience, to do something about our human impact on the planet. I came across your project through the New York Times Op-Ed piece, and was stimulated to follow the link from there.

I have no doubt whatsoever that it will be the efforts of a great many people like you that could possibly rescue us, the human race, from this crazy race towards the abyss looming just ahead. I don't know whether you will be successful: the figure of 6 billion people on earth seems too huge a mass to move in time - but we shall never know unless we try.

I draw your kind attention to some powerful aids to problem solving and decision making that can help people to *see* what's going on with greater clarity than is possible by conventional means. These tools are based on the seminal contributions to systems science from Professor John N. Warfield - http://www.jnwarfield.com. Based on Warfield's contributions I've developed this generic aid called - in its 'management avatar' - the 'One Page Management System' (OPMS). Some background information about the OPMS has been uploaded to http://www.i-sum.org - and the prototype OPMS software is available for free download at http://www.i-sum.com . In due course, I would hope to make these sites fully interactive 'live' problem solving tools - until that time readers may write in for guidance on how they could apply these tools to their worthy Missions of current interest.

Again, my best wishes to you and your brave efforts
GSC

[Vanessa]

I can't believe #2 in that guide is "production of meat and poultry"! I know it's been said that being vegetarian or vegan is more eco-friendly and all, but what about all those independent, small-scale farms that make happy meat? (Sorry, my family always calls the free-range, hormone-free, organic stuff 'happy meat'). I can understand why we should boycott the industrial farms, but am I being overly bucolic in my vision of the hard-working farmer who treats his animals kindly and uses every part of them when he kills them? Can that be so bad for the environment?

[Rosie Redfield]

Would you like instructions for purifying your own salt from seawater? If yes, send me an email. It's easy and the resulting salt is very pure. I wrote the instructions up for the 100-mile diet people.

[EH]

Look, I admire what you're trying to do here, and what you are doing to try to help the environment is undoubtedly more than most people - especially in nyc, and including myself - do. But ... and I'm sorry to say this ... you and your wife are giving environmentalists such a bad name. You are going to be viewed as the most ridiculous hypocrites in the world, as in you don't use toilet paper or the elevator but you will still do your laundry in a power- and water-sucking washing machine? And your wife went on a shopping spree just before the project started so she could buy her $3000 boots before the new rules were imposed? And you already bought a huge HD TV - are you just not turning it on or did you toss it?

Don't get me wrong - i'm a liberal vegetarian who wishes Hummer drivers an early death. But the article on you guys in the Times just made me cringe. Please stop. You are giving the rest of us a bad name.

[Ana Chiappori]

Colin,
I am very impressed, and will study carefully your blog.

But I read in the NYT article that you used salt for your bread. I learned to bake my bread 33 years ago when pregnant and on a no salt diet. I had no problems with this.

Take care
Anita

[Miriam]

I'd like to give a tempered statement of support. While living impact-neutral is a fantastic goal, it's not a goal that's accessible to everyone in our current class-segregated society. Most people can't afford the premium Con Ed Green program you're subscribing to. Most people don't have the time or proximity to explore farmer's markets. And most people cannot afford a maid to take care of household chores while they indulge in figuring out ways to help the environment. Any environmental program is incomplete without taking into consideration the ways that race and class affect one's ability to participate in what should be a global movement. Not to position myself as just a naysayer, I refer you to programs like the Green Corps at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens, in which city youth learn gardening and small business skills, producing organic, locally and sustainably grown salsa. There are ways to reduce our environmental footprint without indulging and perpetuating class privilege.

[Kevin Ashworth]

Assuming your list is accurate, maybe it's not. Confusing, I know, but consider: Should we maybe bump #6 to #1? The way homes have been constructed over the last few decades dictates more driving. In other words, if driving is the #1 problem, did it get there because of the way we've built? And is the need to drive increasing because we continue to build in the same way?

[ellen sande]

i also came across your site via the times article.

i don't know if this advice is welcome or not, maybe you're happy doing things the way you've been doing them... but your method of avoiding toilet paper leaves me a bit puzzled. why the bowls and the air drying?

here's what i do part-time - keep a bunch of cheap washcloths (or cut up receiving blankets or whatever) in the bathroom. use them as toilet paper (wet or dry, depending) and then toss them in a hamper. throw them into the wash along w the diapers - no extra laundry loads.

[cloonmore]

I read the Times article and wonder what you are doing about Big Pharma? Supporting the drug companies, or swearing off medications? What about artificial contraception? Are you using NFP (natural family planning)?

[Jennifer Jeffrey]

I'm one of the gawkers who are here from the NYT article. I'm impressed by your effort. I'm trying, too (hey! I bought a Prius!), but not nearly as fervently as you.

What about - ahem - tampons? Am I the only one who is wondering what your wife is doing about this delicate little detail?

[sarah]

While I applaud and am inspired by your efforts, I can't help wondering how effective is, say, cutting out toilet paper and growing one's own bread, when looming as far larger culprits are the masses of carbon emissions from big industry? What can one family do to fight that?

[RomanHans]

You'd do the world a bigger favor if you gave up smugness for a year. This "experiment" is nothing but a pile of crap, flushed down, I'm sure, by your Koehler toilet. Three months into it you "just now" ran out of balsamic vinegar? The wife is still using Kiehls? The MAID is still coming? Donald Trump wouldn't consider this ascetism.

You're overprivileged, bored yuppies in a million-dollar house, desperately in need of a hobby and a book deal. While you pretend you can teach the rest of us a lesson, the main thing we need to learn is how to be born white and upper-class.

[Robin]

Good luck with your project --- I was glad to hear you discussing the negative impact of plastic grocery bags today on Brian Lehrer.

Check out my new website if you dig tote bags:

www.thankyoutotebags.com

[Gwendolyn]

Congratulations on an interesting experiment. Have you given consideration to how much energy is used by a computer? I think it is somewhat disingenous to have a blog and call yourself "noimpactman." At my office we've been told that turning off computers at night, every night for a year, saves $50 in electricity costs. That's a fairly substantial impact.

That said, I applaud you for doing what you can to help protect our natural world. Extreme deprivation like you are attempting may help remind folks to moderate their own environmental impacts.

[crystal]

perhaps a couple of silly questions, but came to your blog through the NYT piece, and after going through your site i'm still wondering how you address the issue of blogging and using a computer (does it still count as no net impact if you go to work and blog there?). and you probably still have a cell phone. to top it all off- this is being covered in a book and movie deal, which you're not shy about promoting, and all of that will obviously require a whole lotta energy to produce. something just doesn't sit right here.

[suzanne geiger]

Oh my Lord! I just ready the NYT article, sent to me by my husband, and I just don't think I can make the leap to do what you're doing! No toilet paper? No paper towels for the cleaning lady, which -- at our house -- would be me? We live in Austin TX in a one-story house near the city, so biking would be okay. I've been afraid of seeing Al Gore's movie for fear of being too convicted that I'd actually have to change. Step No. 1: I will go ahead and rent that movie. Thanks for your experiment. I like your re-write of the Times article's explanation for what you're doing better than the reporter's take. :)

[chandru]

Well, I won't join in the adulation; I agree with EH fully and somewaht with RomanHans.

Fwiw, check out my blog entry on the article in the Times.

[Daniella Padilla]

Dear Colin,
I was lead to your blog from the NY Times article and I really admire what you are doing. What I would like to know more about is how a college student could implement some of your no impact ways of living.I think starting eco-friendly habits young is really beneficial- and maybe having some awareness might prevent the mass throwing away of food in cafeterias, or encourage the implementation of local produce into the cafeteria and cafe menus. There is an unbelievable amount of waste that goes on at my campus, and students just don't give a damn.

Also, where does your composted stuff go? are you going to turn it over somewhere?
In terms of what you eat...it would be awesome if you put up some recipes of things to make with local organic produce and maybe your bread recipe. I would love to try them.

Best of luck with you and your family's endeavors!

[nick]

Two things:

1. Local produce actually adds more food miles than grocery store produce (lots of small trips v. one big one).

2. (mostly for the previous comment) Gore's movie has been pretty seriously questioned for it's extreme claims (one example: he talks about 20 feet of ocean rise while the ICC report says nine inches at most).

Anyhow, good experiment, and I'll bet you start to see a good number of holes in the slightly neo-groovy, vague idea of low-impact philosophy.

Good luck!

[Bob]

I arrived at this site from the NY Times article. Upon reading the article I became stunned beyond belief over the "leave no impact" premise. On the whole adherents of this premise seem to be be very well educated and caring people. Yet each seems to carry a belief that we humans are somehow separate from nature, the earth or even the universe. And that we humans are to be held accountable for what many now believe is the destruction of our planet. Where, when and how do people like these come to such a misguided premise. All signs point to the fact that we are a natural product and an integral part of our universe's evolution. Everything we do, have done or will do are all natural occurrences within our evolving universe. And finally the only caring done by the universe is done through us. The earth cannot give a hoot about our presence, nor is it able to expect anything from us. The universe has evolved to the point of human produced toilet paper. And now it has even evolved to the point of producing adherents of devolution. Oh how proud it would be if it in fact the universe had the ability of being proud. Please all of you Al Gore centric myopes, stop giving giving yourselves so much credit for the direction of the earths evolution. The earth is doing just as well with us as it has without. Except in our own minds we are meaningless.

Seeing

Is this it? Is this the way it is to be
to pass a tree and never see
the texture of the bark.
Is this it? Is this the way it is to be
To pass a tree and never see
a doting mother lark.

Rejoice!!

Within the realm of human wonder
lies our boldest plight
to see the world as it is
not as we think it might.

Ride a day on a cosmic ray
turn and look below
see at once the chilling truth
our suns faint twinkling glow.

Hail the quest of naked truth,
search for inner drive,
calm the meek, power the weak
and the world will come alive.

Our essence lies in inner strength
to search for what is right,
to thwart the fear of seeking truth
is our inner primal fight.

Held within this mortal frame
this common piece of meat
dwells a cosmic supper force,
a will.....I chance to meet.

Hal a luya!!
That's for me I shout with glee,
that's for me you see.
My soul craves to feel.
I have to live my life for me,
pause a while, admire a tree
and search out what is real.

[Molyuk]

This is too funny.

If you care so much about holy Mother Earth, why limit your "experiment" to a year? Were I a more cynical man, I'd suspect this all has nothing whatever to do with saving the planet, and everything to do with flogging your next book. You'd best beware the wrath of the True Believers like commentor EH when you go back to your normal lifestyle. Once he realizes that the paper on which your book will be printed "wastes" more energy than you and your family will save in a year, he'll be wishing an early death on you. He may even come to believe Gaia is sending him orders to slay the heretics encoded in his granola.

[finnsheep]

Let me get this straight, it is bad to raise sheep - - the ONLY renewable pesticide free fiber - - usable straight off the animal with only washing, bad to raise your own fruits and vegetables without using pesticides or artificial fertilizer and bad to build your own passive solar, well insulated home????

[Eric]

I read the article in the New York Times today, and I'm glad you clarified the whole issue of why you decided to take on this project. As I was reading that section, I thought it sounded a little funny. Other than that, all I have to say is I commend you on this lifestyle experiment, it is something I'd like to try myself some day.

[Japhet Els]

Read the NY TImes article. Great piece and glad you're getting a little press. This endeavor of yours is a fresh idea and one that needs to be circulated.

As far as resources you list a good bunch there. I'd also recommend the usual bunch like www.treehugger.com and www.worldchanging.org. you may have already mentioned them but thought I'd toss them up there...both fabulous sites talking about the solutions we have available for this sort of thing.

Keep it up...what do you think about a calendar at the top that reflects how many days or weeks you've been doing the experiment that way new visitors can get an idea of how "deep" you all are in the project.

[Tom]

I think you're kinda nuts, but in a good way.