No Impact Man (2 Comments)
I mentioned No Impact Man earlier in a post where I jokingly said that we may be “pioneering” it without a microwave but at least we still had toilet paper and electricity. No Impact Man is a writer who is undertaking a year long project where he tries to leave the smallest carbon impact on the planet. They are working at it in stages and just recently threw the breaker to turn off the electricity. The difference between him and us, of course, is that our microwave broke (and only our microwave- as traumatic as that has proved to be) and he is making a choice. So there is no real comparison.
I have been following him with interest after finding him due to reading a conservative blog that made fun of him and his no toilet paper rule. That does leave a person open to derision and, personally, I don’t think I’ll go there. What I find interesting is the challenge of living in New York City without the creature comforts we all take for granted. They eat locally, don’t ride elevators, only human powered transportation, compost their garbage and are looking for ways to wash their laundry and keep their daughter’s milk fresh without electricity. One commentator I read cast despairing remarks at him because he turned off the electricity AFTER the New York winter but I think it will be equally challenging to keep the fourth floor apartment livable in the New York summer.
I don’t buy into the whole idea that Man is causing the planet to heat up. I found a very interesting read here. The whole site is very informative but what I have specifically linked to is the 15 year old girl’s debunking of Al Gore’s movie “An Inconvenient Truth” . It is long and takes a while to get through but it is worth it. Fascinating Captain. I have nothing but disrespect for the soon to be Dr. Al Gore because I don’t see that he lives his beliefs. The energy it takes to heat his house and pool are outrageous plus he jets all over the world collecting fees for his speeches. I agree with the site I linked to earlier in her concluding paragraph:
“It’s easy to see why Al gore’s movie should not be shown in schools. An Inconvenient Truth is a political commercial that misrepresents a whole area of science. He admittedly uses scare tactics to get people to listen then shows them a professional slide show that blames every thing bad on so called man made global warming.
Al did not make and publicize this movie because he cares; something obvious when you consider his own lifestyle. He did not make this movie to run for president. This movie has grossed over 60 million dollars to date and it hasn’t even made it to cable. Al charges over $100,000 per slide show. But the real money that Al will make is through his new company, Generation Investment Management, a company that seeks to establish the rules and licensing for the new carbon-trading scheme. We have all heard of politicians who lie for money and power; it looks as if Al did not retire after all.”
Are you aware that he set up the (non-profit) company from which he buys his carbon credits? Those intangible things he says he buys to offset his carbon impact. Doesn’t that just smack of a condescending rich guy? It’s like he is saying- “You should alter your lifestyle but I don’t have to because I have the money to buy offsets.” No Impact Man, on the other hand, is trying to live his life by his convictions. Many people in this day and age do not do this.
So I will check in with interest once in a while to see how he is doing. I found out how hard it is to live a couple of weeks without a microwave- did you hear my whines? But he is going without air conditioning, a refrigerator and to some people’s horror- TV. He commented once that the pace of life has slowed for them. No jumping in taxis or cars to rush off somewhere, no TV to distract, moving with the natural rhythms of the day instead of lighting the night and enjoying life as the adventure that it can be. I feel many of us miss the simple pleasures because of the rushing around we do and the “noise” all about us from radio, TV, cell phones and MP3 players.
Now, if you will excuse me, I need to check on my children who are out picking strawberries in our garden. Life isn’t much sweeter than that.
Oh, and the microwave is supposed to be here Thursday.
After reading about half a dozen or eight posts from No Impact Man, I am left wondering where they stand on piped-in water. I guess I expect to get to that with some additional reading.
Also, I have commentary specifically about this line (from this blog, not that one): “I don’t buy into the whole idea that Man is causing the planet to heat up.”
I agree that the climate cycles, and not necessarily the entire climate for the entire globe, although I would not doubt that it can happen. But I, too, do not believe people have much to do with it. Briefly, two reasons:
1. People tend to focus on the here-and-now, sometimes to the exclusion of very-long-term observations. I remember in a very early grade, perhaps first or second which would have been about 1981 or 1982, doing a science worksheet (on newsprint from some company) that gloomily and doomily warned of the coming ice age.
2. Krakatoa.
Comment by kn. — May 29, 2007 @ 9:59 am
I searched the No Impact Man blog and couldn’t find where they talk about piped in water. He talks a lot about not polluting water and conserving it. They are using cloth diapers which would not pile up in a land fill but use quite a bit of hot water to wash and often bleach to really kill “stuff”. I wonder if he is using the “grape pressing” washing system with the dirty diapers? Leaves one with a slightly icky feeling. Of course, being in New York City, it’s not like he can go out and use a hand pump at the well.
You are such a baby! You realize that I was graduating high school in 1982!
You are right we are short sighted and have no idea what the future brings! We’ll just have to ride it out.
Comment by justme — May 29, 2007 @ 4:32 pm