It appears that I wasn't the only one who was both inspired and intimidated by the story of No Impact Man.

In fact I just stumbled upon a blog called Simple Living, that puts things into perspective:

I have been reading No Impact Man and am impressed by his efforts. However, it also concerns me. What he is doing is admirable, but it seems so fast - so extreme. A year to change from having significant impact to “no impact” is simply not feasible to many people. Yes, we need to all be making changes, but this style of change can be discouraging. It makes me think of dieting.

See, when someone diets we choose to make a lifestyle change. It can be a slow process - years versus months. If we attempt to lose weight overnight and are not successful, then we become upset and tend to overindulge and choose not to diet. However, when we make slow modifications to our lives we are more likely to embrace them and keep them as lifelong changes. We may also be more willing to take one change and see it lead into another rather than claiming an end goal. “I want to lose 10 lbs” is an end goal. We reach 10 lbs and can stop. “I want to be healthy” is a lifelong goal; we never see an end - it simply becomes a part of us.

So, my journey is reducing my impact. I do not know what it will look like and I don’t expect that I will “get there.” My impact diet is a lifelong diet. It is simply part of my journey on this earth - and I hope to teach others to do the same.

So what does this more moderate approach entail? How about reducing personal carbon emissions 90% from what the average American contributes to the atmosphere every year? That sounds pretty ambitious to me!

If you're interested, here are the rules:

Everyone can play. Even if you only think you can make a major reduction in a few categories, or 1, or even none, you are invited to join us. Every drop in your emissions is a huge accomplishment, and another person who can stand up and say “I can do it, even without any systemic help - therefore, we can all do it.”

The time period is 1 year - the goal is to reach a 90% reduction (or the best each of us can do) *AND KEEP IT THERE* after 1 year. That is, we’re not dropping our emissions instantly and then going back to business as usual later - the goal is to use this year to figure out what we need to do, what kind of adaptations we need, and how to change things.

There are seven categories: gasoline, electricity, heating and cooking energy, garbage, water, consumer goods and food. Pick one, or pick them all, as they say at Simple Living: it's your choice … every drop in your emissions is a huge accomplishment.

Carbon Neutral Journal's choices are brought to you by Jorgensen Associates.

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