amayita: The no impact man^Wfamily

Amayita (

amayita) wrote,
@ 2007-05-02 12:22:00

The no impact man^Wfamily
If everybody on the whole planet decided to commit suicide, which in a way, they have, would it be the right thing to do to not join in? What’s so great about trying to be right if it keeps you separate? It seems like there is something precious that has to do with holding yourself above or not just joining in and being part of. I don’t know. I’m suddenly realizing that this whole project could be pretty damn hard.

The “No impact man” is a family’s project to try not to cause any environmental impact on the planet for one year. It involves a very radical change in their lifestyle, as they live in Manhattan. The blog describes their struggles as they gradually move from one goal to another, from reducing their trash generation to absolutely none, declaring war to tree-killing junk mail and plastic bags, only eating local produce, thus giving up coffee and sugar (which the wife specially resents), no cars, buses or elevators, being hit by a car while riding his “second-hand new” bike (no new purchases are allowed)... to composting their own waste and giving up all throwaway products, including toilet paper. All this in Manhattan, with a toddler!

While I completely relate to their goal, and being myself quite picky about the way I consume, having changed my most used light bulbs to low energy ones (even though I hate the resulting light colour and quality), turning off all electronics that have a led while not in use, not owning a car, avoiding public transportation in favour of walking as often as possible, and being obsessive about recycling, I keep a 24x7 powered on desktop and laptop, my lights are turned on much often than the average house (my place is very dark), I drink tea that comes all the way from Africa (Rooibos), I want to fly all over to Hamburg every weekend (but I can't afford to), and I have not gotten around to insulating my electrical water heater.

Yet, I live alone, in a small place, and my use of resources is still quite rational, for a geek. (Take a look at the WWF Footprint Calculator: I am living as if we had 2.52 planets to support us. Although I am below some of the world average figures, we obviously only have the one!).

It is both inspiring and off-putting to see this family’s effort, as it looks like an interesting experiment that I am surely going to follow, but one I would myself not be able to attempt. Many people believe their small little efforts will not change anything, but I disagree. Every little effort makes a difference when you look at the global picture, still this problem is not easy at all.

In case you need some motivation to rethink the way you live, watch Who Killed the Electric Car?, An Inconvenient Truth, The End of Suburbia or Darwin's Nightmare.

To quote the “no impact man” in Deeper sickness, better cure: “A psychiatrist friend, Stephan Quentzel, went so far as to suggest in conversation that environmentalism could be like a new religion that binds us together with a sense of common purpose and greater meaning”.

(Post a new comment)

(Anonymous)
2007-05-02 04:38 pm UTC (link)

"having changed my most used light bulbs to low energy ones (even though I hate the resulting light colour and quality)"

The color of those things has long bothered me.

I started changing over to CFLs back in the 90's. My first bulb cost US$15.

Now they are less than a dollar and I use them everywhere.

But recently, I spent $15 on a bulb again. It was labeled "Daylight", and has a different spectrum! It makes a gorgeous light. Same high energy efficiency as the other CFLs, and same long lifetime.

Now the local giant warehouse hardware store is selling them for $5 each. So I am gradually replacing the old CFLs with new ones that are easy on the eye.

Look for ones with a high color temperature. 5500K is good.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	Thanks for the tip amayita 2007-05-02 04:49 pm UTC (link)
	Any major brand that you can recommend? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Re: Thanks for the tip
(Anonymous)
2007-05-16 12:59 am UTC (link)

I only have a few "daylight" bulbs so far. The first ones I got were brands that I haven't seen anywhere recently.

Now there is a brand called n:vision that can be found at some of the big warehouse hardware stores around here. They actually have a range of wattages, and of types too -- soft white, bright, daylight, etc. Their "daylight" bulbs are labeled with a color temperature of 5500K.

Of course these are from a U.S. company and are sold only in places where 120V electricity and the U.S. standard screw base can be found. Places where the voltage is different and/or the typical lamp base is physically different are no doubt served by different companies. (Naturally, all of the bulbs everywhere are probably made in China.)

Therefore, I have no clue what you would look for in Madrid. Obviously, even looking for the label "Daylight" isn't going to do you any good. Need to find out which Spanish term the industry in your area has settled on for this type of bulb, and look for that on the label.

But the important thing to look for is in the fine print. In the U.S., the term "Daylight" is apparently not regulated in the context of light bulbs -- it's a marketing term, not a standards term. The important thing is the spectrum of the light, and nobody markets with spectral curves. Instead they use measures like "color temperature", presumably making the assumption that the bulb produces a spectrum that approximates a black body spectrum at a particular temperature. (I would imagine that the true spectrum of these things is somewhat spikier than a true black body -- would be interesting to measure these spectra someday....)

The visible surface of the Sun is at a temperature of about 5785K, so the ideal "daylight" bulb would have a color temperature of 5785K. These n:vision bulbs are labeled 5500K, but I have seen bulbs labeled all the way from 3500K to 6500K, and they are all called "Daylight". Some bulbs have this number on the packaging and on the bulb, but I have seen bulbs that have this number only on the base of the bulb itself, and not on the packaging. And I have seen bulbs that don't have this number anywhere, and they are still labeled "Daylight"! So read the fine print. Caveat emptor.

Lately all of the "Daylight" bulbs I have seen have been labeled 5500K. So maybe this industry is finally starting to approach a state of sanity.

(Just today in a crafts store I saw a specialty bulb that is marketed to people who do sewing and similar craft work, and who need particularly good light. The brand was Ott, it has a non-standard base that only fits in an Ott brand lamp, and the bulb costs $40!!! I have no idea if the light it produces is really any better than the $5 ones...)

In short, go to where they sell CFLs, and look for 5500K. Or google for 5500K. But don't go crazy... buy just one bulb, and try it out. It appears some people don't like that 5500K color!

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	leapawej 2008-07-16 07:59 pm UTC (link)
	So yeah, you have to be careful, but in generaly most are as good as soft white bulbs. By The Other Steve on Fri Jan at AM PDT [ Parent ] Daylight, Cool White, Warm White ( 2+ / 0- ) Recommended by: Black Maned Pensator , A Siegel Almost everything you find in traditional fluorescent bulbs you can find in CFLs. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	Unreliable footprint calculator? (Anonymous) 2007-05-02 07:31 pm UTC (link)
	It seem that the lower value the footprint calculator will report is 1.48 planets. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	Re: Unreliable footprint calculator? amayita 2007-05-02 08:42 pm UTC (link)
	Because we all leave a footprint just by living in the society we are in, I guess. I see countries in the globalscale that don't get much higher than 1 (Reply to this)(Parent)

all you can do is minimize

kevix.myopenid.com
2007-05-02 10:01 pm UTC (link)

If you live in a modern, first world enonomy, the best thing you can do
is try to minimize your impact. You can think about reverting to living
like its 1890 but with a modern society, there are benefits and the
resulting damage or downside that those benefits cause. If everone
gaveup modern cars and did like the Amish, well we'd have less
polution. But we'd need to maintain horses and farm hay for the horses
and other things. And driving would have a longer time. Trucks power
modern transport of goods and Cars move people efficiently. But those
use fuel. So we should do things to minimize those uses. Use bikes,
like you say, when possible. Carpool. Ask goverment to mandate higher
efficiency cars, like the US govnt does not want to do, but other
nations are doing. And of course the light bulbs. The best thing that
this family can do is to motivate others. Light one candle rather than
curse the darkness.

If find it funny when I though about the 'dependencies' of a carton of milk:
Package: Milk
Depends: cow, hay, farmer, bottling plant, paper carton| plastic bottle, oil
Pre-depends: earth
Description: tasty, white liquid extracted from Cows and other mammals.
Enhances: chocolate syrup

It takes a lot of resources to maintain that milk you buy in the store!

(Reply to this)

Junk Mail
(Anonymous)
2007-05-05 01:23 am UTC (link)

Do Not Mail Opt-Out Law would be fair to everyone.

The proposed recent "Do not mail" is an Opt-Out law. Only those not desiring advertising mail need opt-out. Anyone desiring advertising mail can do nothing - and continue to receive it. Why deny those wishing to avoid advertising mail the power to do so?

I do not consider handling unwanted advertising placed against my will on my personal property to be a civic obligation!

The US Supreme Court said in the Rowan case in 1970, ““In today's [1970] complex society we are inescapably captive audiences for many purposes, but a sufficient measure of individual autonomy must survive to permit every householder to exercise control over unwanted mail. To make the householder the exclusive and final judge of what will cross his threshold undoubtedly has the effect of impeding the flow of ideas, information, and arguments that, ideally, he should receive and consider. Today's merchandising methods, the plethora of mass mailings subsidized by low postal rates, and the growth of the sale of large mailing lists as an industry in itself have changed the mailman from a carrier of primarily private communications, as he was in a more leisurely day, and have made him an adjunct of the mass mailer who sends unsolicited and often unwanted mail into every home. It places no strain on the doctrine of judicial notice to observe that whether measured by pieces or pounds, Everyman's mail today is made up overwhelmingly of material he did not seek from persons he does not know. And all too often it is matter he finds offensive.”

Furthermore, the Supreme Court said, “the mailer's right to communicate is circumscribed only by an affirmative act of the addressee giving notice that he wishes no further mailings from that mailer.

To hold less would tend to license a form of trespass and would make hardly more sense than to say that a radio or television viewer may not twist the dial to cut off an offensive or boring communication and thus bar its entering his home. Nothing in the Constitution compels us to listen to or view any unwanted communication, whatever its merit; we see no basis for according the printed word or pictures a different or more preferred status because they are sent by mail.”

We need a nationwide “Do Not Mail” law to create a one-stop, convenient place for homeowners to give senders the aforementioned affirmative notice that we do not want certain kinds of mail sent to our homes.

http://www.newdream.org/emails/ta19.html

Signed,
Ramsey A Fahel

(Reply to this)

	Light bulbs 5500K (Anonymous) 2007-11-29 04:16 am UTC (link)
	Hello: Check out Naturallighting.com, a site I have used as a source recently--lots of choices, great light and savings ... Barbara Ruether (Reply to this)

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