‘Big Foot’ Raises Interesting Carbon Questions

First my daughter Charlotte, then loyal reader and commenter Jeff Huggins. Both urged me to read “Big Foot“, Michael Specter’s article in The New Yorker’s upcoming March issue. Subtitled, ‘In measuring carbon emissions, it’s easy to confuse morality and science‘, the article is a great summary of the challenges inherent to carbon labeling. Here [...]

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Three Lessons for Green Living

Day 30 of Daily Footprint Project. A good time to conclude the project. And to reflect on the lessons learned during these thirty days spent under the close scrutiny of the green lens:
How to evaluate one’s personal environmental impact, is still up for discussion:
Starting with today. I drove a lot today. Some of the [...]

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10 Tricks to Get You Going Green

Day 29 of Daily Footprint Project. A milestone in my ‘trying to be green‘ trajectory. I was feeling good. My heart light for a change, and ready to make room for new experiences. ‘How about biking to the gym?‘ I asked Prad. It’s been months already, since Prad started biking around town. Now, I wanted [...]

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Individual Psychology and Climate Change

Day 28 of Daily Footprint Project. Cold, and rainy. I had to go out twice, once to a doctor’s appointment, and then to the pool. Both outings in the five miles range, a perfect ‘bike it’ distance. ‘Pervenche‘ was waiting, and I had made such a big deal of looking for [...]

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‘Pervenche’ and 10 Tips on How to Find the Perfect Used Bike

Day 27 of Daily Footprint Project. The day to pick up my bike from the store. I finally found a used one a few days ago. Despite the owner’s protests that ‘No, we don’t have any used bikes other than the ones in the front’, I pointed to the lot far in the back. ‘Oh, [...]

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Biking the Environmental Talk, Part 5

Day 26 of Daily Footprint Project. My search for a bike continues. Yesterday, I drove 38 miles to look at an old Murray bike. What I did not know is that some of the older bikes come without brakes. To stop, I am supposed to pedal backward. Not for me, I decided.
Then I got this [...]

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Biking the Environmental Talk, Part 4

Day 25 of Daily Footprint Project. This is the bike I want:

A vintage Schwinn Beach Cruiser, for $140, on Craigslist. Above my initial $100 limit, but for such a beauty, I am willing to bend. The only problem is, it’s in Sacramento. Its owner may come to San Francisco in the near future. That means [...]

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Biking the Environmental Talk, Part 3

Day 24 of Daily Footprint Project. After writing the last two articles on ‘Biking the Environmental Talk, Part 1 and Part 2, I felt the pressure to follow through, and to go on Craigslist. It really helps to make one’s commitment official. My green pride was at stake, and I had to take action. After [...]

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Learning From Environmental Footprint Statistics

The Daily Footprint Project has taken me to the micro level of my personal footprint, down to the most minute details. I am only one out of six billion people, however. How do I fit within the larger picture? I wanted to know. I found this world map of environmental footprint on the Footprint [...]

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Biking the Environmental Talk, Part 2

Day 23 of Daily Footprint Project. I was to go through Craigslist to find a used bike. Instead my day got eaten up by greater priorities:

Going to the Farmers’ Market with Charlotte who is visiting from Berkeley
Taking Little Sister shopping for clothes at Target, and going swimming with her
Answering emails and commenting on other blogs
Cleaning [...]

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