No Impact Man

Quotes from the book No Impact Man by Colin Beavan (highly recommended).

When did taking care of ourselves become something so unimportant that it should be got out of the way rather than savored and enjoyed? When did cooking and nourishing my family become and untenable chore? What is more important that I'm supposed to do instead?

...I see that when I get what I want, my want does not go away, it just turns to the next thing. In some ways, it's incorrect to say, "I want this" or "I want that." It's more correct to just say "I want," in the same way that we say "I ache." ... I noticed that what we wanted on the surface -- the minibike or the "normal" ranch house -- were just proxies for what we really wanted" to fit in. We wanted to be loved. We wanted to not feel what we imagined everyone else didn't feel -- insecurity. We wanted to feel accepted. So, here's the big question: If we want to demonstrate out membership in the human race, if we want to fit in, where on earth did the idea come from that we have to do it by having or aspiring to have exactly what everyone else has, by eating what everyone else eats, by drinking what everyone else drinks?

At what age did I start thinking that where I was going was more important that (sic) where I already was? When was it I began to believe that the most important thing about what I was doing was getting it over with? Knowing how to live is not something we have to teach children. Knowing how to live is something we have to be careful ot to take away from them.

I'd rather be the kind of nut who tries something than the kind of nut who, knowing what could happen to the world, doesn't.

If the pleasures we seek are not permanent, then how important are they?

Environmentalism is not about the environment. It is about people. It is about a vision for a better life -- for people.

It's terrible and it's wonderful, but it's true: we're all in the same boat. That's the consolation. It's not just me who's scared and lonely and worried and isn't sure how to help myself. We don't know how to help ourselves, but there is one thing we do know how to do. We know how to help eachother.