To be honest, I don’t expect taking part in NRDC's No Impact Experiment to be hard. As someone who lives in New York City and works for NRDC I am provided everyday with lots of options for going about my business with a kid-sized carbon footprint. The sustainable systems that surround me will make taking a few extra steps toward a no impact week—or at least very, very low impact—pretty easy.

While I will share details of the personal choices I make each day to lower my resource consumption, the focus of my posts will be on the larger systems in my neighborhood, city, and (especially) office that make it simple to live a low-carbon life. My expectation is that while reading my blog and that of my colleague and fellow NRDC NY Office Eco-Committee Member Lindsi describing just how good we have it you may become a little jealous. My hope is that you will also be motivated to advocate for changes in your office and in your city or town that provide you and your coworkers and neighbors new ways to reduce unnecessary consumption, shrink your carbon footprints, and save money.

NYC & NRDC: Interlocking Systems of Sustainability

I live in Manhattan just a few steps away from my subway stop with a community garden  across the street (more on the community garden later in the week). When I arrive at NRDC’s New York Office—with its location chosen in part for its convenient access to many forms of public transportation—I enter another system designed to meet my needs and allow me to do my work as efficiently as possible.

Follow Our No Impact Chronicles 

Throughout this week Lindsi and I will be blogging about how we reduce our consumption at home and in the office, including our broader efforts as member’s of the office Eco-Committee, in the following areas: TRASH (Monday), TRANSPORTATION (Tuesday), FOOD (Wednesday), ENERGY (Thursday), and WATER (Friday). Please check back daily here at Switchboard for one or both of our posts on our progress in the coming days. Whether you too are participating in No Impact Week or if just have questions, comments, or suggestions be sure to contribute to this experiment by leaving a comment.