I posted once on No Impact Man then didn’t post again because…well, he makes me uneasy for some reason. He’s certainly attracted a lot of attention…and he makes me uneasy. The way he’s conducting his experiment and publishing a book and doing a movie makes me uneasy. He does what he can to not sound sanctimonious while sounding religiously committed (at least for this year) which makes him a very friendly sounding guy, but he still makes me uneasy. I would like ours to be a greener living family, and he still makes me uneasy. Attention needs to be focused on greener living…and he’s making me uneasy. I’m listening right now to his interview on NPR, how the one thing he really misses is travel and when he’s off this regime he’d like to travel again but this experiment has made him more aware there are things we can do like taking a plane once a week instead of twice in a weekend. (He used to be a big flyer.)
And he says,
“When the experiment’s over, a little more common sense will apply.”
Which makes my eyebrows go up.
The well-publicized extremes, very marketable extremes to which he’s going certainly are attracting attention because, well, people like a circus. They always have and always will.
And he makes me uneasy.
People generally seem to love No Impact Man and what he’s doing.
I didn’t write about it at the time because he made me uneasy and I would have preferred to not write about him again, but as soon as things got busy busy for Colin, who’s got a book and movie coming out of this, who lives on 5th Avenue with his wife who’s also a professional writer, well, he put up a notice on his blog looking for an intern…who needs their own computer and their own situation from which they can work, who will handle research, phone and correspondence for ten hours a week….
and be paid nothing.
Because he can’t afford to pay anyone.
OK. Fifth Avenue. Used to take lots of trips (flights, hotels etc). They’re not buying new clothes or toys right now, or anything new for that matter. They’re not eating out.
And he can’t afford to pay a secretary (uh, intern)?
No Impact Man is soon moving into a new phase of the experiment wherein he won’t be using electricity, but he wants a secretary (oh, right, intern) to dole out their time and computer and electricity and phone for free???? Not only is he getting their free time but he’s getting electric and communication on their tab?
I decided I needed to go ahead and bring this up and make a plea for No Impact Man to consider paying his so-called intern who is really going to be No Impact Man’s personal secretary or y’know, personal assistant. Correspondence, phone, research. Sounds like personal assistant/secretary to me. Colin needs an assistant/secretary. Because No Impact Man really really needs a reliable connection with electricity and computer and phone and internet because he’s going no-electric some time within the next month.
I’m not faulting Mr. No Impact Man for making a living, everyone’s got to make a living, but damn he makes me uneasy. I wish he’d at least pony up some dollars for the assistant/secretary/intern’s DSL and electric tab.
Leave a Reply