New York Times Magazine: The Low Carbon Catalog
Apr 22nd, 2008 by Jervey
Predictably, this week’s Times Magazine is another in a long line of “green issues” hitting stands this week. We liked parts of it; we felt others came up well short. Michael Pollan’s essay about the importance of doing small things had us nodding our head and feeling a touch conflicted considering our frustration with the prescribing of pithy, small-impact personal lifestyle actions of late. It’s a great piece, and an essential read.
Lloyd Alter at Treehugger talks about the Times’ unique approach to this particular “green issue,” and gives a response to the inimitable Joe Romm’s scathing dismissal of the ‘zine:
Every newspaper and magazine on the stands has a green issue right now, and they are getting to be a bit repetitive. The New York Times has taken a different approach, calling it a catalog and covering dozens of issues, some obscure and some mainstream . It kicks off with a wonderful article by Michael Pollan, who answers the question “Why Bother?” Our own Jasmin Chua advises about pets in the “Live” section, while Planet Green’s Bill Nye describes his very green house and greener lifestyle. Even the real estate ads are green in the::New York Times
UPDATE: I admire Joe Romm at Climate Progress, but he has to get over his reviewer shtick where he says “One of my most tedious jobs here at Climate Progress is to read all the
crapmajor articles published on global warming, and sort the wheat from the chaff.” Then give it up, Joe. He told people to stay away from Monbiot’s wonderful Heat without reading the book; now he dumps on the Times for including a few things he doesn’t like in its catalog, with the admonition “You can skip the whole thing”, boldface Joe’s. His blanket denunciations of anything that has a line in its index that he doesn’t like are not helpful; there is a lot in that Times magazine that will open a lot of eyes.
We read Romm every day, and share both Alter’s admiration for his work and frustration with his knee-jerk condemnations.