Why do new TVs have to sing a little song when you turn them on? Seriously. Who thought that up? Imagine yourself in the board room that the idea was first presented: “Customers will love it, like the TV saying ‘Thanks for turning me on!’ It’s the fifth anniversary of Project Porchlight today. Five years ago this morning Suzy walked a hand-written application form over to City Hall to register Porchlight as a not-for-profit organization. We debated whether the $90 fee was a good investment … Five years later I spent the afternoon on a conference call with a team of communications managers in New Jersey discussing the new fridge…

Strange things are happening. Again. Yesterday. I’m driving. It’s cold and rainy and dark. At 11AM. And I’m thinking: “We gave away 13,000 digital tire gauges this summer, and now that it’s cold and wet, nobody’s going to be checking their tire pressure.” So I pull into the parking lot at the Starbucks closest to Jasper’s Saturday hockey game. 10 minutes later I’m getting back into the car, lattes in hand, and I notice that four cars over a guy driving an SUV is kneeling by his front tire. Then he attaches a little device the size of a shoe box to his tire, a wire leading into his car.…

If patience is a virtue, how would you describe someone who continues to come back to a blog where the author has not posted in 4 months? Here’s a reward: This is the first place I’m announcing an exciting news bit: My little NGO has signed Ed Begley Jr. as a US spokesperson! He just seems like the right kind of celeb for One Change, and I only discovered in the last couple of days that in addition to being a pioneer of environmental action, he’s also a board member of the Thoreau Society. (Anyone who was using CFL bulbs in the 70s qualifies as an environmental pioneer). If Ed…

OK. By now, nobody’s reading this. No, I’m not calling you a nobody. Thanks for dropping by! Life’s been so busy lately. Too busy. But I’m happiest when I’m writing, so I’m determined to try to tap out some thoughts and observations here. The big news is that One Change is now a charitable foundation in Canada and the US, endorsed by the UN. And we have some new celebrity help to get the word out. Stay tuned. These are all great things, but I long for the walking path to the top of the old clearcut, to be caught by surprise taking a deep lungful of mossy forest air.…