Advice for "No Impact Man"

No Impact Man, it's a stunt, don't get so defensive.
You should have spent the year going to NYC City council meetings, getting them to buy recycled toilet paper, and you'd save more trees than your patient wife who is a saint for being such a good sport just like the Supersize-Me guy's vegan girlfriend was.

We need to work for institutional change. When McDonald's began printing their logo on their napkins instead of embossing it, fitting more napkins per package needing fewer shipments, they saved more trees and reduced more GHGs than I could in my whole life.

We need a mandatory carbon cap, so that the price signal rewards good behavior, and makes Hummer drivers pay more. This could be done through a carbon tax or through cap and dividend, etc. Hopefully, No Impact Man will start promoting this, not just telling people to stop using toilet paper.

For most people, every weekend is a possibility for a low-impact day, the Sabbath. Yom Kippur is coming up, and millions of Jews will participate in a low impact day, and spend the day thinking about the impact they have made in the last year.

But Kolbert's conclusion is powerful, think about the impact you can make on those around you, don't just focus on your poor suffering patient wife. Make an impact on policy, don't just torture your wife. Hopefully you can use your book tour and publicity to promote that message, not just to defend the righteousness of your stunt.