A guilty liberal finally snaps, swears off plastic, goes organic, becomes a bicycle nut, turns off his power, and generally becomes a tree-hugging lunatic who tries to save the polar bears and the rest of the planet from environmental catastrophe while dragging his baby daughter and Prada-wearing, Four Seasons-loving wife along for the ride. And that's just the beginning. Bill McKibben meets Bill Bryson in this seriously engaging look at one armchair liberal's decision to put his money where his mouth is and go off the grid for one year -- while still living in New York City -- and see if it's possible to make no net impact on the environment.

Colin Beavan is the author of Fingerprints: The Murder Case That Launched Forensic Science, and Operation Jedburgh: D-Day and America's First Shadow War. His writing has appeared in Esquire, The Atlantic Monthly, and the New York Times, among other national venues.