Julia Whitty writes in the November / December 2008 issue of MotherJones: NEWS:

The secret to cutting carbon? A dieting support group.

While she marvels, as I do at the incredible migratory feat of the bar-tailed godwit which "manages its hectic calendar and limited resources with a lithe professionalism that enables it to do what no other animal on earth can do-that is, to leave Alaskan shores and strike out over open water to fly nonstop for eight days and 7,200 miles without feeding or drinking before touching down in another hemisphere (New Zealand) during a different season (spring)", the question is for us the human species - can we too be small of footprint, capable of the long haul?

Julia Whitty is Mother Jones' environmental correspondent, a documentary filmmaker, and the author, most recently, of The Fragile Edge, a book on coral reefs. Read this thought provoking article here.