New York-based author-illustrator Maira Kalman enchants viewers with her whimsical, colorful illustrations. Her designs have graced the cover of The New Yorker magazine (including the famous one depicting a map of New Yorkistan, on which she collaborated with Rick Meyerowitz) and the pages of several books, such as What Pete Ate, a children's alphabet book featuring her own dog as the main character. Her yearlong column for The New York Times, The Principles of Uncertainty, will be published as a book later this year. Kalman prefers to walk around the city and is a faithful recycler, but her eco-activities stop there; while she has mastered the art of design, she is still just a student of environmental action. Kalman wanted to create illustrations for Blue Egg's pages to help build awareness around the valuable things we can all do for the environment-and to learn about them herself.

You're a painter, illustrator, children's book author, animal lover-what is your preferred job description?
I think author-illustrator would be just fine.

You were born in Tel Aviv, but your work is very New York-based.
I came here when I was very young, so really New York is my sole home.

Is it your favorite place to be?
Completely. Absolutely. It's the epicenter of mad, diverse, eccentric energy. There are many places that are interesting in the world, but I think New York is the most for me. People. It's really the people.

What made you want to contribute to this project?
This is clearly a vital subject in a vital time. And one that should have a sense of humor in it also.

What environmental themes do you connect with?
I'm as confused as, or more confused than, the next person about what one is really supposed to do in this world that's of value. I'm looking forward to learning. And I connect with nothing, to be honest with you. I want to conserve and I want to be a good citizen, and I don't know how to do it yet. I guess I'm naive. I'm a beginner. I'm interested in learning. I'm also interested in understanding there is no right or wrong answer for a lot of things-it's a work in progress.

I walk everywhere. There are many things that I do naturally that are probably very good for the world. I try to walk up stairs and try not to take the elevator. But you know that started from something healthy rather than, "How do I save electricity?" Natural things of life. We used to leave air conditioners on all the time; now we turn them off when we're not here. We really actually understood that it was insane to be wasting that much energy and electricity. The money. It was just idiocy to leave it on.

If you could have one magic power over the environment, what would it be?
I'd have there be no garbage anywhere. Is that a valid wish? If somebody had to be given different jobs in this world, I'd be like the cleanup crew on the street.

And hopefully there would be something to do with the garbage, so we wouldn't have to make new landfills.
Are landfills bad? See, I didn't even know. Landfills are bad? I thought they were good.

Well, sometimes they aren't dealt with properly, and of course, they fill up.
They fill up....They fill up....

I also love...yes, everything being garbage-free. I also like the idea of not wasting stuff. You know, the disposable world that we're in. So I like the idea of using things, making stuff out of stuff that you think is junk.

We all have something we can't live without. What is the one trade-off you'd really rather not make, no matter how good it is for the environment?
Diet Coke? I don't know.

Well do you drink it in plastic bottles or cans?
In both. I could give up Diet Coke.

Maybe your air conditioner?
That would be rough. Yeah, I don't know if I could give up air conditioning. Oh, I probably could give up air conditioning. I'd be sad.

So you're flexible.
I'm a very flexible person. What are the choices?

People often say their car.
Oh the car, the car. No, I could give up the car. Meanwhile, of course, the minute you took my car away I'd be like, what the hell happened here? Give me my car back. I like the car. I don't know. I could really do with nothing. I'm very Gandhi-like.

Maybe you use toxic paints or something.
I use gouache. Are they toxic? They're bad for my nails-that much I know. That might be because I'm nervous. No, I've never researched, because it seemed so completely innocuous. It's water-based paint that comes in little tubes, and there's no scent-nothing.

Whom would you choose to be your carpool buddy, and why?
The only requirement I have for anybody who's doing anything with me is people who don't complain. So it can be anybody, as long as they don't complain.

Any fantasy person?
Bob Dylan.

What's the one easy thing you do for the environment that you wish everyone else would do?
I walk a lot.

What eco-sin are you least proud of?
Well, we don't have a salad-oil car. We don't have an eco-friendly car. We have a Volvo, which turns out to be not a nice thing anymore. Probably our biggest sin is owning that car.

Any books, articles, or websites you would recommend?
I'm reading Vertigo by W.G. Sebald. His books are all about people taking long pilgrimages by foot around vast areas of land. And they're epic journeys and kind of surreal. He's a novelist who recently died, but he's one of my favorites. And one of the aspects is the simplicity of having pared down to something that you can carry on your back, and walking around the world, which is my dream. It's oblique, but it's definitely some kind of sensibility.

Maira Kalman created a series of illustrations for Blue Egg, including those on our home page, our blog, and our Eco-genius challenge page.

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