This is the question Colin Beavan seeks to answer when he sets out on a one year project to make no impact on the environment, taking his wife and young daughter with him.
Colin and his family bike (or scooter in the case of his wife) instead of driving or taking the subway. They shop at farmer’s markets and give up meat in order to eat locally. They make their own cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, and shampoo. They compost in their apartment in New York City in order to have virtually no trash. They give up plastic, aluminum and cardboard containers.
For the second six months of their project, they even turn off their electricity–no refrigerator, no air conditioning, no lights.
Their efforts are recorded in the documentary film “No Impact Man.” And of course, he also wrote a book about their experience. (Continuing with my theory that most films come from books first…)
Anyway, the film documents their struggles and successes as they try to navigate the world without many of the things that most of us consider necessary for our daily survival.
Colin’s wife, Michelle, has a particularly difficult time giving up Starbucks, reality TV, and shopping.
As they go through their year, they get more and more media attention in the New York Times, various talk shows, and even newspapers in France and other European countries. What surprised me most about this was the amount of negative feedback they received.
You would think that one family trying to do a good thing would receive nothing but praise and prayers, right? No so. Many of their criticizers said that it was just a publicity attempt. One of the people Colin and his wife actually talked to said that what they were doing made people uncomfortable because the people themselves couldn’t and wouldn’t give up the same things as Colin.
Think for a moment about all of the things you take for granted every day. Refrigeration and light are my top two. Not to mention that Colin and Michelle had a daughter that was still in diapers. Yes, they started her in reusable diapers.
Oh, and did I mention they also decided to forgo toilet paper in favor of reusable wipes?
I was surprised at their level of dedication, no doubt, but I was also surprised at the “cheats” they employed to get by day to day. They still used their stove, and a cooler instead of a refrigerator, which they had to borrow ice from their neighbor in order to use. But nonetheless I was impressed, especially because of the length of time–a year can be realllllly long.
Colin kept a blog during the year (using solar power for the energy for his laptop, of course), and it can be found at noimpactman.typepad.com.
A website for the project can also be found at noimpactproject.org.
What Colin stressed the most throughout the film was that the emphasis was on what one person can accomplish as an individual, because if enough people do things on their, eventually people as a whole will be motivated to change for the better.
His other point was that it’s not about using the least amount you can get by on, it’s about using what you need in a sustainable way.
He has already inspired other people to join in his efforts: a group of students at NYU went ‘no impact’ for a week, and what he said to them was that, “The most radical political act is to be an optimist.”
While I am not going to give up electricity or my car, I do recycle and will be more conscious of what I buy. The goal here is to leave your world in a better state than how you were given it, and maybe make a positive impact along the way.
Good luck!