For the last while, there has been a lot of hype around No Impact Man - a documentary about a family of three living a no impact year in the big apple. I've been waiting for the release on DVD for so long and when I finally saw it at my local Blockbuster, I was more than excited.
Without giving away too much of the movie, I strongly urge you to see this one. It is really entertaining while giving you something to think about. While the movie doesn't encourage you to change your life this drastically, there are definitely many things we can do in our lives to reduce the negative impact we have on earth. Instead of saying "I could never do it," we should all focus on what we CAN do, however small it may be.
This entire project was initiated by Colin, the no impact man. What makes this project really interesting is the fact that The Beavans are not your typical tree-hugging, Birkenstock wearing, smelly hippies. The Beavans are your typical urban dwellers who didn't really think twice about consumption and waste. The husband is a writer who also wrote a blog and a book about the experience. The wife is a typical city girly girl who loves Starbucks, designer clothes and take out food. Together, they have an adorable girl that seems to be up for anything.
To live no impact for a year is huge. We're talking about going vegetarian, buying only local food, no take out/restaurants/processed food, no cars/subway/taxi, no toilet paper, no store bought cleaning product, no beauty products, no buying anything new for a year and then the kicker - no more electricity after 6 months. Seriously? It sounds crazy and I think it's amazing Michelle signed up! Here is a woman who is the polar opposite of her new lifestyle. There is this one scene in the movie, when Colin was packing up all her makeup and toiletries so she can be "au naturel," I turned to Dave and said "See, that would've been my deal breaker." Take away my processed food but DO NOT touch my make up!
To live no impact for a year is huge. We're talking about going vegetarian, buying only local food, no take out/restaurants/processed food, no cars/subway/taxi, no toilet paper, no store bought cleaning product, no beauty products, no buying anything new for a year and then the kicker - no more electricity after 6 months. Seriously? It sounds crazy and I think it's amazing Michelle signed up! Here is a woman who is the polar opposite of her new lifestyle. There is this one scene in the movie, when Colin was packing up all her makeup and toiletries so she can be "au naturel," I turned to Dave and said "See, that would've been my deal breaker." Take away my processed food but DO NOT touch my make up!
Without giving away too much of the movie, I strongly urge you to see this one. It is really entertaining while giving you something to think about. While the movie doesn't encourage you to change your life this drastically, there are definitely many things we can do in our lives to reduce the negative impact we have on earth. Instead of saying "I could never do it," we should all focus on what we CAN do, however small it may be.
2 comments:
Thanks for blogging about this. I might have to netflix it.
Though I'm really skeptical about the possibility of having absolutely zero impact. Some of the things we think have less impact, such as buying local food, may not actually reduce our impact as much as we assume. For instance, farmers who sell at farmers markets often drive in separately, whereas food shipped to grocery stores may travel further but be more efficient overall (Chilean grapes aside).
Thanks Valerie. I'd be really interested to see what you think of the movie! You have a good point about local food that may not reduce our impact as much as we'd think...but if I see local, I buy it. My reasoning is that at least I am helping the local economy.
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