No Impact Man Proves Small Changes Make a Difference

 

Colin Beavan and his wife, Michelle Conlin, and daughter, Isabella, took part in a yearlong eco-experiment.

A Starbucks may sit lightly on our desk, but heavy upon our conscience after watching No Impact Man, the documentary that chronicles author Colin Beavan’s year of living in Manhattan with his wife, Michelle Conlin, and 2-year-old daughter, Isabella, with the smallest environmental footprint possible. The film by Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein is being shown in select cities and will continue to open in theaters across the country throughout October and November. Beavan and his family forsake many conveniences — including takeout, nonlocal food, transportation and eventually electricity — as the nonfiction writer documents the experiment on a blog and for his recently released book, No Impact Man (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009).

The project was born of Beavan’s sense of helplessness in the face of mounting environmental problems. “I suddenly realized that my problem might not actually be the state of the world,” he notes in the book. “My problem was my inaction.” Some aspects of the lifestyle experiment are extreme to show that while people might not have to give up everything to help out, it’s possible to do something. Despite Conlin’s difficulty forgoing Starbucks, television and the possibility of a discount Marc Jacobs handbag, she remains supportive, even as she plays devil’s advocate to her husband. When Beavan has a moment of doubt about the project, she points out that in the worst-case scenario, at least they’ve had fun. The documentary shows some of these sweet family moments — such as when they all laugh as they stomp on the laundry in the bathtub to clean their clothes.

A side effect of the project: Beavan comes to grips with his modern-day malaise. Before embarking on his mission, he notes, “My whole life appeared to have turned into a moneymaking machine intended to buy more convenience.” Consumer culture, he writes, leaves many “dissatisfied with the lives they had worked to get — the lives they were supposed to want.” While the film tells the family’s story from an outside point of view, including how they deal with criticism of the project, the book offers a more detailed account, including the environmental issues at hand and what one person can do from Beavan’s perspective. If the book is purchased through the website of the No Impact Project, 5–10 percent of the proceeds will go to Beavan’s international nonprofit organization, which is dedicated to promoting green behavioral change.

Now you can participate in a one-week No Impact Project. Do you think you will give no-impact living a try?

Photo credit: Oscilloscope Laboratories

Tags: advocate, author, Colin Beavan, electricity, Entertainment/Culture, Films, Isabella, Justin Schein, Laura Gabbert, Marc Jacobs, Mass media, Michelle Conlin, No Impact Man, nonfiction writer, nonlocal food, Oscilloscope Laboratories, Starbucks, Starbucks Corporation, transportation, United States