No Impact Man makes an impact

For the last few months I have been reading the blog of Colin Beavan, better knows as No Impact Man. Here is a guy who decided to go off of everything pretty much to live a year of having no impact on the environment. Crazy? Yes. Crazy enough to believe that global warming is happening and that he can do something about it. And that is the kind of crazy that I love.

You can read all about what he is doing and why on his blog, but just to give you an idea, he is a writer and decided to try, along with his wife and child, to have no impact on the environment (equation to do that is: reduced negative impact + increased positive impact = no net impact). This was implemented in 7 stages: 1) No trash; 2) No carbon producing transportation; 3) Only local, seasonal food; 4)No buying anything new; 5) No fossil fueled electricity (they use a solar panel for what they need); 6) Sustainable water use; 7) Positive impact. Colin has been blogging about this experience and is writing a book about it as well. As I mentioned I've been reading his blog, and have been just so impressed by him. Lots of people try crazy schemes and want to get famous and claim to care about the world, and I have to say, I was a bit suspicious. I had my reservations that he was really doing this, that he could really be so positive and nice about giving up drinking bottled water and toilet paper and television. Meeting him, however, I came to see that he really is just a genuinely positive person who believes in what he is doing (and not in an overbearing way either). My favorite part was hearing him talk about the impact on his family-- they threw out the tv, and now they just spend more time together, enjoying each other and being an active part of the community and relating to people. He has an adorable daughter named Isabelle (you can read about how they entertain her on the blog) and they go out riding on the bicycle, to "see what is happening". Not only are they saving their environment, but they are saving the idea of community. I love it!

Some recommendations that he made to us as college kids about becoming less impactful ourselves was to take individual action by recycling, reusing and reducing, educating our friends and family, joining forces with local environmental groups, and getting involved with political action groups on the local and national levels. How can you save the world? by saving the people.

I had a few thoughts while listening to this lecture. 1) I am totally amazed by the commitment and scope of the No Impact Man project. It is completely crazy, and it is completely awesome that his wife is in on this too. Where can I find someone who could be that crazy and passionate about something that I could share my life with? 2) Again, the commitment and scope of the project is kind of daunting. But luckily I'm not expected to live like that. i just need to be more aware of what I consume and to do my little part. I was talking to some friends before I left Salt Lake City, determined to be more environmentally conscious and to decrease my carbon footprint. People were skeptical, but here in New York City it is amazingly easy to to. I ride public transportation everywhere or go by foot (I'm still too afraid to ride a bike). Most of our cleaning supplies are environmentally friendly. I reuse plastic grocery bags for trash or as sandwich bags (thus eliminating packed lunch waste). I try to remember to bring along a tote bag to the grocery store with me. I joined the Park Slope Coop, which is a community store which sells only organic and local goods (for the most part) at a fraction of the cost of the other stores (so I feel good and save money!). Or I shop at the farmers market. Those are just some of the things that I am trying to do, and I know that I could do a lot more. Poco a poco. 3) It feels good to be changing my lifestyle in small ways right now to be just a little bit kinder to the environment. I live by this beautiful park in Brooklyn and so I still get to spend a little bit of time in nature, and I am constantly amazed at the beauty of this world that God has given us. We have been given stewardship to take care of the earth, but the way that we are living isn't really demonstrating any sort of concern for the future. Something like 25% of the kids in the Bronx have asthma from all of the trucks going by-- what sort of life and earth are we providing for the future? This isn't a crazy environmentalist issue, but a fact that we need to accept and accept our responsibility to live better. It doesn't require huge sacrifices like never driving a car again of going on a trip, but rather cutting down on the massive waste that we produce and switching our lightbulbs.

So, cheers to you No Impact Man Colin Beavan, for leaving a most positive impact.