Sites That Sustain Us
No-Impact Man
Colin Beavan is a man on a mission, and that mission is to get down to nothing.
In his soul-baring, detailed, well-researched and often hilarious blog, the New York City resident details his everyday struggle to reduce his family's impact on the environment to as close to zero as possible — "no trash, no carbon emissions, no toxins in the water, no elevators, no subway, no products in packaging, no plastics, no air conditioning, no TV, no toilets...".
That's a pretty tall order for any modern consumer, and especially so for a resident of America's biggest city. It's a challenge Beavan set for himself in February 2007, and it's netted him book and movie offers. His quest has also created not a small amount of tension between himself and his "Prada-wearing, Four Seasons-loving wife" who toys with fad diets and loves pre-packaged food.
The blog is part confessional, part how-to guide and entirely honest. Here's one of his earliest posts:
"If everybody on the whole planet decided to commit suicide, which in a way, they have, would it be the right thing to do to not join in? What’s so great about trying to be right if it keeps you separate? It seems like there is something precious that has to do with holding yourself above or not just joining in and being part of. I don’t know. I’m suddenly realizing that this whole project could be pretty damn hard."
But if anything, his posts over time reflect his growing dedication to his self-imposed cause. He gradually realizes that, while he may never attain his goal of getting down to nothing, even the smallest changes in his behavior could have profound effects.
He finds connections in every object and action in his life with the processes and industries that provide them. And he details just how aware he is of the choices he makes. In one wonderful post, he describes the daily life of his family (wife, precocious daughter, pet dog) from the moment he wakes (wind-up clock, no electricity) to getting ready for bed by brushing his teeth by the light of a homemade beeswax candle.
It may be just one person's examination of his role in the consumer economy, but it's an eye-opening lesson for anyone following his journey to zero.
1 Comments
question : | September 25, 2007 11:10 PM #
Speaking of no impact, is there any way where the concept of "consumer consequences" can be combined with the concept of "carbon offsetting"?
I think they are linked, and that you can't do unlimited offsetting because it you'd be using too many "earths" worth of resources as the game on this site references.
I guess the point would be to do as little 'footprinting' in the first place so there is less offsetting to do?
It sounds like this man is trying to do that, but I hear about a lot of corporations and personalities offsetting their footprint as if it can truly be erased, but perhaps they are not taking resource consumption into account as well.