written by Colin Beavan
published by Picador
ISBN-13: 978-0312429836
How much do we need? How much can we do with out? Or are
these the wrong questions? Should the questions be: How much do we need to be
happy? And are we doing without by giving something up, or are we gaining
something?
Colin Beavan wanted to run an experiment. He wanted to go an
entire year without making a negative environmental impact. The experiment was
staged into phases. Stop making any trash and stop sending things to recycling.
Don't buy anything new. Don’t buy any food that came more than 250 miles away.
No carbon-based transportation can be used (which is really all mechanized
transportation). And finally, no electricity. Here's the big catch: he has a
wife and an 18-month-old. Colin is pushed several times to find what he can
really do without and is surprised to find that his life was actually getting
better as he went along.
I really loved this book. It sounded like some sort of
oddity and that is why I picked it up. But what it really did was made me
rethink quite a few things about my own green actions. I use more and more
organic and natural products but look at all the packaging they come in. I
drive less and have a hybrid but I am still added CO2 faster than it
can be taken out. Colin shows us that not only can greener living be done but
an extreme version can be done. He brings up great points to like how much do
we give up before it begins to effect our quality of life, recycling plastic is
better than nothing but only just, and it is better to know where our food is
coming from in order to know where it can take us. There were quite a few
moments that I saw as funny but at the same time could totally relate to what
was happening.
It gave me tons of ideas and changed the way I think about
something I truly believe in. What a great book should do. I can't recommend it
enough. There is an amazon link above or you can get it used at Half Price
Books.
5 out of 5
(2009)
I feel pretty much the same way about the movie as I do the
book. The movie leaves quite a bit out but it is only 91 minutes long. It is a
great thing to share with your friends and family or skeptics. You do find out
how they went without toilet paper for a year.
Again, I loved it and loved sharing it. It is streaming on
netflix right now but you can always get a few copies and give them out as
gifts.
The trailer is below:
For more about the No Impact Movement go to http://noimpactproject.org/
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