No Impact Man – a green movie review by Karen A Teeters

No Impact Man on DVD

Colin Beavan, author of the book and blog of the same name had an inspired idea for a project, for a book, but he never imagined his and his family’s wild year of radical low consumption would be made into a documentary. And may I add a very entertaining, light, fun, inspirational and even educational documentary movie at that!

In the beginning of the film Colin expresses this thought,”Is it possible to have a good life without wasting so much?” And sometimes when he introduced some really austere and strict ideas that were met with a bit of resistance and maybe second guessing even on his part, you know he was wondering what the answer would actually be  at the outcome of this experiment of his.

So Colin’s idea of foregoing electricity, coffee, processed foods, paper goods, restaurant eating and buying used items, getting rid of TV and more to see how one family’s commitment would impact the rest of the inhabitants on the planet was filmed for the world to see.

His wife and his sweet toddler daughter had no idea what they were getting into when they agreed.  Michelle Conlin was a good sport even when she admitted on camera her temptation to cheat because of her admitted coffee/caffeine  addiction. So seeing  her at the corner Starbucks succumbing with  an all too recognizable cup in hand and hearing  her all too human rationalizations helped the other half of the more skeptical  and less virtuous viewers relate. What is a woman to do for the love of a good hearted husband? You could see she worked hard and deserved a cup of Starbucks caffeine from time to time!

So we followed this family from day to day, seeing Colin’s new plans and efforts to change daily habits come to fruition sometimes smoothly and sometimes with a big surprised frown (usually Michelle’s but she eventually came around-this made for some good comedy).

It was curious to see this family’s  experiment take place in such a large urban city such as New York City. Colin’s ongoing plans such as having a compost bin in the living room, buying locally grown food from a local farmers market, gardening in a communal garden park and even vacationing in a suburban New York natural farm for a week brought the family closer and instilled the feeling that they were really connected to mother earth. In the heart of New York City that is a feat!

Colin and Family

By the end of the movie you really got a true sense that this year of zaniness with its  sometimes second guessing the decision – but sticking with it, really paid off. Michelle softened to many of the changes when she experienced the benefits of being healthier, of being more connected to friends and family.

Things got simpler and there was plenty of time to be together. And all this while New Yorkers and the nation went crazy wanting to interview Colin and the family. They became celebrity figures. Sometimes for cynical New Yorker critics questioning the couples’ sincerity in the beginning and other times because people were finally starting to get it, the importance of the experiment.

At the end of the film, you heard Michelle evaluating what she was willing to continue to be committed to. She chose to keep the majority of the changes although it was great to see them put the electricity back on. I think Colin realized he went way more austere than many committed environmentalists would.

And to see Colin educate himself and become a true environmental activist involved in community groups was very inspiring. It was a very well done documentary with Colin and his family being seen on the hero’s path, not taken out of the everyday environment for an adventure but taken out of the everyday comfort zone. And they came back from their year’s adventure transformed! Is it possible to have a good life without wasting so much? The No Impact Man and his family say yes!

I saw the movie at home on watch it now Netflix, truly a good low carbon way to enjoy a green flick! Five green stars!

Links:

No Impact Man : a blog by Colin Beavan

No Impact Project

The book: No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process

Did you see the movie or read the book or do you follow the blog? What do you think? Has a lasting, meaningful movement been created? Have you lowered your consumption? How?

The clever title of her book is Sleeping Naked is Green and is one of the reasons I bought this book over Living with Ed and No Impact Man but those books are on my green book review list! The subtitle is: “How an eco-cynic unplugged her fridge, sold her car and found love in 366 days.” Sounds like more fun than most best selling fiction books these days, doesn’t it? So I read it in two sittings, just ate it up – no high fructose corn syrup or MSG to worry about, just totally organic straight up green experiences with a dollop or two of Canadian wit. Vanessa commits to the whole thing on the world wide web by journaling daily on her blog at www.greenasathistle.com and announces the new blog/green project to everyone she knows. Explaining her new green commitment she says, “So much of the green dialogue comes to a grinding halt with a list of redundant tips, empty reassurances about how easy, fun and chic it is to be green; or finger-pointing at corporations, governments,and the general public about whose responsibility it is to save the planet and whether we’re all doomed. Enough already. It is time people stopped talking so much and started doing something-anything.”

So everyday for a year she blogged about the green changes she made. She went at it in a down to earth manner to see which tips were realistic for her and which might be too hardcore. I like her personal approach to becoming green and I also like her genuine, humorous, hip way of sharing these green and sometimes very off beat, whacky, experiences. Each chapter lists all of the green changes she has made each day for that month. And then she shares with us the most memorable effects of some of the more interesting changes-online dating with greensingles.com, unplugging the refrigerator, storing the compost bin in the living room.

Vanessa brings in all the characters of her life and how these green changes affect them as well. Vanessa’s cat, her sister, her best friend, her mother and father, her potential new boyfriends and all her new blog friends have something to say and share and new to feel when one wave in their ocean goes almost entirely green. Composting, toilet skills, meat eating, commuting to work, dining out all get a green whack at the reality of change on a real life. And to make it even more fun,Vanessa shares with us her efforts and desire to have a compatible,hopefully green man in her life as well. A totally organic eating massage therapist, a do-gooder childhood friend or maybe one of the hot Toronto recycle trash guys are all suspects. Her perspective is fresh and fun and totally real with a cynic’s view and a convert’s genuine efforts. You want her to get her man and the green life that will work for her. In her own words, “…trying to be Gaia’s prodigal daughter, striving for absolute eco- perfection, would only make me neurotic, I’d obsess about every detail…there’s no hope of convincing people to change their lives for the greener as long as they can look at environmentalists and see nothing but a one-dimensional-tree-hugger ready to pounce on every strike against Mother Nature.”

And so she finds her own way and slips and falls and keeps her healthy cynicism. She knows she won’t keep all 365 plus green changes in her life after the year and that makes her real. Her experience makes you say to yourself that maybe you can do something like this in your own life. Near the end of her green year she listens to the words of a Bob Dylan song: “The only thing I knew how to do was to keep on keepin’ on like a bird that flew, tangled up in blue” She contemplates that and shares, “I wasn’t so much a bird tangled up in blue—more like a girl tangled up in green—but whatever the metaphor, a sense of peacefulness began to flow through me knowing that at the end of this day, and everyday, what I was doing was good, what lay ahead of me could only get better, and if I just kept on flying forward with all my strength, everything would be okay.”

She also wisely shares the knowledge that the commitment to making those green changes for anyone is made knowing that the right green thing to do today can change tomorrow with new research but that does not mean that we stop making those changes. She has the desire to get a better grasp on which changes have the biggest impact. She shares that, “ the less stuff I have in my life, the more fulfilled I feel.” But hey, I suggest you read this book for yourself. You’ll feel like you are on this green roller coaster ride with Vanessa. You’ll get into her humor and into her heart. Worth the time. Five Stars. This book would make a great movie (hint hint). Vanessa is a reporter for a Toronto, Canada newspaper and I suggest you enjoy her blog at www.greenasathistle.com Karen Ann Teeters is a green blogger and you can find more of her writing,reviews and thoughts at www.greenlivingzone.com

________________________________________________________________ Did you read this green book? What do you think? What other green tips books have you read that you found useful or liked? And Why?