No Impact Man

My daughter and I listened to this audiobook last weekend, on a long drive and while painting. Part of their No Impact plan was no motorized transportation, and involved bicycling in New York City traffic. But what struck me about the book (and the documentary movie) was how his experiment engendered the same type of hate mail that cyclists get.

His experiment was to live in their 9th floor NYC apartment with their toddler and dog, and have zero impact on the environment,for one year. No trash, locally grown food only, no motorized transportation including elevators, they even shut off their electricity.

I definitely recommend the book. I don't bike because I'm "green", I bike for other reasons including that I'm cheap, but I see environmentalism as a happy side effect of my bicycling. It was an interesting, enjoyable read, and even better that both my 14 yr old and I liked it. Although we felt uncomfortably ironic listening to this in a portable CD player that runs on AA batteries.

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Originally Posted by Melalvai

I definitely recommend the book. I don't bike because I'm "green", I bike for other reasons including that I'm cheap, but I see environmentalism as a happy side effect of my bicycling. It was an interesting, enjoyable read, and even better that both my 14 yr old and I liked it. Although we felt uncomfortably ironic listening to this in a portable CD player that runs on AA batteries.

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Am similar to you Melalvi..I bike because I'm cheap, I had problems learning to drive (and decided not to in my early 20's rather than endanger others/myself) and for fitness. Environ. is subsequent benefit.

Interesting about the parallel hate mail from some readers/viewers. Maybe people just don't believe it, so they end up expressing themselves in anger. Or they don't like their own habits questioned alot.

To live completely off-the grid for several years with children, would probably be abit exhausting. Noble, but exhausting.

Just not having a car and using public transit or biking is a doable, but serious feat. I can attest to this since my parents didn't buy their first car until I was 15 yrs. old. So I helped my mother schlep home groceries, etc. --good weather, winter, etc.


Next time I visit my parents, I should ask them when they grew up, if they had electricity in China. This would have been in the 1930's in rural China before Mao came in power. And there was war between China and Japan.

Guess my point, is that we can change some of our habits to be off grid big time, but completely, is not entirely realistic unless we have piles of time to do things without high speed mechanization. Or maybe I'm not seeing things right?

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Originally Posted by shootingstar

Or they don't like their own habits questioned alot.

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I think you hit the nail on the head with that statement. I suspect the anger comes from feeling a bit personally attacked--the implication that they are doing something wrong and need to change, and no one wants to be told that something they are doing (that they LIKE, mind you) is wrong. Smokers don't much like anti-smoking laws either.

I saw the No Impact Man movie (also appreciating the irony--I was streaming it from Netflix on my home computer) and thought it was really interesting. I liked it that at the end of the year when they were reviewing and deciding which changes to continue, the biking was included in that. I laughed when they seemed to have no idea where the flies came from with their composting (those damn flies are a fixture in my kitchen every summer).

But I could also see that the whole experiment might irritate people. I saw it as an interesting challenge, but it could also easily be interpreted as a self-indulgent stunt. You or I might bike around for fitness or fun or transportation, or make other "green" choices in our lives for whatever reason, but we're not doing it with a film crew following us around! That was something he never addressed--his family was trying to live with no impact at all for a year, but they were doing it with a film crew and with the intention at the start to turn it into a movie, a book, and who knows what beyond that? It would be interesting to see if the ultimate impact from their experiment (trees cut down to publish the book, the energy used to produce the book, the movie, the audiobook, etc.) was actually higher than the impact that three people would have living their daily lives with none of the changes they made.

Sarah

Thanks for the recommendation. I was feeling like crud today (stupid stomach bug) and watching it on netflix this afternoon. Very interesting. I found it inspirational - and I was interested to see that even in such an extreme fashion his partner still found it rewarding. Says a lot about our society!

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Originally Posted by sfa

You or I might bike around for fitness or fun or transportation, or make other "green" choices in our lives for whatever reason, but we're not doing it with a film crew following us around! That was something he never addressed--his family was trying to live with no impact at all for a year, but they were doing it with a film crew and with the intention at the start to turn it into a movie, a book, and who knows what beyond that? It would be interesting to see if the ultimate impact from their experiment (trees cut down to publish the book, the energy used to produce the book, the movie, the audiobook, etc.) was actually higher than the impact that three people would have living their daily lives with none of the changes they made.

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He mentioned it in the book, that there was the irony of all this tree saving becoming a book. That's why part of the plan was to give back by volunteering, to offset the environmental impact they couldn't cut out.

So maybe he already offset my toxic AA battery use. :D

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Originally Posted by Melalvai

So maybe he already offset my toxic AA battery use. :D

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But if they are rechargeable batteries- then you don't have to feel too bad. ;)


I don't have a netflix account and I tried to find it to watch. No luck. I'll keep searching.