No Impact Week

Have you heard of this? I found it while surfing The Huffington Post last night. They’ve declared the week of October 18th No Impact Week and are asking people to sign-up and reduce their impact on the earth by taking specific steps each day for one week.

Colin Beavan’s documentary, No Impact Man, follows his family over a year long period as they reduced their impact on the earth. In 2007, Colin, his wife, their daughter and their dog changed their lives dramatically. Their goal was to create no waste for a year. To live in New York City but leave no impact. Sounds absolutely crazy and impossible to me, but an incredibly noble endeavor. He didn’t want to wait any longer for politicians and CEOs to make the changes necessary to save our earth. He wanted to take matters into his own hands and see what impact he and his family could make on their own. Cut out trash, walk or ride a bike but no motorized transportation, take the stairs, eat only food grown locally (within a 250 mile radius)… the list goes on.

So, The Huffington Post and Colin Beavan teamed up to create No Impact Week to give everyone the chance to try out Beavan’s suggestions for one week with support and guidance. I’m probably showing my pessimistic side right now, but I doubt many people will keep such a strict lifestyle after the week is over. I don’t think that’s what this is really about though. In a perfect world, it would be fantastic if everyone left little to no impact on the earth, but that’s not realistic. Even if those who participate continue to follow of a few of the tips after the week is over, it’s worth it.

Check out these sites and see if this is something that interests you. I definitely see myself adopting some of these but I’m not sure I can do all of them. Let me know if you sign-up to participate. I’d love to hear how it goes! If nothing else, the Beavan family definitely has an interesting story!



No Impact Man

No Impact Week