No Impact Man Review

I honestly put off seeing, "No Impact Man", because- well sometimes it gets to be too much. I know what I need to do and am comfortable in the ways I am contributing to be greener. Do I continue to learn? Yes. Am I a saint? No, but neither is Colin Beavan and his family for doing this. What did they do? They set off to see just how off the grid they could be and what they could do without... only eating local food from the farmers market, no use of elevators and subways, refrigerators (no use of electricity), no tv, no buying of new clothes and the list goes on.

Great experiment and goals, but sadly I think the "ego" gets a little too involved especially when Beavan admits that part of the reason he is doing this is because he wants to be a "hero". Ick. And then there are things they try... for instance- the "refrigerator" part that are kind-of like- really? I also didn't like the negotiations for the 2nd child in exchange for participating in this "experiment". That was really icky- and let's just leave it at that.

All inventions, advancements, technology and what not that have been made are not necessarily bad. Most were done for efficiency and the desire for a better life. As with anything, we are now re-looking at choices and making revisions. Isn't that what life is all about? Who has always done everything perfectly and never made any mistakes???

Unfortunately or fortunately, we all do need to get on the band wagon and change the way we do do things. Not using the fridge and borrowing ice from your neighbor might not necessarily be the needed correction. Sometimes going too much to one extreme is just that. The good thing is there are many good ideas and they proved it can be done. Many reasons why it worked is because they are in NYC, where everything is close and walkable. Not to mention the abundance of amazing farmers/green markets year round.

The movie is worth seeing. Some ideas are better than others. I just think it would be more appropriate if titled, "No Impact Family". Cheers!