No Impact man Reflection

No Impact man Reflection

No Impact Man is the name of a project of a blog, book, and a documentary by Colin Beavan. The film is about the author’s quest to live eco-effectively for one year while still living in the heart of New York. The author, together with his family, eliminates elements of urban living, including electricity, motorized transport, among other comforts of the modern world that many urban dwellers consider necessities. Although initially intended as an experiment, the act went on to gain widespread attention among the media and played a significant role in spreading the message that modern life is unsustainable. The experiment also showed how difficult it is for the mordent human being to live without the use of technology and the potential issues that may arise from attempting radical changes in pone’s life.  The experiment provided an insight into how emotional well-being intertwines with our environment and daily activities. This essay discusses personal lessons that were learned from a review of this experiment at length, with an emphasis on how the experiment changed the way the author feels about life and sustainable living in particular.

Creating a sustainable world requires exerted effort across a large group of people for significant gains to be made. However, this is not to say that the actions of single individuals cannot make a meaningful change in creating a sustainable world. Change is a process that human beings naturally dislike. As such, the route towards radical change is slow and arduous and requires there to be a determined bunch of people leading the charge in sort of an activist way. When considering significant changes in human history such as the emancipation of slavery, some figureheads stand out as leaders of the charge that eventually became a massive scale movement that resulted in tangible change that endures for us to see to this day. The case of a sustainable world, I believe, is no different. The actions of an individual can result in meaningful change for a sustainable world, most specifically in terms of an activist standpoint where they influence others to take action. Individual actions can act as the spark that can ignite the mass effect resulting in tangible change.

The gradual change in the perspective of Michelle Beavan in the film is one thing from the movie that drove me to arrive at this position. At the start of the journey, Michelle is a confessed skeptic of the ideas of cutting down on certain things as a means to achieve sustainability. One vivid example is the scene where she, Colin, and their daughter are looking at the worm bin with the worms on full display, and she says that Mommy doesn’t like nature very much (Schein and Gebbert 2009). Another example of her reluctance can be seen in her reaction towards the need to cut down on spices and particularly coffee. These two examples show that she is not the kind of person that cares much for trying to live sustainably, at least at first. However, towards the end of the film, specific changes are visible in her lifestyle. Her commitment to continuing sourcing locally-produced foods and her love for biking show that there has been a tangible change in her lifestyle. This change makes me believe that if she could come around to effecting change in her life, being a skeptic at first, then other people can be convinced too and join the journey towards sustainable living. Her transformation is perhaps the most significant evidence of the effect of activism from the documentary.

Another notable influence on my decision from the film is the media attention that Colin’s activism garners throughout the film (Schein and Gebbert 2009). First, appearing on radio shows is a good indicator of the fact that people are taking notice of the actions that he is taking and that he is initiating conversations around the topic. Radio, and in particular talk shows, is a good measure of people’s pulse as talk show hosts often receive calls from listeners and engage in direct conversations about things that affect the listeners. Watching this media attention unfold made me feel a sense of pride and accomplishment for Colin compared to the initial skepticism that I had at the beginning of the documentary. I felt that there was some result in the horizon and that the sacrifices he had made with his lifestyle and his wife would not be a wasted effort. This media attention opened my eyes to the fact a lot of topics need exposure, and once these topics are talked about and seen in the public, taking action on them becomes a reality.

Towards the end of the film, there is a new career developing for Colin as a speaker on sustainability (Schein and Gebbert 2009). The shot of him speaking to a room full of people inspired me to start believing in my unlikely ideas more and believe that I can be the catalyst for the change that I want to see in the world. This offers him a platform to introduce meaningful change in society on all matters of sustainability. This is a natural progression for pioneers in change and is one of the major reasons that I believe that the efforts of an individual can bring meaningful change in the journey towards sustainability. With more people hearing about sustainability from someone who has actually lived through the rigors of sustainable living, there is a higher chance of people being convinced of the need to change. This increased chance of impacting lives from the point of pioneering action leads me to believe that there is a lot more to the sustainability movement that Colin can be considered to have done through his one-year experiment.

For my no-impact experiment, I decided to adopt the use of non-motorized transport as my contribution to sustainable living. I felt that since one of the largest contributors to climate change is transportation due to the high volume of greenhouse gases it produces, this would be the best way to subscribe to a sustainable lifestyle. I may also have been inclined to adopt this method as I am already an avid biker, and using this would be a lot easier to incorporate into my routine. The 3-day experiment involved riding my bike or walking to work and classes. For the most part, the experience was not very taxing, as I was fairly used to riding a bike. However, due to the long commute, I felt some tightness in my muscles on the third day.

In the film, there were other benefits to the changes made to live sustainably. In my case, although it was to a  smaller scale, I felt some of those benefits. The first benefit that I noticed is that I was in a better mood during those three days than the other days. I assumed this increased happiness was due to the aerobic activity of riding the bike for successive periods. Additionally, I also noticed that I slept better in those days. The exercise accorded by the riding action of the bike allowed the body to feel much more relaxed after a shower than I usually felt after a bus ride or a drive. The ride to and from school also afforded me a lot of time to reflect on different areas of my life, and I found myself being more aware of my actions, my surroundings, and my plans for the day. This was mostly the benefit of not spending the entirety of the commute on the phone.

Although I do not think that I did it for long enough to have any significant effect on the habits of friends and neighbors, I noticed the glances from people as I made my way to and from school. The glances made me feel a bit strange, but also proud of being able to do what is considered unusual. I realized that many people had the notion that riding a bike to work and back was a tiresome endeavor. This made me want to ride the bike to work for longer than the three days to be a symbol of what is possible and encourage potters to try it. This feeling pushed me to engage in conversations with other people to sensitize them on why I was doing it and how they can get to do it as well.

Throughout interactions with different groups of people, I got into conversations with neighbors who mentioned that they had given the habit some thought but had reservations due to the rarity of it. This made me feel extremely proud of being viewed as one of those pioneers who stir change in society for a bit and increased my belief that the actions of one person can introduce change within society. The excitement of being involved in something new also played a role in pushing me to want to share my experiences, and its potential benefits, with others. This experience and the knowledge it gave me of the fact that people are often afraid to start doing something until they see others doing it increased my conviction that the actions of one individual can result in meaningful change in creating a sustainable world. Similarly, the push to share with others, I believe, plays a significant role in increasing the net effect of an individual’s actions on a cause by ensuring that the message is dispersed to different people across different regions, as was the case with Colin’s book, blog, and documentary.

The documentary ‘No Impact Man’ has come under criticism on the internet as just a stunt by Colin, the author, to increase his sales and propel his career to greater heights. However, the documentary shows him and his wife going through significantly stressful situations that they did not need to, and this suggests a certain level of seriousness. Additionally, the speaker’s role he transitions into towards the end of the movie suggests he is really invested in the topic and in sensitizing people on the unsustainability of most current lifestyles. The powers of transformation inherent in his activities are plain to see from the gradual conversion of his wife from a skeptic to a fellow crusader. Similarly, my own experience of the sustainability drive throughout this project has shown me the benefits and how this impacts one’s life, both inwardly and outwardly. I believe that even without the intention of going all-out on sustainable living, everyone should have some time away from the trappings of modern life to reflect on their role in the world and how they can be better people.

End References

Schein J, Gebbert L. 2009. No Impact Man. New York: Oscilloscope Pictures, 2009.