No Impact Man

If you're looking for an entertaining documentary that makes an environmental statement, "No Impact Man" is the movie for you. The trailer above shows the main story line of this documentary. Colin Beavan, an author living in New York City, decided that as a project, he and his family would try to reduce their environmental impact completely for a year. This includes reducing trash as much as possible, composting, riding a bike everywhere, using cloth diapers for their child,  eating no take-out food, buying only local foods and more extreme measures, such as cutting out electricity, using reusable cloths instead of toilet paper and taking the stairs instead of elevators (a crazy thing to do in NYC). The film also mixes a lot of emotion into the film, to show that it is a difficult task, but with determination, regular people can dramatically reduce their impact on the planet.

Source: amazon.com

Being an author, of course Colin Beavan wrote a book about what he experienced during this year-long project. People can get some personal insights from the book that were not included in the documentary. Personally, I really enjoyed this documentary and would recommend anyone who is interested in the health of the environment to give it a watch. It shows that if we all really put in an effort, a single family can significantly reduce the amount of waste and greenhouse gases affecting the world. However, we do not need to go to such extreme measures as going without electricity or not using toilet paper. At the end of the film, the family chose what things they would keep doing after the project ended, which included biking everywhere, taking the stairs, trying to reduce their trash as much as possible, buying local food and composting. These simple things can really make a positive impact on the world.

References: watchCulturetainment. “No Impact Man" - Official Trailer [HQ HD]” YouTube, July 29, 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9Ctt7FGFBo.