I have always prided myself on being a frugal and thoughtful consumer, concerned about the ecological and ethical impacts of the products I buy. I pay that extra $10 a month to support green energy, use CFLs where I can, have low flow shower heads, bricks in the toilet tanks, buy earth and animal friendly cleaning products or make my own, wear my clothes until they're dead, line dry most often, use my dish and pasta water to water landscaping, shower every other day, have no ac, rarely use my gas in wall heater, bike or take public transport almost all of the time, drink tap water, buy local and organic foods to supplement those I grow in my garden, have reusable shopping bags, a reusable coffee cup, a reusable water bottle, save lidded plastic food packaging to store left overs of future meals and compost 100% of my food scraps.

....so what's with all this waste?

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Day 16: No Impact Man

Last night we watched No Impact Man. It's a pretty good little film about one guy in New York City who, with his wife and child, try to live no impact for a year. They start out by cutting their trash to zero (they consider recycling the same as trash). They remove all chemical cleaners, and body products from their home, including the wife's makeup and birth control, and at about six months, they shut off their electricity and live by sun and candle light.

This is a pretty extreme way to go, and he admits it, but it's so great to see someone in another hugely wasteful urban environment that has tried a similar experiment. Despite a number of failures they encounter and a few cheats they employ, I think it was a worthwhile year.

Check out the trailer:

I guess sometimes you don't appreciate the simplicity of things until you really have to do without.

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2 comments:

  1. Jennifer CaballeroMay 26, 2010 at 1:50 AM

    KB I liked hearing about this film during the commute today and the trailer makes me want to see it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kristy BOctober 6, 2010 at 2:20 PM

    Thanks Jen,
    My favorite part is when the whole family has a dance party in the bathtub to wash the clothes.

    ReplyDelete

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