"No Impact Man"

Recently I saw "No Impact Man" in Montclair, NJ. The screening itself is a community event hosted by Community Green. Every month people from all over NJ come together to view and discuss an environmental movie. "No Impact Man" seemed to be a favorite as there was record turn out and the discussion afterward was as inspiring as the film.

Whole Foods is also showing the film in a series they call Letsretakeourplates.com/films/.

The documentary is about Colin Beavan a self describe liberal and his wife Michelle a Starbucks coffee loving, fashionista and their year long eco-adventure in New York City. By adventure, I mean a year of planned pre-industrial lifestyle with their 2 year old daughter Isabella. Every luxury we take for granted in our own domain is scrutinized by Beavan and then tossed out if possible with the recycling. They ride bikes, take the stairs (even in NYC buildings), give up toilet paper, eat locally grown food only, compost, and even live without electricity for the last six months of the project.

What makes this documentary work so well is the relationship between Colin and Michelle and the fact that Michelle is questioning most of what they are doing and is not at all sustainability conscious to begin with. Michelle draws attention to the fact that we live a very consumer driven existence and through watching Michelle and Colin's experiment, we could do with much less and be happier to boot. This really becomes clear as you watch Isabella the 2 year old go through the year oblivious to what was taken away. You realize that this experience has made Isabella one lucky little girl.

Colin took abuse for his project but you get the feeling through the filmmakers eyes (Laura Cobbert & Justin Schein) that it's the medias lack of real substance that is the cause of the criticism and not the films eco-hero. Colin comes off very sincere and seems to understand that the critics are just part of the media driven world he will have to deal with to get his message out.

Some environmentalists were not impressed with "No Impact Man' but I think what they need to remember is that we are at a "tipping point" moment in history. Important messages come in different forms and are heard by many different ears. It seems ridiculous to some that this family would select to turn out the lights for six months . I for one think that movie's like "No Impact Man" are the light that will turn us all on to a shift to a more sustainable lifestyle. There are 1.6 billion people on the planet living without electricity, need I say more.