Is It Possible?

I'm a bit of a nerd.  I watch a lot of documentaries.  There's just so much to know.  Today I watched a documentary called No Impact Man about a man (along with his wife and child) who decided to live for one year without making any negative impact on the planet.  To most people this probably sounds crazy especially because they live in a Manhattan high rise!  I really liked the honesty of this film because the transition was not made out to be a walk in the park.  In fact, the man, Colin, and his wife, Michelle, both had their days of doubt and even fought the process a bit.  They made changes in phases that built upon each other rather than doing everything from the beginning.  Around the six month mark they flipped the breakers in their apartment and went completely without electricity for the remainder of the year.  Yup.  That means no refrigerator.  Yikes!  All they had was a used cooler with ice in it to keep the daughter's milk cold. 

It was about the second or third night of sitting in a candle-lit room that Colin had an epiphany.  He realized that this movement to live more sustainably isn't about deprivation.  "It's about: How can we have a good life and waste as little as possible?" I think that's one of the bigger barriers critics of the movement have.  We have become so entitled that to suggest sacrificing something we like or are simply accustomed to seems appalling.  I'm not talking about living like a caveman but perhaps it would be wise to rethink why we are so attached to certain things like overly packaged products or leaving every light in the house on. 

One of the things I was most excited to see was how Michelle's relationship with food changed.  When they started she was a self professed take-out-aholic.  She never cooked and never knew where her food was coming from.  The couple made a commitment to only eat things that came from within a 250 mile radius of their home.  This meant that they frequented the farmers' market, built relationships with the people who were growing and producing their food, and even visited a farm and dairy upstate.  It took several months before Michelle attempted to do some of the cooking but she finally braved that new world.  She came to truly appreciate what she was eating and how it was affecting the community around her.  She had a love affair with food. 

But the best part of all this was watching their two year old daughter experience it as well.  Isabella got to pet the cow that produced milk for her, help her dad stomp on the laundry in the bathtub to clean it, and ride on the back of her mom's bike everyday.  All the while she grinned from ear to ear.  Of course, at the end of the year there were elements they added back into their lives.  But there were many things that stuck even after the experiment was over.  People always ask, "Can one person really make a difference?"  I believe that the answer is yes.  If something you choose to do or not to do impacts others (and it does!) then you have effectively made a difference. 

"The most radical impact you can have is to be an optimist."  -Colin Breavan, No Impact Man