"Hey babe, let's like...go green and totally eliminate our carbon footprint!"

This is a conversation I never want to have, but for one poor retail and reality TV show obsessed housewife this nightmare was a reality. Today in class we watched "No Impact Man" which followed Colin Beavan and his family as they attempted to completely eliminate their carbon emissions for an entire year.

What does this mean? Well, it means a whole lots of "no's" Here are my notes from class:

No coffee? Come on, Colin. Have a heart!

• NO TV
• NO shopping...ever
• NO trash, instead a a compost with worms in it, inside the house
• NO electricity (except for a convenient solar powered laptop charger when the rest of the family was still trying to keep their milk cold in a makeshift Egyptian contraption made out of clay pots.
• NO make-up
• NO normal diapers
• NO cleaning supplies
• NO take out
• NO COFFEE NO COFFEE NO STARBUCKS NO COFFEE NOT EVEN IN A RECYCLABLE CUP! (unless I'm misunderstanding)
• NO laundry detergent
• NO planes, trains, or automobiles except for when vacationing at organic farms
• NO ice, unless you borrow it from an uncomfortable neighbor
• NO restaraunts
• NO MEAT
• NO second child for you wifey (and then when she got pregnant I got really excited for her, and then very sad again...)

A little more coffee appreciation

All I can say is, this woman made a whole lot of sacrifices to just be the wife of the "No Impact Man". I spent the whole hour and a half thinking "why isn't this the No Impact Family? Is it because sometimes she would sneak ice into her recyclable coffee mug with tap water in it at work????? I surely hope not. The answer that I came up with is because it wasn't about the family, it was about Colin finding a new passion, and a family that hopped on board. While I definitely think Michelle was not given proper credit in the naming of this project, I don't think the family was terribly centered around Colin. I think the No Impact Man was his idea, his project, his baby if you will, and I think that Michelle was trying to be supportive of that. I have to think that if I was in the same situation I would be inclined to do the same thing to support the person I loved. (NOTE: I said "would be inclined to do the same thing" NOT that I would do it, because I would not.) The Beavan's household was obviously not filled with gender stereotypes, in fact, Michelle cooked her first meal for the family ever while making the movie, and it's obvious that her work is a major priority to her, and that she is well established in her field. There was also a little tiff between Michelle and Colin indicating that Colin probably did most of the dishes, and he was also seen doing cleaning and laundry. All I'm saying is that even though it seemed like this movie, and this family, revolved around the man.... I really think that if Michelle spear headed a project like this Colin would have been on board and played a similar role in it as she did.

I'd say they're project was a huge success. They really were able to make major lifestyle changes and stick to them for most of the year, which is huge. How many people would decide to go completely green and actually stick with it without making any major rule adjustments or finding solace in the comfort of a divorce. Really, our generation isn't meant to be without electricity, we're not. People may have lived for centuries without electricity or cars or internet shopping, but we are not those people, and I know for a fact that it would be a major problem for me, and most of the people I know, to make these drastic lifestyle changes. I definitely don't think I could stick to it, especially if it wasn't something I was particularly interested in.

Despite the fact that I am not willing to live my life without coffee or even half of the nail polish in my room, I think what the Beavan's did is great. They really made a lot of positive changes and as far as I know, they held on to a lot of those good habits. That's something we can all do. I might not be okay with washing my clothes with Borax in the bathtub, or turning off my refrigerator, but there's a really awesome farm near me that people buy time shares in, and then every other Saturday they get to go pick out the newest freshest vegetables. I know someone who does it, and she always comes in with awesome fresh produce, and it's helping a local business tremendously. There's definitely other ways to decrease your carbon footprint, and there are great ideas at noimpactproject.org. Check them out and see what changes you can make.