In November 2006, author Colin Beavan, his wife, Michelle Conlin and their two year-old daughter, Isabella began the No Impact Man project. The goal: to make as little environmental impact as possible while living on lower 5th Avenue in Manhattan.
Before the project began, Colin and his family were SUV driving, fast food eating New Yorkers who would assuage their guilt with some good old American retail therapy. But Colin grew weary of his political convictions not lining up with his personal habits. So, in order to “walk the talk,” he decided for his next book to embrace a carbon-free, environmental friendly lifestyle and call himself “No Impact Man.” For starters, that would mean no trash, no electricity, no cars, no TV, and no buying anything new for an entire year.
The documentary feature film, NO IMPACT MAN – a film by Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein, presents an intimate emotional portrait of a couple struggling through a severe and protracted change in their way of life. Over the course of one year, the filmmakers documented what happens to a Colin and Michelle’s emotional life as they alter their entire lifestyle. How do they cope with the constant stress and intermittent crises of such a rigorous way of living? Or, perhaps, when life is pared down, do some things become unexpectedly better and even easier?
