Saw something cool last night on tv, which is a rare occurence as most of tv is a waste of time and brain power. There was a special report on Nightline about this family who has decided to do an experiment for an entire year to see if they can live without making any or as little as possible of a footprint on the earth. This means NO electricity in their small New York apartment and no cars or public transportation. They ride their scooters (foot powered) and walk everywhere, including up many flights of stairs. See, elevators use electricity... Laundry involves them and their little girl, about 3 years old, stomping on the dirty clothes in the bathtub.
The hardest part for me to fathom is that they don't throw any trash away! They only buy things that come in reusable jars or without packaging. And with no refrigerator, they spend a heck of a lot of time at their local farmers' market, filling their reusable canvas bags.
It was really neat to see people with such a strong conviction to make a difference. I wish I could be that brave. There's no way I could do something that extreme. I'm already the crazy hippie in the family, like that wouldn't freak 'em out...
Anyway, here's a link to his blog. There's a lot more to the story, but you should read it for yourself if you are so inspired. http://noimpactman.typepad.com/blog/ What do you think?
4 comments:
I've seen something just like that before. That's awesome. I could (or rather I "would") never do it completely but I'd love to get on board with a few small things.
Amazing. He is spot on about the confusing nature of the information we receive about green practices. Just when you think you have a way to lessen your negative impact (ethanol for example) you find out that somehow it's worse than not doing it at all. It does make the effort seem futile. So good for him and it will be great to see what they take away from the year and feel they can continue doing.
Oh baby, I couldn't do it!
Maybe if I lived in a cabin somewhere, grew my own vegggies, raised my own chickens, you know, Little House on the Prairie sh#t.
But to live in a city, (good grief in New York City?) no it just seems a bit extreme and more than a tiny bit odd.
I agree about the confusion concerning productive green practices. It seems the old "paper or plastic?" question is not the "no brainer" we once thought. Apparently it takes more energy and uses more resources to produce a paper bag than it does to make a plastic bag.
Still hard to get my head around that one.
And yes, you are the hippie in the family. Peace!
Hey...I do my part. I have TWO canvas bags! But sometimes I forget to bring them. And they have to give me paper anyway. Shoot.
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