Writer Colin Beaven and his family undertook a project of trying to live for a year with no net impact on the environment. He blogged the experience and now has a book as well. He is also the subject of the film No Impact Man, which followed the family through a good part of the year.

An early entry in his blog gives this description of the project: "For one year, my wife, my 2-year-old daughter, my dog and I, while living in the middle of New York City, are attempting to live without making any net impact on the environment. In other words, no trash, no carbon emissions, no toxins in the water, no elevators, no subway, no products in packaging, no plastics, no air conditioning, no TV, no toilets&ellips;" In time they turned off their electricity. They traveled by foot or bike or scooter. They ate local foods bought at the farmer's market. They did their laundry by stomping it in the bathtub. They even gave up toilet paper. It was a bizarre and extreme experiment.

The project in itself may be interesting, but the human side of the story is what makes the film so engaging. Central to the human side of the story is that Colin has his whole family doing this. Here is how his wife Michelle describes herself: "I've had a really intense relationship with retail. I'm like a high fructose corn syrup-addicted, screen-addicted, meat-eating girl. I would say I'm not an environmentalist. I'm a consumer. I'm a take-out junkie." When she talks about the project early in the film she says, "It's No Impact Man. It's his book, and it's his project, and he's No Impact Man. But the project is that our family is doing this." That tension comes up in various ways throughout the film.

The film spends a fair amount of time with their relationship. We see them fight over her wanting to go get an iced espresso drink. We hear them as they debate having another child. We see them enjoying time as a family that would have surely been spent differently if not for the project. When Colin is discouraged after they have turned off the electricity and doubts the project will matter, Michelle offers her support and encouragement. Their relationship is just as important to the film as the story of all the things they have eliminated from their lives.

Colin wanted to try to live a life more in line with his values. This may sound a bit extreme, but that was the point of his project—to see just how much someone could eliminate from their lives. They knew that at the end of the year they would go back to many of the things they dropped, but there are some things that they have decided they are better off without. Even when Michelle talks with a friend about six months into the project, she says there is no going back.

Would Colin recommend this for everyone? Probably not. But the film does provide each of us a chance to consider the things we'd be willing to change in our lives to make a difference in the world. Colin says, "It's not about deprivation. It's not about not taking care of yourself. It's the opposite. It's about seeing if it's possible to have a good life without wasting so much." He also knows that his individual action may have little impact in itself, but he notes, "The thing about individual action is that it causes people to be engaged."

The film also engages us in the issues of how we relate to the environment. We consume and waste without thinking. Perhaps if we thought about everything we buy and use as the No Impact Family did during their year, we might reconsider some of our choices. We might try to eat more from local sources—or not drink bottled water—or ride our bikes. We might get healthier. (They did.) We might have more money. (They did.) We might even find time to connect with each other in more fulfilling ways. The real value of No Impact Man is that it invites us to reconsider our lives and our own impact—on the environment, on our community and even in our families.