Do You Have What it Takes To Live a “No Impact” Lifestyle?

Many of you have probably heard the buzz about “No Impact Man”- an green living experiment by New Yorker Colin Beavan and his family. The premise of this story is Beavan, along with his wife, 2 year old daughter and family dog- give up their luxurious Manhattan lifestyle and commit to a full year of eliminating their “carbon footprint” by eating vegetarian, buying only local food, no toxic cleaning products, no electricity, no material consumption, no garbage, no cars, buses, or airplanes.

Colin blogs about his experiences (the good and the bad) in his widely followed blog: No Impact Man.  The experiment was so fascinating it was turned into a documentary:

As you see- this family goes to extremes to change their lifestyle and eliminate their impact on the environment.

What about you?  Could you do this for one year?  Give up electricity?  Meat?  Television?  Eating out?  Cars?  Shopping? Producing garbage?

How about just one week?  I came across the No Impact Challenge for those of us who are curious to test our limits and see what we can live without.

The No Impact Experiment is a one-week carbon cleanse.  It is a chance for you to see what a difference no-impact living can have on your quality of life. It’s not about giving up creature comforts but an opportunity for you to test whether the modern “conveniences” you take for granted are actually making you happier or just eating away at your time and money.

How would giving up modern conveniences change your quality of life?  Is this kind of challenge something you and your family could benefit from?

When I look at my own family and our daily patterns, it bothers me  how much time we spend disconnected from each other watching TV, movies, surfing on the computer, talking and texting on our cell phones, etc.  I also see how wasteful we can be in the name of convenience and how much money we spend of things that we do not need?  How would our health change if we committed ourselves to buying just locally grown seasonal fruits and vegetables?  It is a lot to think about- and I am not saying we all have to go to the extreme measures the Beavan family did.  But it is an interesting question.  Do think you have what it takes?