Can You Have No Impact?

For my video case study for CSR I ended up watching a documentary called No Impact Man. I found it very motivating and I think it would be a good film for some of you to watch if you are interested in this kind of thing as well. It follows Colin Beavan, his wife Michelle Conlin and their daughter Isabella through a project Colin came up with to cut his net environmental impact. No Impact Man entails the family making no environmental impact for one full year. The family went through phases, slowly taking things out of their life that most regular families like ours would have, such as vehicles, television, shopping, take out food and eventually electricity altogether. They also made a plan to eliminate all waste and compost any food waste created. I think this the type of film that is important to watch in order to become inspired to find ways to change regular activities we do on a daily basis that are harming the environment. Colin talks a lot throughout the project about how we as individuals need to begin taking into consideration the affects of our actions. I mentioned in my video case that in the film Colin said that he did not want people to try to be him, but instead find things that ‘we’ can do. We have the ability to try new things and see what will work for us; how we can implement new things into our lifestyle that would increase our positive impact rather than increase our negative impact. It is inspiring to watch the family go a full year and really understand how much of what they used to do in a day was hurting not only the environment but others around them. For instance, at one point in the video it talked about the health effects from living near landfills and the fact that people are dumping more and more into the garbage than is necessary. Things like this were the reason Colin and Michelle dressed their daughter in cloth diapers for the course of the year, because regular diapers are in the top three contributors to waste in landfills. Everyone is able to make a difference in their own way even if they start small. Colin created a website; www.noimpactcommunity.org for those people who want to join in or even get tips to change their ways. If people are looking to get involved, there are opportunities listed where you can learn about things you can do in your own community. The point is that anyone can make a difference if you set your mind to it and even the smallest of changes will add up and inspire others to follow suit. If you are interested in watching it you can find it on topdocumentaryfilms.com under the environment section. Or follow this link: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/no-impact-man/# Ashley Moynes