My No Impact Week

As I set off on my journey to attempt eating locally my husband suggested I take a look at the blogs of some other writers who maybe have worked out the kinks of this eating locally thing and could offer some suggestions. I, of course, not wanting to hear about others and determined to pave my own way towards local consumption without the help of anyone who maybe had this thing all figured out and could offer some good suggestions and advice, ignored him. I usually do. He has some really good ideas, too. I'm just stubborn. But I don't realize I'm being stubborn until much later. I usually come around. Eventually. Unless of course he's just wrong. That has happened before, once or twice. What was I saying? Oh, yes.

So, a couple months into my project, I had this brilliant idea to see if there were any other bloggers out there looking to find local food and live more environmentally friendly, and that's when I discovered and started following Colin Beavan, aka No Impact Man.

Colin sort of dragged his wife and child through a year long experiment to live as environmentally responsible as possible in New York City. I say dragged his wife because that's how it seemed to be going in the teasers for his documentary about the experiment, but I've recently come across some disturbing information about Mrs. Beavan, and I have to say I feel slightly forsaken. You see, Colin's wife was apparently addicted to reality tv. I can sort of somewhat a little bit identify with that. Not completely, mind you. I mean, there's some seriously good reality tv out there, and some seriously bad reality tv. I only watch the good stuff. The good clean entertainment offered by professionals and nice people stuff. The educational stuff. You could even say that the shows I watch are helpful in assisting me in my environmental pursuits. Let me explain:

• Top Chef, for instance, is great for learning exciting new cooking techniques that I can use on all the local produce I've procured this year.
  

• Project Runway has taught me one or two things about making my own clothing, you know, if I ever thought I might want to do that for my family and all I had was 30 minutes to sketch, $150 for materials, and 1 day to "make it work"

• So You Think You Can Dance just makes me want to get up and dance. Maybe I'll take a dance class at the gym next week. Exercise is good for me and the environment. Maybe if I was in better shape I could walk and bike more and drive my car less. Excellent! So far so good.

• Americal Idol is all about perseverance and never giving up on your dream and finding the superstar within the girl next door, and if you're not her well at least they're brutally honest so you don't go around thinking maybe you are her and then you know for certain that not only can you not sing but you are a bad person for ever thinking you could and you should really go back to working at Walmart now. But not me! I'm the environmental girl next door. Yay me!

• America's Next Top Model is so obvious it's insulting that anyone can't see the environmental upside. We have such an overwhelming food shortage in this world and Americans are the biggest gluttons of all. Just take a look here and see how much more we eat in a single week then they do in other countries. Then, watch Top Model and tell me that you are even thinking about eating more then water and locally grown celery until you've lost those last ten pounds. Seriously, those girls are the epitome of minimalist eating. That, or they vomit a lot. No one is naturally that skinny.
  

• Hell's Kitchen. Um. Okay, well...maybe sometimes I just like watching those idiots who go on reality television shows get told to f@@k off a lot.

My point is, I'm not watching totally worthless reality tv. It's all applicable to my goal, my journey, my mission. So I was more then a little disappointed when, not far into my borrowed from the library audio edition of Colin's new book, I found that it was Colin's wife who said that the first thing they should do is give up the tv. Why would she do this?! I identified with this woman. I counted on her to stand up for us. Crazy eco-conscious husband wanting to do the right thing for the environment but infringing on the personal happiness of his wife - I've got one of those! Starbucks - love it! Shopping - need it! Television - addicted to it! Give it up? And lose all of it's endless possibilities for education and inspiration?

(Yeah, no honey, this is not where I say that I'm willing to give up forever our 42" LCD with HD-Tivo. It's just not going to happen. There are some sacrifices that are beyond me.)

But I will do this. I will join Colin Beavan in the No Impact Experiment, which starts Sunday October 18th. And for one week, I will live a little bit as Colin and his wife did for an entire year.

On day 1, I will forgo purchasing anything but that which my family and I cannot live without.
On day 2, I will make no trash.
On day 3, I will give up driving unless absolutely necessary.
On day 4, I will eat foods that are grown or produced only in New England.
On day 5, I will um...I will....*deep breath*....I will unplug the television.
On day 6, I will use less water.
On day 7, I will pay it forward.
On day 8, I will plug the television back in.

It won't be easy, I know. But I look forward to this challenge for myself and my family. I hope we're successful in finding alternative ways to enjoy each other, have fun, and be more responsible stewards of this life we've been given and the planet we live it on.

Please join the experiment.