Greening Austin Daily

No Impact Man–Free Screening Tonight

21st April, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments

Tonight, as a part of its Let’s Retake Our Plates free film series, Whole Foods will be showing No Impact Man at the Whole Foods on South Lamar at 7:00.

This movie came up on my Netflix queue recently, and I found it to be an inspiring and honest film. It’s a story of a family living in New York that attempts to live without any impact on the environment for an entire year. Colin Beavan, the husband/father/creator of the no impact idea, is the driving force behind this experiment, largely to see what kinds of green changes can be done by an average family. It’s interesting to see the contrast between his earnestness and his wife’s reluctance and skepticism about the project, which I think is pretty representative of the way people feel in general. Many people want to make changes to be greener but aren’t always willing to make the sacrifices to accomplish those changes. Watching this film, you realize that it isn’t necessarily super easy to go this green–no lights, no refrigerator, no cars, no buying food at a supermarket, no TV, no washer/dryer, etc…sounds pretty difficult! But you start to realize that it is possible! What really made an impact on me (ha!) was that the family found they had become healthier and closer with each other, on top of more environmentally responsible. I found the washing-clothes-in-the-bathtub scene especially touching.  Also, it was inspiring and informational to see all the ways you can try to reduce your impact, even if you’re not going to the no impact extreme. I would definitely recommend this movie, and you can watch it for free tonight! Check out the preview below: