No Impact Man documentary debuts today

Every food purchase you make has an environmental impact — that is a fact. But what if you decided to try to eliminate that impact? You’d have to apply the same rules as every movie involving time travel — do your best not to change the world around you, knowing that it’s likely impossible.

That’s the premise for a documentary being released in New York City and Los Angeles today. In No Impact Man, writer Colin Beavan, as part of a book project, spent a year trying to go off the grid while still living in New York City with his wife and young daughter. They swore off restaurants and grocery stores as part of a quest to be completely neutral in terms of environmental impact. 

Some steps were moderate — knocking out water bottles and styrofoam coffee cups — but Beavan’s family took it farther when they quit eating beef. It gets serious when they spend six months without a refrigerator, although they continue to use their gas stove. They also composted indoors and began a small urban vegetable garden.  

It’s easy to sympathize with Beavan’s wife, Michelle, when she laments: “The food is the hardest part … because I can’t eat anything that tastes good.” They apparently eat a lot of porridge. 

Besides the economy collapsing if everybody followed all of Bevan’s steps, the film raises serious questions about how much you can (or would choose) to live without — especially in regard to your food. Coffee and bottled water might be labeled as extras, but a refrigerator is basically a necessity. 

No Impact Man comes to the Tivoli Cinemas in Westport on October 16.

[Image via Flickr: guaravonomic]