ColinBeavan Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Cinematical has just received this exclusive new poster for No Impact Man, a documentary directed by Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein. The film follows Manhattan-based author Colin Beavan as he makes a life-changing decision that affects not only himself, but his wife and infant daughter as well.

Researching his next book, he founded the No Impact Program in November 2006, and pondered what he could do personally to help end the environmental crisis. What would have the greatest impact -- or, rather, what would allow him to have the least impact? From the official synopsis: "A newly self-proclaimed environmentalist who could no long avoid pointing the finger at himself, Colin leaves behind his liberal complacency for a vow to make as little environmental impact as possible for one year. No more automated transportation, no more electricity, no more non-local food, no more material consumption...no problem. That is, until his espresso-guzzling, retail-worshipping wife Michelle and their two year-old daughter are dragged into the fray." No Impact Man is "a film about a couple, more than a movement," wrote John Anderson in Variety. It's "the best kind of propaganda, as well as a very entertaining movie."

Oscilloscope Pictures will open No Impact Man in New York on September 11 before expanding it across the country in the following weeks. Check Oscilloscope's site for more information on playdates, and head to Beavan's blog to read much more about his experiences.

You can also watch the trailer at Moviefone, which gives a good idea of the film's lively spirit.

While I am, by no means, a queen of green, I do a good deal of recycling -- much more than many people I know. I reuse containers until they can't be used any more; I have a green bin; I rip those damned windows out of envelopes before recycling the paper; I walk almost everywhere, even in the winter. And even so, I think the story of Colin Beavan is scary. Variety reports that his upcoming book, No Impact Man, has been picked up by Columbia Pictures for a feature treatment. What's it about? Well, a man who tries to live a completely green lifestyle in New York City.

Beaven, who has written interesting stories before, like the first murder to be solved by fingerprints, chronicled "a year in which he, his wife, and young daughter redesigned their lives with the goal of doing no damage tot he environment. As he says: "I set out to eliminate the negative net impact we made, while creating a positive impact so that we could be as close as possible to creating no net impact. If the typical cosmopolitan New Yorker can do it, anybody can." And he doesn't mean just environmentally-friendly living, but also no television, AC, or even electricity...not even any carbon-producing transportation like buses or cars.

During this year, he not only got closer to his daughter because there was no television to distract them (or electricity to do anything with), but also because they only ate "local seasonal natural foods (grub trekked cross-country creates carbon emissions)." They've hooked me, if only to see what sort of locally-grown food one can eat in the dead-winter of Manhattan (wouldn't electrically-powered greenhouses be a no-no too?), and how the hell they stayed warm. Speaking from experience, it's easy to wait a bit longer to turn on your heat in the fall, but at some point, no amount of clothing will stop the shivers.

And besides, doesn't putting out a wide-spread book and film negate all he did for the environment? I hope it'll at least be printed on fully recycled paper...