Zero footprint family for one year - the reality

What does it take to reduce your carbon footprint to zero? And is that kind of lifestyle sustainable? Marj Lefroy talks to New York's original No Impact Man to find out. When New York's No Impact Man, Colin Beavan, took his family off the grid for the whole of 2007, he didn't expect it to have such a positive impact on his quality of life. "Our economy is predicated on the idea that the more 'stuff' people have, the happier they will be. So we all work hard to get more stuff and, especially in the US, forget about the importance of our social relationships. "That does not make us happy." Beavan says that a renewal of those relationships was one of the unexpected outcomes of his family's year of living green, during which they reduced their net environmental impact to nothing. Together, he and wife Michelle, daughter Isabella and dog Frankie shrank their carbon footprint by reducing their waste and pollution output as much as possible. The residual ecological burden was neutralised by volunteering for environmental causes such as cleaning rubbish off the beach. Instead of watching television, they talked to each other, played games or spent time with friends. During New York's sweltering summers, rather than isolating themselves in their apartment with air conditioning, they took Isabella to play in the fountain in Manhattan's Washington Square Park and found themselves connecting with their local community. "So much of what we did 'for the planet' turned out to be better for us. We ate local food and our skin cleared up. We rode bikes and we lost our guts ... we stopped spending our time being consumers and ended up spending more time being friends and neighbours. "This is true for the culture too. What's good for the planet is good for the people." Beavan says the transition was both "harder and better" for Michelle, the family shopper. "She says that she was addicted to shopping and convenience. But when we broke our bad habits and found that we spent more time together as a family, ate better and got more exercise, it was she who had the biggest benefit and learning. "She hasn't returned to shopping and TV." The No Impact experience spawned a book and Sundance-selected documentary, and Beavan was named one of MSN's ten most influential men of 2007. Four years later, the family is still trying to live a relatively low-carbon life. "It makes sense to eat food with no unpronounceable poison chemicals in it, so we still prefer food from our trustworthy, local farmer. Rather than take a taxi to the gym so that we can then run in place on the treadmill, it makes sense to get our exercise as part of our day by biking and walking. It makes sense to save money so we've cut our power consumption." Beavan now runs the non-profit No Impact Project in an effort to engage "average folks" to undertake a week-long carbon cleanse and find out how much money, time and stress they can save. Beavan says participants "marvel" when they discover what they're capable of. "They become creative about how to re-use clothes and other items and how to entertain themselves and their friends. They cook more. They transport themselves using bikes or their own feet and take control of their actions. "The experience is very empowering." Beavan says that local initiatives like Buy Nothing New Month in October, which encourages Australians to avoid spending money on things they don't need, are part of a worldwide movement towards a way of life that's "good for all of us" – including business. "Business is supposed to provide what people need. "There is plenty of opportunity for excellent business innovation and lots of money to be made ... [including] in the secondhand marketplace, by the way." Read more here: http://noimpactproject.org/experiment/