No Impact Man

Earlier this week I watched the film No Impact Man. Set in New York, it tells the real-life story of a journalist who decides that living on Manhattan Island shouldn’t stop him having as low an impact as possible on the environment and so he sets out on a year-long mission to live that life. It is not just him though as he also ropes in his shopaholic, reality-TV- and caffeine-addict wife and their baby daughter.

Without wanting to give too much away, I enjoyed the fact that it didn’t purposefully paint a pretty picture and aim to show that living a greener life is all smiles and roses, but rather it showed the beautifully raw emotion of the family unit as they go on this journey together, from the wife’s caffeine withdrawal mood-swings to feeling pretty disappointed without any electricity in the evenings. They tried out a wormery to faster compost their food waste, which worked until they got flies breeding in it that infested the flat; they tried no fridge, but had to rely on neighbours for their ice to keep milk fresh. They learnt a lot about compromise and sharing as a community, but also showed that a greener life, although not glamorous at first, can be more enjoyable with more time spent together in the present. They didn’t go the whole hog (still cooking on gas, which I was disappointed they didn’t mention), but they went pretty far and the ups and downs they face as a family make for lovely viewing.

No Impact Man himself is pretty good at explaining his own conclusions to their story and the stories continue on his blog. I recommend the film even if you’re not a greeny- it is a good watch.