No Impact Man, Colin Beavan
No Impact Man, Colin Beavan
3 Rating(s)
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
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No Impact Man
The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process

Author: Colin Beavan

Narrator: Colin Beavan

Unabridged: 7 hr 40 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/01/2009


Synopsis

Bill McKibben meets Bill Bryson in this seriously engaging look at one man's decision to put his money where his mouth is and go off the grid for one year—while still living in New York City—to see if it's possible to make no net impact on the environment.

In No Impact Man, a guilty liberal finally snaps, swears off plastic, goes organic, becomes a bicycle nut, turns off his power, and generally becomes a tree-hugging lunatic who tries to save the polar bears and the rest of the planet from environmental catastrophe while dragging his baby daughter and Prada-wearing, Four Seasons–loving wife along for the ride. And that's just the beginning. In other words, no trash, no toxins in the water, no elevators, no subway, no products in packaging, no air-conditioning, no television . . .

What would it be like to try to live a no-impact lifestyle? Is it possible? Could it catch on? Is living this way more satisfying or less satisfying? Harder or easier? Is it worthwhile or senseless? Are we all doomed or can our culture reduce the barriers to sustainable living so it becomes as easy as falling off a log? These are the questions at the heart of this whole mad endeavor, via which Colin Beavan hopes to explain to the rest of us how we can realistically live a more "eco-effective" and by turns more content life in an age of inconvenient truths.

About Colin Beavan

Colin Beavan is the author of No Impact Man as well as two previous books that have absolutely nothing to do with the environment: Fingerprints: The Murder Case That Launched Forensic Science and Operation Jedburgh: D-Day and America’s First Shadow War. His writing has appeared in Esquire, The Atlantic, and the New York Times. He lives in New York City.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Trena on November 16, 2009

I expected to kind of hate Colin Beavan, but actually the book really sucked me in. He recognizes that one of his main challenges as a person is a tendency toward self-righteousness, and this consciousness helps him temper the tendency when it crops up. He comes across as earnest and likeable, just......more

Goodreads review by Christopher on August 21, 2012

If you stop to read about the environment or even just to think about the way we use the world, the thought that we're totally screwed is unavoidable. In our lust for power and comfort, we have created an unsustainable system of consuming. I don't even need data support this* - if you burn and destr......more

Goodreads review by Charlene on April 19, 2019

An entertaining look at one family's attempt to live for a year without having an impact on the environment in NYC -- transportation by foot, bike or skateboard only, no packaging, no paper plates, trying to eat local, very limited electricity available by solar power, etc. The changes to lifestyle,......more

Goodreads review by Rachel on February 15, 2011

So really two things are happening here - the Project and the Book. I give the Project an A. Learning to live without so many of our modern conveniences - most of which depend on waste or environmental devastation of some sort - is fascinating. Can we live comfortable lives without harming the earth......more

Goodreads review by Stringy on January 25, 2010

Less a how-to or an examination of environmental science, this is more of a why-to, an exploration of what's in it for you. Beavan's one-year stunt isn't about an earnest hippy going that extra mile, it's about your average concerned citizen realising that he's got to walk the walk as well as talk t......more