No Impact Project

Up for a challenge in 2010? How about the No Impact challenge? Starting Sunday, January 10, the Feu Vert/Go Green Hudson gals are doing a one-week carbon cleanse and we’re hoping you’ll join us.

The challenge is based on the experiment by New Yorker Colin Beavan, a.k.a. No Impact Man, who decided to try living one year with less impact on the environment. Beavan, his wife, child, and dog lived for a year without producing trash or carbon emissions, without using electricity and only buying locally-produced food.

On January 27, we’ll be screening the film about their experiment at the Hudson Community Centre for free, but meanwhile we thought we’d try the mini-experiment ourselves and see what comes of it. Beavan’s website claims that the cleanse isn’t about suffering and deprivation (you can be sure that we won’t be turning off the heat in our Hudson homes mid-January), but about finding out whether all our so-called modern conveniences are really making us happier.

We’ll be signing up for the challenge on Beavan’s No Impact Project website and writing about our experiences here. If you’re doing the challenge too, please feel free to post your own comments about it.