You might have heard about “no impact man” Colin Beavan, or even read his book  "No Impact Man" or seen the documentary, both two inspiring testimonies of how this New York-based Guilty Liberal, his wife and their baby daughter lived for a whole entire year without electricity, buying only locally grown, seasonal food (and composting the scraps), doing without toilet paper and much more. The results were very positive for Colin, as he not only reduced his impact on the environment, but also lost weight, gained more energy and simply felt happier. Want to try it too?

 

The No Impact Week Guide will provide you with ideas, suggestions and links to help you in your efforts; once you have signed up, you will also be asked to take a daily survey and report on your experience.  Here is a summary of the day-by-day scheduled no-impact challenges:

 

Day 1 - Sunday: Consumption

This first day is to make you realize how much stuff you consume, 99 percent of which will be trashed within six months.  Sunday is about doing more with less. It’s about NOT shopping, and spending more time with your friends, as well as extending the lifespan of stuff. The Guide will provide you with numerous links about hand-me-downs and do-it-yourself ideas. To get you ready for Monday’s challenge, you will need to place all your trash, recyclables and food waste in an empty, reusable bag.

 

Day 2 - Monday: Trash

Digging stuff out of your Sunday bag, you’ll need to make two piles: one for the stuff you used for more than ten minutes, and one for the stuff you  used for less than ten minutes. On Monday, you will realize how much trash you generate, and that will lead you to stop making trash, in various areas such as cleaning, eating, working or celebrating.

 

Day 3 - Tuesday: Transportation

This third day is about changing your mode of transportation so as to have the least impact possible (all the while buying nothing new and making no trash). That will require finding alternative ways and routes to your various destinations of the day, such as bus riding, carpooling, bicycle riding or simply sports shoes. Also, you will need to make a food list of where and what you eat, to prepare you for the following day.

 

Day 4 - Wednesday: Food

Using your food list, you will calculate your “foodprint”, examining how much distance your food traveled to get to you, and replace some food items with other, locally grown and less packaged ones.

 

Day 5 - Thursday: Energy

On this fifth day of the experiment, still cutting down on your consumption, making less trash, using low-energy transportation, and eating better, you will also reduce your energy consumption, in other words, do without electricity, gas, oil and batteries whenever possible. Also, plan ahead for the weekend and look for a volunteer opportunity.

 

Day 6 - Friday: Water

After assessing your water habits, whether at home, at school or at work, you will start running the water more gently, turning off the faucet when not in actual use, soaking the dishes, taking shorter and colder showers and so on.

 

Day 7 - Saturday: Giving Back

Giving back will help you slow down and appreciate what you have. On this day, you will be asked to make a list of all the charities you’d like to help out, and how you can do so, at your own level.

 

Day 8 - Sunday: Eco-Sabbath

This awareness day will be for you, and/or your friends and family, without televisions, computers, cell phones, appliances and other electronics. This day will be for reflection.

JustLiveGreener.com has joined the challenge, and you should too. It’s very simple:  just sign up (to get hooked up to a community, take a survey about your life style habits and more), get ready and share your experiences!

To view the No Impact Week Guide and find out more about each day, click here.