No Impact Man: A Journey of Self Discovery
Summary
The brainchild of history writer Colin Beavan, No Impact Man is a life experiment, an online blog, and personal narrative. The story opens with a worried and frustrated Colin who preaches liberal environmental politics to those who impetuously wreck our environment without recognizing he as well is complacent about his own behaviors. Instead, he is on the spectrum of liberals who feel superior with their intellectual resources and acknowledges his “mistake of thinking that condemning other people’s misdeeds somehow made [him] more virtuous” and thereby not as guilty as great as those evil environmental deniers he condemns (Beavan 2011, 6). Therefore, if he truly wants to fight for his passion …show more content…
I think “stuff” and our capitalist society’s push for consumerism negatively impacts the quality of my life when I realized how much “stuff” I have accumulated throughout the years with little value to me. There is so much that I treat with such little divine value that it loses its materiality and importance to myself. As Beaven noted, there is little worth when all of the riches and pleasures we experienced are taken away (Beavan 2011, page 214). Owning all of this “stuff” to my name, or getting rid of it, would neither fill the empty space--yet, remembering the meaning of my “stuff” will gain much more …show more content…
As he mentions there are groups who only use what they need of the land, like the Menominee, and practice self restraint when using natural resources. Sustainability is attainable, but privileged and multifaceted like our culture and power structures that make up humanity.
Did this project actually make a difference?
Although he is “No Impact Man,” I believe that that Beavan’s project has made an impact and a remarkable difference on me and the thousands of people who contacted him after. At the start of the journey he is in a state of despair with his self-imposed helplessness” of how small he is compared to the larger problem at hand (Beavan 2011, 9). However, this noticeably transforms when he decides to accomplish his goals by empowering his individual self to reduce his waste impact on the environment and becomes someone who tries. In the epilogue, Colin reiterates:
“We can all make a difference. We all have the responsibility to make a difference. You might think the responsibility part is oppressive, but I began this experiment, in part, as an expression of my victimhood and powerlessness. To understand that I can make a difference is so freeing” (Beavan 2011,
Summary
The brainchild of history writer Colin Beavan, No Impact Man is a life experiment, an online blog, and personal narrative. The story opens with a worried and frustrated Colin who preaches liberal environmental politics to those who impetuously wreck our environment without recognizing he as well is complacent about his own behaviors. Instead, he is on the spectrum of liberals who feel superior with their intellectual resources and acknowledges his “mistake of thinking that condemning other people’s misdeeds somehow made [him] more virtuous” and thereby not as guilty as great as those evil environmental deniers he condemns (Beavan 2011, 6). Therefore, if he truly wants to fight for his passion …show more content…
I think “stuff” and our capitalist society’s push for consumerism negatively impacts the quality of my life when I realized how much “stuff” I have accumulated throughout the years with little value to me. There is so much that I treat with such little divine value that it loses its materiality and importance to myself. As Beaven noted, there is little worth when all of the riches and pleasures we experienced are taken away (Beavan 2011, page 214). Owning all of this “stuff” to my name, or getting rid of it, would neither fill the empty space--yet, remembering the meaning of my “stuff” will gain much more …show more content…
As he mentions there are groups who only use what they need of the land, like the Menominee, and practice self restraint when using natural resources. Sustainability is attainable, but privileged and multifaceted like our culture and power structures that make up humanity.
Did this project actually make a difference?
Although he is “No Impact Man,” I believe that that Beavan’s project has made an impact and a remarkable difference on me and the thousands of people who contacted him after. At the start of the journey he is in a state of despair with his self-imposed helplessness” of how small he is compared to the larger problem at hand (Beavan 2011, 9). However, this noticeably transforms when he decides to accomplish his goals by empowering his individual self to reduce his waste impact on the environment and becomes someone who tries. In the epilogue, Colin reiterates:
“We can all make a difference. We all have the responsibility to make a difference. You might think the responsibility part is oppressive, but I began this experiment, in part, as an expression of my victimhood and powerlessness. To understand that I can make a difference is so freeing” (Beavan 2011,