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has design on the mind
Michelle Conlin and her husband Colin Beavan (aka No Impact Man) spent a year living "off the grid" in New York City - making as little environmental impact as possible. For Michelle - described as Colin's "espresso-guzzling, retail-worshipping wife" who went along with idea, begrudgingly - that meant no elevators, no television, no cars, busses, or airplanes, no toxic cleaning products, no electricity, no material consumption, and no garbage. Let's all talk about: - What decisions or sacrifices have you made to support your family's larger dreams/goals? - How did you feel about the decisions then and now? - Sharing our tips, tricks and ideas for minimizing our impact on the planet - and how these are working out for us and our families. ___________________________ Be sure to tune in to watch the film, No Impact Man, as it makes its world TV premiere on Planet Green on 8/28 at 10 pm ET!
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Michelle Conlin and her "No Impact" Year
Aug 25, 2010 Wednesday, 12:00pm EST - Add as Favorites
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FEATURED GUESTS:
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- Michelle Conlin 29 comments
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I'm curious what all of you do to live more sustainably....I'd love to learn from all of you what you are doing to realize your family's larger goals......for example, one of the things we do is no-impact vacations where we take the train and our bikes to a local spot instead of going far, far away.......
about 1 year ago
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- Diane Mac 23 comments
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I'd love to hear about what one thing people are thinking of doing that they haven't done yet. I'd been thinking about "packaging" my own organic food (freezing, canning), but am reconsidering, given my experience over the weekend.
about 1 year ago
Lisa Sharp
Is it TMI to say I'm using a LunaPad right now? :)
about 1 year ago
suzanne siemens
Hi Michelle, thanks for mentioning the DivaCup! We love it too. It was us (@lunapads) at lunapads.com that sent it to you (via Colin). We love telling women the many ways you can reuse personal care products like cloth menstrual pads, period panties, cloth wipes for toilet paper, or a simply peri bottle for rinsing your perinium! cheers from @luna_gal and @luna_diva
about 1 year ago
Sara Sophia
@Brandie Thats the same for us. We want to go solar SO SO SO BADLY (and my husband wants to build a windmill quite rabidly) but its just not in our $$ range right now :(
about 1 year ago
Brandie
WE keep looking into adding some solar power/wind power to our house. It's just out of our reach right now. So sad, because I'd do it in a heartbeat if the money were there!
about 1 year ago
Emily
Michelle, I'm going to research this one! Hard to even imagine. :)
about 1 year ago
Gina Rau
I love the idea of a mega purge. I've been wanting to do this for a while (fave blog is Zen Habits) but haven't had the time - I do mini purges instead throughout the year. Ultimately, we want to downsize to a smaller house once we can sell ours without a loss.
about 1 year ago
Michelle Conlin
One of my favorite tips: The Diva Cup. This is an alternative to tampons, pads, etc. It is so far superior, to me, that it blew my mind when I first tried it. At first I was completely grossed out and skeptical. Someone sent me one when they heard about No Impact. However, once I tried it I never went back.
about 1 year ago
Emily
Cindy, what a wonderful idea!!! Not only would you have help planting a fantastic variety of plants, but you'd get to know your neighbors in a whole new way!!!!
about 1 year ago
Lisa Sharp
I have never canned but I do a lot of freezing of things we buy in bulk and such. We only shop once a month so I have a very stocked freezer. I make our own freezer meals and also make them for my in-laws.
about 1 year ago
Michelle Conlin
One thing I have been fantasizing about is doing yet another massive, mega purge....I do purges of our nanoplex--our 750-square-foot apartment--regularly. But this one would be the Mother of All Purges. I want to see how little stuff we can actually live with. I also love the idea of a clean, spartan space. Zen meets Eco meets Eames sort of thing.
about 1 year ago
Tracy Mayor
Our community just started curbside composting. It's amazing -- you can put *way* more stuff in than you can in your own little compost (like meat, eggshells, cat litter, all kinds of stuff.) And it's great for families like mine, who composted half-heartedly before only because we don't have enough need for all the compost we were creating. Between full-on composting and plastics recycling, our trash is down to 1/4 of a barrel or less every week.
about 1 year ago
Cindy
I have a great space for gardening and i have been thinking about community gardening in my yard with some neighbors, share the expense, labor and bounty.
about 1 year ago
Diane Mac
Beth, it would be interesting to do a comparison like you suggest. Ah, if we only had life cycle analysis to help with those kinds of calculations...
about 1 year ago
huntstevens
Yes! Just by taking off shoes, you can reduce the toxins on your floor by over 80%. And if you get your floor tested, you will learn about all sorts of nasty stuff on it including lead, chemicals. Our kids love playing on it and I want to keep it that way--just keep the toxins lower.
about 1 year ago
urbanmama
We're hoping to go down to one car and have my husband bike/Metro to work. It could mess up our weekends, since we have three busy kids, but we think we can make it work.
about 1 year ago
Erin O
Cool way to get kids excited about vegetables instead of complaining about how gross they are!
about 1 year ago
Frugal Mama
Susan -- you mean no shoes in the house? Is that to prevent outdoor toxins from entering the home?
about 1 year ago
Emily
My kids LOVE our veggie garden and surprised me by doing most of the planting and weeding this summer (and eating as they walked by)! I'm getting ready to start composting. And thanks to the conversation today, will shift to solid soaps and shampoos. Such a cool idea!
about 1 year ago
Erin O
Growing herbs is a great investment! They're so expensive at the grocery store - $3.99 in my area for a small (plastic) package of cilantro, rosemary, basil, etc.
about 1 year ago
huntstevens
2010 was the year of the garden, a csa and public transportation. 2011 is looking like rain barrels and I'm really considering how to enforce (and follow) a no shoe rule...
about 1 year ago
BethTerry
Diane, I sometimes actually wonder if eating in restaurants (sustainable ones) doesn't have less impact than eating at home when you consider the packaging waste that most people create by buying single sizes or single family portions of food to cook at home.
about 1 year ago
Diane Mac
Boy, I wish I had enough sun for a garden...
about 1 year ago
Gayle
I grew vegetables and herbs this year for the first time. Very rewarding. (We had to take down a dead tree and now have a lot more sun).
about 1 year ago
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Frugal Mama
UrbanMama: Yes, you are right. You pay a big price for walkable communities. I guess others see the value in them too. Hopefully developers will get the idea -- although the planned communities these days are not that appealing. I also struggle with the cost of organic and local food. With our next place, I'm going to try to value the community over the amenities in the house, since you can't have it all!
about 1 year agoFamily_Manager
I limit my travel to two days a week; Tuesdays are my errand day, and then we travel on Saturdays to do family things. Our family of five travels in a little Yaris, so at least our gas usage is minimal.
about 1 year agoLisa Sharp
I try and buy locally, and for me this includes buying from locally owned stores. Once a month my husband and I go to a near by town (ours is tiny and you pretty much can shop at wal-mart and that's it) and go to two locally owned natural food stores. I know many of the people that raise our food. I get eggs from my mom (very nice right now with recalls). Also being an activist is a big deal for me. I'm on the board for my local recycling coalition, go to Green Drinks, about to join a group trying to save our aquifer. I recycle, compost, I don't have a car or drive (my husband does though), I use natural products in our home, and pretty much I'm always trying to reduce my impact and also help others to be greener.
about 1 year agoSara Sophia
Ahem. :P Sorry to be so long-winded!
about 1 year agoSara Sophia
@Brandie, we homeschool too! I do find that it saves us a ton on waste and we are able to be a lot more thoughtful that way---although it isn't an option for everyone. @Beth Terry....EXACTLY. That is completely my mantra. I have a little soapbox about all the crap the world feels like it needs to own. I'd rather my children have less (1-2 gifts for the holidays) and appreciate and WANT it, rather than shower them with belongings they just don't need. If all American parents could visit a 3rd world country and see what is considered precious to children there, they would really take a second look at societies norms and whether or not they are "okay" with all that excess.
about 1 year agoChrysula
We chose a location near the train station, we refuse to own more than one car. I only shop once every 7-10 days. I buy bulk, store food and carefully rotate. I am obsessed about water useage, coming from drought country all my life growing up in Australia. Next year we're finally planting a garden. I am excited and dreading it, as I've lived a high density urban life for the last 20 years. I hate gardening. But I see the power of a garden, not just for our own produce but for what I can teach my children about work, the life cycle and how planting small seeds lead to tangible and life sustaining results.
about 1 year agoMaureen O
We re-use as much "garbage" as possible; try to do as many errands a day by walking instead of driving; and consume less in general.
about 1 year agohuntstevens
One of the things that inspired me to call my blog and now our company Practically Green is the fact that my parents are in Washington State, my in laws are in Florida and they were not going to buy the "I can't come to see you because it isn't green" argument. So we decided if we could dramatically change in other ways, then flying for really important stuff was OK. And I loved Brighter Planets advise to take non-stops, avoid night flights, and choose a Top Ten Green Airline (Jet Blue was #1 for awhile)
about 1 year agoBrandie
Oh, we compost and recycle too! Also we do lost of garage sale and resale shopping.
about 1 year agoFrugal Mama
Beth: Yes, I totally love how walking forces you to slow down and "smell the flowers." Susan: I love how you shift the focus to things you love and how you can get more of them: fresh air, good food, educational programs, socializing. That's probably a great way to avoid the "green ghetto" and avoiding turning people off when they hear "save the earth."
about 1 year agoBrandie
Oh, and I homeschool - so my kids don't have to worry about packing a lunch/bringing home so many worksheets. We don't do worksheets in our homeschooling at all. (and yes, it does work) and just think of all the trees my kids are saving!!! Because I see the piles of papers the other kids bring home! We also don't buy special text books - we often check out books from the library and I buy used whenever possible! Little things I know, but I believe it helps!
about 1 year agoDiane Mac
We've had the "one trash can" rule in our family for years. With all the recycling, composting, and giving-away we do, it's been pretty easy to stick to it.
about 1 year agourbanmama
The sad thing is that usually the most pedestrian friendly places to live are the most expensive, so it's difficult to be green transportation-wise when you don't have the budget to live in a place like Seattle/DC/NYC/San Francisco, etc. Same goes with buying locally. It's a lot more costly than buying stuff from the local Safeway. We try to support local farmers via a CSA or direct-from-the-farm meat delivery. I'm not a great cook, so I'm trying to get excited about cooking more and eating out less (my husband is the cook, but he works late). We compost, use all reusable supplies for our kids' lunches, and give things to friends/neighbors instead of throwing stuff away.
about 1 year agoGreenMyParents
Yesterday, we had a long creative meeting with @Ideo and over a dozen youth joined via iChat and Skype for well over an hour with about 8 or more designers and experts! ... we think the executives and designers saw how effectively a lively group video conference/chat can work ... even for brainstorming new product ideas, features etc... it was so low tech, very low impact, and worked brilliantly! New rules, but the meeting was a huge success and magic!
about 1 year agorobin
I have switched to nearly all environmentally friendly cleaning supplies (this is easy when you don't clean too much - ha!) and I am really cutting down on the loads of laundry I do. I don't run "super" loads anymore and I choose shorter cycles and hang whatever I can to dry. We wear things more than just once, too!
about 1 year agorockinmama
We buy local/organic, recycle, reuse as much as we can, freecycle and donate (rather than throwing things away), and have been working hard to cut our eating out. We buy sustainable fish and much have pretty much cut all dairy, beef, pork out of our diet. Working towards composting and our next car will be a hybrid (although we're considering whether we can live with only one car).
about 1 year agoMichelle Conlin
I hear everyone on the flying. I am writing all of you from an island in Minnesota. Paradise. But we had to fly to get here and then take a boat to the island. I'm trying to visit my family in Minnesota once, for a longer time period, rather than the short to-and-fro trips I used to do.
about 1 year agoBrandie
We do a little bit of everything but nothing too much! Which mostly feels too easy - we bring our own bags, walk when we can, shop locally if possible, keep the air set high, keep the heat set low, we train it when possible. We just got back from a trip - not hubs dropped us off at our local train station b/c of luggage, but we took local Metra train into Chicago, where we took Amtrak to Boston. Awesome trip (we must like it, it's our third time!) The train ended there though so we did have to rent a car to get to NH and Maine. Although someone told me train isn't as eco-friendly as it's claimed ... anyone know about that? Anyway, we have our own garden, we don't use paper towels, I stay plastic free on the easy things, etc, etc.
about 1 year agoGina Rau
A big thing for us is reducing waste. Our kids take a hot lunch to school each day with no waste - they take cloth napkins & our utensils too. We're mindful about what we buy and make use of as much "trash" as we possibly can. Our neighbors often use our trash can when theirs overflows because we have one small bag each week compared to their many.
about 1 year agoRenee Limon
Our thing is putting out only one can of trash per month. It keeps everything in check for us. What's funny is you start with one thing, and then it leads to another. We're also one car, sometimes veg, shopping local, etc.
about 1 year agohuntstevens
We try and think about it wholistically, asking how we can change our time and money allocations--away from unsustainable products, unhealthy food, unhealthy activities, and boring things like electricity and gas bills--and towards the things we love: delicious and healthy food, fresh air, a night out on the town, an after school program.
about 1 year agoBethTerry
Frugal Mama, don't you find that you notice a lot more things in your neighborhood by foot than by car? Sara Sophia, it's so true that there is a balance. I think it's worth it to have a few really nice, sustainable things than a ton of crap.
about 1 year agoFrugal Mama
I forgot to mention one of the dilemmas involved in small town business districts: if you are frugal, it's hard to spend your money in small shops who charge higher prices. But if we want those cute little shops to survive, we have to support them.
about 1 year agoDiane Mac
The biggest challenge for me is limiting travel. I love traveling the world - It can be low-impact when I get to where I'm going, but usually, I need to fly. And the offsets just don't make much of a difference.
about 1 year agoBethTerry
I've unfortunately flown more this year than ever before and have two more trips planned via plane before the year is out. All of them are for worthwhile reasons, but still... it's hard to reconcile.
about 1 year agoFrugal Mama
We have moved a lot (one of the sacrifices we make for my husband's career) and we try to choose walkable places to live. It's a win-win: use the car less, and enjoy old-fashioned foot traffic interaction with people and places. Problem is, it's harder and harder to find places like this.
about 1 year agoSara Sophia
I upcycle clothing for my children...had an Etsy shop for awhile until it became just too much to keep up with....and we literally make EVERYTHING we can ourselves. Its fun, educational and totally doesn't feel like work. We also try to purchase completely green----if we reduce our actual AMOUNT of product/service we feel we need....then the cost is offset naturally. We have greened up our holidays as well by reducing the amount of gifts we give, giving handmade, and avoiding commercialism like the plague :D
about 1 year agoBethTerry
For me, it's mostly no plastic. That's the mission of Fake Plastic Fish. But then, we also don't own a car at all. I live in Oakland, which is walkable, bikeable, and has great public transit. We shop at farmers market. We don't eat processed food. And recently, I went vegetarian, although I'm not at the vegan stage yet.
about 1 year agoDiane Mac
Focusing locally is big for me - the artwork in my house (such as it is) was all created by local artists. I buy my food locally; the folks I contract with for services for my business are local. And then, of course, buying less and buying recycled.
about 1 year ago