Happy Earth Day!

I have to admit it, I'm a little bit of a tree hugger. I recycle, drive a low emission vehicle, and am kind of crazy when it comes to trying to conserve energy in my apartment. However, I recently watched a documentary that left me feeling like I should and could be doing more to reduce my impact on the environment. The documentary was, No Impact Man. It was based on the idea that Colin Beaven wanted to try with his family, which was living for a year with making absolutely no impact on the environment. He also wrote a book about this idea as well. In order to not impact the environment, Colin and his family went without electricity, rode bicycles rather than driving, and purchased no new items with the exception of food. They also purchased all of their food from farmer's markets and lived a vegetarian lifestyle. This could sound like it may be a preachy story, but I didn't take it as such. They showed that living this way wasn't easy. They were frustrated to live without a refrigerator, especially with a young daughter. There were moments when they cheated, such as when Colin's wife struggled to go without coffee. (I honestly don't know how she did it!) The documentary did show that these changes helped bring their family closer, by not watching TV and biking places together. It also showed how it affected their physical health. Before this experiment, Colin's wife was pre-diabetic, which resolved with her healthy new lifestyle. While this documentary was extremely interesting, it really made me think about the changes I could make in my life to help reduce my carbon footprint. I don't always need to take the elevator, especially with my office being on the second floor. I could conserve energy with a walk up the stairs, which would also be better for my waistline. I also could make a better effort to remember bringing my reusable grocery bags to the store, which always lay forgotten next to my refrigerator. I would also like to volunteer with beach clean ups to help preserve Lake Michigan, which I love so much! If you're a fan of documentaries, I definitely recommend, No Impact Man. Hopefully you can find as much inspiration from it as I did. You can also learn more about Colin from his blog:http://noimpactman.typepad.com/blog/what-its-all-about.html