Product Details

• Actors: Colin Beavan, Michelle Conlin
• Directors: Laura Gabbert & Justin Schein
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Oscilloscope Laboratories
• DVD Release Date: January 19, 2010
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002RX8G5E
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #73,762 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "No Impact Man" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

About the Actor

As the news stories go: "Colin Beavan is a liberal schlub who got tired of listening to himself complain about the world without ever actually doing anything about it" Thus, in November, 2006, Beavan launched a year-long project in which he, his wife, his two-year-old daughter and his four-year-old dog went off the grid and attempted to live in the middle of New York City with as little environmental impact as possible. The No Impact project has been the subject of stories in the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, and many other national and international news outlets. Beavan has appeared on The Colbert Report, Good Morning America, Nightline, The Montel Show, and all the major NPR shows. He speaks regularly to a wide variety of audiences, is frequently quoted in the press and consults to business on the intersection of sustainability and human quality of life.

Product Description

'Like Gilligan's Island, only completely implausible.' That's how comedian Stephen Colbert summed up the family saga of Colin Beavan aka No Impact Man.Beavan, a New York City writer and self-proclaimed liberal, has big plans for his new book. He decides on a grand experiment to live one year with as little impact on the environment as possible. The problem is, the project requires his wife Michelle an espresso guzzling, Prada-worshipping business writer and their young daughter to be fully on board. As the family embarks on a year of no electricity, television, cars, toilet paper, elevators, or newspapers, Michelle must contend with caffeine withdrawal, compost worms, limited retail, and defending her own dreams, all in the name of supporting her husband's book project. What ensues is a not only a funny and entertaining look at well-intentioned environmentalism, but a touching, poignant take on the nature of contemporary marriage and what it means to pursue your dreams, even if it means driving those around you a little insane.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars nobody's perfect--but the February 14, 2010

By lenny williams

Format:DVD

great little documentary, if you can learn to tolerate beavan early on. it's been said before, he's a lame-o, but it bears repeating. it's unfortunate the filmmakers were saddled with such a huge obstacle (beavan) as this man totally impacts the film like "the annoying guy your best friend is dating". you just have to suffer thru him.

it pays off though! schein manages to salvage the film with interesting, intimate shots. you walk away realizing "nobody's perfect", that we are all struggling with ourselves, our ideals, our way of living.

the film gets blasted for not being THE eco-primer on sustainable living. well, it ain't. and the truth is, it's a better film for it.
you wanna learn how to recycle, be green? there's tons of info out there, find it.

seeing a man, his family struggle with their conscious, that's a way more interesting story.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great film December 2, 2009

By Beth F.

Format:DVD

Very well done film and very eye-opening. I saw the premier in NYC and found it illuminating and inspiring even as someone who already lives "green." It showed not only what the family experienced in terms of reducing their impact but also how it affected their marriage and social life which was interesting and added depth to the story. My only negative was actually that it should have been called "No Impact Family" because his wife and daughter participated too and should be given credit as such.

37 of 48 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Hypocrisy Now July 1, 2010

By Earl R. Brown

Format:DVD

Upon viewing this film, a few things struck me the wrong way about this man. In no particular order, he:

1)Doesn't seem have much respect for his wife.
2)Comes off as a self-indulgent attention whore, who then resents it when attention goes to something he did for no other reason but the attention- ie, not using toilet paper.
3)To segue off of that, he won't use toilet paper, yet his wife works for Business Week, and he takes on this endeavor in order to publish both a paperback and hardback book. Which, you guessed it, consumed significantly more trees than simply using toilet paper in the first place would have.

Also, I'm not quite sure what going vegetarian for a year has to do with eating locally or sustainably, seeing as how locally, humanely raised livestock that fit organic guidelines would've fit their diet just as much as his plan to eat only local, organically grown vegetables.

What saves it from being a one-star film is that, in his own misguided way, he did advocate some things that would legitimately help if people continued to do it, such as supporting your local farmers and producers, riding bikes if one's healthy enough to do so, and limiting our waste; unfortunately, the positives came with a good portion of BS that had to be endured to get there by a man more worried about how many people would think he was awesome than the cause itself, and it's also nothing groundbreaking.

And that little quip about farming not being hard? Charming. That's truly endearing to anyone who's actually done more than twist a garden weasel into the ground to plant parsley where someone else already did the work.

I'm a firm believer in the cause of sustainability, but this tool makes a mockery out of the experiment with haphazard rules he makes up along the way. Where the power came from to make this film in the first place, even in the "no electricity" phase, and how he always gets just enough juice to power his blog on simply completes the charade. He was so insecure that his story would be lost, he couldn't even last the 6 months without updating his blog or filming. In essence, "no impact" doesn't represent his ultimate goal, but his ultimate fear- that his stunt would be forgotten about so quickly if he didn't make himself available during his fasting of consumerism, that the end result would truly have no impact.

To me, that speaks volumes about the level of faith he actually has in the cause.