by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

In 2008, No Impact Man became the self-professed, “lower impact man”. After admirably, and in my book, heroically, spending a year striving - without exception - to make no negative environmental impact on the planet (forget recycling - this guy created zero waste, washed his clothes by hand and ate healthily without resorting to refrigeration.) His return to a middle path of environmentalism this year is indeed still much lower impact than most of the population. He has and still will inspire many people. He is still a hero.

Today, as I read through his updated list of his new and forever eco-habits, I was relieved and impressed. Although he is returning to refrigeration (still no freezer), a clothes washing machine and electricity for lighting at night, the remainder of changes are staying put. As he has continually expressed, they have detracted little from - and even added to - his happiness quotient.

As I kept reading, it hit me - I’ve been “low impact girl” all along and didn’t even know it! Although I never matched the No Impact Man lifestyle this past year, I realized that I have been doing almost every thing on his current list for years. I’m still far from perfect. I do have a freezer, but I saved up for the most efficient model available and, since I live in NC, I use my a/c when August hits. Since I don’t live with convenient mass transit, I have a hybrid car, but, like NIM, love my bike more. Hey, I even wear Blackspot shoes!

More importantly, all of this has become simple and easy. I don’t feel like a “freak” - even when I take out my own cloth napkin at a restaurant. In fact, all these things now feel completely “NORMAL” to me - I’m not suffering or feeling deprived. In fact, NOT doing the things on this list seems rather freakish to me, considering the stakes.

Am I a hero? Hmm, I don’t think so. Unless you want to go with the definition sited in an English proverb: “A hero is one who is afraid to run away.”

Then you have me pegged.

Tags: activism, culture, people

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 at 4:15 pm and is filed under Green Misc.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.