No Impact Man On DVD

In November 2006, author Colin Beavan, his wife, Michelle Conlin and their two year-old daughter, Isabella began the No Impact Man project. The goal: to make as little environmental impact as possible while living on lower 5th Avenue in Manhattan.

Before the project began, Colin and his family were SUV driving, fast food eating New Yorkers who would assuage their guilt with some good old American retail therapy. But Colin grew weary of his political convictions not lining up with his personal habits. So, in order to “walk the talk,” he decided for his next book to embrace a carbon-free, environmental friendly lifestyle and call himself “No Impact Man.” For starters, that would mean no trash, no electricity, no cars, no TV, and no buying anything new for an entire year.

The documentary feature film, NO IMPACT MAN – a film by Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein, presents an intimate emotional portrait of a couple struggling through a severe and protracted change in their way of life. Over the course of one year, the filmmakers documented what happens to a Colin and Michelle’s emotional life as they alter their entire lifestyle. How do they cope with the constant stress and intermittent crises of such a rigorous way of living? Or, perhaps, when life is pared down, do some things become unexpectedly better and even easier?

When the political and the personal collide there is a spark. As documentary filmmakers, we scan the horizon for such a spark. It brings to light stories beyond the headlines. It gives life to the issues that affect us all. News of global warming, icecaps melting and CO2 emissions form a cacophony that surrounds us. We are very aware of its existence, but often feel paralyzed by how we can make a difference. The No Impact experiment was a flash of light that illuminated the intersection of these issues and our lives. The “high concept” nature of the project made it, at first glance, accessible and digestible. Colin Beavan and his family set out to “live deliberately” for a year in order to understand their dependence on a system of consumption and waste in which we all participate. At first the project brought to mind the smaller questions that we struggle with every day when thinking about the environment— paper or plastic, local or organic, to flush or not to flush. Finally, we thought, we could have some answers. But by the end of the first day of shooting it was clear that this was not simply a film about environmental choices; it would be a film about relationships. In stark contrast to one another, Colin is an avid meditator, while Michelle is an avid shopper – these differences provide for humor, patience, love and drama. Together, with their two-year-old daughter Isabella, they were thrust into the public eye by a deluge of unexpected publicity. It struck us that most of the recently released environmental films have been informational in their focus and interview-based in their style. While a film like AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH is incredibly powerful as a call to arms and as an educational tool about the facts of global climate change – it did little to impart to audience ways that we can make a difference as individuals. NO IMPACT MAN could possibly offer some solutions.
From a directorial and editorial standpoint, NO IMPACT MAN is character-driven. Stylistically, our goal was for the film to feel like a dramatic feature in which the audience is drawn into a narrative; invested in what happens to the characters; and challenged to look at his or her own life in relation to the issues raised by the film. This is achieved several ways. We avoid talking-head interviews with our subjects or with environmental experts. The film does not have an omniscient point-of-view or include any formal narration. Instead, our hope is that the verite footage of the ups and downs of Michelle and Colin’s lives drive the story forward. Colin and Michelle’s voice-over connects observational scenes and draws the audience in. Michelle and Colin are not trained environmentalists. They are coping with managing their work and family while making radical changes in their day-to-day lives. We, as audience, will be learning, concomitant with Colin and Michelle, how to eat locally, how to create almost no garbage, how to compost and how to reduce our carbon emissions. These lessons are learned in everyday ways – we bump into hardship, fear, conflict and epiphany. This allows NO IMPACT MAN to be equal parts drama and comedy. We see Colin shift and change; by the end of the year, he embraces political action without forgoing his individual action mantra. Michelle’s change is more emotional; she is us, the audience, and has more to learn. The experiment for her is initially about a “lifestyle redesign” but becomes something far more profound.
As much as this is an environmental documentary, it is also a study of two people struggling to make a marriage work. Michelle has agreed to the No Impact project in order to help Colin fulfill his dreams. But she does so without fully comprehending the high impact it will have on their relationship.
The structure of the film loosely follows the year-long experiment in chronological order. Our editing style, however, will be more lyrical, creating a counterpoint to the rigidity of the chronological structure. We hope that this more fluid editorial style will best allow viewers to make thematic connections and associations, as well as to focus on how our characters gradually evolve over the course of the No Impact Year. Ultimately, NO IMPACT MAN is a meta-narrative about our consumer society. It is also a love story and a portrait of a contemporary marriage. LAURA GABBERT and JUSTIN SCHEIN, 1/09