Can I really have no impact on the environment?

[Cynthia Smith]

This entry was posted by Cynthia on Saturday, 10 October, 2009 at www.journeytogreen.org

Yesterday (Friday, October 9, 2009), I watched (via hulu.com) Colin Beavan on the Stephen Colbert show which originally aired Thursday, October 8, 2009. He talked about how he made no impact on the environment for a year in New York City. From my vantage point, it was extremely painful for me to watch because my theory and reality of going green were not meshing. I want to be green, really, I do. Yet, I want convenience out the yin-yang.

As I continued to watch, Colin said that about 1500 people are going to do the no impact project for a week. Immediately, I thought I should do this and just as quickly dismissed notion. So, I compromised with myself and decided to sleep on it. This morning I went to the website and decided to sign-up for the No Impact Project. Registering for it was a bit confusing because I was routed to Huffington Post’s website. I discovered that Huffington Post will host the No Impact Week and the projoect will begin on October 18, 2009. I received an email that stated information about the project is forthcoming (Please hurry before I lose the courage to participate.)

One part of me is nervous as hell about making this commitment but another part of me loves the challenge. I have no doubt that it will be challenging. The biggest challenge will be getting to work because I live 22 miles from work. I try to take public transportation a couple days a week but it is more like a couple of days every couple of weeks. It really is convenient to drive.

This will be interesting and I am sure I will talk myself into and out of the No Impact Week Project a hundred times before October 18. However, I encourage you to take a look and participate as well. The find out more go to www.noimpactproject.org and let me know if you will participate.

Finally, for the record, I will not be giving up toilet paper during No Impact Week.