No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process

Beavan, Colin

ISBN 10: 0374222886 / ISBN 13: 9780374222888

Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009

About this Item

Shows moderate signs of wear and previous use. Can include notes highlighting. A portion of your purchase benefits nonprofits! - Note: Edition & format may differ from what is shown in stock photo & item details. May not include supplementary material such as toys, access code, dvds, etc.

Seller Inventory # 584UZG0003BB_ns

Bibliographic Details

• Title: No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0374222886
• ISBN 13: 9780374222888
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: good

About this title

Synopsis

A guilty liberal finally snaps, swears off plastic, goes organic, becomes a bicycle nut, turns off his power, and generally becomes a tree-hugging lunatic who tries to save the polar bears and the rest of the planet from environmental catastrophe while dragging his baby daughter and Prada-wearing, Four Seasons–loving wife along for the ride. And that's just the beginning. Bill McKibben meets Bill Bryson in this seriously engaging look at one man's decision to put his money where his mouth is and go off the grid for one year―while still living in New York City―to see if it's possible to make no net impact on the environment. In other words, no trash, no toxins in the water, no elevators, no subway, no products in packaging, no air-conditioning, no television . . .

What would it be like to try to live a no-impact lifestyle? Is it possible? Could it catch on? Is living this way more satisfying or less satisfying? Harder or easier? Is it worthwhile or senseless? Are we all doomed or can our culture reduce the barriers to sustainable living so it becomes as easy as falling off a log? These are the questions at the heart of this whole mad endeavor, via which Colin Beavan hopes to explain to the rest of us how we can realistically live a more "eco-effective" and by turns more content life in an age of inconvenient truths.

About the Author

Colin Beavan is the author of No Impact Man as well as two previous books that have absolutely nothing to do with the environment: Fingerprints: The Murder Case That Launched Forensic Science and Operation Jedburgh: D-Day and America’s First Shadow War. His writing has appeared in Esquire, The Atlantic, and the New York Times, and he posts regularly at No Impact Man. He lives in New York City.