Colin Beavan is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 non-fiction writer and internet blog

Blog

A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...

ger noted for recording the attempts of his family to live a "zero impact" lifestyle in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 for one year. The rules of the experiment included producing no trash save for compost

Compost

Compost is organic matter that has been decomposed and recycled as a fertilizer and soil amendment. Compost is a key ingredient in organic farming. At its most essential, the process of composting requires simply piling up waste outdoors and waiting for the materials to break down from anywhere...

, purchasing no goods except for food grown within a 250-mile radius, using no carbon

Carbon

Carbon is the chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds...

-based transportation, and using no paper products, including toilet paper

Toilet paper

Toilet paper is a soft paper product used to maintain personal hygiene after human defecation or urination. However, it can also be used for other purposes such as blowing one's nose when one has a cold or absorbing common spills around the house, although paper towels are more used for the latter...

. He and his family are the subject of a documentary, No Impact Man: The Documentary

No Impact Man

No Impact Man is a 2009 American documentary film directed by Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein. The film, which premiered September 4, 2009, follows Colin Beavan and his family during their year-long experiment to have sustainable zero impact on the environment.-See also:* Appropriate technology*...

, directed by Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein. A book about the year-long experiment was released in September 2009.

Beavan was named one of MSN’s

MSN

MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...

 Ten Most Influential Men of 2007 and was named an Eco-Illuminator in Elle Magazine's

Elle (magazine)

Elle is a worldwide magazine of French origin that focuses on women's fashion, beauty, health, and entertainment. Elle is also the world's largest fashion magazine. It was founded by Pierre Lazareff and his wife Hélène Gordon in 1945. The title, in French, means "she".-History:Elle was founded in...

2008 Green Awards. His blog NoImpactMan.com was named one of the world’s top 15 environmental
websites by Time Magazine.

See also

• Conservation (ethic)
• Individual and political action on climate change
  Individual and political action on climate change
  Individual and political action on climate change can take many forms, most of which have the ultimate goal of limiting and/or reducing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, toward avoiding dangerous climate change.-Political action:...
  
  
• Sustainable living
  Sustainable living
  Sustainable living is a lifestyle that attempts to reduce an individual's or society's use of the Earth's natural resources and his/her own resources. Practitioners of sustainable living often attempt to reduce their carbon footprint by altering methods of transportation, energy consumption and diet...
  
  

Books

• 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 (September 1, 2009) Farrar, Straus, and Giroux New York City ISBN 978-0374222888
• Operation Jedburgh: D-Day and America's First Shadow War - 2006 ISBN 978-0670037629
• Fingerprints: The Origins of Crime Detection and the Murder Case that Launched Forensic Science - 2001 ISBN 978-0786885282

External links

• No-Impact Man - The blog about the experience
• www.ColinBeavan.com
• Advice From an Accidental Activist (Yes!) posted Feb 15, 2011