WOW!!! This was on GMA this morning - wondering about your thoughts?

punkeemunkee'smom wrote: No Impact Man


There was a guy on GMA this morning that is trying, with his family, to create no waste for a year. The above link is his web site. They do not use paper products.....NO paper products....NONE....not even the one square Sheryl Crow would let us have . They buy foods only if they are grown within a 250 mile radius (ITA with supporting your local farmer)No motorized transportation,they walk 50 flights of stairs to and from their apartment and this Saturday they are turning off their electricity-in the SUMMER with a 2 year old.... And he says things like they compost their own waste THAT I know is a major health hazard. They showed him with their small daughter walking on their clothes in the bathtub to 'wash' them. He is a well published author and the most interesting thing I found about it os that he already has a book deal (AND a movie TBR in 2007)...Maybe that is what he is conserving all that paper for


My questions are numerous but soem of the ones that come to mind all have to do with basic sanitation. How do you wash your clothes with no detergent and with no TP how do you get clean-and I know you can wash but wouldn't that defeat the purpose by wayyyy upping your water usage. I know we can all do more to conserve and no be wasteful BUT can't you take it too far? Granted he said it was just an experiment but I can't help thinking it is less of that and more a publicity stunt

Kaitlin'smom replied: okay I can get on board with going organic, not using plastic, conserving water, conserving electric, not driving (espically if I lived in NYC) but I have to draw the line at not using tp and flushing.

luvbug00 replied: i love my paper products. couldn't do it.

jcc64 replied: I don't think it's so crazy, tbh. It's the way people used to live back in the day- before there was so much cancer, asthma, heart disease, etc. Before we were being poisoned by our own food supply. And certainly before the entire planet was threatened by global warming. Even if it is just a "publicity stunt", at least he's creating an awareness or a dialogue about how much impact our normal, everyday activities have on the world around us.

Cece00 replied: Yeah I mean thats a nice gesture and everything, but his property has to be one huge health hazard. You cant get your clothes clean, I'm assuming they use some sort of cloth towels to wipe their butts- so they arent getting THOSE clean, the composting of their waste. Just....ew. There is no way those people can be that clean without things like soap and detergent.

I also love how he is trying to do this whole "no impact" thing but he is going to let them cut down god knows how many trees to make books and movie scripts and then the production of the movie, that's probably wasteful, too, with the electricity and all of that. So much for "no impact"

PrairieMom replied:
Don't forget tho, that back in the day life expectancy was WAY lower. You were lucky to see 60! plus, child hood death was way more common.

punkeemunkee'smom replied: Jeanne while I agree that he is starting a dialog of sorts about our impact on our planet I believe that for a vast majority it is more of a did you hear what that crazy guy in New York is doing...No TP-WTH? Sort of conversation rather than a productive one. I agree as well that the way people lived 150 years ago was something akin to what he is doing except that you too must also acknowledge that the reason we have the progresses we have now is because things were not perfect then either. Now thanks to running water and electricity and flushable sewer systems we also lack the throngs of people dying in the streets of cholera from open sewage running down the streets. The same evils that are blamed for so much of our environmental problems have also brought about advances that have saved countless lives. I don't know what the answers are but I do believe that this man is not doing any service to the greater good,simply because I know that he will be seen as a by most and that will be as far as the dialog goes.

coasterqueen replied:
I wholeheartedly agree with everything you have said. We are killing us, plain and simple....BUT to compost my own human waste.....we didn't do that back in the day did we? Not sure I could do that one.

coasterqueen replied:
Ok, so be it. I'll live younger to live a life of good health and no misery from the crap we die from today. I would like to live it without the child deaths, though.

coasterqueen replied: As far as the tp goes - OK, I admit I would have a hard time not being able to use it, but I can see it. A lot of women don't use tampons or paper feminine products - they use reusable-washable "rags" as feminine pads for that time of the month, or such things as the "keeper" to catch flow. Ok, I don't even want to think of reusing/washing my tp, but is it any different than using cloth diapers.

jcc64 replied: Alot of our advances are life enhancing, true. And yes, life expectancy is higher now. But that can be attributed more to medical advancements like vaccinations and antibiotics than it can be to factory farming, toilet paper or laundry detergent.
And about the books- you can buy books through itunes and ebooks. Knowing this guy, I'm sure he's thought about the tree/paper thing already.

moped replied: I think it is great for this family to do it - I personally couldn't.....I rely way too muc on conveniences in life!!!!

Hillbilly Housewife replied: There's surely more to the story than what we're told. We can use cloth diapers, cloth hankies, and cloth pads...why not cloth TP?

As for composting human waste... what the heck do you think they do in a processing plant? They clean up the water.... ..the poop and pee doesn't just dissapear. Likely it gest used as fertilizer.

Yep, we probably eat human-poo-fertilized organic food.

luvmykids replied: I'm just curious, I hope this doesn't come across wrong because I'm genuinely interested.

Karen and Jeanne, if you think this guy is on the right track, and would settle for a shorter but healthier life span, etc....then why do you use some of the modern conveniences that he's giving up? Is it that you agree that some of our habits are harmful but convenient enough to continue anyway, or that not enough others would be joining along to make a difference?

I only ask because I would never give up toilet paper or A/C, so to those who would, why don't you? Again, I hope I don't sound like a smarta**because that's not where I'm coming from at all.

coasterqueen replied: Well I guess I'm sort of a hypocrite. I think he has the right idea on a lot of things and I commend him for doing them. I just haven't gotten there yet and not sure if I will. I have given up a lot of stuff, have changed a lot in my life since having kids and will continue to do that slowly, but not sure if I will ever get to where he is at. We are actually going to make a go of not using AC as long as we can and when we do a LOT less often than we did before - BUT that is because our energy market was deregulated and there is only one company in the market and our rates went from an average of $100 a month to well over $600 a month. We are struggling to come up with 1/2 of what we owe each month so we don't have a choice but to try to control the AC issue.

Sorry I probably didn't answer your question. Although I may be selfish not giving up certain conveniences, I still think it's important to acknowledge that we SHOULD give up a lot of those things and to try to better oneself a little at a time to steer away from what is not really safe for us.

jcc64 replied: I am not disciplined enough to live that lifestyle- and I simply don't have the time to do laundry by hand or walk 15 miles to the store (which is how far it is for me). However, I do believe it is wise to be more conscious of our impact on the planet, and this guy's admittedly radical experiment is a good way to draw attention to it.
I don't think one has to live a monastic existence- one can make small but meaningful changes like occasionally turning off the air or not watering the lawn or not using pesticides, that will benefit us all in the end. One step at a time.......

Miranda1127 replied: hmmm, well good luck to them. a.c is great

luvmykids replied: Karen and Jeanne, thanks for answering. I won't even begin to pretend I could live the way this guy is talking about....I'm not totally unaware of my personal responsibility and do what I can, probably like most of us.

Karen, our electric bills have spiked too...we only have one provider and won't be using as much A/C as years past either. Maybe my intention isn't pure but I'll be saving energy nontheless

C&K*s Mommie replied: I can agree with parts of what he is doing. Supporting local farmers 100%, is wonderful. Choosing to cut the air completely, no. I could not do that and I am not sure of where he is, but here in Florida you are begging to have a heat stroke without some circulation of air in the summertime.
Some modern conveinences are a bit unnecessary, borderline extreme but I take part in many of them just the same.

I commend him for his efforts, if others choose to take his example in any way and change their impact on the earth in the tiniest bit- more power to them too.

jcc64 replied: ITA with you, Nicole. He lives in NYC, so the lack of transportation is basically a non-issue for him- you don't have to travel far to get anything in NY- it really is just a small island. However, living w/o AC in the summertime in a NYC high rise apt is borderline crazy- I don't imagine they'll be getting much sleep. And I heard him interviewed on the local NPR station the other day- he had to walk up 25 flights of stairs to get to the studio.

mom2my2cuties replied:
Talk about your weight loss program

jcc64 replied: He did say that the whole family's health improved dramatically since they started this. So, maybe he'll right the "No Impact Diet" too.