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

“For the last few months, in other words, I’d spent my time talking about sixty years’ worth of yesterdays when I was really scared to death of what was happening today.”

Beavan has written books about history, but he decides to focus on the current climate crisis instead. He is tired of writing about the past when the future seems so pressing. He turns his energies to writing about his quest to carry out the No Impact project.

“Back on that summery day in the middle of winter, I seemed to be hitting bottom.”

The author reacts with horror when it the weather is summery in the middle of the winter. He believes that things have reached the crisis point in the planet, but he has not done anything about it. He therefore dedicates himself to the No Impact project.

“If I was still a student, I’d have marched against myself.”

Beavan is disgusted by his own lack of action and lack of commitment. He enters his apartment and finds he has left the air conditioners on. He feels like he has no moral authority to write about the environment.

“People argue, maybe correctly, that if you pit the survival of the planet against human selfishness, the planet will lose every time.”

Beavan believes that people are not going to save the planet if doing so makes them turn ascetic or live unpleasurable lives. He believes, however, that there is a way to turn a life with less waste into a more enjoyable, meaningful life.

“I wanted to find a way to thoroughly enjoy the fruit without killing the tree.”

The author wants to dedicate himself to a life that is similar to that of the Menominee tribe of Wisconsin, who support themselves with timber but never run out of resources. He wants to find the balance between sustainability and self-indulgence and believes such a balance is possible.

“I simply wanted to see if we could learn to behave like good guests while enjoying a good life.”

The author thinks we are guests on this planet and that we should treat the planet well for future guests. At the same time, he believes we can enjoy the planet while contributing to its sustainability.

“There is a reason why trash bags aren’t made of transparent plastic that would allow us to see inside. It is the same reason I and my kind keep bodily remains in closed coffins. We’re uncomfortable with what we might see.”

Beavan goes through his family’s trash and is disgusted by the waste that he sees. He believes that the dark plastic bags with which we dispose of our trash are meant to hide our wastefulness and shame. Just as we don’t want to see into coffins, we don’t want to see into our trash and are afraid of what we might find.

“My whole life appeared to have turned into a moneymaking machine intended to buy more convenience, with the seeming purpose of getting my life out of my way.”

Beavan believes that people work to buy more and more goods, and that life becomes a treadmill in which we work but do not enjoy what we work for. We dedicate ourselves to pursuing goods that take us away from the real purpose of living and enjoying.

“But if I treated the resources that pass through my hands as though they were precious, might I also begin to feel that this very life—the one right under my feet right now and right this very moment—might be precious, too?

The author believes that by dedicating himself to a life with less waste, he will begin to value his life more. He believes that sustainable living can make us happier and more invested in our moment-by-moment existence.

“Because our systems are not designed to be sustainable, I had to swim against the cultural tide, and sometimes I got tired.”

Beavan is tired of trying to live life in a sustainable way when the culture does not support this way of life. For example, he tries to get pizza, but he can’t because it is served on paper plates and the servers refuse to serve it any other way.

“My desire for the pizza was not the problem. The fact that it came on a disposable paper plate was the problem.”

The author is prevented from getting pizza because it is served on a paper plate. Structural, systemic problems interfere with his ability to live in a way that is good for the planet.

“I’m trying to become a nonconsumer of planetary resources, and here in the middle of my house was this box whose purpose was to pump messages at me, telling me that unless I used more resources I was a loser.”

He realizes that having a TV is inimical to his No Impact project. The messages on the TV are all about consumption, and he is trying to dedicate himself to living a less consumerist lifestyle. He and his family give up their TV at Michelle's initial prompting.

“Four weeks after the project began, we weren’t just changing the way we lived; changing the way we lived was changing us.”

The author and his family find that while they change the way they live, their minds and beings are changing too. For example, they enjoy not having a TV and enjoy spending time cooking food from scratch.

“That means [...] that we could have the same happy, long lives using many fewer planetary resources.”

The author believes that living a life that is more meaningful and less materialistic will not cause us less happiness. Instead, we will be able to live more meaningful, relaxed lives. What is good for the planet is good for us.

“But you have to wonder whether the United States’ relationship with automobile is a love affair or a forced marriage.”

While Americans love their cars, they also give up a great deal to have them. In addition to spending a great deal of the day commuting, Americans also have to work several months to afford their cars. Therefore, they are forced into a lifestyle of constant work to afford the cars that are apparently freeing them.

“Where competition was concerned, I felt like Popeye about to arm wrestle Bluto—without any locally produced spinach.”

When the author is investigating sustainable diets, he finds others who have dedicated themselves to eating locally sourced foods. He realizes he is far behind them, much as Popeye facing the more powerful Bluto in the comics.

“While I begin to research ideas and options, I keep coming up against the idea that, here in the United States, to be a good citizen is to be an aggressive consumer. To be patriotic is to shop.”

The author argues with the notion that we must support our GDP by shopping. Instead our environmental degradation threatens our GDP, and most of the profits only go to the very rich instead of to average Americans.

“The TV. The books. The newspaper. The shopping [...] I don’t want to face it sometimes. It’s all too much.”

Michelle, the author’s wife, admits that she uses the distractions of our culture to avoid feeling afraid and lost. The author plumbs the depth of our materialistic culture and finds that it is about avoiding loss and scary feelings. However, by destroying the planet, we are incurring other kinds of loss and danger.

“It was interesting to begin bumping up against the limits of individual action, to see that collective action was also necessary.”

The author realizes that in many situations, such as developing renewable energy, he is limited as an individual. Corporate interests are too invested in fossil fuels to make it possible for him to find alternatives, and our culture and economy must change before this is possible for most people.

“You’re out there worrying us about littering while they get away with killing the world.”

The author’s friend at the community garden tells him that his project is misguided. His friend feels that Beavan is putting too much emphasis on changing individuals without calling for widespread cultural and governmental change.

“Having electricity trapped me into the ‘freedom’ of working at night, when I might have been playing with Isabella.”

The author’s laptop dies at night when it can no longer be powered by the solar panel. However, he enjoys this forced pause in his work and uses it to spend more time with his family.

“After the Industrial Revolution’s two hundred years of inventing more and better products, we have come to a point where certain products have reached their zenith.”

The author is not “anti-progress” (186) but believes that newer technologies are hurting rather than helping us. He believes we’ve surpassed the point at which conveniences are adding to the enjoyment of our lives and are now detracting not only from our planet’s health but from our health as well.

“My heart is broken by the fragility. My heart is broken by our fragility. In that doctor’s office I realize that we all have this. While island nations will disappear when the ocean levels rise if we allow climate change to go unabated.”

When his wife, Michelle, has a miscarriage, the author contemplates our fragility. Just as we are fragile, so is our planet. He believes we must dedicate ourselves to recognizing and working to solve this environmental fragility.