posted 15 years ago
So I watched the movie.
 
 I have a lot to say.
 
 First, the title:  He made an impact.  I think he did a lot of good by saying he didn't - otherwise he would not have caught so much attention and passed a lot of info on.  
 
 On the plus side:  I think he did a good thing for himself and his family.  And he exposed a lot of cool stuff to a large audience.  I think that this is a great story along the lines of "man attempts to climb mount everest without leaving new york."  I think he blazed a great trail.  And he got about 90% of the way there.  It would be a lot easier to do in the country, but he did it from NYC.  
 
 So ... he used water, gas and new candles.  He used what looked like a new solar panel.  It looks like cell phones were still used.  And when he used those candles, what was the carbon footprint?  And the pollution?
 
 The best part was a part that almost happened.  The wife complained an awful lot.  She does make some good points along the way, but I think they are negated by what I thought was going to happen, but didn't.  More on that in a moment.  
 
 I thought one of the best points she made was something about it being called no impact man, but she was doing this stuff too.
 
 Now for the negation:  For a moment, I thought she was going to think of something to add to the no-impact pile.  I thought she was going to come up with a way to reduce their impact even further.  Sorta beat her husband at his own game.  But that didn't happen.  
 
 Another point is their attempt to have a baby.  I think having a child is the greatest impact one can have on the planet.   I suppose if one could live a feral or advanced permaculture life and somehow be certain that all of your children will be equally so, then it would be okay.   But that is not / was not the case.   I think it would have been good to mention that during the movie.
 
 I **really** liked the part where they pointed out how NY was made so much for cars.  
 
 I saw him talking to a legislator about stuff.  It got me thinking that if I could push for a law, what law would I push for?  And I think I would say that the whole "organic" law needs to be inverted:  instead of labeling things as organic, non-organic foods should be labeled to say why it isn't organic:  "may contain pesticides", "contains genetically modified organisms", "fertilized with petroleum products" etc.