No Impact Man

See the blog here and the mocking here. So I found this through a blog, Little Birds, that Ms. A links to, and it sounded pretty neat. The guy has even been featured in the NY Times. But I've read through some stuff and thought about it for awhile, and discussed it with my intelligent and skeptical sister, Karen, and I'm thinking this guy is cracked out. It is great to try to reduce your environmental impact, but seriously, no toilet paper? I use recycled paper. And while, yes, it is still waste, what about the water he is wasting with his 'cleansing bowls'? I just don't know about this. And to top it all off, he is hesitant to talk about what he thinks are "private" (despite the fact their lives are being filmed) like toilet and cleansing specifics, feminine hygiene, and birth control. We all know that CFLs are a good idea by now, but I think really most of us don't know what we should be doing about those pesky tampons and the fish-mutating birth control. Some help you are, No Impact Man.

I'm going to go there because he won't. Just in case you are wondering about the feminine side of things (although I realize some of my dear readers are not interested in contraception and by default having periods right now), some of No Impact Man's readers suggested the following: www.gladrags.com, www.thekeeper.com, and Mirena. To be honest, I am not an environmentalist in this arena of life. I like my trusty tampons and BCPs. However, I was recently thinking that maybe I could explore the use of an IUD or IUC to prevent the hormones that I inevitably pee out and travel to the waste water treatment plant from hurting nature. I am a little concerned about the copper-release aspect (IUD) and the hormones still used in Mirena, an IUC. Also, Mirena is most recommended for people who have already had children, although they claim as soon as it is taken out you return to your previous state of fertility. After a year of using it, it is supposed to reduce your period by 90% or eliminate altogether, thus making scary environmental options like The Keeper unnecessary. What do y'all think? For some reason, even though I'm all in favor of organic cloth baby diapers, I twinge at the idea of cleaning those re-usable pads. Eeew! As far as toilet habits go, I think recycled paper and 1.6gpf or dual flush toilets are just fine for us. Most people waste more water in the shower than in their daily toilet trips. Get a composting toilet if you want to, but for god sake, don't forgo toilet paper. I mean really!

In other, low impact living, here's what I do:

• CFLs
• Walk around town
• Use heat as little as possible by bundling up
• Use air as little as possible by opening doors and windows, or covering windows with thick shades in the summer
• Recycle everything I possibly can
• Try to limit purchases, or at least buy eco-friendly or recycled items
• Compost food scraps
• Try to turn off power strips at night
• Drive a car that gets 40mpg
• Currently trying to get creative and reuse things I currently have instead of buying things. I recently made a picture frame for some wedding pictures out of a partially broken old frame and some pretty paper. (Okay, it was my first try, so it's not that great...)
  

• Line-dry clothes
• Wash clothes in cold water. Most detergents now are designed for this. Speaking of, I use 7th Generation detergent.

Some things I would like to do:

• Get rid of more things (mostly Matt's). And by get rid of, I mean donate, not throw away
• Read magazines online instead of the paper version. But I love getting magazines in the mail y'all. Finding them in the box and flipping through them... It's just so, so textual.
  
• Move to a small apartment with a smaller ecological footprint
• Get rid of some furniture when we move and buy some smaller used, recycled, or eco-friendly items. I have my heart set on some things from Gaiam.
  
• I have mixed feeling when it comes to buying things. Is it better to buy nothing or to buy eco-friendly and recycled items to support the market and encourage it. We can never honestly end consumerism, so wouldn't it be great if it was green consumerism? What do y'all think?
• Not drive ever. I'm not sure how to go about this since Matt and I like to explore the lovely out-of-doors. Is this a sacrifice we should be making?
  
• I would really like to get off those BCPs. I don't want to hurt the froggies!
• Be more activist in encouraging green and healthy lifestyles.

I would like to hear from you, my dear readers. Any other suggestions or thoughts? Neat ideas? Things that would make better use of my time (like not wasting so much energy using this laptop)? Requests not to hear any more about a little bit gross bodily functions? While we're on the subject, I have seen some great links on Inhabitat to eco-underwear and lingerie as well as eco-sex toys. Enjoy!