In 2006, author Colin Beavan, a newly self-proclaimed environmentalist, could no longer avoid pointing the finger at himself. He left behind his liberal complacency for a vow to make as little environmental impact as possible for one year. No more automated transportation, no more electricity, no more non-local food, no more material consumption...no problem. That is, until his espresso-guzzling, retail-worshipping wife Michelle and their two year-old daughter are dragged into the fray! What would it be like to try to live a no-impact lifestyle? Could it catch on? Is living this way more satisfying or less satisfying? These are the questions at the heart of his endeavor, through which Colin hopes to explain to the rest of us how we can realistically live a more "eco-effective" and, by turns, more content life.
Colin's experiment became the subject of his provocative, award-wining blog noimpactman.com (one of Time Magazine's Top 15 environmental blogs), his book 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 Along the Way (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), and a Sundance-selected documentary by the same name. His story provided a narrative vehicle by which he could attract broad public attention to the range of pressing environmental crises including: food system sustainability, climate change, water scarcity, and materials and energy resource depletion.
Following the release of the book and the film, Colin founded the No Impact Project, an international environmental non-profit dedicated to empowering citizens to make choices which better their lives and lower their environmental impact through lifestyle change, community action, and participation in environmental politics.
Colin's work has been the subject of stories in the New York Time, the Christian Science Monitor, and many other national and international news outlets. Colin has appeared on The Colbert Report, Good Morning America, Nightline, The Montel Show, and all the major NPR shows. He speaks regularly to a wide variety of international audiences, including businesses, universities, and community groups.
Colin has received numerous awards and accolades. He was named one of MSN's "Ten Most Influential Men," chosen as an "Eco-Illuminator" by Elle Magazine, and was the Editor of Treehugger.com's selection for "Best Green Ambassador." The New York City's Lower East Side Ecology Center has named him an "Eco-Star."
Colin has his PhD in electrical engineering (University of Liverpool). He spent the late 80's and early 90's as a consultant to philanthropic organizations such as social housing providers, drug treatment agencies and hospitals, helping them to promote themselves in order to secure increasingly scarce, Thatcher-era funding. In 1992 he returned to the United States and wrote for magazines until Hyperion published his first book Fingerprints: The Origins of Crime Detection and the Murder Case that Launched Forensic Science (a popular history of criminology) in 2001. In 2006, Viking published his second book, Operation Jedburgh: D-Day and America's First Shadow, which focused on the operation that formed the precedent for U.S. anti-Soviet operations in Afghanistan. He is a visiting scholar at NYU, an advisor to the University's Sustainability Task Force, sits on the board of directors of New York City's Transportation Alternatives, and on the advisory council of Just Food.
On May 9th, 2012 Colin announced his run for U.S. Congress on the Green Party ticket. For information on Colin's campaign, please visit www.votecolin.org.
Awards
 |
MSN Ten Most Influential Men
|
 |
Elle "Eco-Illuminator" Green Awards
|
 |
Time Magazine: NoImpactMan.com voted as one of the top 15 environmental blogs in the world
|
 |
Treehugger Best Green Ambassador: Editor's Pick
|
 |
LES Ecology Center Eco-Star
|
Affiliated Organizations
Interviews
