New York City Has a NIM (No Impact Man)

Somewhere upon Fifth Avenue, New York City's NIM (No Impact Man) is evolving. On his blog, he describes himself as follows, "A guilty liberal finally snaps, swears off plastic, goes organic, becomes a bicycle nut, turns off his power, composts his poop and, while living in New York City, generally turns into a tree-hugging lunatic who tries to save the polar bears and the rest of the planet from environmental catastrophe while dragging his baby daughter and Prada-wearing, Four Seasons-loving wife along for the ride."

According to an article in the New York Press, NIM and his family will attempt to live green for the next year. He will eat only organically grown food that is grown within a 250 mile radius of Manhattan. He will try not to shop, use carbon-fueled transportation, produce trash, or use paper. Yes, that includes toilet paper. He will get rid of his 46-inch big-screen television, use fluorescent light bulbs and turn off his dishwasher and other kitchen appliances to cut back on his electric use.

According to NIM's blog, his goal is "no trash, no carbon emissions, no toxins in the water, no elevators, no subway, no products in packaging, no plastics, no air conditioning, no TV, no toilets..." NO most of the things the rest of us consider part of everyday life.

NIM's plan is to show the world that people can have literally NO IMPACT on the planet. Well, at least, no NET impact, meaning that they can live without doing any NET harm to the environment. The NIM equation is: Negative Impact + Positive Impact = Zero Impact. In other words, pollute as little as possible, then help to clean up the earth to offset your reduced pollution to try to achieve NO IMPACT on the earth's environment.

Though NIM is trying to have no impact on the earth, he will try to have his no impact experience have an impact on the world. He has a book contract with Farrar, Strauss, and Girioux and a documentary deal with Laura Gabbert, an independent filmmaker. He may very well be being followed around by a camera crew as you read. NIM's book and movie, due out in 2009, will relay his year-long, no impact experience to the world in an effort to show us all that we can literally have no net impact upon the one and only planet that we will ever have.