by Jennifer Maiser for Serious Eats
Nearly two years ago, I logged into the Eat Local Challenge website to find a large spike in hits. An article had been published in the New York Times about Colin Beavan, aka "No Impact Man," and his New York-dwelling family. Beavan had embarked on a year-long journey to make no net impact on the earth. The family didn't use electricity, bought nothing new, and famously stopped using toilet paper. So why the spike on Eat Local Challenge? Beavan's blog had linked to mine in reference to his family's no-impact efforts to eat food from within 250 miles of Manhattan.
As someone who tries to persuade people to eat locally in an approachable manner, convincing them that everyone can eat at least a few things locally, Beavan's methods seemed too extreme and too unattainable. I was the one thinking "crazy people like you give us a bad name." I dismissed Beavan's challenge as a pointless activity that did nothing to help further the cause of environmentalism in general.
Fast forward two years, and a documentary has been produced about Beavan, his wife Michelle Conlin, and their daughter Isabella. Cameras followed the family throughout their challenge and the resultant film gave me a much more balanced view of the No Impact Challenge.
