Beavan recently described himself as an "accidental activist" and there are two crucial factors that brought him to that intriguing self-description: 1) An innovative idea to live for a year with his wife and young daughter in Manhattan without generating any garbage, using any electricity, or buying anything new, and 2) The article in The New York Times that brought that experiment to the attention of the rest of the planet. And despite the doubt that sometimes emerged within the Beavan household itself, and criticisms of the project's concept lobbed into their apartment from various writers, pundits, and even environmentalists, Mr. Beavan's ideas have inspired others to train a more critical eye on the way that we live in North American urban environments.
Read "Colin's 6 Guidelines for a Low-Impact Life" here, paying particular attention to #5 ("Get There Under Your Own Steam"), before reading his recent Op-Ed in The Daily News about the need for more bike lanes in New York City.
[Image above from a TreeHugger post about the documentary.]
