'Living for Mother Earth'

October 27 is the end of the week of the ' No Harm ' project launched by the famous US website Huffington Post. Thousands of people have participated in testing green lifestyle, not harmful to the environment.

This campaign is inspired by the story No impact man by Colin Beavan. This young writer in New York tried to live without harm for a year with his wife and young daughter in 2007. They proved that a life for Earth's mother was not easy but not impossible.

Try to live a simple life

Beavan's and family's goals are to minimize the impact of daily activities on the environment. They even suggested that the electricity company cut electricity for its apartment in Manhattan. They do not use any disposable goods, or do not buy new items. In the skyscraper city, they refused to take the elevator again. They travel by bike with a rear bin, can carry people, and carry food produced by local farmers.

Beavan, a writer who writes books about the history of forensics, or outstanding historical events, feels obsessed with the fact that the Earth is warming up. Then once he returned home and found himself letting the air conditioner run all the time without anyone at home. He wondered: what right do I have to complain if I'm too cruel to the environment?

Colin Beavan and her daughter go to the local market (Photo: AP)

So Beavan came up with the idea of ​​experimenting, partly for the environment, partly as a topic for the next book. His wife, Michelle, is also very excited to get rid of women's " addictions ", in which the top two things must be eliminated are the infinite shopping and the " bronze seat " for hours in front of the television screen.

They started fasting, buying food from local farmers. In the evening, the whole family sat around a warm conversation table. What is surprising is that many things they think must . sacrifice if they want to experiment with a green lifestyle turned out not to be sacrificed at all. They have more love, more time for each other.

But this is not easy for Beavan and his wife. Beavan is a writer and media advisor for many organizations, and Michelle is a writer for Business Week. They used to party, eat a restaurant, take a taxi, shop for entertainment, reality TV shows, and the mouth-watering eating habits of the TV. When he and his family stopped such pleasures, he said he realized the horrifying influence of consumerism that humans possessed on Earth. He found comfort for his soul and his conscience.

A year of living according to the rules - the things they didn't do - finally ended. Beavan's experience with the ' no harm to the environment ' lifestyle is well known through his blog at No impact man. This is also the name of the book he recently published and a documentary. The film was shot in the past year to answer the questions: ' What will happen if I try not to harm the environment? Is this possible? Is this comfortable? . The 90-minute film premiered in early 2009, judged to be ' extremely meaningful and funny '.

Green living

They return to their present lives, and the amount of wastewater they put into the environment is only 23 liters in four days compared to the previous 409 liters. They used the refrigerator again, but removed the freezer. They started buying olive oil or some spices, although they were not made by local people. They started nodding when friends invited dinner at the restaurant. They use toilet paper again but are recycled paper. None of them wanted to bring the 46-inch television home. About once a week, maybe they watch plays on laptops.

And obviously the tow truck became their love: enough room to store vegetables when going to the market, enough room for the daughter to love Isabella to sit. Sometimes it rains they take the subway. They spent the evening near the fountain in Washington Park. They watch circus and chat with neighbors. Michelle's shopping fever has disappeared. No more spending on a $ 1,000 bill for a designer dress. They donated all the cool fans, although these were not so much energy-consuming.

But not everyone has the conditions to live as green as Beavan. Social systems in many parts of the world are not created to serve sustainable lifestyles. In those places, most people cannot use bicycles to work, have no clean energy to use, and buy something also has a bundle of plastic bags attached. Extreme restrictions are difficult, and can even harm circulation in the environment. But obviously the way the Beavan family has done shows that we absolutely have ways to live environmentally friendly. But until now it is still the choice of each responsible individual.

Some tips to live 'without harm':

- Limited (best not to use) plastic bags for storing goods.
- Travel by public transport.
- Choose fruits suitable for season and domestically produced.
- Cook by myself.
- Limit meat in your diet.
- Do not consume animals that are in need of protection.
- Explain why we do this to people around them to understand and share to work together.

(Excerpt from noimpactproject.org)