Oscilloscope Laboratories
Michelle, Isabella and Colin Beavan walk the streets of Manhattan in 'No Impact Man.'
Perfection is the enemy of good, as the French philosopher Voltaire wrote. And that could be the lesson of "No Impact Man," which was shown in December at the Humility of Mary Center in Davenport -- one of a series of nationwide screenings held in concert with the Copenhagen Climate Summit.
The 2009 documentary, released in January on DVD, follows the Beavan family -- Colin, Michelle, toddler Isabella, and their dog -- for the duration of their yearlong "project" to live carbon neutral. While tough enough to pull off anywhere, residing in Manhattan makes their endeavor especially challenging.
Getting food from downtown farmers' markets makes their veggie-no-meat-or-fish diet regimen manageable -- at least during the growing season. But without electricity, food storage and cooking options are limited while the Beavans themselves bake in the summer and freeze in the winter.
Conscripted into her husband's experiment, Michelle complains from the start about "not being able to eat anything that tastes good." On her way to work, she falls off the wagon, sneaking in the occasional Starbucks treat while fearing her husband's reaction.
Other self-imposed rules include biking or walking rather than taking public transportation (even avoiding riding in elevators); no material consumption of any kind (not even using toilet paper); and relying on worms for windowsill composting, which eventually brings on a nasty infestation of flies.
Directors Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein capture the Beavan experiment in an eavesdropping sort of reality-TV style -- minus the really intrusive bits or too much (but not all) in the way of manufactured melodrama. With the Beavans serving as co-producers, this video journal was never out of their hands. Still, instances of marital discord caused by the hardships of Colin's zero-carbon zeal are shown.
Ironically, Colin's eco-venture turns out to be grist for a book even as his newfound lifestyle forbids having any printed reading material. (Magazine and newspaper subscriptions were among the first things to go.) While this contradiction doesn't undermine his noble intentions, it does point out the problem with such an idealistic approach.
After initially chronicling his project at NoImpactMan.com, Beavan gets his blog published under the exhaustive title "No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and One Way of Life in the Process."
Saving on words apparently wasn't one of his goals.
Other green docs on DVD worth checking out
A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash (2006).
"The excrement of the devil" may be the most colorful of many descriptions of oil in this critical look at the non-renewable energy resource. In fact, "the black blood of the earth" is called about everything but "black gold" and "Texas tea," the terms used in the catchy theme song from "The Beverly Hillbillies."
While not the slickest of productions, this informative documentary shows how oil is formed, extracted and refined; its use in construction, packaging and transportation; the political and military ramifications for oil producing and consuming countries; and much more. "Crude" practically gushes with facts, figures and stats, but it's never dry.
The importance of finding a substitute for oil is stressed, and the efficacy of wind, hydrogen, biomass, solar and other alternatives gets coverage, too.
As oil overviews go, "Crude" strikes it rich.
Flow: For Love of Water (2008).
"Who owns the world's fresh water?" is the pertinent question raised by this provocative look at grassroots efforts to fight privatization of the precious natural resource.
"Thousands have lived without love, not one without water," said W. H. Auden, quoted in the film's opening. And the world is running out of clean water, due to pollution, exploitation, drought and other factors.
"Flow" shows the consequences of freshwater shortages in South Africa, India, Bolivia and the American West, as well as focusing on companies -- think bottled water -- that commercialize the dwindling resource in ways that are environmentally unfriendly but highly profitable.
"Flow" addresses an issue that's rising to the fore.
Garbage Warrior (2007).
"If you can't use the byproduct, you shouldn't use the product," says radical (in a good way) eco-architect Michael Reynolds, who pioneered the use of beer cans, tires and plastic bottles for home construction in 1971.
Reynolds fought a seven-year legal battle in New Mexico to design and construct self-sustaining dwellings -- dubbed "Earthships" -- which he's been involved with for more than three decades.
Oliver Hodge's award-winning documentary captures the quirky engineer in all his determined glory. In one of the DVD's extra features, the late actor-cum-environmentalist Dennis Weaver sings the praises of his very own solar-powered Earthship. He's a long way from his days on "Gunsmoke."
"Garbage" is worth taking out -- from the library, video store, Netflix or wherever.
The Garden (2008).
The largest urban community garden in the U.S. was established in South Central Los Angeles in 1992, partially as a result of three days of rioting following Rodney King's beating at the hands of L.A. police.
Measuring 14 acres, the garden became a source of civic pride beyond the 347 largely Latino families who farmed the oasis of fruit trees and vegetable plants until it was threatened with closure in 2004 -- to be replaced with commercial development and a soccer field.
This emotional chronicle of the fight to keep the garden open by area residents -- joined by actors-cum-activists Darryl Hannah, Danny Glover, Ed Begley Jr., et al. -- demonstrates the power and the limits of grassroots efforts.
"The Garden" is a rich piece of work, and the ending is a nail-biter.
Jeff Dick is a freelance writer and film buff. He lives in Davenport.
