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No Impact Man
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No Impact Man (2009) (edit title/settings)

The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process

by Colin Beavan (Author) (edit contributors)

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A guilty liberal finally snaps, swears off plastic, goes organic, becomes a bicycle nut, turns off his power, and generally becomes 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... read more

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Quotes edit see section history

  • “"I made the mistake of thinking that condeming other people's misdeeds somehow made me virtuous." - pg. 6”
  • “"Many of us work so hard that we don't get to spend enough time with the people we love, and so we feel isolated. We don't really believe in our work, and so we feel prostituted. The boss has no need of our most creative talents, and so we feel unfulfilled." - pg. 8”
  • “"The happiest people, the shrinks discovered, did not live their lives on the perpetual loop (hedonic treadmill). Rather, these folks had raised their baseline mood in ways that did not require repeated doses of the new stuff. The people most satisfied with life, it turned out, had strong social connections, found meaning in their work, got to exercise what they considered to be their highest talents, and had a sense of some higher purpose." - pg. 26”
  • “"Do we work for and pay for all this convenience in order to live our lives, or do we live our lives in order to work for and pay for all this convenience?" - pg. 42”
  • “"While I do get occasionally jealous of passengers zoning out in their taxis, between the walking, the bike riding and the stairs, I'm really enjoying using my body. I feel less like a neck-mounted head that needs to be moved around by machine. Exercise is part of my life without trying, and I feel a certain sense of independence, like maybe I can transport myself and possibly even survive without being entirely dependent upon the Matrix." - pg. 85”
  • “"At what age did I start to think that where I was going was more important than where I already was? When was it that I began to believe that th emost important thing about what I was doing was getting it over with? Knowing how to live is not something we have to teach children. Knowing how to live is something we have to be careful not to take away from them." - pg. 87”
  • “"As my theory goes, the mechanized boses that transport our brains from here to there and the portable electronics that keep us constantly connected have robbed us of the ho-hum. Those periods that interrupted the everyday rush, like a red light periodically bringing the quiet of stopped traffice, have been excised. Now peak moment follows peak moment, and they have all been accordioned together." - pg. 89”
  • “"Suburbia, the great American experiment in the solitude of "a man's home is his castle," is pretty much a failure. Not the live-outside-the-city part - that can be good. But the spread-the-houses-far-apart-and-have-no-central-community part. And the build-to-make-the-place-good-for-cars-intead-of-good-for-people part. And the you-can't-walk-to-the-grocery-store-or-get-to-know-your-neighbos part. Suburban living forces us out of our families and out of our communities, away from our jobs and into our cars. We leave the cities to get away from traffic and air pollution; so we move to the suburbs, then climb into our cars and drive into the cities and cause the traffic and air pollution we meant to get away from in the first place." - pg. 99”
  • “"What if you don't live like everyone else? What if you try different things? What if you get off this people-mover of a culture and try a different direction? What if you unplug? Why do we need what everyone else needs? Why can't we go to sleep when it's dark? Why don't we question?" - pg. 166”
  • “"Continuing to do what we've done for thhe past two hundred years is not progress. It's more of the same. Staying on the same path is not the definition of progress. I simply feel tha tnow that we've so utterly perfected the walkie-talkie to the point where it has become the iPhone, maybe we coudl turn the great minds that brough us the Nintendo Wii to, say, getting fresh water to 1 billion people on our planet who don't have it." - pg. 187”
  • “"There is a limit to how much less harm I can do. But my potential for good is unlimited. All of our potentials for good are unlimited. The question becomes not whether we use resources but what we use them for. Do we use them to improve lives? Or do we waste them? My life itself is a resource. How shall I use it?" - pg. 205”
  • “"When I take my last breath, will there be a wish that I had more stuff? I'll wish for only one thing, I think. That I loved better. That I had been better at loving and not been so distracted by stuff or accomplishment. This life is so short and it will soon be over. What will be use it for? There is nothing to do about the miscarriage, or about Isabella's febrile seizures, but we can stop the water shortage and the kids dying of diarrhea." - pg. 210”
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • The people most satisfied with life, it turned out, had strong social connections, found meaning in their work, got to exercise what they considered to be their highest talents, and had a sense of some higher purpose.
    Highlighted by 60 Kindle customers
  • “The man who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.”
    Highlighted by 41 Kindle customers
  • Do we work for and pay for all this convenience in order to live our lives, or do we live our lives in order to work for and pay for all this convenience?
    Highlighted by 40 Kindle customers
  • At what age did I start to think that where I was going was more important that where I already was? When was it that I began to believe that the most important thing about what I was doing was getting it over with? Knowing how to live is not something we have to teach children. Knowing how to live is something we have to be careful not to take away from them.
    Highlighted by 39 Kindle customers
  • a life lived with less emphasis on acquisition might have the effect of leaving more time for richer, less resource-intensive life rewards, making both the planet and the people happier.
    Highlighted by 39 Kindle customers
  • Why are you more concerned with where you’re going than where you are, the Zen master might just as well have asked? Why are you more concerned with what you’re going to do than what you’re doing? Why aren’t you paying attention to how you live your life right this very moment? Why are you wasting this moment? Why, indeed, are you wasting your life?
    Highlighted by 38 Kindle customers
  • happy people spend a lot of time being grateful for what they have and savoring their experience. They don’t rush through “now” to get to later. They don’t make taking care of themselves or taking care of their families something they have to get over with so they can get to the good stuff. Instead, they insist that this moment, whatever it is, is the good stuff.
    Highlighted by 25 Kindle customers
  • Should our goal simply be to blindly “grow our economy,” or should we find ways to ensure that it grows in ways that both improve quality of life and protect our habitat?
    Highlighted by 22 Kindle customers
  • We have to change the culture. Not just the government. I don’t want business as usual. I want better. I want a way of life that makes both the people and the planet happier.
    Highlighted by 22 Kindle customers
  • Annie Leonard’s online video Story of Stuff makes this point. All the ads say the same thing: You suck, but if you buy this, you won’t, and then everyone will love you.
    Highlighted by 20 Kindle customers
Show all 22 quotes from this book

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Colin Beavan (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Country: USA
Publication Date: September 1, 2009
ISBN: 0374222886
Page Count: 288

Classification edit see section history

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
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