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Accomplishments of the No Impact Project Curriculum
Our five-lesson, 36 page interactive Environmental Education Curriculum for secondary school students has been used with over 60,000 students. It has been featured on numerous blogs and websites, including YES! Magazine, PBS Teachers, and Teaching the Hudson Valley.
The No Impact Curriculum was implemented in schools in Houston, TX last fall, and was taught to 2,000 students.
Accomplishments of Give Back Days
All across the world, people are volunteering in their communities during monthly Give Back Days. The No Impact Project started organizing Give Back Days to help people turn their new awareness into real, measurable action. These days are based on the idea that when you get people to move a muscle you get them to change their mind.
Accomplishments of Eco Leader Retreats
The No Impact Project’s Eco-Leader Training was launched to help transform citizens who are concerned about our environmental crises into inspired local community leaders and founders of environmental action groups. As Colin Beavan, Director of the No Impact Project, explains: “There are many people out there who are unsure how to collect their community members into activated groups who support and work towards environmental solutions. Our new program seeks to help them form their own grassroots groups and move forward from there.”
During the all-expenses paid weekend, 18 participants selected from a pool of over 200 took part in a series of dynamic workshops and talks with inspirational leaders and activists from the environmental movement, including Jeremy Osborn, co-founder of 350.org, and Anne Pope, founder of Sustainable Flatbush. They learned how to build and empower their community to take solution-based action on our pressing environmental problems. By bringing together participants from various backgrounds, the Eco-Leader Training supported even wider participation in the environmental movement.
Since the retreat, our Eco Leaders have led some extraordinary No Impact Weeks of their own around the country, a few of which include:
• A No Impact Week with the Atlantic chapter of the Sierra Club
• A No Impact Week with a local Community Supported Agriculture group involving 50 families in Cincinnati, Ohio.
• A No Impact Week with the faculty and staff of the New School in NYC.
• A No Impact Week in Houston, Texas with 100 community members and implementation of the No Impact Curriculum for public schools in Houston, reaching an estimated 2,000 school children.
We are currently planning our next Eco Leader Retreat.
Accomplishments of Virtual No Impact Week Experiments
For each of our Virtual No Impact Weeks, we partner with well-established environmental or media organizations to invite people to take part in a low-impact living experiment of their own. We create online platforms to foster a strong sense of community, and we manage these platforms to support and encourage participants and connect them with each other. Our partners include YES! Magazine and the Huffington Post. Our Virtual No Impact Week with YES! Magazine in September 2011 had over 3,000 individual participants and 145 in-person groups took on the challenge together.
Something special happens when communities take on the No Impact Week Challenge together. So far, we have partnered with communities to host No Impact Weeks in Cleveland, Ohio; Erie, PA (twice!); La Crosse and Viroqua, WI; the Netherlands (twice!) and Guangzhou, China. Thousands of individuals have taken on the transforming No Impact Challenge through our Community No Impact Weeks. Survey data shows that No Impact Weeks: Participant feedback shows that No Impact Weeks:
So far, forty university campuses, and about 25,000 students have experienced their own No Impact Experiments. These experiments have been enthusiastically received not only in environmentally aware areas, but also in areas that have traditionally been a hard place for the environmental movement to reach. Our goal is not to make participants politically progressive but to inspire them to pressure the leaders of their own parties to support crucial environmental legislation. This program is in high demand and we plan to expand the program to reach more universities and students. Question 1: I consciously keep consumption at a minimum.
We’re kicking of the No Impact Week with a FREE screening of the Sundance-selected documentary “No Impact Man” at the Big Green Screen Theatre located in the Tom Ridge Environmental Center on October 1, 2011 at 6:30pm. “No Impact Man” chronicles author Colin Beavan’s yearlong experiment to live with as little environmental impact as possible with his four-seasons loving, Prada wearing wife and toddler in New York City. What would it be like to live in a more environmentally conscious way? Is it more or less satisfying? Could it catch on? These are the questions at the heart of the experiment. Register below to reserve spots for yourself and your friends! Space is limited! What: A FREE screening of No Impact Man To register a group for the YES! Magazine No Impact Week please fill out the short form below. What kind of groups can register? Any! You can register with your workplace, your book club, your local environmental group or even just your friends and family! If you don’t have a name make one up! We will have fun group games, competitions and activities to be a part of. Remember, everyone in your group still has to register individually! They must say they are a part of your group when they register. Good Luck! And have fun! We are pleased to announce that the next 2011 Give Back Day has been set for Saturday, June 18, 2011, under the broad theme of Energy. You are encouraged to organize any volunteer event that fits within the broad theme of energy. Here in NYC we are organizing a “Cool Roofs” activity where we will be partnering with NYC CoolRoofs, and painting a roof top white to help the building stay cool naturally during the hot NYC summers. Applying a reflective surface to a roof helps reduce cooling costs, cut energy usage and lower greenhouse gas emissions. For more information on Cool Roofs check out this link http://www.nyc.gov/html/coolroofs/html/home/home.shtml. To sign up for the NYC check out the facebook event Some other good ideas are weatherizing homes, offices or churches or installing energy efficient light bulbs, solar panels or solar hot water heaters! Email Lilly@noimpactproject.org to be a part of Give Back Days, we will send you more resources and tips and connect you with other exciting Give Back Days being planned all over the world! I have created a website to educate people about the urgent need for fragrance-free living: www.ThinkBeforeYouStink.com. I have struggled with severe Chemical Sensitivities (also known as MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity) for several years and my life has become very small because of it. I have had to leave my job, move in with family, and strictly minimize contact with friends and society. Many people are even worse off than I am and have been forced into complete social isolation and even homelessness by this disease. My goal with this website is to educate people about how serious of a condition this is, how prevalent it is, and yet how everyone has the ability to make positive changes in their life that would help those struggling with this condition. There are so many small changes you can make in your product choices that would make a huge difference to our world. This post was submitted by Carrie Johnston.
Accomplishments of Community No Impact Weeks
• Bring about long-term behavioral change.
• Launch individuals into environmental activism.
• Increase civic engagement.
• Expose thousands (even those who do not participate in the weeks) to a community wide discussion on sustainability.
• Cause permanent changes in communities: starting farmer’s markets, changes in building operations, community gardens and more.
• Bond together groups of like-minded individuals inspired to create change within their own spheres of influence. These sustainable communities last long after the No Impact Week ends. 
Accomplishments of University No Impact Weeks
Question 2: I try to share an item with a neighbor before I buy a new one.
Question 3: I try to avoid buying products with packaging.
Question 4: I volunteer regularly with an environmental organization.
Question 5: I participate in events organized by environmental organizations.
Question 6: I share information with my friends and family about how they can help the environment.
Participant feedback shows that No Impact Weeks:
• Inspire students to change their majors and even their careers.
• Expose thousands (even those who do not participate in the weeks) to a campus or community-wide discussion on sustainability.
• Cause permanent changes on college campuses and in communities: starting farmer’s markets, changes in building operations, food services and more.
• Bond together groups of like-minded individuals inspired to create change within their own spheres of influence. These sustainable communities last long after the No Impact Week ends.
Registration for No Impact Man free screening! Big Green Screen Theatre- Erie, PA
When: October 1st 6:30 pm
Where: Big Green Screen Theatre, Tom Ridge Environmental Center. Presque Isle State Park, 301 Peninsula Drive, Suite 1, Erie, Pa 16505
If you haven’t registered for the Erie No Impact Week on October 2nd-9th you can do so HERE!YES! Magazine No Impact Week: Group Registration
No Impact Give Back Days
Or sign up sheet
Go Fragrance-Free !