The following blog entry can be found here: http://apotaday.blogspot.com/2010/01/day-8-no-impact-mans-environmental.html
It’s clear that one of the main impetuses for starting this project was my need to shit or get off the pot, as they say-to get some pottery made finally so I can launch my storefront at www.rivervalleycrafts.com, but you may be surprised to learn that the incident that pushed me over the edge, on its surface, had nothing to do with art making.
A few weeks ago, Ralph and I went to a talk by Colin Beaven and a viewing of the documentary named for his project and blog, “No Impact Man,” at NYU. I’d spottily followed his year-long project to go virtually off-grid with his family in their NYC apartment via his blog, and was more than intrigued by their sincere adventure as I’d thought of going a similar path, though had never had the inspiration to take it as far as they finally did.
Listening to Colin talk heart-fully about how he and his wife learned deeply from their year of “living without” that they gained a meaning, purpose, fullness and joy heretofore unrealized in their “successful,” high-powered professional city lives, was what moved me to do my A POT A DAY project. Being in his presence, more than watching the very worthy documentary I suggest you see, about their year, was really what cinched it for me. I felt, from my front-row seat, not more than a tall body’s length from where he stood, his passion for sharing his new-found wisdom about how we’ve gone too far astray from connections with family, friends, community and the earth, as we chase the illusory, unreachable dream that Capitalism and her gi-gondo commerce and advertising promises us.
What was most inspiring about him, was that he didn’t preach. He didn’t even consider trying to convince the callow, NYU student naysayer when she provoked him. He spoke only of his and his family’s experiences and cited objective, statistical data from studies highlighting clearly that Americans are a miserable lot relative to most populations elsewhere on the globe when they are asked to rate their happiness and life fulfillment.
And when people asked what they could realistically do to tread more lightly on the earth, to find more time and meaning, his only advice was two-fold: Volunteer at an environmental organization and beyond that, figure out what you want and can do. Sage words, I think.
Ralph and I left the screening and talk buoyed by hope and inspired to shave a few “necessities” from our lives, namely the television, as we live pretty pared down as it is. We’d not been big watchers, save for those few binges a year we each fell prey to, but most evenings we did find ourselves watching an hour or two between arriving home from work exhausted and falling into bed.
So, let me get it out here now, we still have a t.v. in our living room (behind the closed doors of a cabinet, I might add), BUT we’ve not watched but a few hours total in the past three or four weeks since our No Impact Man night. Honestly, I was afraid to just turn off the cable right away. I needed to make sure we, and I, could do it-fill our evenings with more interactive and engaging endeavors.
I’m pleased to report I will call Time Warner Cable in the next day or two to cut our subscription to the most basic level, so we just get reception and the old fashioned stations. And, as soon as I have adequate time to figure out how we can get the few shows we want online I will cut the service completely (I will update you on this). I’m a great believer in moderation and the middle path. I WILL watch the boob tube from time to time, especially news, my vice.
So, A Pot A Day owes much to Colin Beaven. It’s with the time in my days and space in my head that watching less television opened up, that the project was conceived fully and executed. I’ve also been reading more than I have in the past many years, and have purchased a very inexpensive guitar from a neighborhood vendor and have begun teaching myself to play via lessons on YouTube.
This post was submitted by Cori Morenberg.
I am so curious to see how your TV thing is progressing. I am trying to get to the point of “cutting the cable” myself.
Here’s my progress so far:
1) I got a DVD player… yes I’m a movie addict and I just LOVE the on demand service… it’s really the main thing that has me tied to the cable. But lo and behold… the new DVD player comes with a Viera Cast service which allows you to hook it up to the internet and download movies instantly from Amazon.com! There’s no subscription required and get this… the rentals are CHEAPER than the same movies on demand… plus the selection is about a million times better!
2) I hooked up the old antenna in the attic and can get all but one local station off the air. Boyfriend/uber-geek says I need a better UHF antenna to get that one… and since it’s the station that carries the football games this MUST be sorted out before next fall! As soon as it warms up a bit we’ll be crawling around in the attic to sort that one out.
3) With the help of boyfriend/uber-geek I got my computer connected to my TV. We ran cables from the video card - red-green-blue variety… component video(?) I think… anyhow, it’s capable of carrying a HD signal. Then, I got an audio splitter and ran the audio out of the sound card and into the TV. I got a wireless keyboard/mouse so I can control it all from the couch. Only a few problems… it’s hard to work a mouse from the couch because there’s no good surface to put it on, so I’m looking for a USB remote control that will perform the same function. Plus, it’s hard to see everything clearly with the resolution set for my desktop. So… I need to sort out how to switch easily between 2 different sets of settings. BUT - Fancast is AMAZING… I haven’t tried HULU yet… and many of my favorite TV shows (Jon Steward, Stephen Colbert) let you watch full length episodes straignt from their websites.
4) I must have a way to record… especially for my crazed figure skating addiction. I got a TV tuner for my PC so once I get the antenna thing sorted out I can use the PC as a DVR for all of the off the air stuff. Just need to sort out the details.
OK… so that’s my progress in “cutting the cable”, I’d LOVE to hear any suggestions from your end!
Comment by Rebecca — January 26, 2010 @ 7:21 pm
Oh I wish the TV was not on all the time in our home, as 69 year old husband watches it all day, and will not do much. It is a big energy and time waster isn’t it?! I don’t need to be entertained all day and like doing creative things also.
Comment by Karen C. — May 14, 2011 @ 11:26 am