Essay 3

	The experiment to live a year with making as little environmental impact as possible was both monumental and challenging. Collin Beaven's motivations to start his experiment to make as little impact on the environment as he and his family possibly could was motivated by a feeling of guilt for inaction. After starting the experiment, he was motivated to finish it once he noticed he was connecting with both his family and community better.

Collin's feeling of guilt for inaction was one of his first motivations for his project. While riding the elevator to the night floor of his apartment building, he thought about the warm weather outside. After talking to the elevator operator the thought of the consequences of his inaction came into his mind. Not only did Collin think about the polar bears, he also thought about the effect of global warming and its consequences for those who live on small islands. His feeling of guilt for the consequences if he did nothing motivated him to embark on his project to try to live with making as little impact on the environment as possible.

Once his family began the experiment, they noticed a tremendous improvement in the enjoyment they had when spending time together. The desire to connect better with his family was motivator for his family to follow through with the experiment, well at least a motivator to continue through with it. While his family was going through the experiment, they noticed much improvement in their family and social happinesses. When they got rid of their TV, they noticed that they better used the time that they used to use watching TV doing family activities. They also spent more time outdoors and ended up being healthier and happier as a result. Michelle's pre - diabetic health problems reversed and they both lost weight.

Another desire and result of the project was that the Beaven family was able to connect with their community much more. First of all, they only ate food that was grown locally and that resulted in them frequently visiting the farmers market in New York City. In addition to only eating food that was grown locally, they visited nearby farms in the state of New York to see where their food came from, how it was handled, and the treatment of the animals such as the cows that produced their milk. In doing this, they were able to better connect with those who provided their food and learn about their beliefs and family histories. Collin also got the opportunity to work with --name-- in the community garden and learn about planting vegetables. Collin also became involved in local environmental groups that worked on improving and cleaning up the New York city. He helped clean up in the flower beds and clean up the river. He also gave lectures to students about his experiment.

Collin's unique experiment showed that he was willing to break societal norms and try something different and challenging. He challenged both himself and his family to live with making as little environmental impact as possible, which proved to be a challenge for them quite a few times, but in the end they ended up being quite successful. During the experiment, Collin was able to erase the guilt he had felt about not doing anything by doing something that some can view as being monumental. Even though they experienced quite a few hardships during the experiment, the Beavens quality of life ended up improving as a result. They got more exercise and social time while doing this experiment. Collin and his family were also able to connect with the community much better as a result of this experiment.