New Year's Resolution: Take the No Impact Week Challenge

We're all living in a sea of stuff: processed foods wrapped in yards of packaging, gas-guzzling vehicles, disposable containers, an overflowing closet of clothes, gadgets, gizmos, and whatchamacallits. We don't really need most of this junk — we're just all slaves to the "gotta-have-it" mentality that leaves us with empty wallets and massive carbon footprints.

But it's a new year, and that means turning over a new leaf. YES! Magazine is running a unique campaign that offers folks the chance to cleanse their clutter and reduce their carbon footprints. The publication's "No Impact Week" challenges people to take a good, hard look at their lifestyles and see what they can do to tread a little more lightly on our resource-strapped planet.

The challenge began yesterday and runs through this coming Sunday (1/9), but it's not too late to sign up. The week is broken down by adding a new carbon-reducing task each day. Today, for example, people are asked to reduce their trash output by doing things like ditching disposables in favor of reusable containers, packaging, and serving ware. Tomorrow focuses on transportation, encouraging participants to seek out emissions-free forms of transit like biking and walking. Each day covers a different segment of consumers' lives, like Energy and Water Use.

Wednesday is the biggest day of the challenge for sustainable foodies as it focuses on what we all love to consume — food! There are many ways to indulge in tasty vittles without racking up a massive carbon footprint. Eating locally and seasonally, namely, and also reducing consumption of packaged, energy-sucking processed foods in favor of fresh, unpackaged fare.

YES! got its inspiration for the challenge from Colin Beaven, a.k.a. "No Impact Man." Beaven and his family attempted to go completely zero-waste and carbon-neutral for an entire year, documenting their experiences along the way. Embracing the lifestyle was incredibly challenging — especially in New York City — but Beaven learned a valuable lesson: Getting by on a little less not only seriously shaves down one's carbon footprint, it saves money, boosts family time, and can actually improve a family's quality-of-life.

"No Impact Week" is designed to encourage individual action, but if thousands of folks across the U.S. join the week-long carbon cleanse, those individual actions add up to collective change that benefits the planet-at-large. So get involved. You can sign up for the challenge on YES! Magazine's Web site. And be sure to post your low-carbon-living stories on Facebook and Twitter.

GOT A TIP FOR US? Is there a story or campaign you think we should know about? E-mail us at foodtips@change.org. Please also follow Change.org's Sustainable Food page on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo credit: ripple* ~ "LOVE thy neighbour" via Flickr