Dear Editor,

In the past year, you have probably created about 1,700 pounds of trash. So did everyone you know and everyone they know.

However, there is one man who decided to reduce that number to zero: Colin Beavan, also known as No Impact Man, made it his project to reduce his impact on the environment to nothing. His is an extreme effort, but Beavan demonstrates the courage and initiative that we should all take.

After seeing the documentary produced by Beavan, also titled “No Impact Man,” my house — H-House, in Muir College — was inspired to see what changes we can make in our lives to reduce our impact on our planet.

I am writing to encourage all of you to take part in this challenge with us. For the next week, my housemates and I will give up eating meat, using the elevator, driving, creating trash and wasting water.

Although some of these actions may be difficult, the point is not to go cold turkey. Rather, we are trying to find out which eco-friendly behaviors we can accommodate in our lives.

I urge you to take a refreshed look at the way you live by trying this experiment with us. We owe it to our community to take this first step on the way to living in an eco-friendly and sustainable way.

—Monica Datta

Freshman, Muir College