Colin's next book was Operation Jedburgh: D-Day and America's First Shadow War, which was inspired by a desire to learn more about the part his grandfather had played in World War II as a member of the OSS (precursor of the CIA) Operation Jedburgh.
Following on the success of those two books, Colin and his family embarked on a project to find out how much they could reduce their consumption of energy and material goods and thus minimize the impact they had on the environment. A year into that project, Colin wrote his third book, No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process. Enthused by the benefits he and his family enjoyed from their new lifestyle, Colin more formally organized the No Impact Project. Learn about it at http://noimpactproject.org/
As a not for profit organization, No Impact Project relies on donations. Colin recently sent this email out to his friends:
With his first book, Colin Beavan established himself as an advocate of our science and a friend to all of us who practice in the field. He contributed greatly to our own knowledge of our roots. If you are inclined to believe we need to rethink our impact on the planet, you might be interested in checking into Colin's latest project.Dear Friend--
As you probably know, I have a tax-exempt, non-profit effort called the No Impact Project (noimpactproject.org) that has been getting many tens of thousands of people around the world involved in trying to do something about our environmental crisis (there is a list of accomplishments at http://noimpactproject.us1.list-manage2 ... 6389e8ffcf). The thing is, while No Impact Project staff and its many volunteers do a great job, I suck as a fund raiser. Frankly, I get paralyzed by the shame that comes up when asking people to give away their hard earned cash--even though it's an excellent cause.
Since you are receiving this email, you are on a list of close friends, family and colleagues and you may know that asking for any type of help at all is hard for me. I just am not good at it. But I've finally come to the understanding that that the No Impact Project can't scale up and do its great work if I don't learn to ask. So I'm asking (sorry!).
For us to fully fund our plans to run our immersive, experiential environmental program No Impact Week at 15 universities and in five communities in the spring, I need to raise $25,000 by the end of November. I'm thinking one way to do that is to find 25 people who will either a. personally donate $1,000 or b. find some way to raise $1,000 from a number of other family or friends. Of course, we are always grateful for smaller donations, too.
There are lots of ways you can help with this even if you can't make a donation yourself.
Maybe you can afford to make a large donation (to donate, go to noimpactproject.org/donate). Or maybe you know someone who is wealthy and might like to hear from me about the No Impact Project's work? The thing is, I'm told that many people are not able to do the good work that the staff at the No Impact Project does. So they actually like to offer financial support as their way of doing service. Do you happen to know anyone like that?
Perhaps you would like to help in our fundraising efforts but you don't quite know how. If that is so, feel free to write to me. There are lots of methods for friends to raise money from friends for causes they care about. If you are interested in exploring that possibility, please write back.
Also, if you need more information about the No Impact Project's work, I would be glad to get on the phone or have coffee.
I know it's a lot to ask. But I wouldn't ask if I didn't believe that what the No Impact Project is doing is really worthwhile. Thanks for putting your thinking cap on and really understand if it's not something you are able to help with.
Thanks!
Colin
Our mailing address is:
No Impact Project
45 W 36th St
6th Floor
New York, NY 10018
Our telephone:
859.248.0632
Pat