Creator of No Impact Week to speak on Auburn campus March 9

Colin Beavan of the "No Impact Man" book, film and blog will speak at Auburn University Monday, March 9, as part of the university's No Impact Week March 8-15. Beaven will give a public talk about "How to Make the Life and World you Want" from 4 -6 p.m. in the Student Center Ballroom.

This is the fifth year the Community and Civic Engagement initiative in the College of Liberal Arts has been involved in the No Impact Project, an international, environmental, nonprofit project inspired by Beavan.

"I hope people will come because we all feel a little lost about what our role can be in the problems we see around us," Beavan said.

The No Impact Project was conceived by Beavan, who chronicled his family's year-long experiment living a zero-waste lifestyle in New York City. No Impact Week has since become an international initiative designed to promote sustainability by challenging people to live lifestyles that are better for them and for the environment. The Community and Civic Engagement initiative organizes this event every year with support from the CCE Student Club and the Auburn Academic Sustainability Programs and is co-sponsored by International Paper.

The mission of the No Impact Project is to use entertainment, education and group action to inspire new people in the quest for a way of living that connects individual happiness with service to community and the environment. Each day of No Impact Week represents a topic for sustainability and has an event in correlation with each.

"The No Impact Project, now pursued by 40 universities, is a one-week program to create and raise interest in sustainability and positive change within our communities," said Giovanna Summerfield, associate dean for educational affairs in the College of Liberal Arts. "For Auburn University, among the first institutions to embrace this initiative, No Impact Week is more than that. It gives us the opportunity to assess our quality of life and to spark conversations about our daily habits and impact."

To read more about the No Impact Project, go to http://noimpactproject.org/. For a list of topics and events on the Auburn campus, go to www.cla.auburn.edu/cla/cce/no-impact-week-2015/no-impact-week-2015-events/.