In No Impact Man, Colin Beavan and his family begin their year-long experiment in environmental living with small steps: using cloth handkerchiefs instead of disposable paper towels to blow their noses, for example. Perhaps the best symbol in the book of how such small changes, aggregated over time and across communities, can have big consequences, is the Mason jar that Colin carries around for his water and coffee.
We first hear about the jars on p. 57 when Colin, trying to rid his family’s garbage of take-out containers, plastic wrap, and cardboard boxes, begins taking empty glass jars in canvas bags to the grocery store to fill with pasta, rice, raisins, and other items. Immensely proud of his eco-efforts, he gets nothing but hostility from the woman behind the cash register.
But he persists in his attempt to avoid excessive waste. His family stops eating take-out food in plastic tubs and styrofoam boxes; they cancel their newspaper subscriptions; they collect used printer paper to write on; and they carry cloths with them to use as napkins. And, later, we learn that Colin has begun carrying a glass Mason jar around for tap water and coffee:
I like it better than something that you buy because it signals the reuse of resources. After all, my jar once had peanut butter in it. Anyway, very often, when I put the jar down on the counter at the coffee shop, the baristas like it so much they give me my coffee for free. (101)
You’ll be seeing a lot of Mason jars around campus this year as part of our own attempt, as a community, to reduce, reuse, and recycle. First-year students attending Common Read events in the fall will get their own glass Mason jars with green EcoJarz lids, a great way to support campus-wide sustainability initiatives.
The jars are also helping put UMass Amherst on the environmental map; in fact, a recent article in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle mentions our Common Read and other eco-friendly projects!