New York-based author Colin Beavan will speak about his year-long experiment in living “off the grid” in an Earth Day lecture at Missouri University of Science and Technology.

The lecture will be held at 7 p.m. Monday, April 22, in the Gale Bullman Multi-Purpose Building, 10th Street and Bishop Avenue in Rolla. It is free and open to the public.

Beavan is the author of “No Impact Man,” a book that chronicles the author’s 2006 attempt to answer the question, “How truly necessary are many of the conveniences we take for granted, but that, in their manufacture and use, hurt our habitat?” For one year, Beavan and his family attempted to live without making any net impact on the environment, which meant they gave up electricity, packaging, automated transportation, new products, food grown in faraway places or anything that ended up in a landfill.

“No Impact Man” was the 2012 and 2013 selection in Missouri S&T’s One Book Program, a program that gives incoming students a common experience by assigning the same book to all students in English 20, Exposition and Argumentation.

Beavan’s lecture is the culmination of No Impact Week at Missouri S&T, a series of events designed to help students learn about how their everyday activities impact the earth and ways to reduce their “carbon footprint.” More information about No Impact Week is available online at http://news.mst.edu/2013/04/no_impact_week_aims_to_have_a.html.

A book signing will follow Beavan’s lecture, and copies of the book will be available for sale at the event.

Several other events are planned for Earth Day at Missouri S&T, Monday April 22. For a complete list, visit http://ose3.mst.edu/.