About

Hello! Want to know a bit more about No Impact Girl? You've come to the right place...

Why the superhero name? 
No Impact Girl was inspired by eco-warrior Colin Beavan, aka No Impact Man (which he meant tongue-in-cheek, just as I do - see Why "No Impact" Girl?), who lived for one year with no environmental impact - in New York City. 

Who are you?
My real name is Louise Southerden and I'm an author and award-winning travel writer who is happiest when outdoors, preferably in - or on - water. I've written five non-fiction books, have been travel writing for more than 25 years and have won the ASTW's Travel Writer of the Year award five times. Originally from Sydney, I've been based in northern NSW since 2014 and have been living in my tiny house near the sea since 2021. 

Where can I read your stories?
You can see most of my latest travel stories on the Sydney Morning Herald's Traveller website. I also write for The Guardian. 

How did you get into travel writing?
I'd love to say I have a journalism degree and a Masters in Travel Literature, but the truth is I fell off the back of an overland truck into travel writing. After studying Zoology and Psychology at university I took a gap year and ended up doing a 3-month trip across Africa from Dakar in Senegal to Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania. 

I'd bought a second-hand SLR camera in London (all manual, and you had to wind on the film using that very cool sideways thumb action) and had dreams of becoming a photojournalist. But when I returned to Sydney and tried to get some of my Africa pics published, I learned that the best way to do that was to write words to go with them. (Only later did I remember that English had been my best subject at school and I'd been keeping a diary since I was 12!) My first travel story, A Day in the Life of an Overlander, was published in an obscure weekly magazine in 1991 and my travel career grew (very slowly at first) from there. 

What's your favourite place in the world?

It's a question I'm asked a lot and a tough one. And I haven't been everywhere (yet). Having said that, I love big landscapes that remind me how insignificant humans are in the scheme of things - in a good way! So my top five would have to include Antarctica, Norway, the Canadian Arctic, Mongolia and Mustang (a little known kingdom in Nepal). Oh, and a little Australian island called Lord Howe (here are 10 reasons why).

Why this blog matters to me
The climate crisis is increasingly affecting our lives, wherever we find ourselves. As a travel writer I saw the world changing first hand and over the years became increasingly uncomfortable with my own carbon footprint, notably the flying part. 

For a long time, I did my best to reduce and compensate for my impact as a traveller - by doing fewer trips, staying longer in each destination, writing almost exclusively about low-impact, regenerative or responsible travel. No Impact Girl is an extension of this, a chance to write about experiencing the wonders of the world, big and small, in a low-impact way. 

Post-Covid, I've veered away from travel writing to focus more on other kinds of writing - such as my 2024 memoir Tiny - to stretch my creative wings and (paradoxically, haha) fly less. 

Follow me!
The best way to keep up with No Impact Girl happenings is to follow my No Impact Girl Facebook page. I'll sign off with a quote from one of my favourite nature writers, Edward Abbey:

"May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view... where something strange and more beautiful and more full of wonder than your deepest dreams waits for you - beyond that next turning of the canyon walls." Amen to that.