all right, here I am... I created this blog site a couple months ago and could not get it started... just did not know where to get it started...my zero waste seems so small and meaningless in the scheme of things that I did not think it was worth elaborating about, I did not think that it could make a difference.
Tonight I watched the movie Home (my mom recommended it), and I think that it is a great starting point. I am inspired to share my experience and open ground for discussion, afterall we all play a part on this (endangered) earth.
I have put my family on a waste diet for the past 12 months, analyzing whatever comes in contact with the bottom of our one home trash can and slowly trying to get it as close to zero waste as possible. In this past year, I have learned to shop, refuse (what is given to me), reduce, reuse, and recycle as little possible (for only such a small percentage of our trash is actually recycled) along with up and downs (boosts of self trash control esteem and let downs). You'll see what I am talking about. This is day one of my zero waste diary.
22 comments:
Comment Rules: This blog is about reducing waste. It is not a blog about achieving absolute zero waste, or achieving zero carbon -I would have suffocated otherwise;) Anyone can post a comment and it's ok to be critical, but be cool: rude comments, personal attacks, blog/site promotions, or comments/links unrelated to the article will be deleted. Thanks for participating in the conversation!
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just read about you in the NY Times. very much enjoyed reading through you blog and plan to incorporate much of what you wrote into my daily living. thank you. keep at it! it's important and inspirational. :)
ReplyDeleteHello Bea.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fabulous example to us all. Reading your blog has inspired me to redouble my efforts in refusing. I'm pretty good at recycling and re-using, but have found it hard to resist freebies and buying things just in case I've run out. No more!
Looking forward to more posts.
Rachael (London).
Definitely an inspiring blog. As a mother of three ages 4y, 7y and 5mo, I need advice/resources on teaching/achieving zero waste with children.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Debbie (NYC)
Hi Debbie and thanks for visiting my blog. With kids, it’s most important to teach them to REFUSE. Understand that Zero Waste starts outside the home... Whatever enters it will have to be addressed. Whatever enters it, also creates a demand for manufacturers to make more (a cheap party favor that breaks after one use, a plastic candy wrapper that is bigger than the candy itself, a funky eraser that does not erase, etc…). My kids were afraid of refusing by fear of being different, but we’ve taugh them to be an example to the others. To motivate them, watch Wall-E, Earth or Home with them. And point that their efforts can make a difference. Our kids are the future... where we want them to take the Earth's future is in our hands and teachings.
ReplyDeleteWell said, Bea. I've just discovered your blog today thanks to the AP article in our local paper. I am excited to read further!
ReplyDeleteBonjour Bea,
ReplyDeleteMoi aussi je viens de decouvrir ton blog grace a l'article du Press democrat. Excellent. Il faut continuer de developer une communaute de gens qui vivent consciemment. Merci de nous encourager. A bientot!
Christine ( Santa Rosa)
Bea, I just read your whole blog from top to bottom. What a discovery, I am loving it! I am wondering if you have heard of the recent awareness ideas on HCDOW (human carobon dioxide waste) reduction. As I'm sure you know we are all creating the greenhouse gas co2 with every breath. In HCDOW reduction we aspire to bring our Perfusion Index down to the 5 - 7 range through practices like meditation and breath control. This range of oxygenation is considered safe, but much less wasteful. Perhaps 20% less oxygen consumption, which over a lifetime can be 5.5 million tons of greenhouse gasses. Amazing! At this level of perfusion the fingernails are pale but not at all blue. Of course I am careful not to yammer on needlessly and 'waste my breath' so to speak. Thanks goodness for the internet. I am so glad to have found you, Bea, keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteJust discovered you after reading Sunset Mag. Looking forward to reading more. I am all about Zero Waste. You are an inspiration!
ReplyDeleteThanks
V
Just found out about this site from HuffPo. This is great! I applaud your family's effort - and trying to get my own on the same path. Thanks for setting the example.
ReplyDeleteHi, greetings from Spain (Barcelona) also read an article on HuffPo.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for all your efforts, really nice to know there's people out there who thinks: another world is possible!
TEACH YOUR CHILDREN... education is the base for everything!
Saludos...
You are trully inspiring! Slowly I believe I shall be incorporating your ways into my own family! Good vibes to your family from mine!
ReplyDeleteI saw your family on Yahoo and with additional research came upon your blog. My husband and I are inspired and excited to make a more significant change in our family.
ReplyDeleteI just wrote and article for my company news letter "Lose a Pound a Week" that encouaged all to go on a trash diet. It seemed like a managable place for most to start.
What woul your suggestion be on how to take that to the next level (in a not overwhelming) way?
Replacing a disposable item with a reusable alternative once a week is a great way to get started.
ReplyDeleteLove to the Johnson Family - after the Today show I am going to haunt down every writing of yours and will be incorporating many clever ideas of y'alls into our home. I have challenged myself to try and come up with something new to do to refuse and share with your family. Thank you so much for being smart!
ReplyDeleteLOVE love LOVE your efforts! Thanks for being such an example. 3+ yrs ago we became raw vegans and I noticed a HUGE difference in the amount of trash we didn't have anymore. Thanks for taking it to a whole new level for me with the clothing and toys (we have 2 boys also, 5 and 7).
ReplyDeleteThanks again for being You!
Alison
Just read your article in Sunset! I am floored, inspired, and excited! I think I'm going to start selling all my extra junk with the coming week! Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteCheers!
Farrah
Amazing work Bea - you are an inspiration to us all... who knew you would be of such influence in only 3 years...
ReplyDeleteAn excerpt from "Species in a Bucket" by Edwin Philip Pister that I think may make sense to you and I...
"...I wondered about our future. Can the values driving the industrialized nations be modified sufficiently to allow for the perpetuation of all species, including humans? Will we ever realize the potential implicit in our specific designation as Homo sapiens, the wise species? I hope the day will come when public policy will be guided by the wisdom of Aldo Leopold: “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.” Such recognition could constitute perhaps the first major step toward creating the sustainable society upon which our long-term survival obviously depends."
Hi, I just wanted you to know how you touch lives even when you dont realize it. I teach Environmental Sciences in Miami, we dont have a good recycling program and the public school system dont really teach about reuse and recycling. While teaching undergraduate class I showed videos and interviews of your family, my students could not believe their eyes. I have been able to reach to them and show them it is possible to make a difference thanks to you and your family. They were able to see that they could make small difference in their own homes. Thanks so much.
ReplyDeleteHi be a
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your wonderful blog. I just discovered it. I have already begun the process of decluttering and can only hope that some day my home will be half as beautiful as yours.
My name is Leonard Brown aka "The Unlikley Credit Guru." You can find me by that same name in Facebook and blog.
ReplyDeleteOk, so this is so weird…or maybe not. Let me tell you my story. When my wife and I met, we lived in a barley 700 sq ft studio. The sum of our storage was about a 3x3 ft shared space and everything in our world that wasn’t in that space was in our living area. Then came our sweet little baby boy. We bought a 2000 square foot townhome with a 2-car garage and suddenly we had to have shelving built in our garage to hold all the “stuff” we magically accumulated. I have NO idea where it all came from…I think the boxes were procreating in the garage while we were sleeping.
Since we’ve been here, there have been more occasions than I care to remember when our huge trash can has overflowed with the week’s refuse. No sooner than I change our trash bag, is it again full, running over and ready to go out…we are on a bag-a-day regimen! I feel shameful each time we take out the trash and have desperately wanted to change the way we live. I don’t care what other people feel or think neither do I care about the pros and cons of silly political agendas…this just feels so wrong and has been needling me for a long, long time.
I first saw your story on Vitality about two weeks ago while looking at another story on the same site. There are many amazing stories on that site but yours kept “bugging” the hell out of me. When I first saw it, I thought, “well, good for them!” Yet I couldn’t get the thought out of my mind that these people are EXACTLY the kind of folks I need to take a lesson from. And so I will. I’m going to read your blog from top-to-bottom because now, I am on the same mission as you guys were several years ago. Thank you so much for sharing your lives and your story…you have converted another one even if that wasn’t your original intent!
Bea, regarding the guilt over your Christmas photo... why not print the photo yourself on recycled/recyclable white cardstock? The image comes out perfectly crisp using an injet printer. I do this all the time for various school projects, and it saves me a drive to the photo kiosk. It's great for either black &white or color, though black&white looks great even on the draft/fast setting, without sacrificing the image as you would skimping on color. You are able to print multiple to a sheet (wallet size, 2x3, works great to keep ink usage to a miminum.) Trim with pinking shears, and you are good to go!
ReplyDeleteHi Bea:
ReplyDeleteJust an update on my efforts to make my home look half as zen as yours. So far we have painted the bathroom white. (It really needed painting anyway.) It was green before and I have to say that I really love the new look. Also, I have mostly white towels already but as the other colored towels get turned into rage I am going to replace them with white only. I find that this simplifies laundry time as all of the towels can be thrown in together. No need to separate colors. I have decluttered the cabinet and kept only one decorative item. It is a really beautiful hand blown glass fish that we got on vacation many years ago. It really didn't match the old green color but now it really looks great against the white paint. Thanks again for the inspiration.