Zero Waste Living: A Rookies "Miss-take"
Earlier this summer I was watching a video on YouTube about a woman who lived without plastic. In fact all the trash she created fit inside a single pint sized mason jar. It inspired me to challenge my roommate to a zero waste month.It inspired me to challenge my roommate to a zero waste month. I have been passionate about sustainable living for years by recycling, composting, riding my bike over driving, bring reusable bags to the grocery, and growing some of my own food, I thought I was doing a pretty good job and that the month would be a breeze.
The first week was going great and one day I had to stop into to buy lunch because of a time crunch and not being prepared. FYI: batch cooking will save your life, so stay tuned for next weeks post! I grabbed some sushi along with a bottle of mineral water and at check out the woman handed me a plastic fork along with my receipt. A sinking feeling entered my stomach as I refused the fork and walked to a seat facing the window.
Taking my meal out of the reusable bag I realized how unconcision I had just been in my choice. The container for the sushi was made of plastic, the soy sauce packet was made of plastic. I also began to question about the water bottle, although made of glass. how much energy does it take to recycle that glass bottle and how far did that water have to travel in order to get to the store. Where was the salmon sourced from, was it farm-raised or wild caught? And the rice definitely was not grown in Minnesota, it had probably voyaged across sea and sky to wind up here on my plate. Obviously we do not live in a perfect world so I enjoyed my sushi with gratitude. However when things like this happen we must choose to learn from the "miss-takes" in order to live more consciously. In order to make change it is worth asking questions and bringing awareness to our individual actions instead of pointing at others.
How can I better live in integrity with my core values? As you may well know food is one of the most impactful aspects of environmental and human health. For the majority is is something we partake in everyday three or more times. Are we choosing to support the local economy or are we contributing to big business? We vote with our dollar and every choice is either moving you into or out of alignment. Choosing to invest in the local economy, invest in education, and after a bit of a learning curve these small changes will vastly upgrade your life. It’s what is normalized in our society that needs to change, living the best version of ourselves creates a ripple effect to influence friends, family and then the community to make positive change as well.
Sorry for the rant. It has been three months of moving towards zero waste living. I still find new challenges such when I need to replace clothing, shoes, tooth brush, toiletries etc. But I've come to find it a game, learning from my mistakes and then upleveling. I will continue to share with you how I am leaning into a more sustainable lifestyle so that you can learn from my "miss-takes" and join me on this journey. If you are interested in moving to a zero waste lifestyle sign up below for The Zero Waste October. You’ll learn the step-by-step process to get you started on making the change in your community, and the world!
If you want to learn more about the impact of plastic on the environment click here to watch.