ORIGINALLY POSTED IN 2012 ON focusonsimple.co
I totally agree with Kermit. It’s really not.
I call myself an embarrassed environmentalist…because while I get completely up-in-arms about how much damage is being done to the earth, I don’t feel my actions are in-line with how passionate I feel.
When I was young I started an environmental group called TRIG (Try Recycling, It’s Good), for two reasons:
- I understood that it was a very bad thing that the rainforest was being cut down at a rate of about an acre a second. I think that was the statistic at the time.
- I wanted to be in a club like “The Babysitters Club” book series, with meetings + member cards + nicknames.
We planted a bunch of trees + raised a bit of money (mostly supplied by our parents) to donate to the World Wildlife Fund. My parents were very involved in the community, + we got active in protesting a dump that was to be located close to a water source + upwind of where we lived. I helped my dad make a paper mache model of the area for a community meeting, to demonstrate where the dump would be. A group of community members dressed up in garbage bags + protested with signs along a bridge over the 401. In the end, the dump didn’t happen. I learned the importance + power of community, especially when mobilised as a unit. + that it’s our job to look after the earth + all that inhabit it.
I still feel passionately about sustainability. But it’s more of a theoretic passion. I’ve read + wrote about community, walkability, the ills + evil of suburban sprawl, packaging, buying locally….etc., etc. But to be honest, it’s my conservative husband who has been more proactive in installing rain barrels, digging up a garden, not being consumptive – all the actionable things that actually make a difference.
Grant Baldwin + Jen Rustemeyer made a documentary called the clean bin project. they committed to not producing waste for an entire year.
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/3301133]
This project is amazing! But seems completely overwhelming. This is where the youthful environmentalist in me gets lost. Because my husband + I have a hard enough time making sure the dishes get done. How the hell would we be able to be conscious enough for an entire year (+ more, because honestly, one year should just be a start to living a less wasteful lifestyle)?
Also, when one is told not to partake in a particular kind of action, it feels like you’re being told to deprive yourself – which never works for any kind of long-lasting kind of change. There’s likely a different kind of satisfaction that comes from living simply + sustainably. Grant + Jen make it easy to get started…because it is an overwhelming + somewhat unrealistic prospect to live completely waste free starting right now.
Here are their TOP TEN TIPS for waste reduction: absolutely do-able. Absolutely realistic. Absolutely possible to start right now.
- Stop using plastic bags.
- Set up your recycling in a convenient place.
- Compost! According the the David Suzuki Foundation, “roughly 40% of the waste in our landfills is compostable organic matter”.
- Recycle everything you can. Remember that even little bits, like paper receipts, are recyclable, and small things add up.
- Give up take out containers. When you’re leaving the house in the morning, and you don’t have a lunch with you, it’s pretty obvious you’re going to have to buy something, so grab a container and some cutlery.
- Check the package BEFORE you buy it. If they’re not recyclable, we make a choice when we’re in the store not to buy them.
- Buy secondhand.
- DIY (Do It Yourself).
- Get educated. Read about recycling and going waste-free to learn about what others are doing. Watch The Story of Stuff , an eye opening animated, short film about the cycle of waste and consumerism. Search the internet for information on waste. Check out our blog’s Resource page. There is tons of information out there that can help you reduce your garbage.
- Let businesses know how you feel.
Consuming + sustainability do not go hand in hand. I can understand why so many heads-of-business are so anti-environment. There’s been a movement to suggest that if we just consume differently; use bio-based packaging, recycled bottles as clothing, + etc., environmentalism won’t interfere with the GDP. But I believe that our whole concept of financial growth as an indicator of success + wealthy is flawed.
We are pretty good about living a small footprint. My husband is definitely better at the practical things than I, if not for any more reason than it’s better for our bank account. But after watching the trailer for the clean bin project documentary, + going through their website, another action plan that we’ve partially implemented is a gift-receiving policy of second-hand, hand-me-down, or give-something-to-charity gifts. One of the best ways we can get actionable with living sustainably is to teach our kids how to feel good, whole, loved + cared for without the need for new, shiny, ‘stuff’.
Living sustainably shouldn’t be about deprivation, but about fulfilling our needs of security + connectedness without doing harm to the earth.