So You've Decided to Go Zero Waste
As I sit here with my soon to be 2 year old son, watching the impeachment hearings, I have decided to finally write the first post on this blog I created over a month ago. It took me a little while to get started because, even though I'm so passionate about minimalist/sustainable living, I didn't know how to put it into words to make other people care about it too. I guess I will start by introducing myself, my name is Sadie (as in Sustainably Sadie) and I am a wife, mother, and full time college student. I have been with my husband for a total of 8 years, and we will be celebrating our 5 year wedding anniversary this Friday. We welcomed our first child (a boy) in January of 2018. My husband is also a full time college student (we both received grants that require us to take full time credits). He is majoring in Computer Science and minoring in Math, and I am majoring in Public Health and minoring in Sustainable Urban Development. That may be another reason it has taken me so long to write this first post, we are a very busy little family. I decided I wanted to start this blog (yeah I know, another young, white minimalist mom with a blog) because the world desperately needs us to care about it.
As someone with a young toddler, the future scares me. While I know good things are happening to hopefully push us in the right direction, it still seems bleak and uncertain. I wanted to start this blog to hopefully reach others on a personal level and help them with their journey to a reduced/zero waste lifestyle. This is no easy task. Especially (since I've come to find through my own journey) living in the 21st century is based on the idea of waste. Everything needs to be as convenient as possible. This normally equates to something packaged in single use plastic that is meant to be discarded into a landfill where it will take thousands of years to decompose. So, I concluded that we need a true community to make this societal shift in thinking happen. There are plenty of businesses out there who are dedicated to zero waste products, but they can hard to find, at first. Once I started doing some real digging into the world of social media, I discovered more than enough small businesses that could help me (and many others) completely make the switch from plastic materials. *That is actually one of my favorite things about this journey. It forces you to support small businesses which is good for the economy. And honestly, I'd rather my money be going to a 1-5 person team than to a corporation like Amazon, whose CEO is one of the richest people in the country (if not the world) and his employees don't even make a livable wage.* That is something I hope to promote on this blog, the small businesses I buy from for all of my every day essentials that are reduced or zero waste. I truly believe that lots of people want to make the switch, but they don't know where to start. That is the hardest part, just starting. But, it can be hard to start when you don't know anything else besides the status quo you see in most local stores. I hope that by sharing what products I use and businesses I buy from it will make it easier for the next person on their own journey.
Don't let the "zero" in zero waste keep you from doing something.
I think people are scared by the "zero" in going zero waste because they think it's impossible, especially in this day and age. Let's be real for a moment, I have a small toddler and we are living on a tight budget, we make waste. It happens. No one needs to be perfect at this whole zero waste thing right now, we can perfect it later. Right now, we just need to start reducing our consumption and ultimately our waste. Some change, even if it's small, is better than nothing in the era of climate change. Go into this journey knowing you will inevitably create waste at some point and give yourself space for that; know that it does not make you a failure. You are being part of the solution. That is something to be proud of.
Here is a list of things you can do RIGHT NOW to get you started:
1) Start bringing reusable bags with you everywhere
2) Start using reusable water bottles and reusable coffee cups
3) Shop second hand (for literally anything and everything you may need)
4) Talk to other people about climate change and looking for alternative products to those in plastic
5) Shop in bulk (it actually has more than just nuts) this cuts down on packaging
6) Try to cut down on your meat consumption (cattle grazing is one of the top reasons for deforestation and meat/dairy farms are one of the biggest contributors of green house gases)
We need to come together as a community, a society, both locally and globally, if we are going to deter the biggest impacts from climate change. Something I read in an article a few months ago, stated that the fight against climate change isn't actually about saving the planet. The planet will be just fine no matter what happens. It has been here for millions of years and it will probably be around for a million more years, this is about saving humankind (and subsequently everything else). Also, there is no "reversing" climate change at this point. Even if we were to stop producing carbon emissions and methane gas tomorrow, the climate we have now is the one we will have for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. However, in this coming decade, we have the power and technology to make a significant impact on the worst possible effects of climate change. That is what we should be focusing on. Doing what we can, while we still can, to keep this planet prosperous for life. Climate change is not just an environmental issue, but a human rights issue as well. I think if more people start to think about it in that way, they may be more likely to act.
I care about my child's future, your child's future, and the future of all living beings/creatures on the planet.
I hope this blog reaches someone and it truly helps them. I am not claiming to be an expert on any of this! I would say I'm still early in my journey of going to reduced/zero waste. If someone reads this blog and has ideas they would like to share, PLEASE do so! As I said, we need a community to accomplish this goal. A community openly communicates and helps one another succeed. I would love to hear from others on how they are living a sustainable lifestyle.
Since we are in the midst of the holiday season, my next post will be about how we can be more sustainable around the holiday season! As I said previously, we are a very busy little family. My goal is to make a new post every 2 weeks, but at the very least I will do 1 new post every month.
If you're still here at the end of this post, thank you! I hope that you come visit again whenever you need ideas on sustainable switches to make in your daily life 😊
~Sadie~
6) Try to cut down on your meat consumption (cattle grazing is one of the top reasons for deforestation and meat/dairy farms are one of the biggest contributors of green house gases)
We need to come together as a community, a society, both locally and globally, if we are going to deter the biggest impacts from climate change. Something I read in an article a few months ago, stated that the fight against climate change isn't actually about saving the planet. The planet will be just fine no matter what happens. It has been here for millions of years and it will probably be around for a million more years, this is about saving humankind (and subsequently everything else). Also, there is no "reversing" climate change at this point. Even if we were to stop producing carbon emissions and methane gas tomorrow, the climate we have now is the one we will have for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. However, in this coming decade, we have the power and technology to make a significant impact on the worst possible effects of climate change. That is what we should be focusing on. Doing what we can, while we still can, to keep this planet prosperous for life. Climate change is not just an environmental issue, but a human rights issue as well. I think if more people start to think about it in that way, they may be more likely to act.
I care about my child's future, your child's future, and the future of all living beings/creatures on the planet.
I hope this blog reaches someone and it truly helps them. I am not claiming to be an expert on any of this! I would say I'm still early in my journey of going to reduced/zero waste. If someone reads this blog and has ideas they would like to share, PLEASE do so! As I said, we need a community to accomplish this goal. A community openly communicates and helps one another succeed. I would love to hear from others on how they are living a sustainable lifestyle.
Since we are in the midst of the holiday season, my next post will be about how we can be more sustainable around the holiday season! As I said previously, we are a very busy little family. My goal is to make a new post every 2 weeks, but at the very least I will do 1 new post every month.
If you're still here at the end of this post, thank you! I hope that you come visit again whenever you need ideas on sustainable switches to make in your daily life 😊
~Sadie~
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