Dedicated to all the nerds who were laughed at in high school...

Why I Live A Zero waste Life"

This is all of the trash that I've produced in the past 3 years.When I say that,people think that I'm crazy,or  they'll ask me question like: "Hey. So,how do you wipe your butt?"

              I live a zero waste lifestyle,and I have for the past 3 years.Now,zero waste,that's a pretty bigggg idea.Right? So let me define it for you.To me livingggg zero waste means that I don't make any trash.So no sendingggg anything to landfill,no sendingggg anything in a garbage can,and no spitting gum onthe ground,and walking away.Right?No trash.

                        This is a big
concept,and this all started when I was an environmental study student at NYU.My senior year,I was taking a course called: "The Environmental Studies Capstone course," which is the culminating course that all environmental study students need to take in order to go out into the world,and make it a more sustainable place.

                        ~well,there was a girl in this class,and every class she would have this big plastic bag,with a plastic clamshell full of food,a plastic fork and knife,a plastic water bottle,and a plastic bag of chips,and she would eat all of this,and then class after class,would just throw it in the trash.Now this was reallly frustratinggg,because here we were these environmental study students trying to make the world a better place,and there she was,throwing all this stuff into the garbage.

                  One day after class,feeling still particularly upset about watching her throw everythinggggg away,I went home to make dinner,and I opened my fridge,and noticed something that I had never seen before.Every single thing in my fridge was in one way or another packaged in plastic,and I couldn't believe it.You know I was getting so mad at this girl for making so much plastic trash,and it turns out that I was just as bad.I was that girl,and so I made a decision in that moment.I was going to stop using plastic.

                       ^|

                                                Well,
     quitting plastic- not so easy of a thing.Right? When you think about your everyday life,when you wake up in the morning,you go into the bathroom,and you brush your teeth,what is your toothbrush made out of? Plastic.what is your toothpaste probably packaged in plastic.your fash wash,your moisturizer,your contact solution.So many thing that are in our everyday lives come packaged in plastic,and so I realized that if I was going to move away from plastic,the only way that I was going to be able to do that was to learn how to make my products myself.

          Well,I don't know about you,but I certainly didn't know how to make deodorant.I didn't have the recipe just kind of hanging out in my back pocket.And so I realized that I had to do some research,and while I was doing research online,I came across a blog called the "Zero Waste home"started by a women named Bea johnson who is a wife,and mother of 2 kids,out in Mill Valley,california,and the 4of them live a completely zero waste life .

      
                      ^|

When I learned about Bea,and her family,my mind was completely blown,I thought that I was doing the best thing that I could for the planet by not usinggggg any plastic.But the idea that I didn't have to produce any trash.was so empoweringggg and so inspiring, af and it made perfect sense.Right?

Because I was this Environmental studies sustainablity,talk about sustainability,protested for sustainability:But I realized that I wasn't actuallly implementing any of those values into my day-to day-life.And so I made the decision to go zero waste.