Why Can't I Quit You? Reducing the trash in my life

I am majorly inspired by the Zero Waste Home Blog, even if my cluttered, un-minimalist soul disagrees with their house's color scheme ;)

What I am doing to:

1. Reduce

• I'm paying attention to what I buy and what it comes in! I'm trying to buy less (do I really need that thing?) and to buy things in reusable, recyclable, or compostable containers.
• Somethings in life are free and trash. I've stopped my junk mail, and I say no to free packets and return pamphlets after reading.
• I'm trying to avoid plastic bags. I make plarn, but I can get plenty from friends and family who aren't trying to avoid them.
• I'm also avoiding the dollar store, if I can. Dollar stores are often aren’t cheaper per ounce and have SO much excess packaging.

2. Reuse

• I'm sticking to my usual repurpose, upcycle, and donate cycle. Goodwill is my friend.

3. Recycle

• I know my local rules and am sticking to them.

4. Sneaky Trash

• Straws at restaurants. Sometimes I can't stop the server from giving me one. This is harder than it seems it should be!
• Fast food is full of sneaky trash, so I'm avoiding it.
• Bring your own leftover box to restaurants. I haven’t tried this yet. 
• Bring mesh vegetable and bulk goods bags to the grocery store. I just bought some lingerie bags from the dollar store for this. I should have made my own or bought fair trade, organic ones but right now I'm all about the baby steps.
  
  
  
  
  Keep at it!
  One or twenty setbacks does not a failure make!
  
  
  Disclaimer:  It’s hard to “buy less” when you’re barely making ends meet. If you are living paycheck to paycheck, and all you can afford is fast food or things from the dollar store, please disregard my advice. Feel free to submit your own suggestions in the comments, though!

Things that are hard to dwell on

 I've been reading the Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon and marveling how clear her thoughts, feelings, and emotions come through centuries later (and via translation!). She would have made a great blogger. She writes in snippets of her life, but also in lists. It inspired me to make a list of the things that can bog me down with environmental guilt...and also spur me forward.

Things that are hard to dwell on, Trash Edition:

• Every time you place an object in the trash, you are making a decision that will last at least a hundred years.
  
  
• Every time you litter or leave litter lying out (even biodegradable things) you are making a decision that may last a hundred years  and will probably sicken or even kill an animal or a child.
  
  
• Trash is not inevitable. It starts with every purchasing decision.

Environmentalism can bring you great joy and crushing, crippling guilt. I think all environmentalists enthusiastically love the natural world, but the vast majority of us use fossil fuels on a daily basis, and most of us make plenty of non-compostable, non-recyclable trash. However, the solution isn't for us to all move to the country and live off the grid. The solution is to change our point of view.

Aerial photo taken somewhere between South Dakota and Minnesota

Take this photograph: Productive farmland, useless crops that spread disease, a ravaged, severely endangered ecosystem, and a great heaping opportunity. I'll get more into the grass vs. corn debate in a later post, but seeing trash as treasure (or even consciously seeing trash) is an important first step.

Trash is a choice, that we, as individuals and as a society, don't have to make. So go forth, pick up litter, say no to excessive and non-recyclable packaging, and maybe even think about composting. Worms are your friends!