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Partially filled Take Back Bag and a pile of clothes to donate
I spent last weekend decluttering! Once you’ve decluttered really deeply, it’s amazing how quickly the maintenance rounds go!
Category: Eco Living
Ok, I say “zero waste” but I’m not perfect! It’s very, very difficult if not impossible to live 100% zero waste in the world at the present time. You can’t, for example, totally avoid plastic. But I do my best, with pleasure. 🙂
I’ve been on this mission for many years now, and my mother before me. I love that so many things I do today remind me of her and my grandmothers, one of whom I never met. But I have a spoon I use for everyday cooking that was hers, and I think of her.
Not everything zero waste has to be new or expensive.
Without further ado, here are some of my favorite zero waste tools for daily living, in no particular order.
Today when I went for my afternoon walk, it was later than usual. I could have heeded the little voice in my head saying, It’s late… you could just skip it… But I didn’t, and went out into the warm early evening, along the sidewalk dotted with brilliant sugar maple leaves, my heart full of joy… at being alive!
Being alive is not something you take for granted when you’ve had a couple of life-threatening scares. It’s the silver lining of scary experiences. And it turns out that it’s quite marvelous, one might also say worth it, when your default mode is one of gratitude. Gratitude is a magical frame of mind that can eclipse almost every other. If you feel sad, gratitude can bring you to contentment. If you feel cranky, gratitude can bring you to… contentment! Come to think of it, gratitude is the essence of my daily walks; letting go all thoughts and worries, letting stresses flow off my mind and body like water, and simply being present and grateful for all I see. Delicious!
Have you heard of the zero waste movement? The term “zero waste” comes from manufacturing, and the goal of sending zero waste to landfills. Interestingly, at least 20 large-scale US manufacturers had achieved zero waste status as of 2015 — no wonder some of them objected to President Trump pulling out of the Paris Accords! They’re already way ahead of the curve.
I’m doing a poll.
So far, very few people I’ve asked have answered yes, which is astonishing to me! I grew up in her heyday, we had her books in our living room (my mom was a librarian), several of her titles were serialized in The New Yorker, and the world she wrote about was the subject of gorgeously photographed feature articles in Life Magazine. She’s been a hero of mine my whole life, and I want you to know about her, too!