I’ve been wanting to start this blog for a long time, and I recently had a push to just go for it so here we are! My name is Leslie and I am not perfect. I want to go zero waste: to make a positive impact on the environment, to save our planet. But I am one average person working a normal job, shopping at normal stores and doing normal things. How do I eliminate waste? How do I help? It took me a while to realize that no matter how small a change may seem, its implications can grow exponentially. If everyone does zero waste imperfectly, we can make an impact as a whole. If everyone makes one or two little changes, it can make a huge difference. And yes of course, big corporations drive a ton of the waste and pollution on the planet, but doing good things for the earth should not be given up on just because we are small individuals.
They put up a clock in NYC counting down to the exact moment when climate change is no longer reversible. When I saw that post it hit me- I have to do this now. We have 7 years. That’s it! 7 years is not a long time! At first, I saw this as daunting and felt hopeless, but now I am feeling empowered. It’s now or never so I’m going to give this my all. This blog is my way of sharing my journey of trying to do my best. I have been at this for a little while and have had some great and some not so great experiences. I am not perfect, and do not pretend to be. I try to cut one thing out and realize my substitute isn’t any better. I give up a lot. I cheat and eat things I shouldn’t. I’m just here to encourage you to try with me- we don’t have to succeed, we just have to try.
The first thing I decided to do on this journey was figure out what all the trash is that I’m producing. I kept a waste log (or as my husband called it, a trash journal) for an entire month. I wrote down every single item I threw in the trash, and also kept track of everything I recycled. Where I live, we separate our cardboard and paper from our glass and plastic waste, so I kept track of it all. The majority of the waste in our household was food packaging, which is going to be a huge undertaking. This is going to be the biggest work in progress, partially because I don’t think I’ll ever want to stop eating candy bars! This journey ahead of me is going to be annoying, fun, and hopefully you enjoy my story…
Environmentalish 