![]() ![]() She is entitled to the luxury of using disposable diapers, but in return, she grows a large garden and produces a lot of her own food. One of my dearest friends is in her early twenties, has two daughters under the age of two, and works a full-time job (I’m not saying she is Super Woman, but I’ve never seen her and Super Woman in the same room at the same time). Where the Baby Boomers had a balance between convenience and conservativism, our balance is now extremely offset. As generations continued, so did single-use items like kcups, diapers, razors, and paper plates. By the time Generation X grew up, they were fully immersed in disposable items. At the time plastic appeared in every household across America, the Baby Boomer generation already had a foundation built on conservation. Plastic use really peaked in the 60s, twenty years after my grandmother was born. Because environmentalism is so closely interwoven with political agendas, she never associated her practices with the movement. The environmental movement she thought was purposeless is one she actually puts into action. She reuses take out containers, refills reusable kcups, and patches her torn clothing. In all actuality, my grandmother understood waste reduction very well. In response to me bypassing the straw and drinking straight out of the restaurant glass, she gave an exaggerated eye roll and said, “I’ll never understand.” I knew exactly what she meant she would never understand: waste reduction. My grandmother and I are similar in that we are very particular about everything, especially cleanliness. A conversation about waste reduction with my grandmother arose during a luncheon in which I refused a single use straw. ![]() I’ve found my balance by looking at where we’ve been as a society and how we’ve gotten to where we are. Whatever your reaction is, at least I’ve sparked your curiosity one way or another. Maybe you’ll agree with some of what I say, or maybe you’ll have a fantastic antithesis that demolishes my methods. I merely want to share a piece of my journey and explain why I believe there is a necessary balance to be found. Change is only successful when we decide it for ourselves. My purpose isn’t to convince you to make a lifestyle change. However, trends aren’t always a bad thing, there is an extent to a self-healing planet, and a lot of things are a big money gimmick (how many of you are reading this from an iPhone?). Environmentalism is a current trend, our planet is incredibly resilient, and lifestyle changes do drain your bank accounts. Nature has given us hell for centuries, let’s pay her back tenfold! You certainly wouldn’t be wrong for thinking those things. Maybe you are part of the school of thought that believes environmentalism is just some hipster bandwagon everyone is jumping on, our planet is self-healing, and efforts to reduce waste are a money gimmick. ![]() I took a step back and decided to focus on waste reduction instead of zero waste. If there was any chance of making progress, I needed to revise my resolutions. The only things down here you are buying in bulk with zero waste are shrimp and crawfish. I live in a small town at the very bottom of Louisiana. Considering my circumstances, going zero waste was a bit of an ambitious resolution. ![]() We set ourselves up for failure right from the start. Along with the length of our lists, our goals are often set at unachievable heights. Our lists can circle the earth four times-which is about the same amount a year’s worth of plastic water bottles thrown away in the U.S. While making my resolutions for 2019, I jotted down “zero waste.” A major hurdle of new year’s resolutions is the overwhelmingly lengthy lists we try to tackle. Whether genuine or not, we’ve all partaken in creating a list of goals that may never be met. Right? Eventually, that annual ritual may turn into a semiannual ritual and even a quarterly ritual. I don’t see anything wrong with starting my year off by meditating on all the ways I want to grow. The masses can only afford to entertain progress once a year, and I humbly lump myself into the masses. While regular self-assessments are ideal in a utopian society, it isn’t that easy for some of us to ponder all the ways we can become better people throughout the year. There is a great divide between those who participate in the annual ritual and those who think resolutions should be made throughout the year. With each new year comes a set of new resolutions. ![]()
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