I think humans have this beautiful natural tendency to always better themselves: to make a better life for themselves, for others, and for the planet. My husband, Scooter, and I are on such a journey. Most recently, we’ve been trying to figure out how to lessen our destruction of the planet. We’ve been recycling most everything for over 10 years, I’ve been vegan for almost 5 years (him for almost a year), and we live small (in an RV to try and reduce our consumerism, etc.) So we’ve been trying to work out how to consume less in general. How to not buy a lot of stuff, etc. We were having some difficulty around some of the subjects, but I realized I could start with just trying to reduce my waste further. This led me to try a “Zero-Waste” week.
I started a few days ago. Everything I’ve ever done has started with a simple decision. To recycle started with the decision that I would recycle every can, and led from there. To eat vegan began with the decision to eat vegetarian, and has now moved from there to where I eat about a 90% raw diet (moving towards 100% and sometimes achieving that goal.) We have to start somewhere. And I’ve learned it’s less important WHERE I start and more important to just start SOMEWHERE.
So in the last 4 days I have done this:
I have used compostable dog bag for my dog’s poop (something I use anyways, but I’ve been opting for those instead of the free non-compostable bags at my mom’s apartments).
I have been thirsty and refused drinks or to spend money at a place because they only have to go cups.
I have begun research on how to make my own Kombucha.
I have refilled water jugs.
I have only bought food that has no packaging and that I can compost the scraps.
I have requested no straws at restaurants.
I have utilized the packaging as the holder for the item I purchased (dousing rods).
I have only used tea bags that I already have, or am using loose leaf bulk tea, which is what I will be doing from now on.
I have not used paper towels to dry my hands in public restrooms, even if there isn’t a blow dryer thingy.
I am turning my coconut into a bird house.
I have so far discarded: food scraps, one small sliver of plastic from the dousing rods, one plastic wrapper from my new Halloween Oracle deck, 1 napkin, 4 receipts, 3 paper towel pieces (used out of habit on accident), one cup + straw from a juice my husband got me before he realized I had decided to try zero waste for the week, one dog food can I opened before the challenge.
Things I am working on solving to help reduce waste are:
Where can I buy healthy dog food in bulk, or how to keep them healthy and make their meals from scratch.
Making my own kombucha.
Ordering my books on iTunes.
Where to set up compost.
How to go paperless with receipts.
Which pharmacies might give our medicine without a bag. (I’m going to try people’s tomorrow.)
Tomorrow I am going to call my grandparents and ask if I can start a compost bin at their house (I can’t where I live and I have to use gas to drive there a couple times a week anyways.)
My husband is going to teach me to use his straight razor to shave.
How to make my own shampoos etc… or I will just get them bulk at Wheatsville COOP.
SO, there you have it!
My ultimate goal is to reduce my footprint drastically, and to reduce my consumerism also. My ultimate dream is to operate on a purely barter system anyways, and I have begun that journey already.
My friend Jeremy and I will be hosting a challenge on Instagram for those interested this week! Winner will receive a $15 gift card via email to iTunes. (No waste… see how we did that??!!) All you have to do to enter to win is share the post about Zero Waste with the hashtag #zerowaste7daychallenge and write a bitty blurb about your intentions for the week and/or what you hope to learn or how you hope to grow from the experience. That’s it! You don’t have to follow, but to find the challenge you will find our pages with the post @veganjeremy @rawveggievibes &/or @freedom_awakening and you can share the post from any of these accounts. At the end of the 7 days, on the 16th of October, we will put everyone’s name into an electronic selector (no paper!) and let you know who the winner is. You don’t have to start on Monday the 9th to join the challenge, just do your best to go for a whole week once you start. As long as your post with hashtag is done before midnight on the 15th, you will be eligible to win!
This challenge is to help bring to consciousness the amount of waste we use and what we can do to reduce it! I hope you all enjoy it and have a lot of fun! Get your friends to join along if you like! Things are fun in groups and you can support each other! If you have any insights as to ideas for creating zero waste, please DM me and at the end of the week I will make a compilation blog of all of our collective ideas and things we learned during the experience!
Best of Luck!
Yours in Oneness❤️Freedom