M11.5 Blog about a Zero Waste Life

The TEDS Talk by Lauren Singer was really inspiring to watch, but it seems challenging to apply. Conceptually I'm motivated to implement a zero waste life for myself and my family but I'm not sure how to go about it. I decided to make note of Singer's 3 simple steps for living a zero waste lifestyle and compare the steps to how I live my life.
1-Look at your trash and understand what it is, meaning what are sources of my trash:
Food products- practically all of my food products are packaged in some form of plastic. I need to purchase grocery's today and I made conscious decision to not buy products that are packaged in plastic and only buy in bulk. This was really hard to do, I ended up not buying quiet a few products. But I got stumped when I was trying to buy food products for my baby, all of them are packaged by some form of plastic. For example, a gallon of organic whole milk is only found in a plastic container at my grocery store. The only milk product that was in a glass bottle was unpasteurized, raw milk an was triple the price of the plastic container.
2-Doing One time change's in everyday life: I've stopped using plastic grocery bags and only use canvas cloth bags that are reusable.
3-DIY: This step is also challenging for me, with being a full time MPH student and a stay at home mom to a bouncing 15 month old baby its hard to find the time, resources and means to create my own waste free products. But for now,  my husband and I are discussed the possibility of trying to compost for our home.

Comments

  1. UnknownNovember 10, 2018 at 8:19 PM

    Thanks for sharing your experience Claudia. I appreciate how honest you were in recognizing that a zero waste life is very challenging to accomplish. For me, I think it's about finding a balance that fits my lifestyle and doing my part as best I can. For example, I can't DIY everything, but I try to DIT what I know is easy and convenient for me. For example, I DIY my own multi-purpose cleaner, because I know it requires less of a lift on my end. I think that it's small steps like these that make a large difference moving forward.

    ReplyDelete
  2. snaymallickNovember 11, 2018 at 8:08 PM

    I think that it’s huge to make it a step to DIY. That’s great that you’re taking initiative Claudia to ensure your DIY. I agree that we all need to make a step towards a zero waste lifestyle because in the end it is the world we want our children to grow up in. Thanks Claudia!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

M9.2: Six Chemical Classes

Image
1-Highly Fluorinated : Products that are highly fluorinated are man made and is found in several products that we use daily, it can be found in nonstick cook wear and waterproof items. These chemicals are toxic to our health and remain in our environment permanently. These chemicals were found in 98% of Americans, the development of fetuses and infants are in jeopardy from exposure to these chemicals. C8 and PFOA are linked to kidney, testicular cancer, elevated cholesterol, decreased fertility, thyroid disease and hormonal disruption HF bioaccumulates and does not breakdown thus damages the environment.  How can we protect ourselves: A-Choose textiles and carpeting without water- and stain-repellent B-Avoid food with grease proof packaging, such as microwave popcorn and some fast food. C-Avoid personal care products with "PERFLUR", "POLYFLUOR" nad "PTFE" on the label. D-Be way of products labelled "PFOA FREE", they often contain sim...
Read more

M8.4 Chemical Policy Reform

Image
What is the Louisville Charter for Safer Chemicals?  The Charter is consists of six background papers that describe the six key principles needed to regulate chemicals and change the economy for clean and safe chemical production and distribution. Implementation of these principles will require polices that mirror the principles to protect the health and well-being of people, provide information for both consumers and manufactures to make sounds decisions regarding the chemicals they choose to utilize and cause change in the economy by providing incentives for environmentally conscious businesses. Background Paper #2 Of the six background papers, I've chosen to focus on Background Paper #2 which focuses on the phasing out of persistent organic pollutants, Bioaccumulative and/or Highly Toxic Chemicals which are also known as PBT.  1. What are Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP):   Defined by the Stockholm Convention as Toxic Has the potential...
Read more