Small Changes, Not Perfectionism

The Low Waste Movement

The popular Zero Waste and Low Waste environmental movements have exposed many people to an alternative way of living in our consumer driven society. Fitting all your trash for an entire year into one mason jar is an impressive feat that opened our eyes to the possibilities of making significant lifestyle changes to reduce our footprint on this Earth. 

Small Changes, Not Perfectionism

While I find this lifestyle shift to be an admirable goal, I also wonder if people intimidated by the drastic measures they would have to take to fit their trash into a mason jar, that they don't know where to start. It might be too big of a leap. Gradual and small changes might be more manageable and less intimidating to some. Perhaps this is also why so many people, including myself, try to go vegan for the planet and all the wonderful health benefits but end up feeling like a complete failure because the transition is too big and there is little or no guidance in between. You either are "zero waste" or you are not. You either are vegan or you are not. The environmental movement risks excluding many from the cause by not being approachable to the realities of the general population and their current lifestyle. To be effective, the environmental movement must meet the population where it is at and provide exposure and education to help them make small realistic changes. At the root of this idea is the belief that when people know better, they do better as long as they believe in the value of the change. 

So I decided to stop being so hard on myself for not being able to fit a years worth of my trash into a mason jar. I decided not to give up just because I wasn't there yet. I'm just not there yet! I'm ok with being a work in progress. The goal is to make small purposeful and impactful changes in my lifestyle. It is not to be perfect and it is not to create a culture of shame around lifestyle choices... I see that a lot too on youtube, blogs, all platforms of social media. 

Changing Our Lifestyle Holds the Power to Change the Marketplace

Why Bother?

A central reason for making any changes at all is the ever increasing detrimental consequences of climate change. But let's get one thing straight, all of us little people had very little say in causing this crisis. The structure of our consumer society and corporatocracy is largely to blame for the current situation we are facing. My little Subaru-driving-self is not going to reverse the effects of climate change by riding my bike to work everyday instead of driving. But it is going to make an important statement. It's going to take many people making changes to change the world. It's going to mean all of us changing the demand in the marketplace. Choosing our purchases more conscientiously, supporting companies that are making sustainable, ethical choices and then spreading the word. I see the possibility of creating a world we want from the ground up. It's a social movement that needs many people and must be approachable, attainable, realistic, and gradual. 

In addition to wanting to be a part of the solution rather than part of the problem, I just simply love our living breathing Earth so much. I have so many precious memories outside in the forests and near the rivers of Alaska, the mountains of Colorado, not to mention other states. I'd like to do something good for something that gives so much back to me. I do not want to take our precious Earth for granted. We forget about the complexity of the living systems of this Earth and how a slight temperature change can cause drastic consequences and cascading effects. 

Purpose

The purpose of writing this blog that probably no one will read ...lol, is to document gradual changes I make in my lifestyle so that the shift between current modern living and low waste living is more approachable and attainable. I want more and more people to feel like they can make these lifestyle shifts to build the movement around living more sustainably and compassionately.