Why Zero Waste?

Zero waste is kind of trendy right now and that might put you off or that might intrigue you.  I don't know how much I really like the term myself, but since it is out there, I'll use it.  Zero waste is really about cleaning up after yourself.  You know how moms get after their kids to clean up after themselves?  Or parks ask visitors to not litter or to leave no trace?  Zero waste is the same thing but with a larger view.  It looks at how much trash and pollution an item generates when made and what happens to it once you don't want it anymore.  The truth is for many, many items we've created a horrendous amount of waste we've got to deal with in the making and the disposing of all the junk we consumers like to buy.

Zero waste is basically trying to establish habits so you don't make such a mess all the time.  However, trying to be purely zero waste will drive you crazy!  It's hard because we have fixed the system so that if you don't deliberately think things through and develop better practices, if you just go with the flow and never examine your lifestyle, you can't help but being a big destructive slob like the 98% of everybody else around you. We are consuming and wasting at a frantic, self-destructive rate. But one by one we've got to change.  And every little bit of change helps. I think it is imperative we change our consumer habits, and we need to put pressure on corporations and the government to act responsibly.  I think we need everybody on board with this to turn this ship around.

To me trying to be zero waste really connects me to my faith because it involves sacrifice.  It's a little bit in the tradition of aesthetic saints like St. Francis of Assisi, who gave up everything his rich father offered him.  He deliberately embraced Sister Poverty.  I'm not going that far, but I am deliberately embracing Sister Inconvenience.   That sounds pretty wimpy to me, but for me, it's a huge step.  I'm a long, long way from holy.  I am ensconced in my ivory tower of thoughtless consumption for every single whim that money can satisfy (at least temporarily).  I am slowly breaking free but pretty much everything is against me in this including my own deeply ingrained habits, my family's expectations and habits (which I helped form!), and the consumer, materialistic, suburbanite culture that surrounds me.  Zero waste is definitely counter-culture.

Two and a half years ago I lunged into zero waste as Lenten fast.  It was hard and abrupt.  Most people need to do it incrementally for it to stick.  You try to get into the habit of remembering to bring your own bags with you when you shop.  You try to remember to print double-sided whenever you've got to print something out.  You try to eat more leftovers and not let the food in your fridge go to waste.  That sort of thing.  All that is wonderful!  Slowly as we become aware of better and better ways to do things, we can incorporate them into our lifestyles.

I am hoping that this blog will help with that journey and that change of habits.  I also hope that it will keep readers informed about what's going on to solve the problem of all this harmful waste and how the Catholic Church is addressing the issue.