Can one live a life completely devoid of waste?
For a small percentage of individuals, it’s possible, but for the rest of us… the answer is no.
The zero-waste movement caught my attention shortly after I went vegan in 2014. The viral video of the turtle with a straw stuck in its nose was circulating, aesthetically-pleasing zero-waste lifestyle videos plagued my Youtube homepage, and everyone around me started to purchase Hydroflasks.
The more I leaned into the lifestyle of adopting zero-waste practices such as carrying metal straws everywhere, using tote bags to carry a small supply of groceries, and taking a reusable coffee cup to cafes, the more I fell in love with making an effort to be more sustainable. Overtime, however, the term “zero-waste” caused more dread for me than excitement.
As I continue to make small efforts to reduce the waste I produce, the complete eradication of waste from my life is an impossible feat. As sustainability content creator @shelbizleee put it: we need to normalize criticizing a system and those in power without feeling the need to be the ones to fix it. In other words, we can make individual efforts towards a more sustainable environment, but the big changes happen from systemic change and effort.
The small percentage of individuals who have the resources, time, support, and energy to build a zero-waste lifestyle, continue to do that, but for those who feel crippled by the overwhelming need to create an individual impact, do your best to reduce what you can and strive to be low-waste.
Eventually, I want to see a world where sustainable living is etched in the fabric of our society, but for now, I am committing to an imperfectly low-waste lifestyle, because the best we can do for our environment is to be conscious and informed about the areas we can influence in terms of reducing waste in our day-to-day lives and advocate for better structures and systems to make sustainable practices more accessible on a larger scale.
Being imperfectly low-waste is better than not trying at all, so it is my hope that making this tiny change in vocabulary and focus will make sustainable living less daunting and more empowering.
For more on sustainable living, click here for similar posts. To stay inspired, follow @aaliyahinspired on Instagram and Tiktok.
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