New Year's Intention 2018

Our zero waste intention.

As a family we are making a New Year’s intention this year to be mindful of our spending and how our spending impacts the earth in terms of the waste we create.  As a family, we are hoping to find ways to reduce our collective trash and ultimately move toward being a zero waste household. 

It is a lofty goal inspired in part by a hike we took on our road on Thanksgiving Day.  We hiked into the woods and stumbled upon an old homestead dumpsite.  Beneath our feet clanged layers of old tin cans, discarded appliances, old bottles, and toys.  It was both a treasure trove and a humbling reminder to see the legacy one family can leave behind and its direct impact on the health of the environment it exists within.  My children exclaimed with pride how we do not have this kind of waste at our house.  We had to quickly remind them that in fact we do and it was probably much, much worse.  We just have the convenience of having it taken “away.”  Such a magical and inaccurate word, “away.”

We are beginning an intention of consuming less and finding new ways to consume within our local economy to reduce our family’s waste.  We will document what we learn along the way here.  In many, many ways my family makes the most ecological choices we can, but there are definitely areas where we have slacked in the name of convenience and this intention is a way of keeping us honest with ourselves to make sure we are doing the best we can to live respectfully with all beings on this precious planet we call home.

Our goals:

• To limit our purchases and try to buy nothing new (thrift store purchases and Craigslist of secondhand items are okay).
• To take full responsibility for our trash both home and away.
• To reduce our garbage output to hopefully have the last 4-6 months of the year be zero waste months (including the holidays).
• Less stuff, less distractions, more meaningful time together.