I work in the marketing and design field and enjoy the fun of communicating visually so I am constantly plugged into current events and media. I love the arts and music, but not really the Indy scene. I am a wife and mother and we live in the very un-sexy burbs outside of cool Portland.  I purchase clothing at Target and H & M and yes, I daresay I enjoy McDonalds fries every now and then. I work in an office sometimes, remote sometimes, and work very hard at all the other times with my two year old daughter. I am not a great cook and eating organically is relatively new to me. I am a very normal, middle class, consuming American. By all standards, trying to go 'zero waste' isn't very popular.

 

But then I think about my daughter. And I read and hear so much about our over consumption as a society. At some point, it's going to hit the ceiling. Bigger and better won't be reached, and the free-fall that would follow would be so devastating- I don't want that for her. I don't want garbage to inhibit her from enjoying nature, or the great 'consumer want' to sidetrack her from glorious dreams, or the depletion of all fossil fuels to leave her crippled and unable to experience the world.

 

I know doing this Zero Waste thing will be challenging and downright annoying, but then I look at my daughter. And I am compelled.