Reduced Waste Road Trip

  

I have been meaning to write a Zero Waste blog for sometime now.  But, to be honest, our life-style is Reduced Waste at best. We try to practice the 5 R's of Sustainability: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rot (compost).  But our consumer culture makes it hard. COVID made it next to impossible. Our neighborhood grocery store, Sprouts, started bagging everything in the bulk section and wouldn't even allow us to use our reusable produce bags. Boo! 

We did what we could. We bagged our own groceries so we could use our reusable grocery bags. We found other ways to cut back on single-use plastic like brewing sun tea and using kitchen scraps to make veggie broth (that I store in repurposed mayonaise jars.) But we also wanted to support our favorite local restuarants by getting take-out once a week. We were shocked (and upset) by the huge pile of plastic and styrofoam take-out packaging. We are forever grateful to restuarants like Zayna's that offer paper takeout containers. Those are the ones we frequented most often.  

Recently, we were presented with a new challenge...traveling during COVID. When we got news that my family was getting together for my mom's 80th birthday party, I really wanted to be there. Since the mask mandate had been lifted, we decided it would be safest to drive to the reunion in Wisconsin. Road trip! We don't own a vehicle, so Dan rented a mini-van (which got surprisingly good gas mileage.) 

I prepared for our "Reduced Waste Road Trip" by gathering our zero waste accessories: re-usable grocery bags, a travel coffee mug, water bottles, take-out containers, toiletries, etc. Since we had a van, we had plenty of room. When Dan saw the plates and bowls I set out, he said I was getting carried away. (While he was packing his coffee grinder and french press...) He claimed we wouldn't need them since we would be eating at restuarants - one of the joys of traveling cross country.

So off we went, our refillable water bottles and a travel coffee mug at hand. We simply filled them up when we stopped at rest areas. No single-use water bottles for us! Nope. When it came time for lunch, it was my son Jeremy's job to look up restuarants that had outdoor dining and vegetarian options. When we arrived, he brought the reusable take-out containers. Jeremy loves left-overs, so he had already gotten in the habit of bringing plastic bowls with lids when he ate out.  At this point in our journey, we'd already saved at least 8 plastic water bottles, 3 to-go cups, and a styrofoam take-out container from the landfill. And it was just lunch time on the first day of a three day drive. Yay us! 

At the hotel, we unpacked our toiletries including a shampoo bar (no plastic bottle) and our own bar of unpackaged soap (so we don't have to use theirs.) I even brought deodorant in a cardboard container. We brought homemade toothpaste (baking soda and coconut oil) in an old caper jar. And...yes...that's a plastic toothbrush.  I didn't have any bamboo toothbrushes left, so I used a plastic one I found in my toiletry bag. One of the principles of Zero Waste is to use up what you already have first. The baggie we carry the soap in has been reused for 5 years! Full disclosure... Dan did use one of the hotel's disposabable glasses for brushing his teeth. But he brought it along to use for the rest of the trip.

I had my handy-dandy water bottle by my bed with ice from the ice machine. Good thing I brought two bottles (one for tea, one for water) because the opening of the other one was too small for the ice cubes. 

I also brought real silverware and our reusable plastic bowls (Jeremy's take out containers). These came in handy when we took advantage of the continental breakfast.  I used my reusable plastic bowl in place of the styrofoam plates the hotel provided.  I just wish I had my own cup for the orange juice. Doh! 

We just needed to pack some lightweight plastic cups and plates into our handy Zero Waste bag. Dan! 

When we got to our hotel room in Wisconsin, we unpacked the big comfort items. In addition to Dan's coffee grinder and french press, I brought a glass jar to make ice tea in.  Since I couldn't make sun tea, I microwaved it and let it cool off over night.  

       

We were so happy to see that the hotel was making some attempt at recycling...

They encouraged customers to use the same towel several times to conserve water - which we did!

Inspired by these signs, I used shampoo from the dispensers instead of our bar shampoo. They must be refilling these bigger containers, right? But I found out from the housekeepers that they just replace them. Oh, well. It was an opportunity to teach them about plastic waste, "Did you know that by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish?" 

We picked up some fruit and other goodies from the store - in my reusable produce and bulk bags...

I always keep a few produce bags and a light grocery bag or two in my purse. You never know when you'll go shopping... 

I love shopping at thift stores while on vacation. You learn a lot about a town by what ends up at the Goodwill. Check out what I found!  A sweater I have been searching for forever, shorts, a new hat and even a Dutch girl souvenir. The birthday girl found some great books. Recycled and reused! (Look up how much fast fashion ends up in the landfill.) 

I just wish I had gotten a small drinking glass...

Here's to finding an outdoor coffee shop with paper take-out containers! Good to know there are like-minded people out there. 

Even the gas station in Oklahoma encouraged customers to use re-usable glasses... 

I know what you're thinking. It's supposed to be a vacation! Was it worth it?  I think so. It's actually kinda fun. And it feels good to know that we kept all of that plastic and styrofoam from two weeks on the road out of the landfill! All it takes is a little forethought and before long it becomes a habit like brushing your teeth with a bamboo toothbrush.

Check out how our plants did while we were away....

Culture Clash with Our Consumer Teens.

As Dan was supervising snack time in the teen space at the library, he was approached by a teen with potato chip breath.

Teen: You get paid to work at the library? How is that possible? What do you sell at the library? You don't sell anything at the library.

This kid couldn’t wrap his mind around the idea that a service that didn’t make a profit had any value.

I’ve heard similar sentiments from my own jobless teen. He has openly expressed his contempt for Dan wasting time working at the library and volunteering for Code for Tucson or Watershed Management Group – when he could be out making real money as an engineer. That money, of course, could go towards a car to drive him to his weekly Magic tournaments so he won’t be forced to endure our sustainable form of transportation (gasp!) - the city bus.

I’m beginning to think that this is a thing - or so I gleaned from a conversation I had with a couple of teenage boys at the Women’s March in Tucson. These cavalier young men felt comfortable in this mass of mothers to boldly hold up signs that read, “Build the Wall” and “Gays for Trump.” The little dickens got what they asked for when they got schooled (or in teen speak, nagged) by somebody’s mother, namely me. I asked them if they cared about the environment at all. They shrugged, “No.” When I asked them why they supported Trump, their unequivocal answer was “more jobs to pay for new cellphones and Xboxes.” (Dan said that there was a group of teens following them laughing, so they may have just been trying to get a rise out of us. Well, they got it!)

Listening to teens with Trump signs at the Women's March in Tucson.

What’s with the youth today? Why doesn’t our son share our values about giving back to the community and living more sustainably? These teens have literally bought into their role as consumers in our capitalistic society. But haven’t we, as a country, been programmed to value the pursuit of profit above all else – even profit without accountability? While Dan and I have pledged to boycott Walmart because they exploit child labor abroad and don't pay their U.S. workers a living wage, our local Walmart just expanded.

What are we really getting out of our “profit first” consumerism? Are we even getting a good value?

Let’s look at some things our American teens consume...

Clothes:

Americans spend billions on the latest clothing fads. What do we get for our money? Disposable clothes designed to fall apart after a few washes, probably sewn in a foreign sweat shop, possibly by child slaves. Poisons from the dyes are dumped into our waterways. After a few months, these clothes are good for nothing but rags or to take up space in a landfill. I may be showing my age, but sometimes I get a yen for the good ol’ days when you could buy classic, quality clothes that would be worth repairing.

Bottled Drinks:

Look around at the store. We have shelves full of every kind of drink you can imagine. Yummy! But to get the plastic to make all those bottles, oil is pumped miles and miles through leaky pipelines. Oh, you drink water? How much do we really pay for that 89 cent bottle of water? Nestle is taking water that has been pumped 322 miles uphill (a whole coal-fired power plant was built to power the pumps that has already used up all the water in the Hopi and Navajo’s aquifer). All of those bottles then become a part of five massive plastic “islands” in the ocean. 

Food:

In America, we can get any food we want, when we want it! But really…how fresh and healthy is our food? To have a longer shelf life, our food is filled with chemicals and preservatives. To improve the flavor they add addictive sugar to everything. (But at least that has spawned the diet industry...) Even our produce is transported from neighboring states, Mexico, or shipped across the ocean putting CO₂ and other toxins in the air. Rain-forests are cleared to raise beef cattle. We Americans just love our weekly specials. But what is the human cost of those bargains? The people who harvest our foods live in squalor and can’t even afford the foods they pick. (For just one cent more per pound, the pickers could double their income to a living wage.) Meanwhile, millions of tons of food is thrown into landfills because it is damaged, unattractive or there is just too much of it (lowering profit.) Luckily, there are some good people working on preventing food waste. 

Fast Food:

Every parent laments how much junk food their teen consumes. But fast food fits perfectly into our busy lives. At home it’s frozen convenience items (about as flavorful as the disposable boxes they come in.) It may be cheap, but you get very little actual nutrition for your money. Fast food restaurants do supply two or three low paying jobs for each of their underpaid workers. To maximize profit, companies fight a raise in the minimum wage. But fast food does contribute to heart disease and diabetes – creating higher paying healthcare jobs. Unfortunately, minimum wage workers can’t afford healthcare insurance. This means choosing between bringing their kid to the doctor or having dinner. If it's a real medical emergency, there will be no money left for their mortgage payments. We can step over them on the street - where they have no value in this society since they are no longer consumers.

So what do I say to our consumer teens?

We may not have all the latest gadgets, the biggest screen TV or even a car. But we are blessed to have a comfortable little house. Dan’s library job leaves him time for his passions: teaching robotics and computer programming, building community, and getting outside to enjoy our beautiful desert landscape while installing rainwater harvesting features. It actually makes us feel good (gasp!) to carry our own delicious drinks in our cool reusable water bottles - knowing we aren’t adding to the plastic island. We enjoy treasure hunting for quirky clothes at the thrift store. Tending our little garden and cycling to work gives us a chance to enjoy our beautiful Tucson weather. And nothing beats the excitement of seeing our little rainwater harvesting projects working!

Hey!

Even my teens can appreciate the yummy home cooked meals and fresh baked bread that Dan has time to make - not to mention the time he has to spend with them.

And just look at these smiles... Aren't they worth it? 

Simple Habits Make a Big Difference

Grabbin' my handy-dandy Arizona International Film Fest water bottle.

When attempting to get people involved in fighting climate change, I often hear, "What can I do? I'm just one person."

Since Dan and I committed to transitioning to a more sustainable lifestyle, I am always on the lookout for simple actions we can incorporate into our daily routines that don't contribute to climate change. Here are two things we found that make a big difference.
1) Instead of buying bottled water, we bring a refillable water bottle wherever we go.
2) Rather than taking home numerous plastic grocery bags, we try to bring reusable bags whenever we go to the store. (Our previous method was to reuse the bags for trash or to pick up after our dog Poo. But there was still a whole box full left!)

Maybe Poo can help me remember the bag...lol That joke never gets old! .

It's actually pretty easy once it becomes a habit. Dan has a special pocket in his man purse (I mean backpack) where he always keeps a bottle of water. I have a lightweight bag I throw mine in. We live in the desert - so it's a good idea to bring water anyway.

Yeah, I know. It takes a real effort to change ingrained habits. But it can be done. You might recall my frustration when I kept forgetting to bring reusable bags while walking to the store. But with my son's help, I am getting in the habit of grabbing those bags (strategically placed by the front door)! I've seen people who keep them in their car (we don't have one) or handbag. (Gotta try that one!) We can change. My boys and I are a testament to that. We were addicted, I mean totally addicted, to diet Pepsi. Now we don't even miss it. And every change just improves the quality of our lives.

We got to take home our water jars from WMG as favors!

A special note to Tucson's incredible sustainability groups.... Thanks for all you do. We love you guys! I want to thank you for implementing a BYOC (bring your own cup) policy!  I know it's so much easier to put on an event using bottled water and disposable tableware. But our convenient, disposable life style is exactly the problem.  Watershed Management Group led the way by using real tableware for their Flow and Feast picnic at the river. What a treat to eat off of real plates! And they made it more fun by supplying reusable jars filled with yummy rainwater! Many thanks to the generous volunteers who did dishes out there in the field! It got me thinking about how many plates and glasses I would have used throughout the evening. I suggest that every sustainability group invest in a big water jug. And include a reminder in your event announcements to bring cups to be filled up (and plates for potlucks).

As you can see from this video, using reusable water bottles and grocery bags can make a HUGE difference! If you don't believe me try a little experiment - leave all the water bottles you use in a month (or from your next BBQ) in your front room! And that's just one household. Imagine the impact if we all made this simple lifestyle change!

Check out the video above and PASS IT ON.