Society and Sustainable Living

This is totally off-topic from anything that my class has been asked to write, but after reading a recent article on the website Collective Evolution called "She Hasn’t Made Any Trash In 2 Years. This Is What Her Life Is Like," (She Hasn’t Made Any Trash In 2 Years. This Is What Her Life Is Like. Collective Evolution.com) got me really thinking about how we live our lives.

I have been trying live more sustainably, safely, using glass jars and containers for food storage and beauty products, etc instead of using plastic for the past couple years while doing my best to utilize every bit of food...i.e., if I make a roast chicken, it is used for several meals including using  the bones to make homemade chicken stock, which then turns into several more meals.

This girl, however, has taken things 110% further than I ever thought of. I never considered the fact that wrapping foods in foil and plastic wrap  would still be considered creating waste, which is not helping the environment, at all even though I recycle all that I can.

Further that, another article from Collective Evolution tells the story of a restaurant in Chicago that has become a total zero-waste restaurant (This Restaurant Hasn’t Produced Trash In Over 2 Years (http://www.collective-evolution.com/2014/05/12/this-restaurant-hasnt-produced-trash-in-over-2-years/).

After reading both of these articles, Mother Earth Living included in their daily email today an article originally printed in their March/April 2014 issue called "Eating Organic on a Budget." by Linda Watson. ( Eating Organic on a Budget. Mother Earth Living)  

I have the actual magazine both digitally and in magazine form and remember thinking when I read it the first time, how valuable this information was. Then, getting caught up in life and school, I forgot about it and did not follow it at all.

I am usually pretty good at shopping inexpensively, and prefer to eat organically, but reading this article again completely opened my eyes to how I can do much better and that I should.  I was fascinated that Watson and her husband really pulled off eating meals that cost no more than $1.00 per meal. Even when she expanded that amount to $1.53 per meal for a couple (the Food Stamps allowance per person/couple), they ate well and never went hungry. What really drove this home was when she pointed out that buying good bulk rice (basmati) was less expensive than buying the cheapest rice in a box or bag.  If you know how to shop, in bulk and carefully, you too can eat good food that tastes good and is nutritious and healthy. You will feel better all around and might even end up losing a little weight in a healthy way.

All three of these articles have inspired me to try a little harder to be more sustainable, eat better, recycle more and overall create less waste. If all of society could learn to live this way, the earth would be a better, healthier place. Its got to start with me. Here's hoping it will become a trend sooner rather than later. We have to do something to save the earth and be healthier.