Homework
I agree that we need to focus on the climate ASAP, but I think that is more of a top-down message. For those of us wanting to make small changes in our lives that will hopefully make meaningful impacts, now is the time for homework. That is pretty much why we started this blog and hopefully why you're reading it.
It is super easy to get caught up in all the "zero waste" products you need or should buy according to every blogger/influencer out there (and there are some really cool ones). But our goal with this blog is to figure out when we actually need something new or just how impactful changing certain habits might be. A common complaint I've heard from friends who are trying to reduce their own impact is, 'how do they actually know what they're doing makes any difference and/or if the difference is actually even in the right direction?'. Like how switching to organic cotton tote bags instead of using the disposable plastic bags from the store might actually be more harmful to the environment. (source: Quartz). Or how using paper bags instead of plastic isn't actually much better either (source: Planet Money )
So this post was just to let you know that we will be trying to do that research in regards to what we post.
Similar to this person's viewpoint from on theoutline it can be disheartening to try to make any kind of change in your life when you read articles those above. It can make you wonder, why try at all? I agree with the author of that article from theoutline, "zero waste" is a bad name. Not only does it sound unattainable it is in fact impossible. It's more about reducing my waste, buying less disposable products and thinking a bit more about whether I really need that new item or if I just want it.
I don't expect my changes to make a huge impact, but hopefully I can inspire others to do the same and by posting about it and purchasing products that are more thoughtfully produced we can encourage the market to provide more alternative options, pushing change from the consumer side. Similar to how change has slowly come around in the garment industry (which is still not perfect). I know this might not be the fastest, most effective way, but ideally the changes we are looking to make are ones that are easy, better for us (healthier and/or money saving) and quantifiable.
The point of this post is that I don't think we should be ditching all of our plastics or trying to be completely waste free tomorrow. These changes won't make a difference to the climate overnight, so we can step back and take the time to do the homework needed to make informed decisions.