Zero Waste Home

by Bea Johnson

[wyvernfriend]

Many asides in this review of a book I wanted to like but felt patronised by.

I did want to like this book and there are some great points in the book (must start knitting that stuffed rug and use my dryer lint in it, if I do enough to use up the lint every time I clean it out that would be a great mark of progress... sorry, an aside that occured to me as I read), but I also felt that she really wasn't living in a world I could as easily.

I'm coeliac (well technically I'm severely gluten intolerant but that sounds faddish, trust me the two-day stomach cramps aren't from my mind) and buying from open bins isn't an option for me, that way cross-contamination and sick lies. It would be the same for most folks with allergies. While it would be nice to live like she does there are also problems with it and I don't think some of her ideas are realistic. I have plans for my clothing and for my wardrove over the next few years and some of them involve slowly wearing more of it, getting rid of the excess and only replacing what I have to (which I expect to be mostly trousers and shoes, knitting my own socks is a for granted moment)

I don't think it's practical and non-wasteful to empty your wardrobe/closet/whatever of clothes you wear, I think it's a better plan to work on methods of storage that ensure roatation and removing those things that don't suit you and passing them on and removing the things that are in bad condition and finding ways of disposing of them that's environmentally sound.

I think that rethinking how we use things and how we dispose of things is a good thing. I honestly would find her a hard friend, sounds like she is an evangelist of her lifestyle to a degree that I would find painful. Good luck to her, she did make me think about some things in my life that need change but I don't think that they would suit everyone.

I found the Happiness Project more inspirational.