Living Zero-Waste in an Enviro-market Economy

By Jessica Kaplan

What is it that makes us participate in environmental sustainability? Is it seeing what we're doing to our Earth- even if it's thousands of miles off the shore in the middle of the Pacific? Or does seeing your neighbor get solar panels an incentive to maybe do the same? The reality is that we're surrounded by a community. I would argue that our communities instill a sense of locality- we are a part of a specific area, and that area contains certain things. We live, work, eat, and play in this area. If you know your community is being poisoned what do you do? You take a stand. Many documentaries demonstrate this concept. Whether you're making a huge lifestyle change by living a zero-waste life, or thinking twice before you buy an unnecessary plastic item, you're positively impacting your local environment.

Colin's message in No Impact Man was best conveyed through this documentary. He needed the chance to not only show the public what his project was doing, but also talk it out with the audience. The sort of filming tactic he used was interacting with the camera. As a viewer, it felt as though Colin was explaining to me what was going on. It had a very conversational feel. Colin's wife said how so many people didn't like them because of the project, but one environmental journalist changed her mind once she had the chance to speak to them and understand what they were doing. Many people made their judgments through what they read in articles, and that became a problem because it can look kind of crazy from the outside.

A sense of community holds people accountable. This is part of the advice Colin would give someone who can only do one thing to help the environment. Volunteer- be a part of some environmental group. Activism- as long as you're a part of the bigger picture (even through small actions) you're making a difference for the better. This idea of community and accountability is a common thread among these kinds of documentaries. I think Colin's attempt to reach the public was effective because he did his project in New York City where there is no shortage of audience.

Lauren Singer from “Trash is for Tossers” is somewhat along the same lines as Colin. Many young people, including myself, find her philosophy rather inspiring. Reading the article “23-year-old hasn’t produced any trash for two years”  you learn how she lives her zero-waste lifestyle. She is portrayed as a young, stylish, South Williamsburg local with goals that are attainable by anyone willing to try living zero-waste.  A picture of her small mason jar containing her two years’ worth of trash is just as impressive as the mason jars containing homemade toothpaste and other beauty products.  In Lauren’s personal blog you’ll find a slew of eco-friendly recipes, places to shop, and tips for living zero-waste.  Like Colin, Lauren is targeting people who want to lower their impact on the planet, but don’t necessarily know how to go about it. Both of these bloggers are rather positive and not pushy.  They aren’t writing to make people feel guilty for their choices, but they want to give people success stories to show it is more than possible to live this type of lifestyle.

Here is where we discuss just where that plastic that non-zero-waste people (sadly, myself included) use come from and where they go when they’re no longer wanted by the consumer.  This is an interesting topic because just as many people assume nature is “out there somewhere” same goes for plastic. Many people don’t realize that when they throw something out it’s going somewhere- to slowly decompose into tiny little microscopic pieces. The Story of Stuff is a presentation-based film that utilizes cartoon drawings. The narrator, Annie Leonard,  gives a conversational appeal to this short movie. You are taken through the long process of production and post-consumer life of stuff. Being a short, conversational film allows the viewer to take in the major components. They don’t waste their time including unnecessary or extraneous information.

Synthetic Sea goes even further than the Story of Stuff to show the viewer that even after that post-consumer phase, the wrath of plastic continues. The impact of plastic on the oceans is immense.  In this short video you see those plastic products used for a short amount of time by humans and then turned over to the landfill and finally the ocean. The Great Pacific Gyre is nothing short of “great” in the way of greatly disappointing. Small pieces of post-consumer plastics are imitated as plankton and then eaten by predators of the plankton. The startling images of  a bird’s body decomposing around bottle caps is extremely heart-wrenching, and definitely made me not want to ever use plastic again. “Every piece of plastic ever manufactured still exists” is one of the scariest takeaways of this video. It’s a reality of our current consumer world we live in.

Sometimes it’s about going back to where you’re from. For Morgan Spurlock going home to West Virginia and seeing first-hand what it’s like to work in a coal mine. “30 Days” Working in  a Coal Mine is intended to show the public what is at risk. You get to know Dale, a coal miner of over 30 years, and see how his work to provide is physically making him sick. You get to see the tremendous risks of the mine like when the ventilating fans turned off, but thankfully everyone made it out. We hear about these crazy stories about mines collapsing, but seeing it has more of an impact. I think the goal here is to show the viewer that people just like ourselves put their own lives at risk to provide the material for the coal industry, and is that fair?

Julia Corbett in Communicating Nature identifies this idea of consumerism. This stems from our idea that nature and work are not one. Very few people work outside now a days. Leisure in nature now requires equipment and a backpack of knowledge and maps. This is one of the saddest realities in my opinion.  When did experiencing nature become a market?

After a conversation with classmates about the popular brands like Patagonia and The North Face I was saddened by the idea that my fellow classmates had mixed thoughts about the popular “outdoors” brand. I found myself conflicted because I realized, “hey, this is a brand aimed towards ‘outdoorsy’ people.” Does this not fall under my term of enviro-marketing- the idea that a company that sets out to target people wanting to get close to nature is rather anti-environmental, on the premise that you needn’t be materialistic to be close to nature. What I found on Grist in an article entitled “An interview with Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard” gave me some important insight. Patagonia is the first major retailer to switch its cotton clothing over to organic (that totally explains the $100 price tag on my favorite pull over) which I may more than happy to pay for. Also, Patagonia launched a Vote the Environment program made to promote “outdoorsy” people to vote people into office who hold the same environmental views. Patagonia retail stores are helping citizens register to vote. Reading through the interview with Chouinard put my mind to ease that Patagonia isn’t just a trendy fad. There is sustenance to the company that promotes things I value. Although my bank account at the moment is not allowing me to buy another quarter zip fleece pullover, I know I’ll be happily purchasing more Patagonia for years to come.