Author: Rebecca Rose Thering

u-conserve sandwich wrap

Zero-Waste Lifestyle: The Beginning

As you’ve read in my 2018 resolutions, this year I want to put more of my attention towards the zero-waste lifestyle. This means learning about ways to reduce the amount of waste I produce and making gradual changes as I’m able.

To document this journey, I’m taking a snapshot of what my practices look like today. (I also have a Zero-Waste Bit-by-Bit page with a more detailed record.)

 

My Current Zero-Waste Practices

Reusable Shopping Bags

I’ve been using cloth/reusable grocery shopping bags since I first moved to Madrid in 2009. There, you had to pay a few cents for each plastic bag you used—all the more incentive to simply buy and use the durable reusable bags that were available in every grocery store. I quickly got in the habit of bringing my own bags when grocery shopping, and this has continued everywhere I’ve lived since.

When making smaller purchases without a bag on hand, I simply tell the cashier “I don’t need a bag” when I check out, and carry them in my arms.

Reusable Produce Bags

life without plastic produce bag

This fall I bought some reusable produce bags from Whole Foods after moving to Flagstaff, to use instead of those thin plastic bags. When I told my mom about it, she bought these organic cotton bags for herself—and they were excellent to use when I was home over the holidays.

Tupperware at Restaurants

My parents go out to eat on Fridays, so while I was living with them for a greater chunk of last year, that meant I got to come along, too. Together we got in the habit of bringing tupperware along for our leftovers, so we weren’t taking any single-use styrofoam take-away containers. Sometimes we would still forget, but what worked best was keeping a clean container or two in my mom’s car for this very purpose.

Tupperware/Sandwich Wraps on Hitch

u-conserve sandwich wrap

During these past five months working on the conservation corps, I always bring tupperware and my two reusable food wraps in my lunchbox. I’ll use one wrap for a sandwich and the other for snacks. I use the tupperware when there are leftovers at dinner, saving both on food waste and ziplock bags. (Our corps sends along ziplock bags with each crew, which mainly get used for lunches and leftovers. I try to avoid using any, but usually use one for the whole hitch, for salty snacks.)

Washing/Reusing Ziplocks

I’m trying to remember who I first saw washing ziplocks—either my grandma or my friend Cathleen—but the idea hadn’t occurred to me before I saw someone else do it. While I eventually want to stop using ziplocks altogether, this is a simple way to reduce my plastic waste production.

Water Bottles

I typically don’t buy plastic disposable water bottles, and currently use my Vapur water bottle and 4L DromLite bag both on hitch and on off days.

Bamboo Toothbrush

This past fall I switched to a bamboo toothbrush (from Mother’s Vault).

Bamboo Silverware Set

bamboo travel utensils

I bought this set of bamboo travel utensils this winter and have been using them a lot! I could have just as easily made my own travel set with metal silverware from home or from St. Vinny’s/Goodwill/Savers, too.

This month I’m in Texas working on a monthlong conservation project, and we’ve been staying in many hotels. The breakfasts at all of them only have single-use styrofoam dishes and single-use plastic silverware. Ah! I’ve been using either my bamboo utensils + tupperware or silverware and dishes from our camping cook set instead.

Recycling

I’m quickly learning that recycling should be thought of as a last-resort rather than the green goodness I was taught it was in elementary school. But if it’s recyclable, my top priority is to get it to recycling rather than a landfill.

That said, we haven’t seen any recycling yet here in Texas! When I asked at our hotel the first night, the woman had to ask me a second time what I was looking for. Recycling? No, we don’t have that here. So my precious little bubble has been popped as I’ve seen more recyclables going to a landfill than ever before. We have a hodgepodge collection of recyclables going in the back of our trailer, but we haven’t been able to save everything. I do have a new curiosity to investigate, though: Why haven’t we been seeing recycling in Texas?

Composting

When I was at home with my parents, I’d save food scraps for our compost bin in the backyard. We’re not allowed to compost at ACE housing, so I try to minimize what food waste ends up in the garbage. (I’m also learning that it’s harmful to the environment for food to end up in a landfill.)

Lunette Cup

lunette cup

I bought this reusable lunette cup in 2016 and haven’t used tampons since. I love it!

Daily Panty Liners

cloth panty liners

I’ve been wearing these cloth panty liners since 2015, as well as a set I bought on Etsy. Although the ones from Amazon are super comfy and work well, I do recall that they were shipped a long distance (from China?) and were packaged in plastic—so this particular set is not necessarily the greenest solution I would recommend today. I have, however, to date prevented three years worth of disposable panty liners from landfills by switching to cloth! (And would never go back!)

 

Zero-Waste Resources

Here are some of the zero-waste resources I have my eye on.

Books:

Websites/Blogs:

Instagram:

 

Do you know of any resources I should check out? Zero-waste documentaries? Books? Websites? I’d love any recommendations!

Hitch #8: Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

This past hitch I was working at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, five miles north of the Mexican border. Above is a picture of an Organ Pipe Cactus, aptly named.

We were removing invasive Buffelgrass, which grows densely and often pushes out native plants, not to mention it’s a fire hazard.

I removed Buffelgrass on a hitch in October with herbicide, but this time we were hand-removing with picks.

After removing each bush of Buffelgrass, we’d fold it in half and then put a rock on top to hold it down.

Here’s a before and after of one of the patches we worked on:

Buffelgrass: Before
Buffelgrass: After

Being so close to the Arizona/Mexico border, Border Patrol had a heavy presence and there were signs about drug smugglers and illegal immigrants.

We had an hour and a half hike out to our work site each day, and we’d always pass a few traces of human life—like black water jugs (which don’t reflect light) and some old items of clothing.

water bottle

We got to wear ACE sun hats under our hard hats while working out in the sun.

The weather was fantastic all week, and we had an excellent crew. Tomorrow I’m headed to Texas for a monthlong hitch. Happy trails!

Resolutions Checkpoint 2018: January

For the past several years, I check in at the end of each month to see how I’m coming with my resolutions and to pinpoint some specifics I can work on in the following month. It doesn’t take that much time, but without this simple monthly reflection these resolutions would certainly stray from my focus.

Here are my resolutions for the year, which are always prone to change and develop with time.

January Progress

Zero-waste Lifestyle

I meant to write a post this month about where I’m at now with my waste production, so that I have my starting point tracked—but haven’t done that yet.

I continued to use my reusable sandwich/snack wraps on hitch, as well as a plastic container for hitch leftovers. Despite being a conservation corps, ACE doesn’t usually recycle on hitch (unless it’s available at our campsite/worksite). But this past hitch, I started a collection of cardboard and other recyclables, which we drove back to the office (in Flagstaff) and recycled at derig. (Yay, small wins!)

Yoga/Pilates/Hamstring Stretching

I set up my new bullet journal on the 14th of January, and had five checkmarks in my “Yoga” column from the 14th to the 23rd. Although I didn’t track yoga on hitch, this was the first time I actually did some stretching/yoga on hitch (maybe three days?). While I didn’t have time every evening, it felt good when I did make room for it.

The Tuesday before hitch I had three different phone interviews for a farm internship (which I’ve since turned down, FYI) and was feeling really anxious about all of it. I was trying to read a book but couldn’t concentrate at all, I was so stressed/anxious. But in that moment, I decided to do some yoga. I turned on a video and cleared my mind through the breathing and moving. In the past it wasn’t habitual for me to turn to yoga immediately in stressful situations, so I’m proud/grateful that it was my response last week.

Art Journal Regularly

This is where I’ve done the best this past month. As you saw in my last post, I started a new day-marker art journal in January and hadn’t missed a day until this past hitch. I brought it along on hitch and made some collages the first few days, but there were a few evenings where there just wasn’t time to pull it out (usually on cooking/washing nights).

This is totally fine with me, as I don’t want to stress myself out with this, but rather enjoy the time creating in there. So as long as I get back into the swing of art journaling on off days and keep bringing it on hitch, that’ll be excellent.

I checked out a couple of books from the library this month which have helped spark ideas, as well (one on collage, another on hand lettering, another on creative ideas, etc).

Create One Bigger “Thing” Quarterly

On January 15 I started work on my IBS story by pasting old blog posts and emails into a huge Google Doc. Then during my first three days back in Flagstaff I came to the library twice and worked on it. After that, I was gone on hitch for eight days and I just got back yesterday afternoon.

I’m typing this very post from the library, so I’m getting into a routine of coming to the library multiple times during my six off-days in Flagstaff. However, I may need to lower my expectations on this one while on my ACE schedule, as I’m gone on hitch over half of each month.

Bits and Pieces

There’s just one bit from here that I want to touch on in this check-in:

  • Write in poetry notebooks weekly — I haven’t been back in my poetry notebook since this post, though I did bring it along with me on hitch. I think I need to change my resolution from publishing a poetry collection to filling x notebooks with poetry exercises.

 

February Focus

So, all of that said, here are some concrete things I can do next month to work towards these resolutions.

Zero-waste Lifestyle

Yoga/Pilates/Hamstring Stretching

  • Track in bullet journal. (And bring bullet journal on hitch if I’m front country.)
  • Do yoga at home at least four of my six off-days.
  • On hitch, do just 5 minutes of stretching after the work day. Do it from inside my tent if it’s cold.

Art Journal Regularly

  • Track in bullet journal.
  • I’ll aim for creating a day-marker page 20/30 days this month.
  • Read two more chapters of the art journaling PDF I bought last month.

Create One Bigger “Thing” Quarterly

  • Go to the library at least twice per set of off-days.
  • Write for at least 30 minutes each session.

Bits and Pieces: Poetry

  • Carry poetry notebook and pen with me.
  • Do at least two exercises per week.
  • Track in bullet journal.

These are the directions I’m heading towards in February. You’re welcome to use this space for your own monthly reflection, as well.

What went well in January? What direction would you like to move towards in February?

A Look Inside My Day-Marker Art Journal

Last year Candace Rose Rardon shared three simple ways to keep an art journal, and later followed up with three more simple ways to keep an art journal. I love the tips shared in those posts! And they truly are simple and accessible—the most “advanced” tools you’d need are a glue stick and perhaps a pair of scissors.

One day this summer my mom gave me a set of notebooks, one of which had blank pages. Immediately I knew I’d use it as a little “day markers” journal, à la Candace Rose Rardon. A day marker is something from your day—perhaps a receipt, business card, envelope, ticket stub, scrap of paper, etc.—to mark that day, so it doesn’t just blend in with all the rest.

I’d simply glue the item down with a glue stick, and then write the date and any other details/notes I wanted to jot down.

Here are some pages from that journal:

When I moved to Flagstaff in September, I brought along this journal as well as a glue stick, pen, and small scissors. I kept these supplies all together in a zippered pouch, which I’d pull out at least once per set of off days to record some days. (The pages for this chunk of time in Flagstaff were heavily receipts-based, so it was a fun creative exercise to keep my eyes on the lookout for non-receipt ways to remember a day.)

It’s so fun to page through and relive those days! And this journal was a lot easier for me to crack open than my writing journal—there was never resistance.

That’s what has been so lovely about the practice, I think: how quickly you can start and finish a page (under five minutes). And secondly, it’s been helpful knowing that this journal is just for me and my personal records, so early on I gave myself permission to not make it look good. (Although I’m sharing pages today, this was never my intention when I began and worked in the journal.)

This journal is now falling apart (and bursting open wider than it was ever meant to), so I got a new sketchbook over the holidays (with spiral rings!). It sat untouched for over a week on my desk, until I finally decided I could use this bigger notebook in the same way: for “day marker” pages.

I’ve played in my new sketchbook for 11 days in a row so far! My initial goal is 30 days straight, though if that melds into a 100-Day Project, I certainly wouldn’t be opposed.

The right side of January 5 (above) was a sketch for #MomentSketchers, while the left side was another quick gluing of a receipt and shopping list, like in my first journal.

For a few days I’ve been drawing out what I did, or notable happenings.

When I made my collage envelopes for Jean Wilson’s Envelope Exchange, I used the same materials to remember the occasion with a mini-collage on the day’s page (above).

I glued an envelope onto one of my latest pages. Inside I put the note and check I’d received in the mail for my first watercolor commission, as well as a print-out of the dog I’d drawn over with pencil with my Great Aunt Lois when working on said painting. I cut apart the yellow envelope and glued parts of it onto the page.

I’m really enjoying this type of daily journaling. It’s creative, easy, and fun, and looking at old pages takes me back to those moments in time.

Do you keep any sort of art journal? What does your practice look like? 

Or, if you’ve never had an art journal before, does this look like something you want to try?