A LETTER FROM THE STEREOTYPICAL ZERO WASTE WOMEN
I am exactly the person you think of when someone says, “zero waste.” I am a middle class, straight, white woman, who stumbled upon a Bea Johnson video and decided to “challenge” myself to live more minimally and without plastic.
It’s a challenge for me to refuse superfluous items like lip gloss, Target clothing, and name brand household goods. It’s a challenge for me to discover local stores that have what I need. It’s a challenge for me to reduce my food waste. It’s a challenge for me to make my own personal care items. And my biggest challenge is refusing.
And yet, what I see as challenges to leading a zero waste life, are things people are confronted with every day. It’s a privilege to opt into this lifestyle, when doing without and using what you have is simply called “life” for others.
Within the zero waste community (and I include myself prominently in this critique), we often take items and ways of life that have been used by indigenous peoples, people of color, and the economically disadvantaged, and we brand them as new, exciting zero waste discoveries. This is false advertising, and some could argue its appropriation. Soapnuts have deep roots in Native American, Indian, and Asian cultures. Cave paintings found in France date the use of essential oils back to 18,000 B.C.E., and were integral to the Egyptians. And I only have to go back a generation within my own family to understand that canning and preserving food in mason jars was something my grandmother did to stretch her dollar and to reduce food waste.
As a white woman, what should I do? Two things. Get uncomfortable. Get educated. I believe these go hand-in-hand. You have to be willing to hear and/or seek out constructive criticism, and understand why you are receiving this feedback or information. I follow accounts that challenge the perfectly staged IG photos and bring up substantive topics like environmental racism. When reading and viewing these posts, I would be lying if I said my knee jerk reaction wasn’t, “but that’s not ME!” If you have that same feeling, hold onto it! Read more posts from this user, do your own research, and try to understand the roots of your reaction. This feeling has made me seek out a more diverse array of books and media and encouraged me to follow more people of color on Instagram.
While I am grateful for discovering zero waste, I challenge myself to be mindful of the people and cultures who are already occupying this space. By educating myself on the origins of many products and ideas, I continue to realize that ancient cultures had it right 1000+ years ago. The reason so many of these ideas/”products” exist today (e.g., essential oil) is due to indigenous peoples or people of color who continue to hold these items sacred and pass them down through generations.
As a white and zero waste woman, if I stand for a better, cleaner, healthier environment, then I have a responsibility to fight for those basic rights for everyone. I don’t want to drown out voices, I want to do my best to raise more voices up, and to be a responsible zero waster. I look forward to continuing to learn from so many in this community, while being unafraid to be held accountable and open to constructive criticism.