{"id":204,"date":"2020-10-02T12:09:30","date_gmt":"2020-10-02T02:09:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/being\/?p=204"},"modified":"2021-02-23T10:39:28","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T00:39:28","slug":"waste-not-want-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/being\/waste-not-want-not\/","title":{"rendered":"Waste not, want not"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Becoming aware of how you utilise the earth\u2019s resources and minimising waste can help you foster a deeper appreciation of and connection with the natural world.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are so many reasons to begin minimising waste. By embracing a low-waste lifestyle, you\u2019re taking more gentle steps on the earth, you\u2019re saving money, you\u2019re living with less clutter (which can reduce anxiety and overwhelm) and you\u2019re becoming more mindful of how you utilise the earth\u2019s resources, which allows you to cultivate a deeper appreciation of and connection with your natural environment. Arriving at a point of impactful change is a culmination of seemingly small changes that can be practically integrated into everyday life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve just jumped on the waste-free wagon, it\u2019s best to focus on simplifying. Matt Purbick, a keen farmer and co-author of two books,
Grown & Gathered and The Village, aspires to educate people on creating a sustainable world. The first step in minimising waste in your wife makes room for greater connection with the environment and each other is, he believes, to simplify. He says, \u201cTo be blunt, be less busy. There is no excuse anymore for continuing to run ourselves into the ground \u2014 becoming so
stressed that we are in survival mode \u2014 and then just going along with and buying the most convenient things and living in the most convenient way \u2026 Asking ourselves questions like, \u2018Why am I so busy?\u2019 is a great place to start.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to live with less: in the kitchen and beyond<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Bestselling author Sarah Wilson is a huge advocate for creating less waste. She explains that food wastage causes more emissions than cars, and that we throw away approximately 20 per cent of the food we buy. In her book, Simplicious Flow, Sarah explains easy ways to reduce waste in the kitchen. Here are some of her tips:
\uf020See if you can put off shopping for a day of a week. See how long you can last, and use up every last scrap in your fridge and freezer instead.
\uf020Say \u201cno\u201d to bags and packaging when you do buy something.
\uf020Put any plastic that does pass through your kitchen to secondary use.
\uf020Start a meal from whatever is about to go off in the fridge first.
\uf020Set aside five minutes to prep and store your food smart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matt shares some more advice for creating less waste in the kitchen:
\uf020Start a worm farm or, if you have no backyard or other space, a bokashi bucket (a home composting system). Food scraps aren\u2019t waste as soon as hey are being converted back into fertility for your soil.
\uf020Start to grow your own food. Some, all \u2014 whatever you can.
\uf020Shop at wholefood stores, markets and grocers, bakers and butchers, as you can bring your own bags and containers.
\uf020If you don\u2019t know how to cook from scratch, take the time to get lessons.. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These lessons can be integrated into other areas of your home and life, too. For example, we can take the bulk-buying approach into the bathroom and purchase plastic-free shampoo bars, make our own products or buy them from bulk stores. If we can\u2019t grow our own food we can at least think about how many miles were covered from the farm to the plate, and we can begin to integrate this attitude into other purchases we make. We can also learn philosophically from the simplicity of living with less, as it can encourage us to contemplate what\u2019s really important to us (hint \u2014 it\u2019s probably
not material possessions!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matt wisely and enthusiastically muses, \u201cI think we need to drive less. Buy less. Fly less. Every choice we make has a series of impacts, so the first step is to admit that, accept that, and integrate an awareness of the consequences into every choice we make. We will all make this planet
and our societies absolutely thrive again. We can do this!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Words JESSICA HUMPHRIES<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Becoming aware of how you utilise the earth\u2019s resources can
\nhelp you foster a deeper appreciation of and connection with the
\nnatural world, as well as encourage you to live with less waste.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":284,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":285,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204\/revisions\/285"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/being\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}