It has been a while since our last Japan trip. While we cannot go overseas all the time, we still try to explore and experience goodness of Japanese culture or lifestyle, which includes minimalist living and more eco-friendly or zero waste lifestyle.
As adults that have lived a convenient life, we took many things for granted. A few years back, when we first heard about trashes or leftover goods from earthquake in Japan ended up on an island on the other side of the globe, we started to be aware how much one household's consumption could harm the whole planet.
It's not until the most recent one year, we truly started to execute on more eco-friendly lifestyle. The more research we have done, the bigger the question mark about zero waste lifestyle we have. After sincere consideration, we don't think we are ready to do zero waste right away. Several big reasons below:
- Zero waste is really hard to get to. Plastics as one example have been immersed so deeply in our daily life, if someone truly wants to live a zero-waste life, he or she may not even be able to use a mobile phone. We really admire people who are trying their best to get to that lifestyle for the good of the environment, but we know it's not for us for now
- Zero waste from normal people won't change too much about the enviroment yet. It takes both micro and macro environments to get ready for a better planet. Micro here includes an average person's understanding or why he or she should live a more cautious life so he or she is willing to change established lifestyles for good. Macro here includes policy maker, lawyers, governments etc to work from top down to form laws and regulations to limit or regulate harmful manufacturing, materials, consumption of products, etc. Either way alone wouldn't make big changes.
- Switching zero waste lifestyle overnight is just not sustainable or reasonable. We have accumulated so many things, habits and ways of living that don't have an efficient eco-friendly alternative for the majority yet. The research and development of eco-friendly ways of living takes time and many of those at current stage costs more (not just money, but time, resources, etc) than existing solutions. This requires a transition period for everyone, including the most adaptive person living in zero waste style already to someone who doesn't have time or money to afford cleaner or greener products at all
However, all the reasons above don't mean that we shall stay where we are and continue to consume products that surely harm the enviroment while there is a better solution that we can go with. In this case, we begin to explore the most frequently used products in our lives to see if we can change to a better alternative for the world, future generations. The first product we found is Dental Lace's silk floss. It is made of silk which is 100% bio-degraded. For a daily life essential for adults who need to floss their teeth, the most common options on the market are floss with plastic holders or nylon floss thread. Both of them are not bio-degraded. We decided to try Dental Lace because it's the most economic product with similar quality to nylon floss that can satisfy our daily need. We have been using it for about one week. The thread does break easier than nylon floss. However, if we control our strength while using it properly, the problem can be simply avoided. Purchase link here for 66 yards (60 meters) at $13.99 USD
We'd like to leverage this forum to write down our thought process along the way. We'd like to share products we try ourselves. We are still exploring and experimenting so also love to hear feedback or recommendations if you have any. Let us know how you may have or will approach a better eco-friendly lifestyle. Is it important to you? Why or why not doing it? What do you think we shall do to make our planet better?
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