Day 30
Day 30 Wearing all my trash
(door creaking)
Let me rewind and explain how I got here
My name is Rob Greenfield and
I am an adventurer and an activist
"Do yo have a minute to talk about trash?"
"Do you know where your trash goes by chance?"
"Do you know where your trash goes?"
Normally I live a near zero waste life.
But lately people have been calling me The Trash Man,
or the Trash Monster, Trashformer or the Trashtronaut.
I have been living just like the average American
for the last month in New York City.
Eating, shopping, consuming just like so many of us are used to.
With one big exception,
I've been wearing every single piece of trash that I create everywhere I go.
(grunting)
"I can actually ride this thing still."
Now I know what you may be thinking,
what about the smell?
Well, I clean everything before wearing it
and don't worry, toilet paper goes down the toilet as usual.
Now to the big question,
why am I doing something crazy like this?
The average person in America creates about 4.5 pounds of trash per day.
That's 135 pounds a month.
And most of us toss it in the trash can and never think twice about it.
(grunting)
"Gosh...What is in there?"
"30, 40 pounds? I don't know..."
And that's just one of us.
I get it. Life is fast and we're all busy.
So we keep shopping and consuming,
creating more and more stuff we don't need...
What's even crazier is that for every garbage can put on the curb,
70 garbage cans of waste were created up the production line
just to create that garbage in the first place.
What we do actually see is just the tip of the trash iceberg.
To make all this stuff, we cut down our forests,
blow up our land, leak oil and pollutants into our oceans,
release toxins into our air and cause extinction of other species.
Most of our waste ends up right in the landfill.
Sadly, items that decompose in nature won't break down in the landfill.
Meaning they'll exist for thousands of years.
You might be thinking that it would all be ok if we would just all recycle.
True, recycling is a part of the solution.
But sadly, it's a highly resource and energy intensive process.
It's been hard enough just wearing my own trash for a month,
Imagine how the planet feels
serving as the trash suit for the entire human race.
The good news is that all the trash that I am wearing
could have been avoided or kept from the landfill.
All it takes is some simple changes in lifestyle.
some planning ahead,
And speaking up for what you believe.
In Gremany, people have even created zero waste supermarkets.
Kids:
Girl:
Boy:
Girl:
Millions of people are waking up and realizing our personal responsibility.
And that reducing our waste saves us money.
and allows us to live a happier, healthier and more sustainable life.
Don't wait for someone else to save your environment.
Ditch disposable items
Buy unpackaged food
Eat your food. Don't waste it
Compost
Bring your own
Bring your own Water bottle
Bags
Dishes
Utensils
To go containers
Refuse
Refuse Reduce
Refuse Reduce Reuse
Refuse Reduce Reuse Repair
Refuse Reduce Reuse Repair Recycle
Trash Me
Subtitles by the Amara.org community