Bea Johnson (1) (1974–)

I love this book. I read various simplifying/decluttering type books every now & then; this book is not quite that category, but similar in that Johnson has simplified her family's life extensively by trying to avoid creating any trash (zero waste). I think her choices are entirely commendable & she shows that it can actually work for a suburban family of four.

Rather than the recycle mantra we all know, Johnson urges much more proactivity with these 5 Rs:

* Refuse (stop stuff from coming in show more your home that you do not need: slowing consumption, stopping junk mail, not buying things in single-use plastic containers, etc...)

* Reduce (the amount of stuff you need but still use; evaluating consumption habits you have, what can you share/borrow instead, reduce exposure to things that lead to more consumption)

* Reuse (reusables vs. disposables; sharing; buying used; repairing or finding a new use for things that you might normally have tossed or replaced...)

* Recycle (should be one of your last choices, not a first choice)

* Rot (compost)

I especially loved all her details about her grocery shopping w/ reusable containers & love the simplicity of her solution. I also really enjoyed how she went through various areas of the house, giving lists of how to evaluate what you have, what to get rid of/keep (simplifying is a part of zero waste), & what she kept & what she got rid of from her own house. For example, a lot of stuff left her kitchen, including a vegetable peeler (now her family eats more veggies w/ the skins on, getting more nutrition; if she does need to peel something, she just uses a knife) & her can opener (they don't buy food in cans). Both of those items were things that I, personally, would have never even considered during a cull, so I found it eye-opening to see her list of what didn't make it -- making me see what we have in a new light. At the end, she muses on what she hopes the future is/can be if more people tried to live a zero waste lifestyle & I greatly enjoyed her 'vision' (which, as it turns out, she says are things that already exist in limited amounts in limited places around the world -- now the world just needs to adopt better practices & expand the zero waste lifestyle).

Also, for books of this type, this is well-written, well-organized, & her resources at the end match up exactly with the order of each chapter. So, it even appealed to me on an editorial level. I guess I noticed it because in that area, this book is definitely heads above others books of similar ilk.

I think some don't like her choices or the extremes to which she has gone (easy to dismiss what she has done as unattainable), but I think it takes people willing to buck the norm, stand up & make different choices, & show by example why their way might be a better way. I see Bea Johnson as being that type of person.

I'm nowhere near what she lives, but her choices & suggestions make a lot of sense to me & I'm definitely planning to take a hard look at our lives & attempt to push us toward more of a zero waste life. I love her blog already (plus her gorgeous, spare house that she has photos of on her blog) & found her book to be a great companion to her blog: http://zerowastehome.blogspot.com/ If you are interested in this lifestyle, I'd heartily recommend both her blog & the book. show less

Many asides in this review of a book I wanted to like but felt patronised by.

I did want to like this book and there are some great points in the book (must start knitting that stuffed rug and use my dryer lint in it, if I do enough to use up the lint every time I clean it out that would be a great mark of progress... sorry, an aside that occured to me as I read), but I also felt that she really wasn't living in a world I could as easily.

I'm coeliac (well technically I'm severely gluten show more intolerant but that sounds faddish, trust me the two-day stomach cramps aren't from my mind) and buying from open bins isn't an option for me, that way cross-contamination and sick lies. It would be the same for most folks with allergies. While it would be nice to live like she does there are also problems with it and I don't think some of her ideas are realistic. I have plans for my clothing and for my wardrove over the next few years and some of them involve slowly wearing more of it, getting rid of the excess and only replacing what I have to (which I expect to be mostly trousers and shoes, knitting my own socks is a for granted moment)

I don't think it's practical and non-wasteful to empty your wardrobe/closet/whatever of clothes you wear, I think it's a better plan to work on methods of storage that ensure roatation and removing those things that don't suit you and passing them on and removing the things that are in bad condition and finding ways of disposing of them that's environmentally sound.

I think that rethinking how we use things and how we dispose of things is a good thing. I honestly would find her a hard friend, sounds like she is an evangelist of her lifestyle to a degree that I would find painful. Good luck to her, she did make me think about some things in my life that need change but I don't think that they would suit everyone.

I found the Happiness Project more inspirational. show less

I read the author's blog and find that she constantly challenges my thinking regarding waste. Is she extreme? Yes. Oh yes. And she knows it and admits it, declaring that she sees herself as the experimenter in order to save everyone else the time of figuring it out. So I was pre-disposed to be interested in this book. And...no. Just no. She's a blogger, not a writer or researcher, and it shows. There was a lot more that could have been done here in terms of making the waste reduction show more argument and setting the call to action and she missed it all in favor of forced alphabetized lists of tips.

But I will say...after years of fruitlessly trying to get my husband interested in reducing our waste, I simply left the book lying around the living room for a few days and...presto! He's remembering to bring the reusable grocery bags and thinking about what we buy at the store. So it serves that purpose. Otherwise? Just read the blog. show less

I liked this book for what it was but I don't feel like it's necessary for someone who wants to reduce waste. In that case just go on her blog. This book consisted of lists and ideas that weren't really fully fleshed out. This book was more like a compilation of her most popular blog posts. Though she explained how she got to the process she uses for whatever routine in her house she doesn't totally cover the benefits. She lays them out like a check list of sorts: reduced cost, less time show more spent, less exposure to plastics. Yeah but at least explain these benefits. She did mention her husband crunching numbers and confirming they were spending less but nothing much about the other stuff.

I wouldn't suggest purchasing the book unless you want the check lists in one easy to find place. show less