The Lesson: With such an excess of unnecessary plastic packaging and non-recyclable materials, it can be easy to feel guilty about the amount of trash we contribute to landfills – but this college grad insists that anyone can be zero-waste. Not only that, but she believes that the attitude can greatly simplify your entire life.
Notable Excerpt: “When I learned about zero waste, [this woman in California] was the only person writing about it at the time and the only person talking about it, and so I later started my blog, Trash is for Tossers, to document my journey of reducing waste and opening the conversation in a way that felt safe and non-confrontational, because … so much of the conversation in environmentalism is, ‘You’re not doing this,’ or, ‘You’re screwing this up,’ and it’s [just a big] blame game.
“To me, I realized that by just taking everything on myself and being, like, ‘Okay, I’m a part of the problem. What can I do to change this and share my experience through taking control of my waste and talking about my experience from my perspective, that it made people feel comfortable to have a discussion around waste.’”
The Guest: Lauren Singer is an environmental activist who is the mastermind behind Trash is for Tossers – a blog dedicated to educating readers on how they can live a cost-effective, zero-waste lifestyle, no matter their social or economic status. In addition to graduating from NYU with an environmental sciences degree, she went on to work as a sustainability analyst for the NYC Department of Environmental Protection.
The Host: After spending years of his young life and athletic career struggling with his own emotional wellbeing, a crippling injury left Lewis Howes without an identity and without any work. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, however, Howes recreated himself as a multi-million dollar media producer, motivational speaker, bestselling author, and podcast host. The ex-football player now spends his days chatting with the most inspirational icons of this generation on his School of Greatness podcast.
Podcast: The School of Greatness podcast is available for download on Soundcloud and iTunes. You can also watch footage of the interviews on Howes’s YouTube channel.
Books: Howes is the author of the New York Times bestselling book “The School of Greatness”: an in-depth collection of lessons and wisdom that he has gathered from interviewing hundreds of the world’s greatest role models and thinkers. Howes’s latest book, “The Mask of Masculinity”, is based on his experience with the dangerous stereotypes and expectations that are placed on men in modern society.
(LISTEN to the inspiring talk below or read the transcript here)
Good Advice? SHARE It – Or Check Out More On Our Good Talks Page…