Back in 2020, I was a guest on the now inactive podcast Practical(ly) Zero Waste, hosted by Elsbeth Callaghan. At the time, my kids were little, the zero waste movement online was deep in its “trash jar” era, and many of us were trying to figure out what sustainable living looked like outside of perfectly curated Instagram squares.
Six years later, a lot has changed.
Kids are older, life looks different, and both of us have let go of a lot of the pressure and aesthetics that surrounded zero waste in those early online days. But underneath all of that, the values are still very much the same.
In this full-circle conversation for Episode 50 of Sustainable in the Suburbs, Elsbeth and I talk about what sustainable living looks like now: parenting teenagers and young kids, balancing low waste goals with real life, navigating burnout and social media, building community, and why consistency matters a whole lot more than perfection.
We also talk about what we’ve kept, what we’ve let go of, and how many of the “small shifts” we started years ago have quietly become lifelong habits.
Takeaways
One Small Shift
You can always start again.
Even if you’ve fallen out of old habits, even if life looks completely different now, small intentional changes still matter. Start with one thing that feels manageable and build from there.
Resources
PZW - Ep. 69: Raising Eco Kids
Related Episodes
4: How to Conduct a Household Waste Audit
11: Money, Enoughness, and Community Care with Women’s Personal Finance
12: How to Quit Using Amazon (and Why You Should)
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Sustainable in the Suburbs is mixed and edited by Cardinal Studio
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