Birthday Special: Trash is for Tossers - 2 Steps to a Zero Waste Lifestyle PART 2 (+ Fundraiser Update)

What a wonderful weekend!

Sadly, I was unable to make it to Wild Rose Acres these past 3 days due to inclement weather so the perennials must wait a little while longer. Thought with the storm and heavy rain, they are well-watered and quite content for the moment.

But I couldn’t stay disappointed for too long about the raincheck (pun intended) because Saturday was my birthday!

I spent the day with my family and my boyfriend. We enjoyed a dinner of garlic onion brats and corn on the cob roasted over an open fire. Dessert consisted of a delicious buttercream birthday cake of course! Afterwards, with a quick date to get frozen yogurt and new video games at Game Stop, my boyfriend and I spent most of the weekend relaxing. It may not have been the most glamorous way to spend a birthday celebration, but it was enjoyable nonetheless!

I did not spend the entire weekend in repose however so with the chance to sit back and reflect, I was able to review and answer the first evaluation question in my previous Zero Waste article:

“How much garbage am I currently producing and what types? Ex: food packaging- this can help you determine the places you can start reducing and looking for alternatives.”

How much and what kind of garbage do I produce?

As it turns out, Lauren Singer’s example was spot on: food packaging is the main culprit of waste in my household. I freely admit that I am a snacker… I nibble throughout the day instead of eating large, heavy meals. Even though I don’t buy many unhealthy, packaged snacks, I cannot avoid regular packaging on normal foods. Everything comes wrapped in plastic nowadays.

As I threw away another package and mentally checked another box on my garbage checklist, I began to realize that awareness and acknowledgment of a problem is the first step towards changing behavior. The second step is to use this principle to your advantage through the Hawthorne effect.

The Hawthorne effect (or observer effect) is the process where humans subjects of an experiment change their behavior simply because they are being studied.

“In 1955, the researcher, Henry A. Landsberger, performed a study and analysis of data from experiments performed between 1924 and 1932, by Elton Mayo, at the Hawthorne Works near Chicago.

The company had commissioned studies to determine if the level of light within their building affected the productivity of the workers.

Mayo found that the level of light made no difference in the productivity, as the workers increased output whenever the amount of light was switched from a low level to a high level, or vice versa.

He noticed that this effect occurred when any variable was manipulated, and postulated that it happened because the workers automatically changed their behavior. They increased output, simply because they were aware that they were under observation.

The logical conclusion was that the workers felt important because they were pleased to be singled out, and increased productivity as a result. Being singled out was the factor dictating increased productivity, not the changing lighting levels, or any of the other factors that they experimented upon.” - SOURCE

I have found over the short duration of my personal development journey that this effect actually works without an outside observer - it works just as well when I acknowledge and become increasingly aware of my own actions. Simply observing how much garbage I produce has already made a drastic change to my thoughts and actions. Hopefully as I continue to raise my awareness of my actions, I can continue to improve them!

“The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.” ~Nathaniel Branden

What personal habits or behaviors are you aware of that you desire to change?

P.S. We have still only sold two “Full STEEM ahead!” t-shirts for our fundraiser! Only 2 days left until the fundraiser ends; 8 t-shirts needed to reach print minimum and the goal! We are in the home stretch!

PREVIOUS ZERO WASTE ARTICLES:

Part 1

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Photography from Pexels and used under the CC0 license.

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