we fall down, but we get up

i think i've talked much about the nuisances of the 'start' of the 21st century zero waste scene, that i will not use this post to cry over spilled milk. however, i am in a space to share about my recent battle with maintaining the rigidness of zero waste. the radical idea that you can fail in this zero waste practice, get back up, and charge forward in a rubbish-free fiery. this picture explains it all. by day i write scholarly articles on the geographies of waste and by night i slang menstrual pads (and other reusable alternatives). all along the way collecting convenience trash in my book bag, because i don't trust public recycling bins. there's irony in munching on the best of vending machine offerings while writing about the “sanitation syndrome” that states that addressing waste cannot be separated from race. my instant gratification snacks quickly become my demise. this post is a charge to start sharing more about my waste chronicles, something i stopped doing a few years ago, when i no longer lived in a quickly-gentrifying neighborhood with several grocery stores with bulk aisle. this is a re-commitment to zero waste. i won't go as far as stuffing 13 months in a mason jar. but I will start to share my trash on tuesdays. this will allow me to be more vulnerable in my process, open myself to constructive self-critique (i'm good on internet critique), and hopefully allow you to see that their is space for failure and albeit, trash, in the zero waste movement.