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This page is reserved for the personal stories of the many enthusiasts for Zero Waste that I have met around the world thanks to the World Wide Web.
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If you would like to submit a story about the work you have been doing in your own profession or about your efforts to apply zero waste thinking to your favorite project, please write me a few paragraphs and send it to my email address at EMAIL .
Paul Palmer |
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Teri is an entrepreneur in San Diego California. She stays in touch with all things zero waste
I have watched an enormous amount of waste over the years - as a thirty year airline employee, you can imagine the waste I have seen. It was disconcerting to say the least. As a resident of San Diego, I have watched the slow development of recycling and reuse and the burgeoning landfill of San Diego finally become an issue of discussion for the city. There had to be something better and we as a community needed to look for alternatives that would awaken the populace to our wasteful society. So, a little over a year ago, I began a small business selling reusable shopping bags. In 2006 it was a fledgling affair with interest coming from just a few. But things changed in March of 2007. With San Francisco passing legislation to eliminate plastic bags from their city, suddenly the whole country woke up.
I now field calls nationwide and things are growing fast. It is exciting to say the least. We now need to head for a more mindful approach of Zero Waste as an answer that can help solve this horrible cultural dilemma we live in. I am optomistic that we are heading in the right direction. This will not be an easy journey but it is necessary for our planet. We are all in this together.
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James and Vanessa farm a few thousand acres in northern South Africa. James has been trying to redesign conventional farming to be less wasteful, more organic and to make better use of natural methods. He has been successful in convincing his peers to make many changes away from chemical farming and its built-in waste.
Dear Paul Your article in Rachel’s (the Death of Recycling) made excellent points. I am a commercial organic farmer in South Africa and once I had read a little way into your paper I was becoming increasingly excited, so that by the end I was excitedly telling my wife, Vanessa, 'ZERO WASTE FARMING!' The concept is what all industries (including all forms of agriculture) of our civilisation need in order to cope with the crises facing humanity, now being recognised internationally. I have had similar misgivings concerning certified organic farming and products produced by this system as I have with those outputs of the recycling trade. The basic thinking supporting organics (not to mention conventional agriculture) is obsolete, largely because there is still almost total reliance on concepts which were designed for farming with abundant resources or at most, slightly reduced resources. Biodynamic agricultural philosophy partly meets this need; however the ideas are almost 90 years old and difficult to apply. A ZW philosophy should be introduced at all levels of agriculture, agricultural education and research and without doubt this will yield as remarkable and huge returns as the 'redesigning for reuse' that you describe in your article. For example, I use micro organisms (http://www.royagcol.ac.uk/research/conferences/higa.htm) at all levels of production including soil, seed and fertiliser inoculation at planting; foliar application to combat pest and disease (competitive exclusion).and at harvest. The harvester treats the 'waste' straw with microbes which aid and accelerate the break-down of the bulk while preserving nutrients. Finally the tractors are treated with microbes: in the radiator which prevents muck build-up and detoxifies the coolant and in washing, where the microbes break-up the oil and grease which would otherwise head into traps and disposal in waste systems. We still face enormous obstacles on the road to ZW farming, but with your proposals applied we will reach the objective much quicker. The ZW concept is both the answer and the challenge: how to spread the concept as fast as possible? Thank you for your read, it was inspiring and continues to inspire. Wr
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Nirmala lives in South Africa. She is a sociologist, self taught in science and technology, She believes that creation of socially responsible science and technology is the best way to challenge the current paradigm.
Dear Paul,
I am so grateful to have come across your article via my networks.
I am an ardent supporter of Zero Waste and belong to the ZERI global network (www.zeri.org)
Living in Cape Town, South Africa, working on zero emission and zero waste issues is like waging a lonesome war. Despite the fact that there are a few folks out there, my feeling is that we have to tackle the mind-set problem. Along with all the re-designing from the beginning, and moving towards a zero waste society, we have to look at the whole systems thinking and how humanity has become slaves to a way of life rooted in the deep disconnect eager for instant quick results, hence the success of super markets and global production giants. Not to mention the hype on the media about ‘good-living’ and consumerism (filled with dis-ease at not being able to consume more as an indicator of bad living).
... What is needed is a paradigm overhaul, a total design revolution. I find the environmental management, sustainable development etc just green washing, green policing; even the zero wasters here do not understand the radical need to close the loop through total redesign operating an open system at all levels, including the deeper energy/spiritual aspects that we do not comprehend at the moment due to obsessive left brain intervention. ...
I would love to be part of the group you are conceiving and share, learn where ever I can.
Warm Regards
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| Natalie Timms of Sebastopol California has been working to reduce waste for many years, mostly in the recycling business. She noticed that there are many vinyl squares around that are going into dumps for no good reason. So she decided to make attractive protective mats for pet dishes out of them. See her products at Pet Mats. Next, we need to redesign the vinyl for perpetual reuse. |
The various colorful designs found on this website are from Paul Palmer's personal collection of Turkish greeting cards showing tiles, rugs, kilims, cards, dancers and textiles. |
