“Thrifting is excellent for the planet.”
 

Inspired by not seeing anyone like herself in the zero-waste movement…it was all about aesthetics, expensive swaps, and changing your whole life and Emma wanted to be an example of a real, everyday person trying to live more eco-friendly.

Emma has been living an eco-friendly life ever since she moved out of her small Ohio town in 2017. She grew up in the Midwest and never saw the true impact we were having on the planet from there. She had clean water, little physical pollution, no air pollution, moderate climate. Ignorance truly is bliss.

When she was 18, she joined the US Air Force. She wanted to escape her tiny town and she did just that. She lived in West Texas for 9 months during her training and that is really when her eyes were opened to our impact on the planet. See, recycling is not mandatory in Texas. The small city she lived in did not have recycling and Emma was appalled. So, she started a recycling program in her dorms and personally drove the recycling and sorted it at the cities only recycling drop-off center (it gets shipped elsewhere to actually be used).

She then moved halfway across the world to Okinawa, Japan. And there, she started to learn that recycling alone will not save the planet. She had to also reduce what she was consuming. She began educating herself on proper recycling, why so much plastic ends up in the ocean, invisible pollution, and much more. She quickly realized that other people don’t know this stuff and she needed to spread the word.

The Simple Environmentalist was born (@thesimpleenvironmentalist). Emma’s mission since day one was to make zero waste living, free, easy, fun, accessible, and real.

Her goal is to show everyone that your one small action you take today can have a big impact. Especially if you add one more small habit on each day. You don’t need to change your whole life overnight just to be more eco-friendly. You don’t have to have a degree or look a certain way to be an environmentalist. Everyone can be an environmentalist; the only credential is that you care about the earth. We all make mistakes, and no one does zero waste perfectly. 

Visit www.thesimpleenvironmentalist.com to learn more.
 

SHOW NOTES & TAKEAWAYS

  • Her secondhand inspirations.
  • How to simply integrate zero-waste swaps into your life.
  • Empowering people to make small changes to live a responsible, sustainable, and eco-intentional lifestyle.
  • Tips for shopping secondhand.
  • Fighting fear; there is hope for the planet!
  • Making thrifting and secondhand your first choice when shopping for clothes, books, housewares, and more!
  • Plastics have their place.