Over the past few days, I’ve been thinking about this Ernest Hemingway quote, “The Earth is a fine place and worth fighting for.” It is simple, to the point, and wholly truthful. Every part of our planet is unique and wondrous, but recently, the world around us seems very doom and gloom. From raging forest fires and catastrophic floods to oil spills in oceans, our environment has been taking a massive beating. It breaks my heart to see nature’s wrath, even though I know it is justified.
I believe that each of us is born with a purpose— to leave God’s green earth a better place for the generations to come. When I found out that this can be carried out by following a lifestyle known as low impact living or low waste living, I was intrigued and wanted to learn more.
Meet Mehndi Shivdasani, a young adult and low waste follower who runs a page called Conscious Chokri. Here she makes videos and shares tips that educate people about low waste living, climate change, mental health, and other related topics. I had the pleasure of connecting with her, and I can’t wait to share her story— and hopefully inspire a few people.
Mehndi always loved the outdoors, nature and the environment; it was no surprise that she wanted to study something related to it. She decided to move to Sydney a few years ago, and there she pursued her Masters in Social Entrepreneurship and Sustainability. A course that revolved around learning how to structure businesses to earn profit while being purpose-oriented. During her course, she interned at her university’s Sustainability office, and that’s where she was introduced to low impact and low waste living.
The team at the Sustainability office was comprised of several individuals who were passionate about this new lifestyle, and Mehndi saw first-hand how they went about it. They would compost all of their organic waste in the office, save coffee grounds and reuse them as coffee scrubs and so many other easy things. Her boss, who had made a promise of not buying anything new for a year, soon found out she was pregnant and to stay true to her goal, she decided to only buy and search for good quality second-hand items for her soon to be born baby. Watching her navigate that situation, where she stuck to her vow of not buying new things while preparing to welcome a baby into the world, sparked something inside of Mehndi and inspired her to try dipping her toes into this form of living.
Photo Courtesy Mehndi ShivdasaniShe spent hours researching the concept and ways to follow a low waste lifestyle and happened to stumbled upon a lady who collected all her waste over the course of a few years and kept it in a mason jar. Mehndi, like most people, never knew that something like this was even possible and was intrigued by the idea. Even though she was educated and pursuing topics such as sustainability, climate change, sustainable development, she observed that she contributed to so much trash on a daily basis. She realised that there was a disconnect between her lifestyle and what she was studying. “There was a gap between how I intended to live my life and the actions I was taking every day,” she says. Knowing that something needed to be done, she decided to embark on a journey of low waste living.
Now, what exactly does low-waste or low-impact living mean? It refers to actively reducing the amount of trash that one creates across all areas of life on a daily, monthly and yearly basis. This thereby reduces the amount of trash disposed of in landfills and the ocean and ensures that you reduce the negative impact on the environment while conserving resources for future generations.
Mehndi walked me through how she started her journey into low waste living. She first identified the sources of garbage and trash in her life and then adopted alternate products or methods to reduces her waste. For example, her entire personal care routine— from brushing her teeth to washing her hair and body— now all consist of low waste products. The packaging is either recyclable, reusable or refillable. She also makes her own shampoo, hair masks and face masks from time to time.
Photo Courtesy Mehndi ShivdasaniAny lifestyle change first starts off with habitual changes. She explained to me that switching to a low-waste lifestyle comes with time and that it is simply impossible to start it overnight. Switching from a shower gel that comes in a plastic bottle to a bar of soap that comes in compostable paper packaging, or opting for a bamboo toothbrush instead of an all-plastic toothbrush and using toothpowder instead of toothpaste. It is these small actions, that you start implementing over time, that eventually help you lead a low-impact lifestyle.
While the idea of low waste living can be daunting and complicated to many, Mehndi believes that it can be easy and convenient if you create an environment for it to be so. Like having a compost bin in your kitchen itself to throw out your organic waste produced while cooking.
Even though Mehndi has been on this journey for 4 years, she explains that she has a lot left to learn. Over the years, Mehndi’s thoughts around the concept of following a zero-waste or low waste lifestyle have evolved and she doesn’t believe it is possible to create zero waste in any part of the world, because any act that we humans engage in creates some form of waste. “It’s a matter of figuring out the areas in which you can reduce the amount of waste that you’re creating and also figuring out ways to manage the waste that you’re creating effectively,” says Mehndi.
Are you interested in know how you can adopt a low-impact or low-waste lifestyle? Check out Mehndi’s tips on how you can do the same!
Written By Jessica Albuquerque,
Week 33, August 2021
