There is literally no area of my life where I feel qualified or competent enough to tell someone else what to do. I sat in on several sessions as a trainee lawyer, that made it apparent that that career path, advising people with a combination of common sense and legal know-how, was not for me. I like the writing life because I get to ask people what they did, rather than tell them what they should do.

So, I didn’t want to personally provide a Zero Waste tip this week. I wanted to crowdsource them from people who were living better lives, less wasteful lives, more righteously green lives, than I am. But, the words of Anne-Marie Bonneau, which kicked off this whole caper, kept coming back to me:

And this has been brought home to me, every day, as Erin Stewart Elliot has shared her Progress not Perfection takeover.

This summer, all I’ve wanted to eat has been something frozen. And so we’ve bought freezies and icy pops and ice cream, and I know you have too, because often, husband comes home and says the freezer was emptied out.

My first idea, of a cool Zero Waste tip to share with you, was to share the recipe for this very groovy granita I’ve been making a ton of this summer… it’s the most awesome fancy dessert that I make from my own raspberries and my own kombucha and it’s like shaved ice, and super refreshing, and no waste, because you freeze it in a baking pan.

But then I was like, if you did an audit of my garbage, you would find many crimes against the earth, in the form of single use plastic from crappy quality freezies. I mean, they’re water with food dye and fake flavouring in a plastic sleeve. It’s pretty evil. And yet, heatwave PLUS child PLUS summer break… I have committed this crime.

And then I flipflop back into this frame of mind – every little bit counts. And if I share the groovy granita recipe with you, you might really enjoy it. And for every night we sat down to a bowl full of that, that was at least 3 popsicles worth of garbage we didn’t add to landfill.

It’s not everything. it’s not enough. But it is something. And it’s like that little ladder that Vanessa at the SLRD shared with us yesterday, you can ladder up from there. But you can’t to much if you’re stretched out on your tippy toes and you can’t even reach the lowest rung available.

So, stand by Saturday, when I share my favourite heat wave survival treats! (And if you have tips or tidbits, we will not audit your garbage after you share them to de-legitimize your contribution. We need all of us, doing little things. So let’s fumble through together.)