Lately I have been watching Planet Green’s new show, Wa$ted. On this show an enterprising group of environmentalists descends on a family that has gone too far in the waste department. The enviro gang sorts through trash for recyclables, checks for leaks in the home, watches as the family indulges in wasting electricity, water, gas, and, for that matter, clothing. The family is accused of not doing enough for the planet and is shown its carbon footprint on a map. Usually the family is horrified to learn that driving Bud to school in an SUV and buying clothes off the rack at Wal-Mart or The Gap and taking long showers and not recycling enough means that they are more wasteful than even the average American.

The enviroteam first points out the error of their ways, then shows them how to do better. In the process they might bring in energy-efficient washers and might put their teams to work installing insulation where it is needed. After pointing out the waste they challenge the family to meet certain goals: walk to work (if it’s close), recycle everything possible, buy organic clothing, take shorter showers. After a month they return and present the family with the cost savings representing the changes they are making, extended to a year.

This show has inspired me to go further. I now make more of an effort to sort out the many papers that make it into my trash cans, I have returned to brushing teeth by the sink (without water running) instead of the shower, and I unplug chargers when not in use.

I came across another similar show the other day, on the Sundance channel. It was called Outrageous Wasters. It is a British series similar to Wa$ted, but it is like comparing Boy Scout Camp to Bootcamp.

The British team examines the trash too, for recyclables. It also looks in the refrigerator for evidence of buying locally - or not. It examines the use of electricity for electronic games forever left on standby. And it frowns on baths instead of short showers. This team also looks at the house and its ability to leak energy.

They don’t simply preach and then walk away, though. They tell the fam to pack small bags and come along to The House of Correction.

The House of Correction is a yurt in the middle of a natural area, surrounded by separate pee and poo outhouses, chickens, pigs, a vegetable garden, and plenty of foraging area. The family is taught how to keep the home fires burning (literally; the temperature gets very cold at night), how to collect eggs, feed chicks and pigs, compost their own waste, use an outdoor shower, and forage for food. The design of the entire place is to have zero impact on the planet.

In the episode I saw, which is the first episode, Stella and Dave Withers, mom and son, are highly resistant to change. After one night in the yurt Stella announces no more, they are leaving. The enviroteam takes the family to a hotel for the night. Somehow, during the night, Stella decides to give it one more go, but Dave is totally opposed. So in the morning the team brings Stella and hubby back to the yurt and a relative picks up Dave for the duration.

Stella is exposed to worms. She sees how worms create the soil that grows the vegetables. She says “Too much information. I don’t need to know that. I won’t eat anything that came from there”, completely forgetting that all of the vegetables she eats essentially come from the same place. She and her husband also resist having anything to do with killing a chicken (something I would too, of course, but I’d go farther than simply not watch), yet they have been supreme wasters of chicken they buy at the market. Day after day we discover just how far this family is from reality, from knowing where their food comes from and how their wasteful habits affect others.

By the end of the week, though, when they are plunked down in their newly ecologized house, with its fun recycling game, chickens for eggs, straw-bale porch and more, they are a reformed family. Even Dave gets into it. Stella is the star, though, becoming an enviroevangelist, bringing the neighbors into the fold.

I didn’t see that kind of fire in the eyes of the family members on Wa$ted.  And it reminded me that sometimes it is easier to make big changes than small ones.

Sections: Vegan Activism, Vegan Theory
Topics: change, environment, veg, Vegan