Introduction!
Hello! My name is Molly and i’m pumped you’re here. Since I was little, I've always felt a special connection to nature. I attribute the start of my beliefs to my parents who grew up in a small coal mining town in Southern Utah and always encouraged me to be outside, building forts in the backyard, and making mud pies. I have many happy memories of traveling to beautiful places all over Utah, and being in awe of the beauty of the earth. My grandparents have always had a massive garden that they spend hours maintaining. Their vegetables are some of the most delicious things i’ve ever had. As far back as I can remember, I craved eating their fresh tomatoes.
As I grew up, I found myself drawn to environmental issues, such as recycling and trying to save the turtles. I became so passionate about it that even a small action like carrying around a reusable straw felt important to me.
Working at an outdoor school in Austin, Texas, was eye-opening. I learned in depth about recycling and composting, met so many cool people who were passionate about the same things i was, and saw how much kids can do to help the planet. It was ingrained in their daily life and I was amazed. When I moved back to Utah I was determined to bring that knowledge back and help people here see how much good we could do!
Now, as a soon to be parent, like Kim, I too want to make sure my children have a healthy planet to explore. That's why I'm passionate about taking care of the Earth, so they can enjoy it too.
Let's work together to protect our home for generations to come!
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Hello! My name is Kim and I am SO happy to meet you!
As far back as I can remember, I have loved nature and the environment. I’m not sure what exactly triggered it, but I’ll share a couple of my influences. Growing up we moved a lot. From a young age I developed a love for traveling and visiting beautiful places. Some were well preserved and taken care of, others were littered with piles of trash. How someone can toss their garbage on the ground and walk away still remains a mystery to me. But anyway, I believe visiting these breathtaking sites instilled a desire in me to protect our planet.
My grandpa was another major influence in my life. He was deeply connected to nature. He was a farmer, and the only thing he loved more than spending time in the mountains or on the lake was his family, especially my grandma. Every summer we would spend a few days at the lake and enjoy the beautiful scenery. His love for animals and nature rubbed off on me at a very young age.
One day as a social worker, I was touring a recycling facility to see if it would be a good employment fit for one of my clients. As one who is adamant about recycling, I was excited to go and check it out. I pictured a magical place where they took something old and made something new. I was shocked. Sadly, it was filthy. The workers were basically sorting through mountains of trash. I remember feeling especially sick at seeing all of the single serving size yogurt containers. They still haunt me! The manager told us after the items were separated, the plastics were sold to other countries and metals and tins were recycled domestically. Except… those countries stopped buying our plastic because it usually wasn’t recycled properly, (that was problematic anyway - we’ll talk about why day). So basically the plastic was just sitting there at the facility, taking up valuable real estate. What was supposed to be an exciting day, ended up being really, really depressing.
After getting back to the office, I told one of my coworkers about my experience at the recycling center. She recommended I check out the Zero Waste Movement. I did, and was IMMEDIATELY hooked. She gave me many tips and tricks I have done ever since. I became obsessed and was constantly figuring out my next step to reduce waste in our home and keep stuff out of the landfill.
Now as a mom to two little boys, my motivation for living a low waste, eco-friendly lifestyle has grown more than ever. Like all you other parents out there, I want nothing but the best for my kids. The more I learn about environmental issues, the more I realize the importance of taking action so we can provide a safe and healthy world for our kids. So many of our everyday products are toxic and harmful to our health, but we’d never think anything of it because they seem so normal.
So that’s why we’re here! We have each spent hours and hours of research for our own personal lives. We decided it was time to share our knowledge and passion with YOU. We want to normalize all the good things, not just for the planet but for you and your loved ones too!
