On The Liberation of Zero Waste
Radio Kingston Interview with Susan Grove

What happens when a self-identified non-shopper speaks with a zero waste activist in the midst of a season that celebrates consumption? In a word, magic. You might think this conversation would be peppered with head shaking shame and blame about how we are personally failing via our complicit participation in what Melissa calls the “Mother (Earth) Murder Program.” Turns out it’s this mental confusion that comes from being hooked up to a haste- and waste-generating “machine” that leads to pollution and its negative impact on nature, which our bodies are part of. Our bodies are sending us distress signals about the context that has us rushing around and doing harm. Melissa invites us to consider: How can we learn to listen to our body, and tap into the power of refusal? Can we hear our body’s truth more loudly than the falsehoods of a society predicated on oppression that can only survive by dividing us from ourselves, from one another, and from nature? What are some ways to reconnect? How might we turn away from fixating on trying to fix ourselves and instead scrutinize our context and “open our eyes to lies”? These inner shifts lead us to shifts in consciousness, perspective, and context from which we will organically transition, slowly and steadily, to actions with different meaning and impact. And for now, Melissa invites us to light a (paraffin- and synthetic scent-free!) candle on the Solstice to remind us that in the midst of uncertainty, we can light our own way toward liberation.