Author Series talk.

I want to have the esteemed privilege

to introduce Bea Johnson, author of "Zero Waste Home."

Bea, she's lived a waste-free lifestyle since 2008,

generating for her whole family just a quart

of waste in an entire year.

She's also zero waste lifestyle expert.

Her goals shatter the misconceptions

associated with living in zero-waste lifestyle proving

that a waste-free living can not only be stylish but lead

to significant health benefits and time and money savings.

She was a grand prize winner of the green awards.

She's invited to speak, like here, at many corporate events,

universities, and other conferences all over the world.

And she spreads her tips for living a zero-waste lifestyle

in that.

She opens her home to educational tours

and the media.

I know [? Myomi ?] has been to her house,

has been shopping with her at Whole Foods to see how she does

this.

She's appeared on TV shows and publications around the world,

including the "Today Show" and the "BBC Breakfast."

New York Times has called her the priestess

of waste-free living.

I like that one.

As a spokesperson for a zero-waste lifestyle,

she also provides consulting services

for sustainable product conception, waste reduction,

and minimalism.

Welcome Bea.

[APPLAUSE]

BEA JOHNSON: Thanks so much for having me.

It's so funny that I have been calling myself a Google girl,

and here I am today at Google.

So first, let me introduce my family.

And so this is my family.

On the right, we have Max who's now 15,

Leo, on the left, who is now 14, my husband, Scott,

and our zero-waste dog, Zizu, is actually the mascot

of our zero-waste lifestyle.

So yeah, it's the little baby of the family.

Anyways, our zero-waste journey started back in 2006.

We were living back then in a large home, 3,000 square feet

in the suburbs in the East Bay actually in Pleasant Hill.

But that house was located in a cul-de-sac.

And the problem with that is that we felt that we

had to drive everywhere.

We had to take the car to go to the grocery

store, the schools, church, and movie theaters, and so on.

So we decided that we wanted to relocate to a location

where we could have these things within walking distance

or biking distance.

So we chose the town of Mill Valley.

But before finding the ideal home,

we rented an apartment for a year.

And we only moved in with the necessities.

So instead of moving in with fork tables and 26 chairs,

we only moved in with one table, four chairs, one set of dishes,

one set of towels, et cetera.

And what we found during that year

is that by living with less, all of a sudden,

we had more time in our hands to do the things that we enjoy

doing, more time to spend with family and friends, more time

to explore a new coast or region.

So when we did find the ideal home in downtown Mill Valley,

we got everything out of storage.

And we realized that a lot of the things that we

had kept in there for a year are totally gone and missed.

We realized that there were a bunch of things in there

that we hadn't even needed or even missed.

And so we got everything out of storage

and questioned ourselves about all the stuff

we had, and we let go of about 80% of our belongings.

And then thanks to that voluntary simplicity,

that also opened more time to educate ourselves

on environmental issues.

So this was back in 2007.

We read some books.

We watched some documentaries.

And what we discovered with my husband really

made us sad thinking about the future

that we are going to leave behind for our kids.

So we decided to do something about it.

So my husband quit his job to start a sustainability

consulting company.

And I tackled the home.

So I got super motivated at first.

And there is lots of things that I tried.

I googled a lot of alternatives.

And some of the things that we discovered we still

do today such as canning.

This is actually canning season.

I have how-to's on my blog.

So on Saturday, I'll be buying a bunch of flats--

I mean a flat of tomatoes.

And then I'll be canning it for the year.

It's not like I can all year long, or all day.

I just can once a year for the rest of the year.

But anyways, some other alternatives that we tried

did not quite work out for us.

So I had heard about the [INAUDIBLE]

option of shampooing your hair.

And so I thought, oh maybe that will be

a good alternative to shampoo.

And so what that involves is using

baking soda in lieu of shampoo.

You're supposed to wet your hair,

sprinkle baking soda on your scalp, you massage it in,

and then you rinse with apple cider vinegar.

Now after six months, the oils of my hair

had migrated down to here, and I ended up with frizzy ends.

Not really the look I was looking for.

And when I went to lay down next to my husband

after those six months, he looked at me and he said,

I am just so tired of you smelling like vinaigrette, Bea.

It's really not sexy.

So I thought, yeah, maybe he has a point there.

I need to find another alternative.

And I did.

It's not shampoo.

I'll mention it later.

But I picked another alternative.

I also came to look at my cosmetic pouch at one point.

And I wanted a greener alternative, or at least

a zero-waste alternative for all the items that I had in there.

So I took my cosmetic pouch to a green pharmacy.

And I asked the sales person to give me

an alternative or a product for all the things I had in there.

She said, I have a mascara for you.

I have different types of makeup for you.

But I don't have an alternative for a lip plumper.

So for the guys that are here that don't know what

a lip plumper is, it's a glass that

has an ingredient in it that's supposed

to make your lips bigger.

Doesn't make it bigger.

I've actually taken a ruler and measured the before and after.

It doesn't really make them bigger,

but it makes you feel like they are bigger.

So since she didn't have an alternative for me, of course,

I googled it.

Alternative to or green way to make your lips bigger.

And I found this video of this beautiful woman

on YouTube, a woman that had lips a bit like Angelina Jolie,

like really nice and [INAUDIBLE].

And I thought, well, perfect.

That's what I need.

And she said, it's very simple.

All you need to do is gather some stinging nettle,

you remove the leaves, and then you roll the twig on your lips.

And I thought, uh, how simple that is.

I have a bunch of stinging nettle in my backyard.

So I put on some gloves, and I hiked up my hill

because we're on a hill.

And I grabbed a bunch of stinging nettle, brought it

back down to my kitchen, I removed the leaves carefully,

and then I rolled the twig on my lips.

OMG, did it hurt!

Of course, it did not at all provide

the results I was expecting.

And not like the video, I ended up with blotches, red bumps all

over the place.

Not very sexy, or not very much the look

I was looking for again.

And of course, that's when my husband came home from work.

And he looked at me, and said, oh my gosh.

What did you do again, Bea?

And I said, eh, just trying out something.

Don't worry about it.

We also came to question our use for toilet paper.

So at that point I was taking a foraging class.

And once we were in the forest.

And my teacher said, well, if you guys are ever

stuck in the woods with no toilet paper, that

moss out there is awesome.

I thought there Is my alternative to toilet paper.

So I grabbed some and took it home, but-- but moss, FYI,

it dries over time.

So the first day it might be soft,

but the next day, you're basically

left with a scouring pad.

Not very pleasant.

So we decided to forego that idea.

And instead, we decided to stick to toilet paper.

It's 100% recycled.

We buy it from a restaurants and hotel supply store

because we can buy it wrapped in paper.

We don't have to worry about the plastic packaging.

So after all this trial and error, we found balance.

And we found that for zero-waste to be truly

sustainable in our home, we simply

had to follow five rules in order.

It was all of it simply about refusing, reducing, reusing,

recycling, and rotting in order so

that at the end of the year-- sorry

I disappeared there-- we're left with one jar of waste.

So this basically represents our family's waste for the year.

This one is 2014.

So the first rule then that we apply is we simply refuse.

We simply say no to the things that we do not need.

We say no to single-use plastics--

plastic bags, water bottles.

But we also say no to freebies.

For today, in this consumerist society,

we're the target of many marketing goods.

But every time we accept them, it's

a way for us to reinforce an unsustainable practice.

Every time we take a free plastic pen from a conference

that we do not need-- because I think

everyone has enough pens in their homes

to last them a lifetime-- every time

we accept one of those pens, then

more oil will be drilled from the ground

to create a replacement.

Same goes with junk mail, every time

we take junk mail straight from the mailbox

and put it in a recycling bin, it's a way for us to say,

love junk mail.

Please send me more.

And more will be sent out to us.

So it's important to say no to these things

to simply stop the demand.

We also say no to business cards.

So don't try to give me your business card later.

I'll have my contact info at the end of the presentation.

Our second rule is to reduce.

So I'm sorry the slide is so light.

So we reduce what we do need.

So that means for us living a minimalist lifestyle.

So in our kitchen, for example, as you can see

the counters are pretty bare.

But I love it that way.

It's actually much easier to clean-- much faster to clean.

I used to have next to my stove a jar filled with accessories

and different types of spoons until I realized that I only

have two hands.

I only use one spoon at a time.

I don't need the 10 of the same spoon.

So today I've downsized to the true accessories that I need.

Same goes for underneath my sink.

Underneath my sink in the old days

was filled with products-- toxic products-- products