BOOK REVIEW: THE ZERO-WASTE LIFESTYLE BY AMY KORST

​Just in time for Earth Day, take the plunge into zero- or low-waste living with Amy Korst's incredibly comprehensive guide to reducing your trash and improving your life. In The Zero-Waste Lifestyle Korst quickly dispels the initial fears one may have when approaching zero-waste living: complexity, cost, and perfectionism. Instead of focusing on those gatekeeping elements, Korst's approach to zero-waste living is all about simplifying your life, saving you money, allowing room for error, and taking care of the environment all in simple congruity.

Lifestyle quickly touches upon the issues of modern throwaway-culture; the side effects of rapidly producing and disposing of goods are almost innumerable, but not so extensively detailed that the reader becomes fatigued before arriving at solutions to these problems.

Korst does not preach. Nor does she demand immediate and perfect zero-waste living. Rather, The Zero-Waste Lifestyle serves as the ultimate beginner resource for greener living, pairing concepts with incredibly specific plans and resources for plotting out and executing a more environmentally-friendly lifestyle. If the thought of composting overwhelms you, Korst provides three levels of intensity to ease you into reducing food waste. If switching from convenience foods to bulk sounds impossible, Korst has charts and lists that will take you along step-by-step.

In our journeys to organize and declutter, it's important to remember we are not only responsible for caring for the house we live in, but the planet we live on. Reducing the trash cluttering up your home is just as important as reducing the trash cluttering the planet, and the two lifestyles can go hand-in-hand when you begin living with less waste.

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