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Is This the World’s Greenest Family?
Bea Johnson’s all-white Californian home takes minimalism to a stark new level. There’s not so much as a cereal1) box to ruin the aesthetic2). Immaculate3) rows of glass kilner jars4) line the larder and under the kitchen sink is a single bottle of white vinegar. Upstairs, in Bea’s teenage sons’ bedrooms, the wardrobes contain four meagre piles of folded clothes, bike and baseball helmets, and a suitcase.
Quite how a mother and corporate housewife—Bea’s husband, Scott, works for a software company—has got away with such extreme decluttering is baffling5). Not even Marie Kondo, the High Priestess of Tidiness, takes paring6) back this far. But Bea, who is French by birth, has been pioneering a zero waste existence for her family since 2008 with impressive results.
Last year she was able to fit the family’s annual domestic waste into a half litre jar. “Life is so simple now; I can’t imagine going back to the way we used to live,” she says. “We don’t have less options in life, we have more because we are more creative.”
In her six-inch heels and leather trousers, Bea cuts7) an unlikely eco warrior. “I’m no hippy8),” she says. “Before I started this I was having Botox9), wearing fake nails and dying my hair Barbie blonde.” But her waste-free lifestyle, based around five R’s—refuse what you don’t need, reduce what you need, reuse what you consume and recycle or rot (ie compost) the rest—and her blog and subsequent book have inspired a global movement. It’s thanks to her that Britain now has waste-free restaurants and an annual Zero Waste Week (Sept 5-9, 2016).
“Initially we were accused of being hairy hippies who deprive10) our kids but now we have film crews visiting our home almost every week,” Bea says.
The Johnsons’ transformation from all-American family to Zero Waste pioneers didn’t happen overnight. Bea, who came to America as an au pair11) aged 18, admits she was sucked in by the American dream of enormous refrigerators and SUVs. After marrying Scott in her early twenties she became, she says, the ultimate soccer mum12). They lived in a large house in the suburbs and sent Max and Leo to private schools.
Then, six years ago, they sold up to buy a smaller home in Mill Valley, an upmarket San Francisco neighbourhood. “We lived in a tiny rented apartment with most possessions in storage,” Bea says.
“We didn’t miss our things at all. We had space in our lives for what mattered most: spending time together, hiking, picnics.”
Once installed in their new home, she resolved to change the emphasis of their lifestyle from one of “having” to one of “being and experiencing.” She banished packaging and set about editing the family’s possessions to the bare minimum. “We only ever use 20 per cent of what we have,” she explains. “The rest is for the ‘what ifs’: what if I lose weight, what if I have an interview, what if I’m going to a fancy dress party.”
The process took a lot of reflection but Bea, who prides herself on looking chic, now owns six pairs of shoes, seven tops, seven trousers, two skirts and a little black dress. She hasn’t missed her enormous engagement ring or the family heirlooms13) she sold.
Naturally her waste-free edict met resistance early on, not so much from the boys, who were too young to care, but from Scott who complained about his wife’s obsession with buying food in bulk14) from expensive farmers markets. He also moaned about scaling down his sporting equipment.
When he saw their household expenditure dropping by 40 per cent in the first year, however, he changed his mind. “After that he was totally on board15),” Bea says.
Determined not to let a single package through the door, Bea spent days canning and jarring bulk bought food and experimented with making her own make-up.
Not everything worked out, she admits: washing her hair in baking soda and cider vinegar, for example. “Scott told me he didn’t find it sexy that I smelt like vinaigrette16).” Another time she rubbed stinging nettles on her lips for an Angelina-style pout17) and ended up with blisters18).
Now, though, she’s got Zero Waste living sussed19). She uses cocoa powder as blusher20) and beetroot21) juice to brighten her lips—and has been told she looks younger—but buys in waste-free versions of toiletries22). A two-dollar unpackaged soap bar for washing hair and body, and recycled, unbleached23) loo paper (not 100 per cent waste-free but the best option, she says).
Is it not joyless to live in such self-inflicted24) austerity? Bea shakes her head, manically. For the most part her friends respect her lifestyle, she insists, just as she respects theirs—she’ll happily drink wine poured from a bottle when she goes out for dinner.
Meanwhile family life is richer than ever: they have more time together and their children are happy. “We don’t give them Christmas presents but I’d hardly describe them as deprived,” she says. “They have smartphones and we’ve just been in the Caribbean for three weeks. We’re about to go to Japan together. Don’t feel too sorry for them.”
Bea isn’t sure if Max and Leo will adopt a Zero Waste lifestyle when they’re older, but she hopes her glass jar of yearly rubbish has shown them that it’s possible to live a beautiful life without waste. “If you can free yourself from ‘things’,” she says, “you can focus on what really matters.”
贝亚·约翰逊那位于加州的纯白色的家，将极简主义发挥到了全新的极致。甚至找不到一个麦片盒来破坏这里的美感。橱柜里排列着一尘不染的玻璃密封罐，水槽下只有一瓶白醋。贝亚十几岁儿子们的卧室在楼上，他们的衣柜里放着四小摞叠好的衣服、自行车、棒球头盔，以及一个手提箱。
作为母亲和公司职员的妻子——贝亚的丈夫斯考特在一家软件公司上班——贝亚竟能令家里精简到如此程度，着实令人费解。即使家政女教皇藤麻理惠阁下也没有精简到这个程度。但法国出生的贝亚自2008年起在家倡导“零浪费生活”法，如今已取得了不俗的成绩。
去年，贝亚用一个半升的罐子就能把一家全年的家庭垃圾装下。“现在生活如此简单；我无法想象回到过去生活方式的样子，”她说，“我们生活中的选择并没有变少，因为更具创意，我们的选择反而比以前更多了。”
穿着六英寸的高跟鞋，身着皮裤，贝亚看上去不像一名环保战士。“我不是嬉皮士，”她说，“在开始这种生活方式之前，我注射肉毒杆菌，带假指甲，把头发染成芭比娃娃那样的金色。”但贝亚通过倡导基于5R原则的“零浪费”生活、更新个人博客以及后续出书，掀起了一场全球运动，5R原则包括拒绝(refuse)不需要的东西，减少(reduce)需求，重复使用(reuse)消费品，剩下的东西回收(recycle)或埋起来堆肥(rot)。受她启发，英国现在有了“零浪费”餐厅和一年一度的“零浪费周”(2016.9.5～2016.9.9)。“一开始人们指责我们是亏待孩子的留长发的嬉皮士，而现在几乎每周都有摄制组到家里采访。”贝亚说。
约翰逊一家从彻头彻尾的美式家庭向“零浪费生活”先驱转变的过程不是一蹴而就的。贝亚18岁到美国做换工保姆，她承认自己曾深陷以超大冰箱和多功能越野车为代表的美国梦。她说，二十出头嫁给斯考特后，自己成了典型的足球妈妈。他们住在郊区的大房子里，把两个孩子马克思和利奥送到私立学校念书。
六年前，他们卖掉原来的房子，准备到旧金山米尔谷高档社区买一所小一点的住宅。“我们租住在一个狭小的公寓里，将大部分物品寄存起来，”贝亚说，“大家完全没有想念那些东西。我们为生活中最重要的事情留出了空间：花时间在一起，远足，野餐。”
一旦在新家安顿下来，贝亚就决定将家庭生活方式的重心从“拥有”变为“生存和体验”。她拒绝商品包装，并着手将家用物资减到最少。“我们只用过自己拥有物品中的20%，”她解释道，“其他都是为‘如果’准备的：如果我瘦了，如果我要面试，如果我要参加化装舞会。”
精简的过程很花费心思，但打扮入时并以时尚引以为傲的贝亚，目前只有六双鞋、七件上衣、七条裤子、两条短裙和一条小黑裙。她没有想念自己卖掉的订婚大戒指和传家宝。
当然，在早期，她的“零浪费”法令遭遇过抵抗，不是来自两个孩子——他们年龄尚小还不在乎——而是来自斯考特。他抱怨妻子执意从昂贵的农夫市场买未加包装的食物，也为自己的运动器材遭精简而大发牢骚。
然而，当看到第一年家庭支出下降了40％，斯考特态度变了。“那之后他就完全支持我了。”贝亚说。
因为决意不让一个商品包装进家门，贝亚会花上几天时间把买回的无包装食物装进瓶瓶罐罐，还尝试自己制作化妆品。
贝亚承认，并非所有尝试都是成功的：例如用小苏打和苹果醋洗头。“斯考特告诉我，他觉得我闻起来像油醋沙拉汁，这一点也不性感。”还有一次，她为了能有安吉丽娜·朱莉式的丰唇而用带刺的荨麻擦嘴唇，结果弄出了水泡。
不过，现在她玩转了“零浪费生活”。她用可可粉作腮红，用甜菜汁涂嘴唇——大家都说她看起来更年轻了——但她购买洗浴用品，只不过都是“零垃圾”版本的。她买两美元一块的无包装肥皂来洗头发和身体，选用未漂白的再生厕纸(虽然不是百分之百“零浪费”，但这已经是最好的选择了，她说)。
过着自己倡导的这种节俭生活，不会无趣吗？贝亚拼命摇头。她坚称，大多数时候，她的朋友们都尊重她的生活方式，正如自己尊重他们的生活方式一样——外出就餐时她也会愉快地喝瓶子里倒出来的酒。
与此同时，家庭生活变得比以往更丰富多彩：家人有更多的时间在一起，孩子们也很快乐。“我们不送他们圣诞礼物，但也不能说他们受了亏待，”她说，“他们都有智能手机，而且我们刚刚在加勒比海待了三个星期，还会一起去日本。不用太为他们感到难过。”
贝亚不确定马克斯和利奥长大以后会不会过“零浪费生活”，但她希望用玻璃罐装下一年垃圾的例子让孩子们知道，没有浪费也能过上美好生活。把自己“从‘物’中解放出来，”她说，“就能专注于真正重要的事情。”
文章摘自：《新东方英语》杂志2017年5月号
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