Eco Spotlight: Danielle Elwell
To say the least, most ordinary jobs are not all that sustainable. When one business decided to start forming “Green Teams” in order to figure out how to become environmentally friendly quickly, they new just who to pick as one of their Green Ambassadors.
Danielle Elwell is a plant lover who is always working towards zero waste. Although she’s always been careful about trash, she truly embraced the idea of less waste in 2019, during a search for cruelty-free makeup.
The search opened her eyes to just how permanent plastic was in the environment, and she immediately began changing her lifestyle to reduce as much plastic as possible from her life. For anyone who has ever tried to be zero waste before, you know how hard this can be.
When she can’t avoid plastic, she thinks of the quote by Anne Marie Bonneau: “We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly.”
Even if you can’t always say no to plastic, just the act of trying can make a huge difference to the planet.
Today, Danielle makes all her own bread and tortillas, and has even made her own pasta when it’s not available in bulk bins. She has also started a sustainable houseplant Instagram (@SustainableHoya), because she quickly discovered house plants actually aren’t all that sustainable.
You can follow her for tips on how to avoid plastic with house plants, upcycling, and other plant related advice.
Danielle’s story is really encouraging because it proves that you can make a difference for the environment even if your work isn’t directly related to the environment. You never know what ripple effect your voice may have.