[Applause]
hi I’m Kristen and this is what I wear
to work most days you could say I’m a
garbage anthropologist everything we do
creates waste so it tells a story about
us who knows the most about what’s going
on in your life it’s not your spouse
it’s your garbage man but we’re not here
today to talk about the past we’re here
to talk about the future
that’s my family and the future of your
waste is round today we are burning
through limited resources only to make
things we throw away you all have a bank
account well if you’re a Wells Fargo
customer you might have a few but that’s
an entirely separate talk
when we know we have a fixed amount in
our account we are much more careful
with how we spend it retirement for
example people spending habits tighten
up greatly after they retire for the
kids listing did you know that helium
the stuff that makes birthday balloons
float comes from the earth we’re running
out of it and if we do you won’t be able
to sound like a Martian anymore whether
we’re talking about money or natural
resources from the earth when we know we
have limited amounts we spend them much
more carefully but we haven’t been
careful
we’ve been linear pillaging our precious
natural resources only to make things
that fill our landfills with leading
products circular or excuse me linear is
when we take trees use them to make
paper print on them for one meeting and
then send them to the dump being
circular means giving our existing
materials a second life to make the
things we need and keep our natural
resources where they serve us most in
nature you might have heard of recycling
the sharing economy or leasing models
these are all parts of a circular
economy the creativity of a circular is
endless old tires can become new shoes
old shoes can become new playgrounds
instead of sharing instead of buying
cars the future is sharing them and
clothes and tools and equipment everyone
from large corporations to small
startups and even community groups are
transforming our linear world into a
circular one but let me catch you up I
grew up in a world where kids played
outside snow-covered mountain peaks most
of the year and be still pollinated our
crops my kindergarten teacher made
nature come alive
we studied everything from giant gray
whales to little tiny bugs we dissected
owl pellets for mice bones raised real
salmon eggs in our classroom and became
perfect recyclers was it Eden
no it was the 1980s I also grew up in an
era when Lunchables ruled the cafeteria
every birthday party featured plastic
doodads and we captured it all with a
disposable camera I can even remember on
picture day using a plastic comb to fix
a few hairs and throwing it away just
moments after my glamour shot but I was
always fascinated when nature came
collided with my world where did they
get the fabric to make my stuffed
animals and what happened with the water
that went down my drain I was aware that
all of the things that made my life
comfortable from the warm house I lived
in to my favorite pair of kids came from
somewhere I couldn’t see that for me to
have those things here affected the
world somewhere else when I had to
lecture my parents dad you are not the
boss of me and for the last time we
recycle our newspapers in this house I
often felt circular in a linear world
like the world wasn’t ready to support
my values I had always heard we consumed
so much in the US but I never truly
understood what that meant until I learn
move to Germany after college the
Germans I met didn’t eat from takeout
containers they used reusable bags
everywhere and the little waste they did
have they dutifully separated into six
different categories I lived with a
family of four two parents and two
teenagers and get this they had one car
could they have afforded a second sure
but they didn’t need it I was in
aspire to work for change so what did I
do I got a job at the largest garbage
company in North America from then and
dumpster-diving as a waste consultant
I’ve traverse to landfills all over this
country it’s my job to study the massive
volumes of our discards a world that’s
too easily forgotten we are not the
first culture to waste and we are
definitely not the first to have
landfills they were around as early as
the ancient Egyptians but only in the
last few decades have our goods and
products been designed for intended to
be disposed of in a landfill I’m gonna
say that again we are living in the
first era in history that has created
products designed to be waste what’s the
problem with this all of the resources
it takes to make what we throw away then
have to be mined again to produce the
next thing that we are going to throw
away our expectations depend on it
because you and I are simply not going
to settle for not having a drink of
water on an airplane or whatever we
ordered online
within 24 hours all of these things take
resources that we can’t see can we talk
about just the cardboard box that brings
whatever very important thing a majiggy
we ordered online weird there’s a
cardboard box here just to make this box
we first cut down trees and by the way
no trees were actually harmed in the
making of this demonstration then we
transport them to a pulp mill that runs
on power we mix them with water we use
lots of water
and we use more power to dry them
flatten them and shape them into a box
then we transport them to a distribution
center where we fill them with very
important something brothers and use
more fuel to expedite them to you by the
time this box ends up at our doorsteps
we open it pull out whatever we
patiently been waiting 24 hours for and
discard the box this box has a lifespan
of just a few days and we waste not just
a box but all of the natural resources
that took those trees from the forest
and turned them into the perfect package
to protect our thing I know what you’re
thinking okay that sounds like a lot but
my waste couldn’t possibly have that
much of an impact so let’s look at what
happens from all of us having just a sip
of water on an airplane this is by a
Northwest photographer named Chris
Jordan his most famous works are called
by the numbers this is the real image is
about as tall as I am and seven and a
half feet wide at first glance it looks
like a bunch of slinkys but as you get
closer you’ll see that each line is from
a plastic cup it contains 1 million of
them the number we go through on airline
flights in the US wait for it every six
hours so you carry the four that’s one
and a half billion cups every year and
that’s just the waste we can see
businesses around the world create
almost as much waste as they do product
that’s small sip of water or your single
online order may not seem like much but
collectively we are burning through our
natural resources at alarming rates only
to create stuff
we want to throw away so before you feel
overwhelmed I’m sure you are right now
let me remind you the world has become
more circular right under our noses
more and more airports have water bottle
filling stations lk a company that
produces them has saved over five
billion plastic bottles
remember the CD the record the cassette
tape now we have Spotify Pandora and
Apple music set up as a membership model
where everybody has access to music but
nobody physically owns it we can reach
thousands of books on a Kindle or Amazon
fire and we all know what Netflix did to
blockbusters videos my freshman year of
college I can remember carting an entire
backpack full of CDs home on the short
flight to listen to with my Walkman by
the time I graduated all of that fit in
my pocket on a machine that would
eventually replace my phone book
notebooks calendar and DVD player and we
are getting more tools every day to be
more circular a San Francisco startup
Omni store stuffer for busy San
Franciscans they are quickly becoming a
lending library for on-demand borrowing
more and more community groups are
sprouting up to share honestly anything
you can think of you can even find extra
toilet paper not use toilet paper extra
toilet paper for free Patagonia builds
their products for life and even
encourages customers not to buy from
them in her face they create carpet
tiles made out of fishing nets mined out
of the ocean here’s a story for you when
I first heard I was going to get to be
on that this stage my first thought
wasn’t what am I going to say it was oh
my god what am I gonna wear
obviously this calls for a new outfit
then the little angel on my shoulder
said Kristen you’re about to speak to
thousands of people about how we need to
think about what we buy and why we buy
it you cannot share this message with a
straight face in a new pantsuit I knew
she was right but I struggled with this
for weeks until I remembered that I’ve
used a business that solves this exact
problem Rent the Runway vow to be chic
the stylist LA and others rents special
dresses for one-time events they send
them to you you dazzle at your event and
you send it back all in their reusable
packaging and guess what
next weekend this little number will
dance the night away at a wedding or
give another woman confidence during her
first job interview
I’ve had six months heck a lifetime to
figure out what I want to tell you today
and the truth is this is complicated
buying and wasting is deeply rooted in
our culture I struggle with it myself of
a few weeks ago I ordered something
online and I ordered two things and when
the Box arrived literally seven days
later I said Kristen and apparently I
talked to myself a lot Kristen I will
pay you 1 million dollars if you can
tell me both items that are in that box
thankfully I couldn’t do the second
because I don’t know where the money
would have come from but can you name
everything you’ve bought online in the
last 30 days or how about how much you
have in storage this isn’t about being
granola and it’s not about saving Mother
Earth she survived all five mass
extinctions this is about saving us this
is about being smart with the limited
resources that we have maybe this is the
first time you’ve thought about how much
you consume maybe you’re making the
world better through healthcare or
farming or raising a family maybe this
isn’t your office but the circular
economy can be part of all of our
stories support the businesses who are
making this more possible every day many
of them are listed with the Ellen
MacArthur Foundation tell businesses
that aren’t circular that it’s important
to you buy recycled products repair what
you can if the best you can do is
recycle then start there and for gosh
sakes bring a reusable water bottle with
you next time you travel mother earth
will give us as many plastic cups as she
possibly can but is that really how we
want to spend our limited bank account
the next time you buy something or heck
even use something you can choose will
this end up as waste or will it be
circular thank you
you
hi I’m Kristen and this is what I wear
to work most days you could say I’m a
garbage anthropologist everything we do
creates waste so it tells a story about
us who knows the most about what’s going
on in your life it’s not your spouse
it’s your garbage man but we’re not here
today to talk about the past we’re here
to talk about the future
that’s my family and the future of your
waste is round today we are burning
through limited resources only to make
things we throw away you all have a bank
account well if you’re a Wells Fargo
customer you might have a few but that’s
an entirely separate talk
when we know we have a fixed amount in
our account we are much more careful
with how we spend it retirement for
example people spending habits tighten
up greatly after they retire for the
kids listing did you know that helium
the stuff that makes birthday balloons
float comes from the earth we’re running
out of it and if we do you won’t be able
to sound like a Martian anymore whether
we’re talking about money or natural
resources from the earth when we know we
have limited amounts we spend them much
more carefully but we haven’t been
careful
we’ve been linear pillaging our precious
natural resources only to make things
that fill our landfills with leading
products circular or excuse me linear is
when we take trees use them to make
paper print on them for one meeting and
then send them to the dump being
circular means giving our existing
materials a second life to make the
things we need and keep our natural
resources where they serve us most in
nature you might have heard of recycling
the sharing economy or leasing models
these are all parts of a circular
economy the creativity of a circular is
endless old tires can become new shoes
old shoes can become new playgrounds
instead of sharing instead of buying
cars the future is sharing them and
clothes and tools and equipment everyone
from large corporations to small
startups and even community groups are
transforming our linear world into a
circular one but let me catch you up I
grew up in a world where kids played
outside snow-covered mountain peaks most
of the year and be still pollinated our
crops my kindergarten teacher made
nature come alive
we studied everything from giant gray
whales to little tiny bugs we dissected
owl pellets for mice bones raised real
salmon eggs in our classroom and became
perfect recyclers was it Eden
no it was the 1980s I also grew up in an
era when Lunchables ruled the cafeteria
every birthday party featured plastic
doodads and we captured it all with a
disposable camera I can even remember on
picture day using a plastic comb to fix
a few hairs and throwing it away just
moments after my glamour shot but I was
always fascinated when nature came
collided with my world where did they
get the fabric to make my stuffed
animals and what happened with the water
that went down my drain I was aware that
all of the things that made my life
comfortable from the warm house I lived
in to my favorite pair of kids came from
somewhere I couldn’t see that for me to
have those things here affected the
world somewhere else when I had to
lecture my parents dad you are not the
boss of me and for the last time we
recycle our newspapers in this house I
often felt circular in a linear world
like the world wasn’t ready to support
my values I had always heard we consumed
so much in the US but I never truly
understood what that meant until I learn
move to Germany after college the
Germans I met didn’t eat from takeout
containers they used reusable bags
everywhere and the little waste they did
have they dutifully separated into six
different categories I lived with a
family of four two parents and two
teenagers and get this they had one car
could they have afforded a second sure
but they didn’t need it I was in
aspire to work for change so what did I
do I got a job at the largest garbage
company in North America from then and
dumpster-diving as a waste consultant
I’ve traverse to landfills all over this
country it’s my job to study the massive
volumes of our discards a world that’s
too easily forgotten we are not the
first culture to waste and we are
definitely not the first to have
landfills they were around as early as
the ancient Egyptians but only in the
last few decades have our goods and
products been designed for intended to
be disposed of in a landfill I’m gonna
say that again we are living in the
first era in history that has created
products designed to be waste what’s the
problem with this all of the resources
it takes to make what we throw away then
have to be mined again to produce the
next thing that we are going to throw
away our expectations depend on it
because you and I are simply not going
to settle for not having a drink of
water on an airplane or whatever we
ordered online
within 24 hours all of these things take
resources that we can’t see can we talk
about just the cardboard box that brings
whatever very important thing a majiggy
we ordered online weird there’s a
cardboard box here just to make this box
we first cut down trees and by the way
no trees were actually harmed in the
making of this demonstration then we
transport them to a pulp mill that runs
on power we mix them with water we use
lots of water
and we use more power to dry them
flatten them and shape them into a box
then we transport them to a distribution
center where we fill them with very
important something brothers and use
more fuel to expedite them to you by the
time this box ends up at our doorsteps
we open it pull out whatever we
patiently been waiting 24 hours for and
discard the box this box has a lifespan
of just a few days and we waste not just
a box but all of the natural resources
that took those trees from the forest
and turned them into the perfect package
to protect our thing I know what you’re
thinking okay that sounds like a lot but
my waste couldn’t possibly have that
much of an impact so let’s look at what
happens from all of us having just a sip
of water on an airplane this is by a
Northwest photographer named Chris
Jordan his most famous works are called
by the numbers this is the real image is
about as tall as I am and seven and a
half feet wide at first glance it looks
like a bunch of slinkys but as you get
closer you’ll see that each line is from
a plastic cup it contains 1 million of
them the number we go through on airline
flights in the US wait for it every six
hours so you carry the four that’s one
and a half billion cups every year and
that’s just the waste we can see
businesses around the world create
almost as much waste as they do product
that’s small sip of water or your single
online order may not seem like much but
collectively we are burning through our
natural resources at alarming rates only
to create stuff
we want to throw away so before you feel
overwhelmed I’m sure you are right now
let me remind you the world has become
more circular right under our noses
more and more airports have water bottle
filling stations lk a company that
produces them has saved over five
billion plastic bottles
remember the CD the record the cassette
tape now we have Spotify Pandora and
Apple music set up as a membership model
where everybody has access to music but
nobody physically owns it we can reach
thousands of books on a Kindle or Amazon
fire and we all know what Netflix did to
blockbusters videos my freshman year of
college I can remember carting an entire
backpack full of CDs home on the short
flight to listen to with my Walkman by
the time I graduated all of that fit in
my pocket on a machine that would
eventually replace my phone book
notebooks calendar and DVD player and we
are getting more tools every day to be
more circular a San Francisco startup
Omni store stuffer for busy San
Franciscans they are quickly becoming a
lending library for on-demand borrowing
more and more community groups are
sprouting up to share honestly anything
you can think of you can even find extra
toilet paper not use toilet paper extra
toilet paper for free Patagonia builds
their products for life and even
encourages customers not to buy from
them in her face they create carpet
tiles made out of fishing nets mined out
of the ocean here’s a story for you when
I first heard I was going to get to be
on that this stage my first thought
wasn’t what am I going to say it was oh
my god what am I gonna wear
obviously this calls for a new outfit
then the little angel on my shoulder
said Kristen you’re about to speak to
thousands of people about how we need to
think about what we buy and why we buy
it you cannot share this message with a
straight face in a new pantsuit I knew
she was right but I struggled with this
for weeks until I remembered that I’ve
used a business that solves this exact
problem Rent the Runway vow to be chic
the stylist LA and others rents special
dresses for one-time events they send
them to you you dazzle at your event and
you send it back all in their reusable
packaging and guess what
next weekend this little number will
dance the night away at a wedding or
give another woman confidence during her
first job interview
I’ve had six months heck a lifetime to
figure out what I want to tell you today
and the truth is this is complicated
buying and wasting is deeply rooted in
our culture I struggle with it myself of
a few weeks ago I ordered something
online and I ordered two things and when
the Box arrived literally seven days
later I said Kristen and apparently I
talked to myself a lot Kristen I will
pay you 1 million dollars if you can
tell me both items that are in that box
thankfully I couldn’t do the second
because I don’t know where the money
would have come from but can you name
everything you’ve bought online in the
last 30 days or how about how much you
have in storage this isn’t about being
granola and it’s not about saving Mother
Earth she survived all five mass
extinctions this is about saving us this
is about being smart with the limited
resources that we have maybe this is the
first time you’ve thought about how much
you consume maybe you’re making the
world better through healthcare or
farming or raising a family maybe this
isn’t your office but the circular
economy can be part of all of our
stories support the businesses who are
making this more possible every day many
of them are listed with the Ellen
MacArthur Foundation tell businesses
that aren’t circular that it’s important
to you buy recycled products repair what
you can if the best you can do is
recycle then start there and for gosh
sakes bring a reusable water bottle with
you next time you travel mother earth
will give us as many plastic cups as she
possibly can but is that really how we
want to spend our limited bank account
the next time you buy something or heck
even use something you can choose will
this end up as waste or will it be
circular thank you
you
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