Joy: Hello everybody and welcome to
Living your Values Series with
Lauren Singer and Rob Greenfield today.
Round of applause for these two,
they are really incredible.
[Applause]
Joy: Lauren is the founder and CEO
of Package Free, so this
literally came from her brain.
Thank you, guys, for joining us here.
We are Zero Waste Lifestyle.
We will help you live your life more sustainably.
On that vein, Rob is also leading the way,
showing us all how to live more sustainably,
more just, and be better people, in general.
We are really excited for your conversation.
Afterwards, everything is 30% off.
Thank you guys so much for being here.
Rob: Cool.
Lauren: Thanks Joy.
We have done a lot of events and talks here.
The last one that we did,
I did something different.
First, I was wondering if people would respond to it
in a way that would make them feel uncomfortable,
but I later I learned it was actually quite nice.
So you will have to bear with me.
It was in honor of one of our vendors and
one of my best friends who passed,
a month ago, Vanessa Blake.
Her and her two children
were tragically killed in a
car accident in California.
She made a the Becky Boo Deodorant.
There might be a few left here.
What I did was take a moment
of silence, for all of us, to take a second
to think about someone that we love.
If you were with your family for the holidays,
maybe you thought things that you
do not love about your family.
Sometimes, our family does that to us.
But, I think it is important,
especially during the holidays,
during the stress of work....
If anyone works in retail or e-commerce,
or anything, you might be really overwhelmed.
So I think that just to take a moment
to think about something beautiful
that happened today,
and think about someone,
and send love to someone you
do not get to see all the time, but
you care about deeply, so
if we could just close our eyes
and take a quick second.
Lauren: Thank you [loud bang]
That was perfect timing.
Lauren: So Rob.
Rob: So Lauren.
Rob and I met, how many years ago now?
Rob: 3 years and 2 months
Lauren: 3 years and 2 months ago.
I do not know how you remember that.
That is amazing.
I met you 3 years, 2 months ago,
but I knew about you earlier,
because before I even started my first company,
The Simply Co, I had read an article
about you, that was something along
the lines of 'I did not shower for
a year - these are the lessons I learned',
and, after reading about this,
I thought, "Woah, this guy is
amazing, and interesting."
How do you not shower?
I started reading, and I learned
that you did not not bathe, but you swam
in rivers, and you let the earth
take care of your personal hygiene.
I actually thought it was beautiful
and I found myself
being incredibly envious of
this year that you had
to celebrate nature, and how
amazing it can feel by just
connecting with it.
Then we connected for the first time...
Was the first time in person when you
came to my house?
Was that it? Had we met before then?
Rob: I think it was then, 2016
Lauren: 2016. And, we had the most
amzing time, which we will get into
later, but, before any of that,
before we get into all the fun we had when we connected,
I wanted you to give a brief synopsis
of who you are, your background,
and what led you to start all of
your adventures.
Rob: Sure.
I also want to tell about how I learned about Lauren.
I was sitting at home
and my best friend Dane sent me a
message and he said...
It was a Mindbodygreen story
about how all your trash at that time
fit into a jar, for maybe two years
(at that time?) - it was a while ago.
My friend Dane said, "This girl sounds
a lot like you." [laughter]
It was around the same time that I
did the story, Lessons Learned from
a Year Without Showering.
He sent that over and said,
"You two sound exactly alike.
It is nice to be back.
I just finished my year of growing and
foraging all my food and this is my first beer.
So cheers to being here with all of you.
Everyone: Cheers!
It is from Toast, which is an awesome
company that makes it out
of wasted bread, so cheers.
Cheers everybody!
Lauren: I will let you savor that.
Rob: mmm I forgot how it tasted.
Lauren: Tell us about where you are from.
What was your childhood like?
Rob: I grew up in Northern Wisconsin.
I grew up in a small town, Ashland.
Population: 8,620.
My passion as a kid was catching frogs
and turtles, and going out fishing.
All I wanted to do was be outside.
Even when I was not outside,
I was reading National Geographic.
I was basically yearning to see the world.
I read books like Dr Seuss.
I just wanted to go to these far off places, like Fiji.
I always had a deep desire to learn all the animals.
That was my childhood.
The other central theme of my childhood
was that we were very low income.
It was my mom, me, and three siblings
in a two-bedroom house where the paint was chipping off.
We had an old rusty car.
Basically, my whole childhood,
I was embarrassed about being poor.
I was living most of my childhood like it was a lie.
I did not want people to know who I really was.
I think that was what led me to the next
years where my goal was to be
a millionaire by the time I was 30.
I just really wanted to fit in with the
American dream: to have nice things
to be able to impress people.
And, not just to impress people,
but also just to fit in, and also just not be different.
That is, I guess, how I would sum up
the beginning of my life.
Then, in 2011, was when I woke up.
I realized that everything I was doing -
the food I was eating, the car the I was driving,
the garbage that I was making -
was destroying everything I loved as a kid.
Lauren: Can you talk about what sparked that?
Your life now, is quite the contrast
from being a millionaire at 30.
What was the moment?
Was there a singular moment or event
or anything that made you change
the trajectory of your life?
Rob: Yes, it changed pretty drastically
because my goal was to be a millionaire.
Now my goal is to never have more
than $15,000 of possessions and money, total.
Right now, everything I own is in
a backpack right back there.
I have about $6000 to my name.
So, it is opposite of being a millionaire, sort of.
Actually, the opposite would be being
extremely in debt - I am not in debt.
What was the question again?
Lauren: Was there a moment that sparked?
What was your lightbulb?
Rob: For me, I started to watch a lot of
documentaries and read a lot of books.
"Fooding" was one of the earliest
documentaries that I watched.
Zeitgeist was another early one.
I read a lot of books; Michael Pollan
was an early wake-up.
Lauren: Me too.
Rob: I just realized that my life
was a couple of things.
It was a lie that had been sold to me by
corporate America, that most of the
things I was doing was because I had
bought their advertizing.
For example, early on, Old Spice deodorant....
I realized humans have existed for
millions of years without Old Spice.
Could I possibly need Old Spice to fit into society?
Do I actually need these things?
All the chemicals I was putting on my body and in my food,
all the ways I was spewing chemicals
and toxins into the world.
[I was] also realizing that my actions
were not in line with my beliefs.
I always considered myself
environmentally friendly because I recycled;
I had energy efficient bulbs;
I turned off the water when I was not using it.
My mom had taught me the basic things.
I always considered myself environmentally friendly,
but then I realized that actually 99%
of what I was doing was environmentally destructive.
Almost nothing I was doing, nothing at all,
was really environmentally friendly
because I just bought into American consumerism.
Lauren: What were the first steps you
started to take when you realized that
your values were not in alignment with
your day to day actions?
Rob: I just realized that we are talking
exactly about the title of this talk.
[Laughter.]
Lauren: I am happy we got there.
What were the first things that you did,
because I think for a lot of people,
they realize, maybe I am not living
aligned with my values, but what can I do?
I am just one person.
I think what you really embody
is doing something and 'really' doing something.
What were the first steps you took
to start to align with what you cared about?
Rob: My thing was that I wanted to
drastically and radically transform
my life fairly quickly, but I also knew
I could not do it overnight.
I am generally pretty logical and rational,
and I was deep in the system.
I had 7 credit cards.
I had a card that had 30 or so different bills.
I had debt.
I had a 3-bedroom apartment that I rented.
I was in the system.
Not as much as others -
I did not have a mortgage, for example.
I wanted to radically transform my life,
but I knew that it would take some time.
What I did was made a list of a hundred
ways I wanted to change.
My goal was that I was going to check off
one positive thing per week, or better.
As far as the first things, I have a visual,
I remember taking everything toxic
out of my bathroom and putting
it on the curb, and then saying....
That was the Story of Stuff,
one of my earliest wake-ups.
There is also the Story of Cosmetics
in another video they put out.
I remember just putting all that out on the curb,
and saying, I am either going to 'not'
replace them because maybe I do not
need them at all, or if I am going to
bring something into my house,
it is going to be something
that makes sense to put on my body.
That was a really early one.
I was also dating someone who was
practicing traditional Chinese medicine,
accupuncture, massage therapy and
herbalism, at the time, so that was
another reason that I started there.
Then food. At the time, I went to Walmart
for all of my food.
They always ship around the country, around the world.
It is all in plastic, and then in two plastic bags.
I quickly stopped going to Walmart.
Then I went to Trader Joe's,
I realized that is a scam,
as far as thinking it is environmentally friendly.
Then transitioning to eating more
at local farmer's market.
Another one was riding my bike a lot more.
I had a beach cruiser at the time.
So I decided I was going to get a bike
that I could get some distance on.
Lauren: Where were you living at the time?
Rob: That was San Diego.
So, I stopped driving my car as much.
Also, slowly but surely got rid of my garbage can.
That was a big goal of mine,
to not have garbage cans in the house.
Lauren: Yes!
Which, back then seemed radical,
but over time, it is just normal.
Lauren: Let me talk about that a little bit.
The word radical.
I think there are not many people
who would disagree that the things
you do a quite radical, quite extremist.
I have gotten that myself about going zero waste.
You go all the way, you never half-do anything.
Do have a reason for why you tackle these
projects or these goals in the way that you do?
Can you speak to some of the projects
that you have done in the past,
from not showering to what you have just
embarked on, have just completed.
Rob: I do radical things for a few reasons.
1. because I have always been a radical human being.
It is just the reality.
It is deep inside my bones.
Before, I was radically stupid.
I liked to do stupid things that
would get people's attention.
In college, running into a fence as hard
as I could and seeing if I could break it.
You know, really stupid things when I was drinking.
I have always liked to test the limits.
Now I choose to test purposeful limits.
There is the reality that I just like
to do extreme things and to test things.
The other thing is that I realized at that time,
not only did I want to change my life,
but I wanted to give people the
opportunity to change their life.
I was always decent about not wanting to
tell anybody what to do,
but just to give an alternative.
In a half hour news segment,
there are 18 short segments,
and 15 of them are negative,
and only 3 are positive.
Between that are commercials telling you
that if you want to be happy or healthy,
you need to buy things.
I just wanted to put out another narrative
and give people another option.
It was that. I wanted to show people another way.
And of course, I had to compete
with mainstream media.
I had to do things that would actually
get my message out there.
If I just did a little bit.
If I did things in a really moderate way,
like starting to shop at the farmer's market.
Lauren: I shower once a week.
Rob: Yeah, that would not be on ...
Rob and Lauren: mainstream media
Rob: So that was the strategic aspect of it.
The other big part of it was....
You have been called, like you said,
extreme, and people generally
consider me extreme.
I consider myself extreme, but the reality is,
I am actually not extreme.
The only reason that I am extreme
is because I am being compared to what is
already an extreme society.
The United States has 5% of the world's population,
but uses 25% of the world's resources.
That by definition, is extreme.
Not even close to the whole world could do that.
What I am, is I am the counter balance to
extreme western consumerism.
I only have to go to these extremes
because the extreme is already there.
Lauren: Can you speak to some of the
headlines that you created, some of the
things you have taken on.
We spoke about the 'I have not showered in a year -
these are the lessons I learned.'
Talk about some of the lessons you learned,
from Trash Me, growing all your own food.
I am really curious becuase we have not
caught up in a while, so this is more
or me than it is for all of you.
Rob: Well, my first project was to bike
accross the United States, and try to
have no negative environmental impact.
That meant setting basic ground
rules for all the key aspects of
sustainable living, the things that we
deal with every single day.
I consider those to be food, water,
energy, waste, and transportion.
These are things that every single one of us
deals with every single day
whether we realize it or not.
For example, for waste, every piece of garbage
that I created, I had to carry across
the United States with me.
If I had a candy bar in San Francisco,
then I had to bike with that plastic
all the way to Vermont.
On that trip, I made just 2 pounds
of trash in 104 days, which is what
the average person in the United States
makes by about 1 or 2 in the afternoon
on any given day.
On that trip, I was doing extreme things
about food, water, energy, waste, transportation.
That was my first project.
The other one was Trash Me,
which was right here in New York City.
That was a month of living like the average American.
Putting all ethics and morals aside for the month,
and eating, consuming like the average person.
But I had to wear every piece of trash that I created.
Lauren: Did everybody see that? Yeah?
We had it here for a little while.
It was awesome!
Rob: Good
Lauren: How did you feel after that?
What was the lesson that you learned?
Rob: It is interesting, in a way I felt better.
I have to say, it was the most enjoyable
month in my entire life.
Not because I was consuming,
but just because it worked so well.
Everywhere I went for the whole month
in New York city, I was being chased
down the streets by people saying,
"It is the trash man!" People were excited.
What fulfils me, is seeing people's
wheels turning inside their head.
People would walk up to me.
It is the opposite of all of your trash
fitting into your jar.
I always try to find visual ways to help
people understand important issues.
The idea was that I wanted people
to look at me, and see themselves,
without me having to tell them anything.
Without me having to tell anyone
that they are doing anything wrong.
Because I do not necessarily believe
in wrong or right anyway.
... not have to tell anybody anything.
What would happen, is people would
walk up to me in the street.
They would say, "What are you doing?"
I would say, "I am just living
like the average American for a month,
and I am wearing all my trash."
They would just look at me.
Sometimes they would actually say,
"Oh, that is me."
Sometimes you would see them realize it.
Other times they would actually say it.
I try to do things in a way that are
in people's faces, without "being in their face".
Lauren: I think it was a really amazing
project for me, because my whole life is
focused around talking about trash
and how not to make so much trash.
Actually feeling the weight of your
completed suit was unbelievable.
This suit was really heavy; we needed
three people to carry it up the stairs.
The day we installed it, I think I fell 4 times.
It was unbelievable.
You truly do not realize the sheer volume
of the sh*t that people create every single day.
I think it was a really important project for me.
I am sure it was for so many other people.
The next project after that was what?
Rob: Another project that I just finished
was a year of growing and foraging all my food.
For one year, no grocery stores, no restaurants,
no drink at a bar, nothing packaged,
nothing processed, nothing shipped long distances,
no beer, no even going to the package-free
shop to get my food, or even the farmer's market.
Everything I ate for the year was either
from my gardens, or that I went out and
foraged, whether it was out in the
countryside, or right in the cities that I was in.
Lauren: Where was this taking place?
Rob: That was in Orlando Florida.
That is where I have lived for the last 2 years.
Lauren: How was that,
foraging for food in Orlando Florida?
When I think of Orlando, Florida,
and I think of Disneyworld.
I think of Universal Studios,
and maybe cotton candy,
but I definitely do not think of
sustenance for a year and half of life.
So what were the types of things
that you found there?
Rob: Generally, we think of what we know.
If we are not thinking of what might
be edible around us, then we will walk
past those things our entire life without
ever thinking about it.
The amazing thing is,
food is growing everywhere,
even in New York city.
I was here 3 years ago. I was in a park.
I saw this guy, just picking things
out of a tree and eating them.
I said "What are you doing?"
He said, "These are cherries and mulberries."
At the time, I did not know what they were.
Lauren: Surinam cherries?
Those are my favorite things in the world.
Rob: Oh really? These were just little
pin cherries, or black cherries.
There is food growing all over New York City.
It is basically growing everywhere.
But what I did in Orlando was I
turned front yards into gardens.
When I landed in Orlando, I had no land.
I did not have a place to stay yet.
I found someone, and they let me
stay in their guest bedroom.
I turned their front yard into a garden.
Then I turned 6 yards into gardens
while I was there.
That is where I got all my food that I grew.
Just front yards that you could walk by.
Anybody could pick from them.
There was no fence or anything.
Lauren: Who were the types of people
that opened up their homes, their property,
their possessions to you, so you could subsist?
Rob: Mostly people who watched me on YouTube.
Lauren: Wow, and how did you find them?
Did you do a call for them
before you started off on this journey?
Community is so important, right?
And for you, it is a major part of how you live.
So how are you finding and connecting
with these amazing people?
Rob: That was partially a joke, because
a lot of the people I ended up doing
things with had never heard of me.
I am just some crazy guy who wants
to build a garden.
Sometimes, they would think
"That sounds good, but you are barefoot.."
and "I am not sure about this guy."
I am not usually wearing a shirt.
I am wearing short shorts around.
They are thinking, "I am not sure about this guy."
Lauren: Did some people like it?
Rob: Some people do, enough people do.
There are 7 billion people,
so you do not need to please everyone
to have plenty of people on your side.
Some of it was through,
these days I think the word is Social Capital.
Some people base their life around having
enough money to get everything they need.
That is what I used to do.
I used to design my life around having
enough money so that I would be able
to buy whatever experience
or product, or even sometimes
friendship that I might have wanted
through my material possessions and the
experiences I could give or share with them.
Today, instead of it being through money,
I look at it through the reality that
we live in a time where together we can
pretty much meet all of each other's
needs outside of the globalized,
industrialized systems.
We live in a very privileged time
where just with this group together,
if we just came up with all of our skills,
we could pretty much work together
to accomplish most of what we need to.
So I look at that.
I try to bring that together.
It is always about
What do you want in life that you do not have?
What do I want in life that I do not have?
For some people, that is a blank lawn with grass.
And they want food.
I do not have a lawn, but I know how to grow food.
So we can combine our resources
to create what we both want.
Lauren: That is so beautiful. Okay.
Where does your tiny house come in?
Was that before growing your own food?
Rob: When I lived in San Diego,
I lived in a 50 foot/square tiny house.
Lauren: that you built yourself?
Rob: That was the one I bought on Craigslist for $950.
I call it a tiny house,
but it was basically a glorified dog house,
or a kid's playpen on wheels.
It was basically a box, but it was
designed to look really nice.
Not a cardboard box, a wood box,
that had nice lines that made it
look like a little cabin.
I bought that for $950 and lived off grid in San Diego.
That was 2015-2016.
When I lived in Orlando, I built
a tiny house out of 99% second-hand
materials for about $1300
Lauren: Where did you find
everything for that house?
Rob: It was mostly left-over materials
from construction projects,
the two-by-fours, the plywood and all that.
Lauren: How did you know how to build a house?
Rob: I did not.
I met a guy who knows how to build a house.
Lauren: How did you meet said guy?
Rob: He was the husband of someone
who had been doing photography for
me for the past few years who liked my
work and had been following me.
Somehow she wrapped him into building
my house for me. Lauren: That is amazing!
There was him.... without him it would not have worked.
He was a carpenter.
But 40 different people came together
and built the house.
I am saying 'house' but it looks like a shed.
10ft by 10ft, very simple.
I am very much a person who
does not practice altruism in any way.
Some people look at what I am doing
and might think of it as altruistic.
But it is not that, it is 'how can we meet
each other's needs'.
These 40 people who came out
to volunteer to build my tiny house,
none of them were there,
for the most part, because they thought,
"Let us help Rob out."
They were there because they were
interested in tiny houses.
It was an opportunity to learn about tiny houses.
They wanted to meet like-minded people.
They wanted to make some friends,
or just have a new experience.
By making building my house a community event,
everyone who came out got to benefit from that.
At the same time, of course,
I got to benefit cause they helped
me put together my house.
I also just want to say I did a lot of it.
It is not like people just came up and built my house.
Lauren: as you drank a beer and watched.
Rob: I slaved away.
It took 250 hours to build.
It was a lot of work.
Lauren: You were not always living there alone.
Rob: Last time you and I met,
I was living with my partner Sheryl at the time.
We were building that tiny house together.
But it took me too long, so she left.
Laughter
It did take me too long.
That is not why she left.
It worked out great because
had we finished the tiny house ....
We were together for 4 years.
We spent a beautiful 4 years together.
It was actually 8, because we were
involved for 4 years before that 4 years
that we were actually in a partnership.
We always had the belief that if
our relationship does not serve
the individual to their best interests,
and the partnership to the best interest,
then there is absolutely nothing wrong
with letting those paths go in two different directions.
We were at a point where there were
things that she wanted in life
that were different than me.
And [some] that I wanted in life
that were different than her.
We decided that we were not going to be
together anymore in a partnership.
But she is still, I guess my best friend
in the world, maybe top 3 best friends.
Timing-wise it worked out great though,
because had we built the house,
then we would have been in a tricky situation,
because we would have had that tiny house together.
She basically left 3 weeks
before I started building it.
Lauren: Can you talk about what it was
like being in a relationship.
Going through all of the different
journeys that you went through.
Because I know for myself,
I have been living a zero-waste lifestyle for 8 years.
I have been so lucky to have incredible
partners that, throughout the journey,
have supported me in very different and important ways.
From being counterparts to what I was doing,
to being people that were absorbing what
I was doing and incorporating it into their own lives.
It is a beautiful dance when you
are in a partnership.
A lot of people have come to me.
Maybe they have come to you, saying,
"I am in this partnership.
I have these values.
My partner does not share those values."
Do you have instances where you
experienced that in your partnership?
What advice would you give to someone
who, for instance, wants to reduce their
waste, or wants to grow their own food,
but maybe their partner, family or their
friends, do not align with it?
Rob: Well, a couple of things.
I would say that one thing people
are very afraid to do is leave behind
relationships that are not right.
For example, my dad, unfortunately was not
a good person to have in my life for a while.
He was extremely negative and paranoid about things.
He was as unsupportive as it could get.
Always telling me not to do almost
everything that I was trying to do.
After years of trying, I eventually said to him,
-after many pleadings of "Let us make
things work",- eventually, I said,
"OK then, we can not be friends anymore.
We can not hang out anymore.
For two years, he was not a part of my life.
I had to block his number because
it was a toxic relationship.
Then, after two years,
I do not remember how it happened.
I started to talk to him again.
And it worked out.
We have a much better relationship.
Obviously, that is a complicated thing,
but one of the main things is,
if a relationship is not providing
true value for two people,
then I think that we need to
be able to walk away from that.
Especially if it is a really toxic
relationship, or an abusive relationship,
or something like that.
Now, in scenarios where it is not that.
It is just a matter of friendship.
One of the easiest things is
just accepting them for who they are.
Ideally, they can accept you for who you are as well,
but acceptance starts with ourselves.
We can not control anyone else.
In the past, I focused on people around me.
Like Sheryl's mom; When I was around Sheryl's family,
I remember being uneasy, because I
wanted them to do zero-waste type things.
Even around my aunt Louise, I remember,
we would go grocery shopping together.
She would use double plastic bags.
If you are watching, Louise, hello, I love you.
Lauren: Me too.
Rob: There was a toxicity in my relationships
because there was an uneasiness.
They might be nervous around me,
wondering if I was going to berate them a little bit.
Or I would be uneasy because I wanted
to say something, but was holding back.
There was a time, maybe 3 years ago.
I just said, 'Look, there are 7 billion people on Earth.
It does not matter to me if my mom,
or my sister, or my friends change,
because there are literally tens of millions
of people right now, who want to change.
This room is an example of that.
The fact that Package-Free is so successful
is an example of that.
There are millions of people around
the world who want to change.
So what I decided to do, is put my energy
into people who are right there,
who want the help.
Not put 10 times more energy into people
who do not want your energy.
The amazing thing that happens is
that when you put your energy into people
who do not really want it, you are sapped,
and you lose energy.
When you put energy into people who want it,
it actually increases your energy.
So by giving up the desire to affect any
one individual person, that is what allows
me to walk around completely carefree.
It does not matter what any individual does,
as long as overall, my actions are helping
move people into the direction.
Lauren: That is so inspiring.
One of my favorite quotes ever is
"When you are no longer able to change a situation,
Your challenge is to change yourself."
I think you embody that.
Instead of trying to change a whole system,
you have embodied the values that you believe in.
As such, you have influenced and inspired
so many people to take on the challenge
of thinking about other ways they can live.
I think you have inspired so many people.
I am definitely one of them.
When we met - I want to talk about
what we did when we were together for the
first time, because it was so amazing for me.
I grew up with a single mother.
She was raising me, and a child with special needs.
It was a really hard time for her.
We did a lot of things.
Furniture, she would find in the trash.
You introduced me to the concept of dumpster diving.
The first time that we ever did it was electrifying.
As someone like you, who loves thrills,
loves excitement, loves the rebellious things,
dumpster diving was the coolest shit ever.
You felt like you were doing something
so dangerous, risky and illegal,
but actually, well it is kind of illegal,
but you are actually just picking through
trash to find food that is perfectly edible.
Can you talk about the night that we went
Rob: Sure Lauren: and your experiences?
Lauren: For me that was earth shattering.
For you that was just a typical dive.
Can you talk about what it was like?
Rob: Yeah, we were walking back to your place.
We walked past a bagel shop.
Sheryl was there.
I said, "Let us look inside these garbage bags.
I am sure there are a bunch of bagels there."
Lauren: I said, "Holy shit, we are breaking the law."
Rob: I remember you were pretty nervous.
Laughter
Rob: You were not sure you wanted to do it.
Because there is also the social stigma.
I went through the same thing.
For example, you are running a business.
Do you want to be known as a dumpster diver, or....
Lauren: the trash prom queen
Rob: Dumpster diving is the cool term.
Do you want to be known as someone who
eats garbage, eats out of the trash?
Lauren: I feel like I am the wrong person
to ask that question to.
Rob: Because you do not mind? Lauren: No.
Rob: Good.
I started dumpster diving in 2013.
I did it because I was biking across
the country that first time.
The rule was that I could only eat local and organic.
The first time I ever dove into a dumpster,
it was me and my friend biking across the country.
We went around back.
We looked in the dumpster.
Sure enough, it was full of food.
The first thing I ate was a half gallon of ice cream.
It was still frozen, Lauren: What?
Rob: just melted a little bit around the edges.
I did not have a spoon with me that day,
so I used my sunglasses.
I ate about 1/2 the box, 3/4 of the box
right there on the spot.
For me, that was a big moment.
I saw how much food was going
to waste, perfectly good food.
Since then, that was 2013,
that has definitely been an essential part
of my life, eating food that would
otherwise go to waste.
What is the name of the (inaudible)
trash art walker?
She has an Instagram account here. Lauren: right
Rob: I saw her getting tons of fresh
sushi from a sushi place.
They put it out.
10 minutes later you go get it.
It is still perfectly good.
So I am definitely going to get some
sushi while I am here.
Laughter
Lauren: Let me know how it goes.
Rob: You will have to come.
Lauren: Obviously. Great. Yes. Okay.
Let us do that.
What are some other interesting things
that you have found?
I have seen people find..
There are people that would go to CVS
Right Aid find perfectly good makeup.
Thousands of dollars worth of stuff.
What are some of the treasures that you have found?
Rob: You just find everything.
For me, biking accross the country,
the best thing you can possibly find is
a case of organic peanut butter.
As a cyclist, that is one of the greatest foods.
If you find organic wheat bread
and peanut butter, that is perfect.
Another great thing I found is
fresh pressed juice on ice in the dumpster.
They threw away ice.
Then they threw away juice.
It just happened to land right on top of
the ice, so it was still ice cold.
I have dived into about 2000 dumpsters.
There is nothing shocking as far as what it is, individually.
What is shocking is that it is consistent.
I have done it in 30 states.
Everywhere you go- rural, big cities -
We are throwing away insane amounts
of perfectly good food.
Lauren: Does anyone here want to go dumpster diving?
Yeah, okay!
Do you have any top tips for what to
look for whilst dumpster diving?
Rob: New York City is a bit of a different place.
You are actually in a great place for dumpster diving.
As you said, it is illegal in some places,
but in New York city, when they put bags on the street,
then it is public domain.
You do not actually dumpster dive here.
You just open bags on the curb.
That is completely legal.
In other cities, where you are actually
going into the dumpster that is usually
on the property, in the parking lot,
then it is technically not legal.
If you want to go dumpster diving,
I have a guide with everything you
could possibly want to know.
That is just at robgreenfield.tv/dumpsterdiving.
I think I will be here for a week.
I will have to do a dumpster diving outing.
If I do that, I will post it.
Or should we set a date right now?
Thursday? no not Thursday.
Lauren: Lucy is coming?
Rob: Wednesday night.... Oh, hey Lucy!
I know I can do Wednesday, Friday, or Saturday.
I will post it on my page. That way ...
I will come up with a night. Lauren: I will reshare.
Rob: Alright, hopefully there is not
going to be too many people.
Lauren: You are going to have 500 people.
Rob: There is a group, the Freegans.
I think their website is freegan.info.
They do dumpster diving tours.
I am not sure if they are still active.
I went on one with them four years ago.
So it you do not end up getting to come out,
[check out] freegan.info.
I do not know if they do weekly
or monthly dumpster diving tours.
They also tons of information on their website.
Lauren: When we went, we found 100 bagels
that I kept in my freezer for a good 6 months.
Rob: They were good bagels.
Lauren: There were some really spicy flavors.
Everytime someone came over,
I would make them a bagel.
They would eat it.
I would tell them, "I got that from the trash."
It was amazing.
I think it opened their eyes to see,
"Wait, this is just a bagel.
It is still perfectly good.
One of the last things I wanted to ask you about,
or talk to you about is,
one of the reasons why I find you so amazing,
I mean, you do so many incredible things,
but you are one of the only active men
talking about sustainability.
Which, to me is amazing because you are incredible,
but also, such a bummer.
Why do you think that is?
This is probably the most men we have ever
had at one of our events.
Thank you for being you,
and expanding the demographic of our space.
But why do you think that is?
How do we get more men to feel
comfortable getting involved with sustainability?
Rob: You are right, it is mostly women here tonight.
Maybe 80% or so.
As far as the zero-waste movement,
and much of the sustainability movement,
there are 2/3 to 3/4 women.
There are parts of the environmental
movement that are more male-oriented.
In permaculture for example,
it is the opposite.
I was just at a regional permaculture
gathering in Florida.
I had a woman come up to me afterwards.
She said, "Your resource list has almost all men."
As soon as she said that, I realized it.
Then I had to go do research.
I found that there actually a lot of women.
I just had not put enough energy into finding them.
I added them all to my resource list.
Then I realized there is a lot more.
As far as zero-waste, and this element of sustainability,
It is so much more female than male.
I think one reason is,
I generally feel women care more than men
[care] about these issues.
I do not know if that is sexist to say.
But that is generally what I have seen.
You see that throughout cultures.
Women are the nurturers, the protectors.
That goes into this as well, possibly.
Then, also, I am happy to say
that I ascended manliness.
This idea of "manliness", where manliness
is sports, or Old Spice deodorant, or this certain way.
In American culture, even hugging,
A lot of my men friends do not hug
because they are worried about
the feminine aspect of that.
I think that is another thing.
Alot of this plays more into the
feminine than the masculine.
It is crazy to say, but a lot of men
are so afraid of expressing emotions and such, even crying.
It is weird, because for me, crying is just a part of life.
Lauren: I love when a man cries.
Rob: Yeah, men who cry are great.
I mean, to me all of those things are absurd.
It is absurd that our culture has pigeon-
holed men into this protective way
where they fear expressing their emotions.
But it is such a real thing.
I think that all plays in.
As far as getting more men involved,
1. It is a societal structure that creates
it in the first place.
Of course, it is hard to change societal structures.
But I think that is what both you and I are all about.
It is not zero-waste.
Zero-waste is what we talk about,
but when we get into the deeper part of
the conversation, it is going way back
to the foundation of how our entire
structures of our society are set up.
Did I answer the question?
Lauren: Yes. Two more quick questions for you.
Then I am really excited to open it up
to the audience, who I am sure have many
interesting questions to ask this incredible human.
2 things: First, what or who is inspiring you right now?
I always like to ask.
I love to point people towards other
people who inspire amazing people.
So what's inspiring, motivating you,
or exciting you right now?
How can people learn about it?
Rob: I like this guy.
I just came his farm this weekend in Swoope, Virginia.
His name is Joel Saliton.
Polyface farm, regenerative agriculture.
I just spent the weekend with him.
He is one of the most legitimate
human beings on earth.
I think one of the biggest problems
with our environmental movement today
is that most issues have been made very black and white.
So much of it is boiled down into viral Instagram posts.
Yesterday, I was swiping through Instagram.
I had gotten into the environment section.
Honestly, I would say 95% of it was just garbage.
So much inaccurate information.
So much polarization that does not
tell the real story.
This guy, you know, I respect people
so much in the environmental movement,
who go far deeper than the headlines,
and these basic black and white ideas
of what is the right, wrong, or only way to do it.
He is one person who really inspires me.
Lauren: He is amazing. Rob: You know of him?
Lauren: When I was in college, studying
environmental science, we read all about him.
Rob: Ok, cool.
Lauren: I thought, "Damn, this guy is cool."
He was one of the first people approaching....
He was one of the people that showed me
that the world that we see is not the only
world that we have to live in.
Rob: Yeah. Visit his farm.
That would be an amazing thing to do.
See where your food is really coming from.
That is another really big thing.
When people think of vegan food,
or their vegetables, they think of these
glorious places where everything is fine.
But go to any place where almost any
of the produce at Whole Foods down
the street is coming from, and you would
not be there and think, "This is glorious."
No, you would probably think,
"Oh, this is a big, industrial, factory farm."
They just have different chemicals that they spray.
Anyway, regenerative agriculture.
That is the reason that you and I
connected so well, because that first
night when we were talking, I quickly saw,
"Okay, she actually really knows."
The story starts with your jar,
but you understand the intricacies
of the zero-waste movement extremely well,
which is what I really respect about you.
Lauren: Thanks, dude.
Last question, which is kind of a hard question.
If you do not have an answer, that is ok.
I like to ask this question because
it is interesting to me.
If you could play God for a day,
and make one change that you believe
would affect the system in the most
impactful way, what would you do?
Rob: Ok I will answer that,
but I want to mention one other
person, and that is Winona LaDuke.
She is another one of my biggest
inspirations right now.
She has Winona's Hemp Farm in Minnesota.
She is trying to use hemp as a way
to create regeneration.
Everything about her!
She has been doing it for about 40 years.
As far as the change, I think it would be
bringing common sense back.
You know?
It is all about our minds.
The way that we approach the world,
the way that we think about things.
If we approach the world with basic
common sense, which the reality of
common sense is that it is no longer common.
When I meet people with common sense,
I think, "Yeah!!! Awesome!",
because our society, our structures are
actually designed to remove our
common sense, because if they want us to
buy things, you do not need to have common
sense to earn some money to buy things.
I do think that the structures benefit
from people having less common sense and
more people that just follow the system.
Just common sense. If everybody had
common sense that would change everything.
Far deeper than any one individual change.
Everybody would then question everything.
Lauren: Who was it that wrote Common Sense?
Thomas Paine?
Rob: The book? I need to read that.
Lauren: It is really good.
Ok, I will stop talking so you can start talking.
I would first like to give you a mini
round of applause before the big round of applause.
Just a quick thank you.
Applause.
Lauren: We will open up to questions
from you, the audience, and some questions
from the interwebs.
We will be taking both if anyone has a question.
Rob: And, no question is too crazy,
in fact, I encourage the craziest ones.
Lauren: The craziest question wins.
Rob: The craziest question wins!
I will decide what.
First, there has to be a crazy question, though.
Question: I do not know how crazy it is,
but, as far as dumpster diving goes,
has there ever been a negative experience with it?
Have you ever had issues where you are
not sure whether the integrity
of the food is quite there?
Rob: Yeah. I should also say, do not feel
like you can only ask crazy questions.
Every question is a good question.
So, common sense is the number 1 thing
with dumpster diving.
Just like you would use common sense
with everything you buy at the grocery store,
You have to apply common sense to your food.
Unfortunately, we have lost food common sense.
Looking at dates and deciding whether
food is still good is not common sense.
That is one of the main reasons
we are wasting up to half of our food.
Because we have removed our common
sense and put dates on there instead.
Once you get in touch with food
you understand the basic biology of how things work.
For example, if you have a bloated package,
a bloated package is the gases being
created by bacteria eating things,
breaking it down, fermenting and creating gas.
When you want that to happen, that is great.
That is what creates beer, kombucha,
and thousands of fermented foods.
But when you do not have the right
set-up for that, like a hot dumpster
and milk, that is not the kind of
fermentation you want.
If you find a bloated package in the
dumpster, then that is something you
generally do not want to eat, because
that is fermented.
The 3 things are: first you look at it.
If it looks good, you proceed.
Then you smell it.
If it smells good you proceed.
If it smells good, then you taste it.
If it tastes good, then you are eating it now.
Laughter
Then you swallow it.
The number one rule of foraging
-People call dumpster diving 'urban foraging'-
The number 1 rule or foraging for food,
is that you only eat something if you
are a 100% sure of what it is.
The other thing is that you do not eat
a bunch of it right away.
You taste it, you try out any new
foods before eating a lot of it,
because you do not know if you could be allergic.
Lauren: or you start tripping
Rob: I have never tripped off dumpster food.
I do have to say that this one beer
has got me a little drunk now.
Laughter.
This is my first time being a little
drunk in about 3 years.
I will try to keep this up.
Next question?
There is one here.
Question: Hi. My question is for both of you.
I am a zero-waste practitioner,
but also trying to educate people about it.
I started doing a few workshops in New York City.
I am curious, what kind of advice
you would like to give to a zero-waste
entrepreneur on how to grow my
presence and my business, if you will.
Rob: Do you want to go first?
Lauren: You go first, because I feel
that you have done such an amazing
job at creating so many different types of
communities online.
Rob: The first thing that comes to mind is
be yourself, be the real thing.
Peope today are attracted to authenticity.
People are attracted to authenticity in
this world that is dominated by
politicians, who are so inauthentic.
That is another weird thing about today.
If you look at the spectrum of who is out there,
you will see a smaller percentage
of people who are actually truly authentic.
That would be my number one suggestion.
Be authentic.
Another one is do what you are really
passionate about.
Do what you wake up and want to do.
If you are doing that, it is not work.
I am sure Lauren is working 15 hours a day.
That is because she really loves this.
It is what she is passionate about.
I do not recommend becoming
an environmentalist and choosing
a topic that you do not really love.
Those are a couple of thoughts.
Lauren: I perfectly agree with that.
I was thinking about this today, actually.
Things that have really helped me.
To your point, yeah, I work a lot.
There are some days where I am so tired, or do not sleep.
The only thing that keeps me going is my 'why'.
Why am I doing this?
What is my north star?
My north star is creating large-scale
positive environmental change.
I know it. I say it in my sleep.
I dream about it.
If you do not know why you are doing something,
then maybe you should choose something else.
Or think deeply about it.
What is your north star?
What is the mission of what you are trying to do?
What are you trying to accomplish?
I think it is important to think about
when the shit hits the fan,
and business does not go so well,
which happens some days.
How do you stay motivated?
My north star is what keeps me inspired.
Question: How long did it take you
to build your...
Lauren: To build what?
Questioner: build your empire.
Laughter
Lauren: I have been passionate about
this and I have been talking about trash
for 8 years now, to my dad's dismay.
He thought I was going to do something very different.
I do not know.
For me, this feels like the beginning.
I started by saying no to a conventional
job that made me cry everyday.
That was the start.
I feel like we are just scratching the
surface of what we are doing here.
If I keep my eye on my North star
-large-scale, positive environmental change-
then every decision that I make is
centered around that.
From there, who knows what could happen.
Questioner: Thank you.
Rob: I have no empire, so I can not speak.
Laughter.
I do want to say that I am loving this conversation.
A lot of people would come to something
like this and they would think about....
We are not talking about the individual
ways to do zero waste because
you do not need to know the individual ways
when you look at the foundation of life.
It is all about questioning your values
and living in alignment with your values.
Once you decide you are going to
live in alignment with your values,
everything else, though still challenging
to run against the grain of society everyday,
but when you are just choosing to live with your values,
it makes everything a lot easier.
Lauren: I am a big believer that if you
think about what you want,
think about what your values are,
are focused on your North star,
your body tells you if you are doing
something in misallignment with that.
It sounds really weird,
but that is how I live my life.
When something does not feel good,
I know that it is not in alignment
with my greater goal.
I do not mean to sound like my
head is in the clouds, but it has worked for me so far.
The point is, what are your values?
Are you living them?
Ask those 2 questions.
Question: How do you travel?
Rob: How do I travel?
Sometimes, I walk. Sometimes I bike.
Sometimes I get in cars.
Sometimes I take a train or buses.
Sometimes I fly.
Any other ways that I travel?
Canoe. Occasionally a boat or canoe.
Generally, if I can, I try not to get in a plane.
It has been 2 years since I have flown.
But next month I am doing a trip around
the world where I will be flying.
I will do that accross oceans,
but once I get to Europe for my speaking tour,
then I will be taking trains, buses, boats around.
To get here from Florida,
I drove to Atlanta with someone who was
already going that way,
then I took a train to Virginia.
Then I took a bus to DC, then a bus here.
Lauren: We are very glad you did.
Rob: Me too
Lauren: Any other questions?
Question: I volunteer with City Harvest when I can.
9am-5pm Monday-Friday is when they need
volunteers and I am usually at work.
Are there any other food rescue
organizations that might need volunteers?
Lauren: My favorite in the city, I have
been using their service for so long,
is 'Growing my Seed'.
They always need volunteers at the
compost pick-up, or the clothing pick-up.
Questioner: I go there all the time. Lauren: Me too.
I have not actually volunteered.
I probably should because I have been
dropping my compost off for so long.
So thank you to Growing My Seed.
Rob: I am sure there is a lot of
different food rescue programs around.
I can not think of any off the top of my head.
But I know there are other smaller ones.
Audience: Rescuing Leftover Quisine
Rob: That is Lucy Biggers. Lauren: Yay!
Rob: She helped me spread my message many times.
She is at Now This
Thank you Lucy.
Lauren: If you do not follow Lucy,
then follow her. You will not regret it.
Any other questions?
Question: I often find myself getting frustrated
trying to be more aligned with zero waste values,
and also be in a society where
everyone else is more or less on the same page.
I understand that we are all progressing
in our own way and at our own pace.
I agree not to waste too much energy
on people who would not really do it,
but for those who are already in a position
where other people look up to them,
for them to be more environmentally sustainable.
How would you recommend to
approach them about that?
The most direct way would be calling them out,
but that may not be effective.
Rob: How do you approach people
who are leaders? Is that the question?
I would say that you are just going to
have some guts [courage] to call out
people who are leaders.
Lauren: I would start by saying, do not call them out.
Do not judge them or be negative towards them.
Be loving.
If they are already leaders,
they have done something that inspired someone.
Approach them like you would approach
someone you love, and say,
"I love what you do and this is something I care about.
Would you like to have a converstaion about it?"
Rob: Yeah, approach with passion. Lauren and Rob: compassion.
Even if the person is totally off base.
If you do not combat them with compassion,
then it is unlikely you are going to get anywhere.
Generally, I would say, approach
with compassion and a genuine desire.
If you strategically actually want to try
to get the conversation going.
The standard response of someone
when they get told that they are doing
something wrong, whether they are
leader or not, is to become defensive.
As far as the environmental movement goes,
I think one of the most important things
that we can all do is become psychologists
or understand basic psychology.
It is all about how people perceive things.
That is the way that I always approach things.
For example, wearing my trash around for a month.
I had to ask, "How will people perceive this?"
If the answer was that everybody would be turned off,
then I would not have done it.
I try to always design everything I do around perception.
In regards to approaching leaders,
you cannot put them on the defense,
because then they are more likely to go
in the opposite direction.
Approaching with compassion is very important.
Also, approaching with knowledge to be
able to explain yourself.
It is best to know what you are talking about.
This applies to any situation.
Come to them with information to help.
If you do not have solutions or alternatives,
then they will often write you off.
If you cannot say what that person should do,
then they will often just write you off.
So that is the other thing: sharing the alternatives.
So I do not know.
Those are a couple of things
that come to mind for me.
One other thing to mention is
most of our leaders do need be called out
in one form or another, but also remember
everybody is a hypocrite.
Every person in this room is a hypocrite.
I am a hypocrite.
Lauren is a hypocrite.
We are all hypocrites.
It is a matter of reducing our hypocrisy.
The problem is, if we want to live in society,
and we want to see positive changes
in humanity and our environmental situation,
then we are all required to be hypocrites.
Because if you want to be a part of the change,
you can not go and live the perfect life.
For example, Al Gore flies around
the world in private jets.
Personally, for me, that is something
I think he could do a better job at,
and not do that, at least so much.
There are things where leaders need to be called out.
But the one thing that I was going to say
is it is important remember to also look at their situation.
For me personally, I have to always make trade-offs.
I generally have done a really good job
at living my values, but next year I am
going to fly around the world.
And I am going to emit more carbon
in that flight traveling around the world
than probably 95% of human beings.
To call me sustainable would be
a complete fallacy in reality.
What I have to do is look at the situation.
I have to say, "Is what I am doing worth it?"
Is it going to make the impact that is needed?
Some people would call this a transitional society.
You cannot just look at a current situation
to decide what is right if we are trying to shift society.
If I want to shift society, I have to look
strategically at everything I can do,
and say, "OK, there is a negative impact
over this, but will it offset itself?"
For example, when I was wearing my trash
for a month, some people were very mad at me.
"What are you doing creating garbage for a month?
You should be zero-waste."
But by creating garbage for that month,
and creating that visual, thousands and
thousands of people stopped creating so much garbage.
So it was completely worthwhile.
I do not know.
I guess that is the other thing.
I think, understanding and compassion
are two essential tenants of my life.
Also try to be understanding.
I am not downplaying at all that
people do need to be called out because
most of us, are ultimately pretty delusional.
So we need to be called out
to get out of those delusions.
Lauren: Let us get a temperature check.
Do people want one question?
Clap your hand if you just want one more question.
Nobody is going to be offended.
Rob: I think they want more.
I want to be respectful of the room.
I know you all have places to be.
Also, It is snowing.
I just want to give gratitude to all of
you for being here in the snow.
Two more questions? Does that sound good?
[clapping]
We have one from Cyber Space.
Cyber Space: The people on Instagram
Live are asking, do you get overwhelmed
by the future and the state of the planet?
Do you think we can still create change?
How do you deal with that anxiety?
Lauren: That is a great question. Rob: Do you want to go or me?
Lauren: Rob
Rob: I rarely get anxiety about the state
of the world or the future.
I think that I am somewhat of an exception in that way.
What is the word that they say?
I think eco-anxiety or something like that.
I am not up to date.
I actually do not even really know
how to use Instagram, to be honest.
I am figuring it out.
Lauren: You do a good job.
Rob: I do alright. I still do not know how
to do the 'stories' thing.
Lucy was trying to help me out with that.
Lucy: I am making a story right now.
Rob: She is making a story about my
inability to make stories.
Ok, here is why I do not suffer from
anxiety or depression.
The reason is, for me personally,
1: I do not take responsibility for the world.
I take responsibility for my own actions.
I want to make a positive change
in the life that I have.
I do not take responsibility for the 7 billion.
I am just one person.
I can really only take responsibility for myself.
That is essentail to my life.
The other thing is that it does not matter
what is going to happen 300 years,
400 years, 500 years from now.
if you design your life around living in a way
that is beneficial to the earth,
your community and yourself.
What I do is look at what I can do to
improve quality of life around me now
and be living in a way that
if we do have a future,
I am positively contributing towards that.
Basically, I think that life matters.
I value my life, Lauren's life,
the life of every person in this room,
every species, the 4-20 million species
that there are on earth; I just value life.
If I can improve the quality of life around me,
and not destroy life around me, then
that is a life worth lived.
That is something I can generally control.
We also live in very complicated times.
We do not know what the world
is going to be like in
Lauren: In eleven years
Rob: Eleven? Eleven years is kind of unfathomable.
We really do not know.
There are things that we do know.
We do know ways that we can make
make a positive impact now
to improve quality of life now,
and do it in a way that does not strip
quality of life elsewhere for the future.
Lauren: I do not know if you all just
want to hive-five him every time he speaks.
Audience Laughs
... but I do.
[clap]
One more question?
Does anyone hace a question in the room?
Ok. Last question.
Question: Why do you cap your cash?
Rob: Why do I cap my cash?
I have never put it in those exact words.
I have committed to making less than the
federal poverty threshhold for life,
as long as I am alive.
In no way am I trying to simulate poverty.
In fact, a short segway.
I have always liked to acknowledge
my privilege because a lot of what
I am doing, I can do because of the
privilege that I have.
Dumpster diving: because I am white,
because I am pretty eloquent,
if the police show up, they are not
really going to do something about it.
Homeless people are much more
likely to get arrested.
Traveling the world with no money?
Western passport, white, not running
from dangerous situations:
That is why I can easily do that.
Biking across the country.
So many of the things that I do,
I can do out of a place of privilege which
ties into that question.
I can choose to live with very little money,
because it is a choice.
But if you trying to get by, day to day,
then to try and earn as little as possible
is not really something that is going to work.
Some people would call this voluntary simplicity.
The reason that I choose to live
with a minimal amount of money,
is because I am trying as much as possible
to live in a more just and sustainable way.
In a world where 1% of the population
has [what, like] 50% of the finances.
I want to stand out as the opposite of that.
I want to live in a way that is more equal
with the general population.
It is a way of restricting
myself from getting too much.
I could be making a lot of money off
of what I am doing.
The problem is that often, when you
have the opportunity for making a lot of
money, it can get in the way.
There are some people who do
a great job at making money,
plugging it into the places that matter.
The reality is that most people,
when they get a lot of money,
they rationalize that flight to Polynesia
for a vacation, or things like that.
It is a way to force me to live my values.
If I do not have money,
I have to connect with my community.
That is another thing.
I am dependent upon humanity,
because I cannot meet my own needs.
I need other people to meet my needs,
which is a way to encourage people
to depend on each other.
The only societies that I have seen
that are somewhat sustainable
are societies where people are actually
dependent upon their neighbors.
Today, in a monetized society,
I can just pay for everything I want.
You do not have to understand your actions,
and how they affect the world around you,
but when you do not have money,
you have to understand your relationships
and how things get to you.
There is obviously a lot to it,
but that is a bit of an idea
why I minimize the amount of money.
Lauren: There is that documentary,
'A Dollar a Day, Living on One.'
Have you seen that?
Oh my god.
Such an incredible show.
Rob: Chris Temple, they are the guys
who filmed Trash Me, actually.
Lauren: They are amazing.
Rob: They have a new documentary
coming out in March.
Lauren: Did they do Salam Neighbor
Rob: Yeah
Lauren: with Angelina Jolie?
Rob: I did not know she was in it.
Lauren: I think she was associated in some way.
That is a really interesting
documentary on the value of a dollar
in different places in the world.
I want to say, thank you very much for being here.
I think that the radiance you created,
and how inspiring you are, and how
you decided to challenge what the world
looks like, has motivated me, and so many
people in our community so many times.
I am grateful that you decided to come here
and share your life with us.
On behalf of me, my team,
and everyone here, thank you for being here.
And thank you, Rob, for being here.
I am so happy.
Applause.
Rob: Thank you to Lauren
Thank you, Lauren, for opening
up this space to have this
and inspiring me to come to New York,
and for everything she is doing,
for opening up a second shop, right?
And, thank you all for being here.
I would be nothing without all of you,
because I expect all of us to inspire.
Lauren: Last thing, we are trying to do
more talks with more incredibly inspiring people,
so if any of you know of anyone who you
would like to introduce to the Zero-Waste,
Package Free community, this woman who is
hiding behind here- this is Joy, stand up-
Joy is in the red so you cannot miss her.
Please share their name with Joy.
We would love to invite them to our conversation.
Thank you everyone.
[Applause]
[Music and Mingling]