Lauren Singer and Rob Greenfield at Package Free

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]