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D GOAL Talk about Different Lifestyles
Reading 🎧36 (Optional)
A MY WORLD In pairs, discuss the choices. Which would you choose, and why?
• More money or more free time?
• A larger home or traveling more?
• A new car or a cleaner environment?
• Nice things for yourself or for your children?
B Discuss the questions in pairs.
1. Look at the title of the article. What do you think it means?
2. Do you think some people live a "zero-waste" lifestyle?
C Read the article. Circle T for true or F for false.
1. Kathryn Kellogg and her husband produce 680 kilos of trash each year. T F
2. Posts on Kellogg's blog encourage people to make better choices. T F
3. The Frugalwoods' main goal is to save money. T F
4. The Frugalwoods' daughter enjoys being outdoors with her parents. T F
5. So far, the zero-waste lifestyle is popular only in the US. T F
D Read the article again. Find words in the text that mean:
1. waste materials or things that you no longer need (noun, paragraph 1)
2. a container with a wide opening at the top (noun, paragraph 1)
3. a purpose or target (noun, paragraph 3)
4. loves very much (verb, paragraph 3)
✔️GOAL CHECK
Discuss the questions in pairs.
1. What might you like and dislike about a person's lifestyle?
2. What might make a lifestyle satisfying for the person?
I might like having an
important job at a bank.
I think it might be more satisfying to work outdoors.
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A Zero- Waste Lifestyle
In the United States, throwing away a lot of trash is not unusual. The average American produces around 680 kilos of trash each year. On the other hand, everyone has choices when it comes to their lifestyle, and the US is also home to people like Kathryn Kellogg. She and her husband live in California, and they throw away very little. In fact, the amount of trash they produced in two years-every bit of waste that they could not recycle, reuse, or turn into compost-fit into a small glass jar.
Kellogg writes a popular blog called Going Zero Waste. Her blog posts encourage others to make better choices and live better lives. She reports that she and her husband are saving around $5,000 a year at the grocery store. Instead of buying prepared foods and commercial cleaning products, they buy fresh foods that they cook themselves and make their own cleaning products. They even make their own deodorant and skincare products.
The real goal of going zero waste, however, is not just to save money. For another couple, Mr. and Mrs. Frugalwoods, the goal is to enjoy life more and spend more quality time together as a family. Their blog, Frugalwoods, includes articles about buying less and saving money, growing food at their home in Vermont, and raising their baby girl. Mrs. Frugalwoods says that their daughter, "...is our mini gardener/hiker who adores being outside in nature with her parents..."
Many people would like to waste less, and the Internet is full of ideas to help them. There are people living zero-waste lifestyles and blogging about it not only in the US, but in many other countries as well.
compost (n) a mixture of decayed plants used to enrich garden soil
blog (n) a website with a diary or journal about a certain subject
Growing one's own vegetables is part of a lifestyle choice.
