There is nothing to be done. We are coming too late to the party, allowing doom and gloom to persist. It’s easier to remain in a state of stupor than to take up the torch of an eco-warrior. Looking around, you will be forgiven for thinking that the war is already lost anyway. And there is no doubt about it: we are the bad guys on the wrong side of history. We are destroying our environments with ignorant dedication at a mind-boggling speed. The results are undeniable and crushing.

After her book on water conservation, 101 Water Wise Ways, published at the height of the water crisis when Day Zero was looming large in Cape Town, Helen Moffett turned to tackling the most pressing issues involved in waste reduction. She does not deny that the situation globally is precarious, to say the least, but once again Moffett approaches the challenge with a can-do attitude and a dose of healthy humour, no matter what the odds.

Wise About Waste: 150+ Ways to Help the Planet will make you feel empowered and arm you with numerous practical tips that don’t necessarily take a fortune and around-the-clock dedication to implement. Moffett shows how to make a significant difference – to the planet and, more selfishly, to us humans – with relative ease. It’s a no-brainer: “the healthier the environment, the healthier we are.” She also urges us to think bigger and strive for change on a large scale, but it is what she proposes we do in our everyday family lives that gave me most hope.

“Resistance is NOT futile”, Moffett writes and encourages us to embrace our “inner fish” and to “swim upstream”. Becoming “wise about waste” is not always easy, but it certainly feels more attainable since I have read this book.

Wise About Waste: 150+ Ways to Help the Planet

by Helen Moffett

Bookstorm, 2019

Review first published in the Cape Times on 13 September 2019.