By Leslie Harlib
hen you meet a woman
who walks her talk and
builds a career that begins
to change the world
because she is doing just
that, it's a disconcerting
experience. Is she a type
of fanatic, breathing a different intellectual — even
spiritual — air than most of us? Is she committed
to living out her ideology so completely it seems
monastic? Or is she simply having a darn good
time making a living doing something that started
with her curiosity and evolved into a best-selling
book and lifestyle movement for more than
300,000 people?
In Bea Johnson's case, my takeaway after
spending an hour with her in her Mill Valley home,
is that it's a bit of all three.
Johnson (her first name is pronounced Bay-
ah), 44, born and raised in France, came to the
United States at age 18 to be an au pair. She is
the founder of the blog and web site Zero Waste
Home, and author of the best-selling how-to
manual "Zero Waste Home" that grew out of her
blogging.
She's a character. She's passionate. She speaks
with the zeal of a fanatic, but with a warm twinkle
in her glacier-blue eyes that tells you she's having
a ball living a dedicated zero waste lifestyle with
her husband Scott and two teenage sons on
board, supporting her ideals and practicing them
alongside her.
Lifestyle
Zero Waste Hero
Johnson
Learning to live without things
most first-world people take
for granted as necessary
Bea
the
W
