Instructor: Bea Johnson

Author and sustainability advocate BEA JOHNSON, who pioneered the idea that a household can reduce annual disposable waste to fit in a single glass jar, brings her cross-country speaking tour to USN to present inspiring, pragmatic and humorous tips for reducing consumer waste. Johnson’s bestselling Zero Waste Home, referenced by global organizations ranging from Amazon, Google, and Starbucks to the United Nations, offers a realistic roadmap to minimizing impact on the planet with reusable products, package-free and bulk shopping, and community action. The FREE evening of conversation and Q&A opens at 5:30 p.m., with an expo of waste-reduction-oriented vendors, including Turnip Green Creative Reuse, Compost Company, and The Good Fill. Johnson will speak 6 to 7 p.m., followed by a Question and Answer session, and closed out with a book-signing in conjunction with Parnassus Books.

photo credit Jacqui J. Sze

Bea Johnson is a Franco-American author, speaker and minimalist known for initiating the movement of waste-free living in the 21st century.

She is renowned for pioneering the “trash jar”, a pint-sized container she uses to fit her family’s yearly garbage, and for developing The 5Rs of Zero Waste, a method she published in Zero Waste Home: The Ultimate Guide to Simplifying your Life by Reducing your Waste (Scribner, 2013). The book has been translated to 28 languages and has remained #1 Bestseller on Amazon in its category since publication.

She has been widely featured in the global media and has completed two dozen international speaking tours, including English, French, and Spanish lectures in seventy countries on six continents, three TED talks, and audiences at Google, Amazon, Starbucks, the European Parliament, NATO and the United Nations.

Her work has inspired millions of people to adopt zero waste lifestyles, open unpackaged shops, conceive reusable products, and launch organizations, but also large corporations to offer alternatives to single-use.

She is a Grand Prize winner of The Green Awards and the founder of Bulk Finder, a web-based app which points to thousands of bulk locations worldwide. She currently lives in a 188 sq.ft trailer, travelling full time across the US and Canada with her husband, her chihuahua and her famous 15-piece wardrobe.