So You'll Revamp Your Life to Stop Climate Change, Man Wears 70 Pounds of Garbage

Imagine the Apocalypse is 12 years away. Would seeing a man covered in garbage convince you to straighten up and save the world?

That appears to be the hope of environmentalist Rob Greenfield. As noted by People magazine, he’s “about extremes when it comes to letting people know how our actions are threatening the future of the planet.”

For an entire month, Rob walked around Los Angeles totally trashed.

During Greenfield’s “30 Days of Wearing My Trash” campaign, he stuffed about 2.5 lbs. of trash per day into his suit.

Rather than throwing away his waste, he literally wore it on his sleeve.

His message: Look at the mess we make.

For 30 days, Greenfield ate out, shopped, and walked around Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and Los Feliz in his eye-catching suit, which he filled with discarded shopping bags, water bottles, coffee cups and other garbage.

“So just imagine creating one ton of garbage per year, and now imagine 10 years, and now imagine a lifetime,” he told People. “Basically, each of us can leave behind a small mountain of trash for future generations.”

Rob put on the weight fast. By the end, he’d added the heft of a 10-year-old child:

“On day one, I was carrying just a few pounds of trash. Day two, it was probably six pounds. By the end I was wearing 72 pounds of trash.”

He nearly stopped fitting in:

The suit got so big that he could barely fit through doors. “I would catch myself in the reflection of windows sometimes, and all I could say was, ‘This is absolutely ridiculous.'”

“Maybe so, but it was a surefire way to get people thinking and even better, start to make environmentally-friendly changes,” People figures.

Make no mistake — Rob’s ready to ignite a revolution:

The 35-year-old Wisconsin native has ridden a bamboo bike across the country with no money, lived in a 100 square foot, solar-powered “tiny house” he built out of repurposed material, and eaten food he grew and foraged himself to show people that living sustainably is doable.

The stakes are as high as they can be, he says.

“If we don’t have soil, water or air, then we can’t function anymore,” he tells People.

I DID IT!!!
For an entire year I grew and foraged 100% of my food.
Every. Single. Bite.
No grocery stores, no restaurants, not even a drink at a bar.
Nature has been my garden, my pantry and my pharmacy.
I'm incredibly excited to share my story with you:https://t.co/6qmKcQTbVj

— Rob Greenfield (@RobJGreenfield) November 11, 2019

If people were willing to live like Rob, would they be doing so already? If they began, would the U.S. alter Earth’s fate despite India and China?

As for trash, I’d guess most Americans don’t wish to produce more than is necessary to allow for their lifestyles.

But environmentalists want a lifestyle reversal.

After all, 12 years isn’t much time — and a congresswoman started her stopwatch three years ago…

Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez declares the "world will end in 12 years if we don't address climate change." Here's a bit of scientific reality. https://t.co/Gsj2vz7w3Y #AOC pic.twitter.com/RHbTR2EQeD

— The Stream (@Streamdotorg) January 24, 2019

In the course of rescuing humanity, ecological heroes have found interesting ways to inspire us:

Ahead of the Dem Debate, Climate Change Radicals Suspend Themselves from a Bridge

During Brexit Debate, Climate Activists Glue Themselves to Parliament. Naked.

Climate Change Warriors Order You to Prevent the Apocalypse — by Flattening Your Neighbor’s Tires

WATCH: Audubon Society Clips Climate Change’s Wings With a Singing Drag-Queen Bird Creature

And you may have recently seen this:

This is how the Italians deal with climate change activists blocking the roads. Admirable. Be more like them. pic.twitter.com/B9nsSAh5Vr

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) June 17, 2022

Politicians are on board, but let’s not get over our skis: “EU’s New Climate Change Tax Will Exempt Private Jets.”

Hollywood’s helping, too: