A Life Changing Moment

Erin Kidwell, a Marin County resident and Software Engineering Executive, is consciously doing her part to be part of the climate change solution, but not long ago, she was feeling overwhelmed - almost helpless.

In early 2024, Erin joined Resilient Neighborhoods’ Climate Action Team the “Banana Slug Solutionaries”. “I was seeking a program, a group of others similarly motivated, so it didn’t feel like it was just me. I found that in my RN cohort. We were a group of people, incrementally moving to change. It was amazing, and I felt better,” Erin shares.

Erin began to make small changes at home, optimizing her family’s energy use by signing up for Clean Energy, shifting to efficient appliance purchases, and deciding to join her neighborhood emergency response program.

“The workshops are amazing! There is a whole range of solutions offered, from turning off lights, to adding solar, and everything between. There are tangible things that are specific to my socio-economic status or my ability or desire,” Erin explains.

Then, Erin’s life pivoted after learning one local fact - The average person in Marin County produces 4 pounds of trash a day. “I was doing more little things, buying more in bulk, eliminating single use plastics, not using paper towels – all relatively small in terms of my lifestyle changes. But then I started to think about my neighbors, and what they were doing.” Relying on refill stations along her infrequent work travels to South Bay and Oakland, she learned her favorite station was closing. Thinking, “How hard can it be?”, she opened her own pop-up refill, eco, zero-waste station at the Marin County Farmers Markets – called Marin Refill.

After being asked by numerous farmers’ market patrons if she operated a brick and mortar, Erin took Refill Marin into the local collaborative, The Hut, in Larkspur.  Easily accessible by passersby on foot, bicycle and commuters allows Marin residents to get refills, reusable paper towels, toilet paper, soap - all the things that you otherwise would be buying in single use containers, most days of the week. “It works in life that most things are created from need or necessity. I saw a need, and now I am just filling the gap until a better solution comes.”

You can find Refill Marin at:
Marin County Farmers Market: Saturday 9am -2pm.
The Hut: Thursday, Friday and Saturday 12pm – 5pm.