Since the summer, I have been publishing a weekly post on my Instagram and Facebook accounts, working my way through the alphabet as inspiration for a topic around sustainable living. I see sustainable living as living in a way that has low negative impact on using up the planet’s resources. In some cases my actions might even lead to regeneration of soil or a population increase in other living creatures. While much of the world’s media is focused on “carbon neutral” actions, I believe that we should have higher aspirations than that and actually aim for “carbon negative”. That is improve the condition of the planet, rather than just stopping damaging it so much.
We can do this by following the permaculture principle of “slow and small solutions”. It is good to make one small change at a time. Once that change becomes a routine habit or thought process, then you can try another one. Over the months you will be able to look back and see how you have changed your life. What have I changed this year? I pledged to not buy any new clothes this year. I have felt liberated to be freed from falling into a rabbit hole of browsing clothes that I don’t need for hours at a time. None of my clothes have worn out to the extent that I can’t wear them anymore. I even have some clothes that haven’t made it out of my cupboard this year. Same again next year (apart from some underwear and maybe footwear)!
Next, I moved my money from one of the large banks to Triodos Bank. Now I know that my money is being invested in companies I approve of, rather than the large multi-nationals that exist to make their owners rich and exploit the planet and people in the process. Then I set up a Bokashi composting bucket to recycle the food scraps that my children leave lying in their bedrooms. Now these scraps are being fermented by bokashi bran making fermented compost. I then dig this into the garden to increase soil fertility.
Other changes I have made included:
- cooking on a rocket stove outside in the summer to save electricity,
- switching to renewable energy,
- buying quail for home egg production and bird droppings for soil fertility,
- increasing my knowledge about foraging plants and mushrooms,
- planting more perennial vegetables in my garden and experimenting with cooking them.
There is so much you can do that generally does not need money, but some time and mental energy. Just try one tweek to your life at a time!
