Action Overcomes Fear

Do you wonder what difference you can really make, no matter how much you seperate your recycling... because it's hard to know if it's actually being recycled?


I've been feeling this way lately, even as someone who has kept their finger on the pulse as much as possible when it comes to the impact of our choices on our environment, I still have moments where I feel completely helpless.

But, I'm not prepared to give up, burry my head in the sand & hope all this just goes away without me having to deal with it. Because, as this Native American proverb reminds us;

"We don't inherit the earth from our ancestors,
we borrow it from our children."


I can't just sit back and hope the problem goes away and comfortably leave this earth with my children and their children dealing with the aftermath, without trying to help them understand what's causing it, how we can change the direction we're heading and truly tune in to what's important in life!

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So instead, I've chosen to learn more, do what I can, start where I'm at... by recognising some of the things that I'm already doing which are making a positive change and build from there. 

An example of this is my 'waste not want not' approach to everything I make.

For now I'll just focus on my linen garment range. I purposely only make a small number of items to display on the floor & them make garments to order so they can be adapted to suit the purchaser.

But aside from this, I also try to create functional items that use up all the material, leaving no waste.

Such as the linen neck/hair ties & wristbands, which are great when hiking or gardening to wipe away sweat.

Another example, the fringed garments I create using scraps that are not big enough to make neck/hair ties out of. 

The final shreds of fabrics are then used to stuff cushions along with my blanket fabric scraps.

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This is just the beginning and while there's much more we can do individually, collectively it's better we do something rather than nothing.

Sitting frozen in fear is not as helpful as taking action, yes sometimes taking action is uncomfortable, confronting, time consuming... but better we start doing something than doing nothing.

So let's share ideas on what is within our capacity and inspire each other to take action so we can demonstrate to our children & grandchildren that when faced with a problem doing nothing does not solve it... when faced with a global problem, working together to find solutions and act on them is no different.

The time to work on living a life we're passionate about, filled with purpose... taking care of ourselves, others, our community & our world (environment - life support)... is now.



Ps. I have strands that remain from the scraps fringing process, which can be used to stuff small toys, pin cushions and other crafty creations... whatever your imagination can come up with, so if anyone's interested in taking them please come in and collect some!


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RECOMMENDED WATCHING

CRAIG FOSTER: My Octopus Teacher
Another Netflix documentary recommendation... this a beautiful example of how connecting to nature can teach us our role & purpose in the bigger scheme of life. How nature relies on balance to sustain grow & life, which we can also learn from.


SIMPLE TIPS & INSIGHTS

WHAT CAN WE AS 'INDIVIDUALS' DO?

  • Read more, learn more, take action to overcome fear.
  • Use your 'keep cup' & reusable water bottle, minimise the need to recycle the single use cups & bottles.
  • Grow what you can at home, even if it's just herbs. 

For about a month we didn't have any corriander in our garden and many recipes we cook call for it, so we bought some... it came in single use plastic & it barely lasted a night in the fridge and tasted terrible, was so frustrating... we stopped using corriander until we had some to pick in the garden, which was last night. It's so easy to grow!


RECOMMENDED READING

This article 'Climate Change FAQ's' is a great summary of what all the fuss is about and what we can do, and why we need to start taking serious action now.

Read it here.

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