Trip Advisor tells me that my travels so far have taken me to 174 cities in 36 countries – that sounds about right. And yet there are so many places I haven’t been.
I now have my feet firmly planted here in Glebe, Australia. Firmly connected to all of those people and places that I touched and have touched me.
But I wriggle in my seat.
On my travels so far, I have seen things of awe inspiring beauty. I have shuddered in paralysing fear at the top of a mountain. I have ridden on the back of a Vespa through the streets of Rome. I have found and lost love. I have built friendships that span decades and continents.
I now have my feet firmly planted here in Glebe, Australia. Firmly connected to all of those people and places that I touched and have touched me.
But I wriggle in my seat.
On my travels so far, I have seen things of awe inspiring beauty. I have shuddered in paralysing fear at the top of a mountain. I have ridden on the back of a Vespa through the streets of Rome. I have found and lost love. I have built friendships that span decades and continents.
I have held back tears as children of two and three years old begged at my table. I have seen women the age of my grandmother begging for their dinner, sleeping in the street. A child of no more than six asleep against a brick wall – his hand outstretched in hope as he slept.
I have laughed and smoked a hookah with a Saudi businessman in Cairo, as he talked with pride about his beautiful daughters. They loved to drive out into the desert and look at the stars together.
I have laughed and smoked a hookah with a Saudi businessman in Cairo, as he talked with pride about his beautiful daughters. They loved to drive out into the desert and look at the stars together.I saw polluted waters and forests suffocating under garbage. Miles of once beautiful beach concreted – and deserted. Ghosts of tourist towns - holiday slums.
I know too well that the small decisions I make each day, such as buying a towel, for example, will impact those I saw along the way – or others like them. I know my actions can help destroy or save the beauty in our world.
So now that I am home, I try to shop responsibly. But it is confusing... Fair Trade/Organic/Australian Made...? How do I sift through to understand what is good for the people that are making the things I buy, selling the things I buy – and good for me buying them? And how do I know that what I am buying is good for our natural environment?
How can I go shopping without feeling constantly guilty that some poor child has made my towel in a sweat shop? Or a farmer can no longer work to support his family because of the chemicals he has absorbed whilst harvesting the cotton?
Is it possible to live a responsible modern life that doesn’t involve upping stumps, going hippy and moving to Nimbin?
Lord I hope so. I rather like my lattes. Although I’ve heard Nimbin has good coffee.
Well – I’m on a mission to find out. Let’s not get discouraged. The good news is that the buying decisions we make can and do have an impact. This blog is my journey to unravel what is good and how we can make good buying decisions. It is also a journey to continue to explore and enjoy this wonderful planet - to keep us connected to the why.
Join me on this next adventure.
Let’s hope for unexpected twists and turns, challenges, silliness - and a bit of inspiration.
Join me on this next adventure.
Let’s hope for unexpected twists and turns, challenges, silliness - and a bit of inspiration.
Posts
9 comments:
Good for you! I think as we find our way, there is a natural desire to find out how to contribute to a better world - and obviously, what is going on with the environment is an area that needs a lot of focus right now.
Michael
I am glad that someone is talking about these things!
The past two years, we have been doing a project with our children to reduce our "footprint". We make a big effort to shop locally, eat locally grown food, and make our consumption decisions deliberate, rather than spontaneous. Results: garbage produced by our household is down 75%, we eat seasonal food, and the biggest surprise result is that we have cut our grocery bill by over 50%!!
We have managed it by adding a new thing when the old one becomes normal- so we are not trying to change the world all at once, but change our habits. I can assure you, we are more yuppies than hippies.
One thing that we are looking for is a source of nice, practical things that we can buy that fit in with this philosophy. Shop local, shop ethically, have nice things, no hippy.
Nimmity, any plans in this direction?
Cathy
Hi Cathy and Michael - thanks so much for your encouraging comments.
Cathy - yes, this is exactly what I am exploring and will be posting some thoughts and options for us all over the next week.
Let me know if there is anything in particular you would like to hear more about and I will add it to my list for research. Lofe the idea of your project - one thing at a time - I like it.
Nimmity, this is brilliant. I can't wait to read more!
Fiona
Thanks Fiona!
Hi Nim,
Wow, great writing. Now I'm getting itchy feet again. :)
The whole sustainability thing is a huge challenge. We've taken what I see as a practical approach. We can't buy an NZ made car, for example, so instead buy 2nd hand (called pre-loved these days).
We've found a principle around buying less, and buying quality.
Plus not being adverse to buying from the one man trade stall at a local fair.
Anyhow, a quick first comment.. Things to seriously ponder.
"Vespa"
Hi, I'm all for the ethical approach. I note a lot of talk about shopping responsibly. I've been in shops on a cool autumn morning in Victoria and the aircon was going full blast! How do we get that sort of waste stopped? Talking to a poor shop assistant only gets you a blank stare. Of course you can shop elsewhere - it does not get them to stop running the aircon in Coles/Safeway/take your pick of any of the others.
Hi Charles, thanks for your comment. A good point. I guess I try to focus on what I can do, which is make choices about what I buy that fit with my ethical stance. I guess in your example of the air conditioning that might mean buying online vs. going into an air conditioned store. And then I guess we could always write ot the Execs of the store in question. A lot of people are using social media to try and address these kinds of issues. A great example of exercising buying power for real positive change is Carrotmob, you can find out more about them here http://carrotmob.org/
Look forward to hearing more of your thoughts!
Post a Comment