I can’t confidently say I recall how I got to where I am today. My life has dramatically changed in the past 5 years, it has been a whirlwind full of highs and lows. But here I am sitting writing my debut blog about how I want us all to save the planet.
Maybe it is the fact that I am soon to be a father for the first time, maybe it is the fact that I see my step-daughter, who is about to turn 7, growing and learning and asking questions about the world around her each day, then again it may just be the numerous documentaries I have watched on Netflix while trying to get some value out of my T.V time. In all honesty it is most likely a combination of all three. Though for whatever reason I look around the world today and I see it is in grave trouble. It is grossly overpopulated and we are raping it of it’s resources at a phenomenal and many of the world’s influential people have their heads in the sand about it all. Throughout my twenties I was definitely part of the majority of people who either didn’t care or thought that they could not do enough to make any real difference. I would most likely have said things like “the damage is done” or “what real difference does it make if I put this bottle in the rubbish or the recycling bin?” But as I mentioned before something has changed and I feel I can no longer sit by and ride the downward spiral to the earth’s impending doom.
The first problem I faced was Where do I start? How can I get my environmental impact down to zero, now!? The truth I realised is that you can’t, you can not do everything at once. That is, as I have learned, a sure fire way to fail. You end up beating yourself up every step of the way because you can not do it over night. So I started with a bit of research. I watched some more documentaries that have helped me get a bit of an idea of the problems we are causing. I looked into local council waste plans. I learned that not every district’s recycling bins take the same items. Not every recycling plant works the same way, and my heart broke when I realised that I have been putting my recycling in plastic bags and popping them into my yellow wheelie bin for the past 3 years and this is a big no no. I found out that all the recycling I had been doing for the past 3 years has most likely gone into a landfill. The good thing is that now I know, and now I can tell others when I see them putting their recycling into bags that it is the same as putting them in the rubbish.
The point of all this however is not to beat ourselves up about how we have been doing things wrong for years or how we have been ignoring the problem and acting like the proverbial ostrich with it’s head in the sand. The point is that we can learn and grow from this and we can help educate others. We won’t get it right 100% of the time but we can do the best we can and that is the only way we can change things. That is the only way we can make a difference. So if you are reading, then stick with me and lets see what we can do, and please feel free to get in touch as we go, I would love to read your thoughts and comments.
– Thomas
