How My Life-Changing Journey Brought Me Back To Where I Started
From corporate jobs in Europe to cycling across South America, I’ve learnt one important lesson; you might just end up where it all started.
This week life surprised me by coming full circle, back to Amsterdam airport where it all began, 15 years later and for entirely different reasons.
As the founder of The O Initiative, which provides an alternative to plastic water bottles by creating beautifully artistic water fountains, returning to the scene of one of my first jobs in Amsterdam provided a stark backdrop and reminder of my full circle transformation.
My journey has taken me from working for various commercial airlines and oil companies to ridding the world of wasteful and unnecessary single-use plastic water bottles.
In 2003, whilst working for the aviation division of a major oil giant, a shift occurred. I realised there was a massive contradiction between refuelling US army aircraft for the Iraq War during 9–5 and heading down to (Amster) Dam Square to protest against the war on the weekend.
This clash of values set the wheels of becoming ‘the-new-me’ in motion, literally, when I set off on an 11,000km bike ride through South America and the Andes. Humbled by the warmth of Peruvian families despite their land being taken away by big mining companies, my commitment to making the change was ignited.
Then when arriving in Australia in 2004, part II of my story unfolded.
It was the worst drought the country had seen in decades, and in between snapshots of empty dams and pleas for people to save their water, I finally felt my purpose bubble to the surface. Designing and developing products to stimulate behaviour change; first Shower Watch and then the sustainable water bottle, 321 Water, I found my calling in the preservation of water and the fight for the well-being of the environment.
But it wasn’t enough.
A systems change was needed and so The O Initiative was born; a new, radical way to change the way we consume water in public spaces to combat our addiction to drinking water out of single-use plastic bottles.
I started the O Initiative in Melbourne as a way to reduce the AU$700 million of single-use plastic bottles being purchased in Australia, by creating stunning fountains for people to access fresh water in public places, removing the need to buy more plastic bottles.
And in a strange turn of events, it’s taken me back to where my journey started; Amsterdam Airport.
The O Initiative just launched in Amsterdam this week — at its airport too, for added serendipity — and for me, it means returning to my homeland to lead the movement to eradicate bottled water in yet another global city.
Have you transformed your career from one industry to another? What specific life event caused you to take a different course?
Keep updated on all things urban renewal & creative thinking with The O Initiative.
Click here to find out how the O initiative can transform your space
To read more about the initiative see here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grethaoost/
Or contact Gretha direct via gretha.oost@theoinitiative.com
- Designed by Gretha Oost, Founder of the O initiative
- Developed in collaboration with Zip Water
- Manufactured in Australia by GRC Environments
- The O fountain is Watermark Certified
