Are we affecting the climate with our choices? In the aftermath of the Earthquake in Mexico…
Everywhere I look on social media people are saying that the world is out of control at the moment. To me it feels like the earth is agitated and demonstrating distress through ‘natural’ disaster after ‘natural’ disaster. In the past few months I have experienced my parents running from fierce forest fires that ravaged the landscape in Portugal. I have watched as my sister and her entire family had to evacuate their home in Houston as torrential rain, angry winds and thunderous floods took over the city. Last night, after receiving a message from my partner who was in a cracking, swaying building in Mexico, I sat scouring the internet for news so that I could see the extent of the earthquake damage and find out why I hadn’t heard back from him.
He was ok thankfully. Hundreds weren’t and thousands have been displaced. Mother Nature is shaking us off like a swarm of red ants on a blanket. Difficult, but not impossible to remove.
We talk about global warming or cooling and climate change. We are turning off our taps and lights and thinking about our carbon footprint but are we really aware of the choices that we are making and how they are affecting our planet? Both physically and energetically.
We keep saying that we need to change the world but I disagree. The world will be here for millions of years more and will regenerate into something new regardless of what we do. Our planet has survived an entire ice age and blossomed back into a beautiful paradise of life, colour and sound. I am absolutely certain that it will do so again.
The question for us to focus on is whether we will be here in the future. By we, I mean the human race. We have no idea what we are really doing when we poke the earth with the tools for fracking. We have no idea how nuclear testing is affecting our fragile eco-system and we don’t seem to care enough about the unbelievable devastation that the animal industry is creating.
The planet is no longer talking to us. It is SHOUTING. It is demonstrating its immense power and demanding that we pay attention.
I live in a world where environmental rejuvenation is a focus in every part of my life. I make choices every single day that demonstrate that I have heard the world shouting and I am listening. They are not necessarily what would be considered huge choices such as chaining myself to the gates of organisations I don’t agree with or lobbying to stop the production of nuclear arms. They are small every day choices that we can all make.
Rejuvenating our planet for me is about mindset change. It is about understanding that every single one of us can make a difference just by making a few different choices. As environmental stewards we vote with our feet and with every choice we make.
I have been vegetarian my whole life but I am not someone who insists that everyone gives up meat. I think it is about personal choice but choice made based on knowledge, awareness and education that immerse us in the truth of what we are doing to our planet. As consumers and customers we are not being made aware of the impact our choices are making by the people selling us the products and services. It is our responsibility to find out. It is time to take our role as leaders and stewards seriously.
I don’t think we have even scratched the surface of unlocking the full potential of what it means to be a human yet and it excites me to think that the journey to understanding could be at our finger tips. If we could just come to our senses and prioritise creating collaborative, symbiotic environments that thrive instead of focusing our energy on all the things that we don’t like in the world and not doing enough if anything about them.
I am an eternal optimist and I believe that we still have time, that it is in this moment of uncertainty that we will pull together like the magical creatures we are and hit the reset button on the future we are currently creating. I believe that mass mindset change towards accountability for consumption, waste and destruction will allow us more time on this beautiful planet.
It is because of this that this week we have put plans in place to launch an exciting new arm of RoundTable Global. A social enterprise focused on creating ethical and sustainable consumer choices that are easy to make. A social enterprise that will utilise 100% of its profits on awareness, education and learning for environmental rejuvenation and climate innovation.
These are the choices that I am making with my colleagues at RoundTable, choices that inspire us and fill us with determination to thrive. I choose action and leadership to role model the mindset change needed. What will you do?
