Where do you actually think the rubbish we create ends up? In the bin? Right, but then where? How does all of this rubbish end up soiling our beautiful home? How does it end up in our clean water stores and food chain?
We are obviously far too educated to leave stuff lying around in public after our joyous summer picnics and BBQs. Never would we throw anything out of the car window, nor chuck cigarette butts carelessly on the floor. We might even go as far as sorting and recycling our rubbish. Avoiding single-use altogether and maybe even opting only to purchase amongst items that can be recycled otherwise.
Yet do we really know what happens when we separate from our pollution? Once that trash hits the bin, we think very little more about it, least of all whether it actually ends up being recycled as intended, or even treated correctly and effectively. Is it actually just polluting our planet even further, in spite of our best efforts? Probably.
This is the teaser for a highly recommended and stunning French documentary by Jeremi Stadler and I urge you to watch it… (Sadly, I don’t have a link for the film online as it has been three years since I first published this post on Instagram and it looks like the film has now been taken down from Vimeo and ImagoTV!)
Bask in all its glory, for it is the inspirational tale of citizen-led, empowering grassroots groups and individual initiatives sprouting up across France. It follows big and small movements that are creating community around collecting the waste and trash that humanity has carelessly left behind, be it at sea or on land, all with the aim of preserving the environment for us all.
The film features incredibly kind-hearted souls trying to shake things up and make a real difference, notably Edmund Platt aka L’Escargot Anglais aka Eddie Platt, yes, the co-author and star of the book we wrote together: The Englishman Who Wanted to Clean France, and none other than Manu from Sauvage Mediterranee, amongst others.
The beauty of the various initiatives is that anyone can take part. Anybody anywhere can participate and should. We all create waste, and none of us can be sure what really happens to it after we dispose of it, whether we recycle or not. Whether we actually throw or leave our rubbish behind or not. Let’s stop complaining, blaming others and creating even more waste.
“…so when can we expect the beautiful “green revolution”? When will the people wake up? And stop saying it is a question of finance, because that’s false, it’s just a question of organisation. Sure, it’s not going to be perfect right away, but honestly, it would be more effective than complaining, bitching and blaming others…”
words written in French by Julie Descamps, unofficially translated by Natacha Neveu for The Sorting House.
Eighteen thousand discoveries of new aquatic species in one year!
According to the GoodPlanet Foundation,
“In 2011 we discovered almost 18,000 new species across the world: sharks, turtles, multicoloured sea slugs”
Check out @theeyeofthediver for some amazing macro shots of incredible sea slugs and other sea life in the Mediterranean.
We must do everything we can to protect this life, discovered or not, and our oceans from further pollution. We can create less waste, eat less *intensively produced* meat and meat substitutes, stop eating fish that hasn’t been caught by our own efforts, buy everything locally, find a passion for upcycling and second-life-ing, and educate ourselves on why the oceans and all their mysteries are important to our lives. We will only thrive, evolve further and discover deeper truths about our origins in doing so.
For without this underwater life we would have no air to breathe, no temperature regulation, no healthy seafood to eat, no greenery and no overground life. The ocean holds the key to so many of our questions and problems.
The ocean is our lifeblood. We must keep it clean, biodiverse, thriving and healthy if we are to continue humanity in comfort. Strive to reconnect with that which makes our lives possible, evolve consciousness to see beauty instead of fear, indifference or annoyance and judgement.
We are nature, to do anything other than protect it would be to deny and destroy our true selves.
A good balloon is a balloon that doesn’t exist. Manufacturers are yet to develop a balloon that doesn’t wreak havoc when it is disposed of or lost accidentally.
Even the new “biodegradable” ones are dangerous, they do NOT decompose naturally, and they DO go on to pollute our environment, drinking water and food for years.
Call me crazy, but I’m not sure that the few moments of perceived enjoyment a piece of plastic with old gas in it can bring, is worth the lifetimes of consequences on our future.
Enough is enough, it needs to stop. Even if we ended production, selling and buying balloons today, we would still have the results of decades of balloons and their purposeful and accidental releases in our environment. An immediate stop in production will allow us to eradicate what is still in nature, so that it may establish the necessary balance once again, and nature (that humans are dependant on) can continue to thrive.
You might be thinking there’s no harm done for one little party, you love nature and are respectful, you always throw your rubbish away properly, and would never release balloons accidentally or on purpose. Yet it is already well documented how our governments and local authorities are mismanaging our waste.
We must therefore avoid creating more waste in the first place. It’s the only way to really make a personal difference. If you don’t buy it, they won’t keep making so much of it. At least not in the same way. Change is possible only if we demand it. We create change, not the other way around. It’s us the leaders, and we have the buying power to shape this commercial world. The ball is in our court.
So take responsibility for the place you occupy in the world, and be proud of what you leave behind. Decorations for parties don’t have to be “boring” without balloons. Love is not a disposable piece of plastic. The internet is an amazing resource, hello Pinterest, use it for low-waste party ideas!
Search #ZEROWASTE alternatives, get your family, kids and friends involved, recycle old decorations, upcycle old household items, get unified and get creative!
The only limitation you have is your own imagination. 🙃
Black rice aka forbidden rice was known in China as the Emperor’s rice because it was apparently kept from the lower classes. It’s extremely high in anthocyanins due to its dark hue, which means amazing nutritional value and antioxidants! 👌
I’ll be honest, I do actually prefer Asian rice but I don’t really like the idea of my food travelling the world to get to me. Nor do I appreciate long production and distribution chains where numerous abuses to people and planet are often hidden for greedy profits. For a few years now I’ve been trying to reduce my consumption of imported products for this very reason.
Camargue is known for its white horses and pink flamingoes but is also a rice-growing region here in France. This means I have a choice to avoid unnecessary and overly polluting distribution in buying locally grown rice.
You have two homes, your planet and your body, take care of them.
It isn’t all about appearances, remember to also cultivate the beauty within you.
In order to protect our home, we ought to be looking to get as many of our needed items second-hand, as well as reducing unnecessary and frivolous purchases entirely. Especially as there is pretty much enough of anything we could ever need already on this planet, we could just stop production of many industries today and still not go without for years.
Today’s post is to show my solidarity with the social media challenge #fevriersanssupermarche ‘No-Supermarket February’ – that means no supermarkets for a month! Food shopping is to be done at farmer’s markets and small greengrocers, butchers, organic, bulk or specialist food shops instead.
The aim is to detach people from the belief that they must fund overly polluting mega-nationals to survive, and return some cash flow into the smaller, local economies that help our communities thrive.
According to dominant scientific theories, all of life on this planet originates from the oceans. The official history of aquatic evolution is so much richer than that which has developed on solid ground.
That head start of billions of years in the evolutionary process means that almost every single branch of the tree of life is represented. Some branches even exist exclusively underwater.
With so much of the planet covered in water, it isn’t surprising that scientists make new discoveries every day. At times in shapes, types and forms we couldn’t even fathom existing on our planet.
I’ve lost count because I do the action every single time I go outdoors, sometimes several times a day. If I see it and I don’t already have my hands full, then I’m sure as heck gunna pick it up.
