Looking After Mother Earth.

Photo by Will Fuller on Unsplash

Changing your life from blind consumerism to environmentally friendly can be daunting. Whilst separating garbage from recycling is quite simple, there is a lot more to it. With literally millions of tons of plastic, now clogging our oceans, people are becoming aware of the environment, and a lot of people want to do things that help to protect it.

Everything we buy, make and do has an impact on the environment. It is complicated and there seems to be plenty of room for sharks to charge extra for products that may or may not be cleaner and healthier. So where do we start? Possibly with less use of your car!

Even your clothes play an important role in the environment. Synthetic fibres do not break down in landfill and they enter our waters with dangerous components that end up in fish, seafood and in salt, which we then consume as food. Cotton, although an all natural fibre takes a huge amount of energy and water to grow and harvest. Organic cotton avoids the use of pesticides at least, but does not solve the energy and water factor. You may be able to go with hemp instead, if you like you can consider that.

Another poison, mercury can enter our seafood, and cause havoc with our bodies and brains. According to the NSW food authority, mercury levels are low in the following seafoods. So if you are choosing fish for your meal, try to make sure it is on this list. For people outside of Australia, you should research, which fish is low in mercury and thus safe to consume as food. Pregnant women may not be able to eat any, please check with your doctor and local food authority.

These fish are safe to eat in NSW Australia:

Mackerel
Silver Warehou
Atlantic Salmon
Canned salmon and canned tuna in oil
Herrings
Sardines
Other seafood with low mercury levels include:

All prawns, lobsters and bugs
All squids and octopus
Snapper
Salmon and trout
Trevally
Whiting
Herring
Anchovy
Bream
Mullet
Garfish

Some businesses these days are insisting on using natural ingredients and ethical processes. But do your free range eggs really come from free range chickens? That’s debatable, again you should research your brands rather than take it at face value.

Buying locally is meant to reduce environmental impact and help small businesses flourish. But for whatever reason: convenience, price, or popularity, supermarkets and department stores tend to be our main source of shopping.

Whilst living sustainably has been achieved by a few. It is overshadowed by huge monopolies, companies that provide to people in big cities and towns. Whilst I love my local mall, and the food in the supermarket is pretty good, I cannot help but comment on corporate greed. Who often throw away food rather than give it to charity. Where is my local whole foods store gone? Probably under the footprint of some huge corporation that cares for very little other than profits.

As supply is in relation to demand, the more we insist on healthy, environmentally and reasonably priced products, the more they will have to supply these products.

Luckily more and more people are becoming environmentally conscious. But with foresight lacking, some scientists are predicting gross problems for Mother Earth and her residents in the not so distant future. Large corporations and the powers that be, don’t want to admit to these problems, because all their money is invested there, in oil, plastic, gas etc. As the saying goes: ‘The love of money, is the root of all evil’. Think about it, some company, destroys a whole forest, killing all the creatures, wrecked the ecosystem, even wiped out an entire race, then dug a uranium mine there.

Then, these companies, pump noxious waste into the air we breathe. Supplying pharmaceuticals that are otherwise proven to be dangerous instead of a traditional, herbal medicine. These corporations seek a disownership of those things by us, so they can give it back in synthetic form, so that they can not only take our money, but disempower us altogether!

Although this might all sound a bit cynical, but the point is, places like the Great Barrier Reef and the Amazon Rainforest are disappearing before our very eyes. So we have to act quickly to rectify the situation and these actions have to be widespread and unwavering.

So next time you put petrol in your car, just because you’re a rev head, or go to your wallet, to provide merely for the needs of your ego - try for one moment, to think about the world around you, and if you can do some things a bit differently.

Because nature is a sublime source of joie-de-vivre. There is nothing we can give to our children, and grandchildren, if not that.

Ways to live it. The following list is far from definitive, but contains some suggestions you can try if you care about this issue.

Car Pool.

Take public transport

Ride or walk.

Use a reusable coffee cup.

Use a reusable shopping bag or cart. (The ones that fold up small are great for your purse).

Make your own lunch.

Bake some bread.

Turn things off.

Buy some biodegradable plastic bags.

Recycle.

Upcycle

Collect litter

Grow a vegetable garden

Buy organic

Buy recyclable

Install a bidet

Buy environmentally friendly products

Try to eat a vegan diet.

Have long meals at the dinner table and enjoy the conversation

Help someone with something.

Donate things to charity.

Shop at an opportunity shop.

Hang your washing on the line.

Put a jumper on and turn the heat off.


See if you can make your own ‘something’ instead of purchasing it.

Go bushwalking, or go outside somewhere, to enjoy nature in it’s finest.

Use biodegradable products.

Change your business to environmentally friendly.

Petition your Government to implement change.