Where to begin...

The overall aim of this blog is to give me a place to share our journey in trying to live more environmentally friendly.

It will include links to e-books and blogs which have inspired me, and websites which I find to be great sources of information to making living without plastic or buying local organic produce a bit easier.

So first things first, why Josh and I are even bothering to do this.

We recently watched a 3 part documentary on YouTube called "Garbage Island: an ocean full of plastic" which hit us pretty hard and created the desire to strive for a clean planet. I would encourage everyone to watch this documentary - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D41rO7mL6zM

It truly lets the viewer see the effects that plastic is having on the ocean and the marine life, and how this comes back to people via the food chain. It also iterates the point that the problem is no longer "fixable", instead we need to try and stop it from getting even worse - please note there is some inappropriate language in the clip.

Following watching this documentary late one evening, I went to bed and must have had a minimum of 4 hours sleep as I lay awake trying to come up with ways to save the world, some doable, some seemed a bit far-fetched. I went to work the next morning, my mind bubbling with ideas of how I could decrease rubbish, increase recycling, get eco-friendly products and get the other staff on board with saving the planet. It appeared I had a lot to learn about incorporating changes into a large company, especially in such a throw-away job as nursing, but that will come in another post.

We have been slowly changing our cleaning products over to "eco-friendly" brands as we use the old stuff up, we are buying more local and organic foods and I am trying to ween myself off of an online shopping addiction - consumerism at its best. Last week I tried on all of my clothes and with the help of Josh's sister Hope, we culled half of my wardrobe. The items to get rid of were either donated to a local op-shop, sold on trademe, or handed down to a younger cousin of mine. I am now trying to buy clothes and shoes only if I need them, and sourcing them either second-hand or buying fairtrade, organic products if I buy them new.

We are aiming to create a garbage free lifestyle and we will work on a set of "rules" for us to follow in order to achieve this which I will post when they are ready and we can get started on this journey!