Reflections On An Evening With Jane - Reasons For Hope & My Practical Plastic-Free Suggestions

I first stumbled across Jane Goodall in the Austrian mountains some five years ago. 

Well, not Jane herself - but a testament to her life's mission:

"…to encourage people to do their part to make the world a better place for people, animals, and the environment we all share."

Jane is a pioneer, the female David Attenborough if you will (the two are actually mates) - and a real life "Jane of the jungle" - best known for her 55-year study of social and family interactions with wild chimpanzees in Tanzania, almost 60 years ago. Proving to scientists and the rest of the world: we humans aren't as special as we think, and that chimps are in fact very much like us (sharing 98% of our DNA).

But regardless of whether or not they appear intelligent to us, that they are worth protecting for the mere reason, that they too are inhabitants of this planet. And the chimps know - check out this beautiful thank you from a rescued chimp. (damn it gets me everytime... ;( 

Despite recently turning 85, to this day Jane still spends more than 300 days a year travelling the globe (queue haters judging air travel - but: needs must), inspiring as many people as will listen, to do their part - our part - for the environment and everything in it. 

Because whether you "believe" in global warming or not...the facts remain: 

• that there is too much plastic in our oceans, 
• it's killing marine life/impacting the entire food chain, 
• we are using too many resources, 
• and every action we take has an impact on something.

The morning I had made up my mind to book flights to Europe which took me on my Big Fat Greek Sailing Escape, was also the morning that Facebook informed me that Jane would be speaking in Germany during the week that I would be there. 

Well that - I thought - was a sign. Especially with the title: "Reasons For Hope". Because damn, did I need hope.Jane once said: "We do not inherit the planet from our parents, we borrow it from our children." yeah, let that sink in...

While I am generally an optimist, see the good in everything and everyone, and certainly would never consider myself an "eco warrior"...I do get very down about the state of this Earth some days - the sheer thoughtlessness of people's treatment of our planet.

Quite frankly, I currently do not want to have children who would have to grow up with a future which looks somewhat bleak to me.

But luckily Jane knows how to inspire hope:

I asked friends Brigitte and Kate to join me, but apart from knowing that Jane would be speaking, nothing of the programme had been announced. Not that she needed it, the woman received a 2000 strong standing ovation just upon entering the stage #earned.

In the end it was a beautifully presented compilation of contributions of famous musicians who are fans of Jane's, local community groups doing their bit on behalf of Jane's Roots & Shoots programme, and a few German "celebs" ranting on about saving the environment.

So how did Jane inspire hope in me? My three key learnings for the night:

1. Act local, think global - this was the biggest "lightbulb" moment for me. I often get overwhelmed thinking how could anything I do possibly help with this great big mess. But we can't think like that, because if we do...

...So give yourself permission to do what you can, until you can do more. (simple, practical suggestions for what we can do easily coming up below) 

  

2. There is still a small window of time left to turn things around - if we all pitch in. 

Jane and other leading scientist do believe there is still time. Well that was bloody good news - however, we certainly don't have time to wait for politicians, supermarkets or other "authorities" to pass laws and dictate how we go about this. We each have to take responsibility for ourselves (scary, I know - but I dare you...) and again - do what we can, as soon as we can.

3. People can only make "good" choices if they are not fighting for survival & are educated. 

Obviously I am writing all this from a very privileged perspective. I have a roof over my head, a dry, safe place to sleep each night, nourishing food at my convenience, more than enough disposable income to buy more should I need, and generally plan my day as I please...In essence: I have the luxury of time, and the resources to think about how I can make better decisions and educate myself to know better. I'll assume if you're reading this, you do too: so I challenge you - keep educating yourself. I highly recommend TED talks for this.

Now if that all sounds too hard, or you're thinking "well that's all well and good Fraeulein, but do you walk the talk?". My answer would be: I'm not perfect, but I'm doing what I can.

I've pondered this topic a lot, and while I have the best of intentions, I know myself well enough to know that for me to stick to resolutions they must still be practical.

So here are my practical (aka lazy) changes that I have made, broken down into the three main categories:

The Earth - 'coz we only got one:

In terms of my "daily life" I did a quick stocktake:

Plastic - use less, useless plastic! It's not enough to "recycle", because in most cases it will still end up in land fill. According to this National Geographic article:

"Currently, about nine million tons of plastic get thrown into the ocean annually, which breaks down to one garbage truck full of plastic being dumped into the sea every minute."

Therefore I THINK before I buy anything: do I really need it at all? Can I replace it with a compostable alternative?

Groceries - my family already buy locally, organic/sprayfree as possible, coming from Germany we have long brought our own cotton bags or baskets. We generally do not eat stuff from packets for convenience. We compost all fruit and veg scraps to grow more.

A beautiful example of consumer activism in practice: 

Mama made a point of repacking tomatoes which came in plastic containers into her own fruit sacks, leaving the packaging for the supermarket to deal with. Apparently a few other people followed suit because guess what: within a few months the tomatoes now come protected in thin cardboard boxes...it's a start.

Bathroom plastics - this was my biggest boo-boo. I am lucky enough to work from home now. While I'm not big on make up anyway, it now means I go make up free at least 5/7 days and can get away with not washing my hair for days on end (don't judge me - it's for the environment! ;P ) largely reducing my necessity for such items. But still, I hated having all those plastic bottles in my shower.

So I researched and tried the Kiwi-made Ethique shampoo bars. Now it definitely isn't as convenient as squirting shampoo in your hand, but what if I told you, that when you buy "traditional" shampoo, you are largely paying for the water they are watered down with?

Shampoo bars basically cut this water out. I have just gone through the Hair Sampler to try and find my "perfect" bar. I have some experimenting to do with other brands, as these contain a bit too much coconut oil, but will I stick to shampoo bars - definitely. And here are more reasons you may want to consider this too...

 

Toothbrush - compostable since ages ago...this was the first thing I changed.

Razor/blades - ASAP as I still have some to use up, but I will try a reusable, safety razor next.

Clothing - I'm not a fan of shopping, and only go if there is something I really need anyway. But unless its lingerie, swimwear or active wear, I now buy secondhand where possible. I avoid fast fashion from the likes of H&M & Zara (sometimes I still get sucked in...) but I definitely prefer natural fibres, made to last (Great excuse to treat yourself to some cashmere jumpers - the best thing: they clean themselves, so I hand wash them about once a season ;)

The Animals - 'coz the Earth would suck without them:

The single biggest thing you can do to reduce your environmental impact?! 

According to Max La Manna: 

"Researchers at the University of Oxford found that cutting meat & dairy products from our diet could reduce an individual's carbon footprint from food by up to 73%.

If everyone stopped eating these foods they found that global farmland use could be reduced by 75% an area equivalent to the size of the US, China, Australia & the EU combined." Mind blown?

Now while cheese will be last on my list to give up...I have been a pescatarian since I was about 13. Even now, I only eat fish if the neighbour catches some or I go out for dinner, and I will admit to the occasional Leberkas Semmel (like I said, I'm not perfect... :D)

Consume less meat. Become a flexitarian, reduce your meat intake, or at least know where your meat comes from

Plant more trees/veggies/something/anything helps the animals too.

Focus on conscious cosmetics i.e. not tested on animals, or using animal-derived products.

The People - last but certainly not least:

Be kind - it's free. We are all fighting our own battles, you never know when you might have a crappy day, and you'll be grateful if someone shows a little kindness toward you.

Try and do one good deed a day: do good - feel good, feel good - do good. It's karma baby.

Join a cause - hang out with some golden oldies at your local rest home, help out at your animal shelter. Plant some trees in the closest regional park... - just pick something & do it, regularly.

While I was living in Auckland I made it my mission to volunteer at Eat My Lunch for a morning every second week. Not only did I meet some awesome people, but helping make 2000 sammies for Kiwi kids who would otherwise go through their school day hungry is a pretty grand way to start the day. 

But my favourite thing about Eat My Lunch: you don't even have to make sammies - just buy your lunch from them and they'll donate one to a kid in need. That's called a win-win. ;)

And that's all I got for today. For more "lazy ideas" check this out.

Now in case you're feeling a bit overwhelmed yourself, I'll leave you with this beautiful song by Maggie Rose, because in her words: 

"I ain't tryin' to tell ya what to do - 'coz I got a lot to learn myself...the world wasn't broken in a day - it ain't gotta stay this way forever...You ain't got to change the whole damn thing - you just gotta leave it a little better. Just a little, just a little, just a little bit...

So do it for yourself, do it for your children, do it for Jane.

Yours truly,

Fräulein SoulFood x