ECO Blog Australia #1- “Back Into The Cycle”.

*This article was written on our old website when we had a different brand style and tagline- we'll call it retro* 

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I am not writing this merely because this is our tagline, we made the tagline because it is awesome, and it is the function of our brand’s model. 

Why is it awesome to us?

Well because we’re ECOnerds (should i ™ that?) 

Why however, is it innately awesome?

Because it’s the model of mother nature, and she is an absolute genius. It’s a tremendous system that we have lost along the way of becoming so clever and efficient. 

Look, we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel here, we are just making the wheel round again. Cyclical if you will. 

There is a wonderful saying:

who someone has probably attributed the quote to Gandhi. This is powerfully true in the sense that everything comes at a cost, and in the context of what we are discussing now, our seemingly super efficient model of consumerism has left us with a little side effect called landfill, or better known as ‘dig out a huge chasm in the earth and dump the shit in there’, what could possibly go wrong?

I don’t want to get too deep into the nitty gritty of the challenge at hand, so let’s keep it simple. 

It usually looks something like this… 

1. Factory makes the stuff and wraps it in plastic. 

2. The supplier distributes it to businesses and residents in boxes and more packaging

3. Businesses will distribute it to people, and throw the packaging in recycling or the bin 

4. People use it and either recycle the packaging or throw it into the bin. 

5. People think it magically gets taken care of by the waste fairies. 

6. A very small amount gets recycled

7. The rest goes into landfill. 

8. And repeat. 

To continue the metaphor, this wheel is broken, and is now leaking toxic waste onto our land and into our waterways. 

Remember that time when we could drink the water from our rivers? I don’t, because we have been doing things kind of wrong for a while. 

The only cycle this is, is a cycle of madness leading to a path which makes our children's lives so much harder than ours was. We tell our kids to pick up their mess and clean up after themselves, but it will be them picking up ours.

If you were to ask my friends, you would find out that I could complain about this all week, no breaths.

But I am going to transition to solution based thinking, it’s far more effective, and less annoying for you.

The planet needed our help 30 years ago, and I know so many of us care, but it is so hard to know what to do in this age of information overload. Most of us want to help the world, but have we even helped our family? Or one of our local neighbours? 

The change starts within you.  

I know this sounds cliché, and I know how many times people have told you that “if you want to improve your life, then make your darn bed”. 

But really all this is, is creating small and manageable habits:

Small changes in the mind creates;

Small changes in action which creates; 

Small habits which creates;

Small changes in the home, 

Small changes in the community,

Large pressure on local business, 

Large pressure on suppliers,

Large pressure on manufacturing, 

Large pressure on corporate investments, 

Large pressure on the economy, 

Large change in the State

Large change in the minds of the masses.

Leading them back into the cycle. 

That’s a bit extreme isn’t it? Yes it is, but it works extremely well.

Take the one straw revolution for example #stopsucking; 

As Brenna Houck said in her article in the “Eater”; 

“ To casual observers, the tremendous backlash against plastic straws seemed to come out of nowhere, but it was by design. On January 12 of this year, the Surfrider Foundation, an environmental group focused on ocean pollution, declared 2018 “the year we say goodbye to straws.” In the following weeks, the organization built a coalition of other like-minded organizers, including single-use plastics activist and professional scowler Adrian Grenier, whose Lonely Whale Foundation launched a “Strawless Seattle” campaign in September 2017”. (Houck. B, 2018)

This became a giant snowball, businesses and even cities started banning single use straws. 

Even the ol’ EU got involved. 

And now you’ll never see plastic straws the same again, and neither did the manufacturers.

Do you think they kept trying to make plastic straws?  or reinvested their money? Well we know what the more intelligent ones did. 

This all started with changes within a few people’s minds. 

When it comes to super easy, actionable and practical habits, I'll be writing another article on it so this one doesn’t get too long and doesn’t turn into a post grad research paper.

Your mind is the engine room, and your home is the physical representation of that space.

So if you want to take action right now,

start supporting businesses who will support you in creating less waste in your home. 

And if you are not like me and have time, then engage in some super fun D.I.Ys and brag about it to your family and friends.

It all starts with you and your magnificently powerful thoughts. 

Thanks for taking the journey with me in this first article post, as we transition and get better at this stuff together. 

The next article (#2) will be about: (in the cinema guy’s voice)

Saying No to the war on waste and as promised some super easy steps to move towards a minimal waste lifestyle.

Stay tuned for an epic ride.