More of the real thing

On my regular run round the fields near our house I saw two squirrels; one was real, and a red squirrel to boot. I stopped and took a moment's pleasure from a sight I wouldn't have seen when I was living back in England. The second squirrel caught my attention, and my thoughts for another reason. Instead of scampering away from me, it sat completely still, next to a badger and various other garden ornaments. It reminded me of the photograph below, of two plastic leaves I found washed up on a beach, next to the real thing. It reminded me of the artificial grass we saw in a few locations recently, and the weekend we spent shifting gravel and lifting plastic sheeting in the garden of our new (to us that is) house to reveal the life-lacking earth below. It resonated with my latest read; George Monbiot's 'Feral' and my general urge to 'de-plastic' and 'naturalise' our new house in order to make it feel more like home.

These plastic leaves found washed up on a beach sum up the problem of modern living for me, we need to change our habits.

There is no doubt that we humans love nature, but we have moved further and further away from it. All too often we surround ourselves with plastic imitations of the real thing: pictures on our walls; ornaments; decoration on pencil cases, bags, clothing... It's a disconnect that's bad for our own physical and mental health as well as for the health of our planet.

It is only very recently in man's evolution that we have shut ourselves away from nature, in boxes that shut out the natural elements and natural light. We evolved to be immersed in it, not distanced from it, our bodies are built to work in harmony with it, not to fight it  or eliminate it. It seems to me that we have progressively sought to shut nature down, order it, organise it, stamp our will upon it rather than try to harmonise ourselves with it. Perhaps that's why sailing is such a hugely therapeutic and positive activity for me. I feel more at one with nature, more in harmony, it feels like you are using nature's forces, but not forcing them or subduing them, not shutting them down, but embracing and exhilarating in them.

So here I sit, in a box that has too little of the natural world in its interior as well as its immediate surroundings, a garden that needs re-populating with life; rooms that need natural fabrics and materials... and I understand a bit better why that has been so important in my life, why I love camping, running in the rain, immersing myself in the sea, the forest, the mountains, the skies. And why I'm ready to do all I can to preserve it for future generations, and inspire my boys to understand how vital it is for our happiness and wellbeing as well as the small matter of our survival.

Baby steps

I'm a great believer in taking a bit by bit approach to things. Yes our planet may be in crisis, and I don't say that lightly, but life has taught me that is you try to do too much too quickly you will often fail. It's a bit like a crash diet, you can cut everything out and lose weight very fast, or take a more considered approach and let yourself have little bits of 'bad', lose weight a bit more slowly, but lose it in a maintainable way, a way that becomes a permanent change in lifestyle rather than a 'crash and burn' approach.

I think this is particularly important as my nature generally errs towards the 'I want to get everything done yesterday' mentality, so I need to slow myself down, and remind myself that baby steps will get you to your destination, and sometimes you can get there in much better shape, or spot important details along the way that help you to do things a better way.

So, yes we need to move towards a greener, more sustainable way of living, yes we need to clean up our planet and make sure we give our children a future, and yes we are running out of time and need to act NOW. But we can make big changes relatively quickly by taking baby steps, sharing the ideas we come across that work well in our lives and focusing on the positive of every little move make in cutting our consumption and moving towards sustainability.

A good example for me is reusable nappies; many people are put off by the thought of the work involved. But you could substitute just one disposable a day as a start and when that's working, try two... baby steps. Another is meat consumption - there are very few of us who would succeed in going vegan immediately, but if everyone ate less meat it would make a huge difference. So more realistic for most of us is to try reducing our meat consumption by one meal a month, then two, then maybe try a meat-free meal a week.

This is the thinking behind the series of features I am writing for YachtsandYachting.com right now... Take one step, then think what your next step might be. By taking baby steps each day, week, month then by the end of the year you will be greener.

Small steps will get us there, so don't be put off by the enormity of the task and take heart in every bit you do.

Just a few of our baby steps...

1. Reusable nappies and wipes (currently 99% of the time)
2. Homemade soup
3. Loose leaf tea
4. Homemade bread
5. Soap substituted for hand and face wash, shampoo and shaving
6. Food as much organic and local as possible
7. Organic beef and lamb direct from local farm
8. Organic milk direct from our local dairy using reusable glass bottles
9. Fruit and veg as much as we can bought loose without using plastic bags
10. Toilet roll and tissues bought in bulk without plastic wrapping
11. Clothing - minimising purchases and trying to buy natural fibres
12. Reusable water bottles, coffee cups and cutlery for out and about

A quote from Jane Goodall's film 'Mother Earth' sums it up really well I feel:‘I’m not alone in saying we have a window of time, a window to start changing the direction, but it depends on changing attitudes and if we could just get a critical mass of us who start to think about the consequences of the little choices we make each day, what we buy, what we wear, what we eat...’

The point is to keep chipping away at your plastic use, at your consumption and move gradually towards sustainable habits - every little counts, just as every biscuit you don't eat will help your weight loss.

Please don't be put off by the enormity of the task, together we CAN make a difference.