The year of 2017 is already presenting itself with many challenges for us to face in the future. Fear for the livelihood for not just social justice issues but environmental as well. Last Saturday I participated in the women’s march. The pure fight and love that I felt from the crowd surrounding me not only made me realize how we can take action against the unfairness that is taking place, but also showed me that we are all connected by certain experiences. Using these connections to band together to fight these issues is important, but my first action in the fight is to make lifestyle changes personally.
I have talked a lot about making changes that make my eco footprint less and less. Just recently I have decided to rid meat from my diet. The meat packing industry and methane gases emitted by cows are some of the worst things for our environment. Methane gas in particular is a green house gas that, when released into the air, absorbs radiation and increases the temperature of the atmosphere. By personally choosing to stop consuming meat makes me hope that I can make changes to live a more sustainable life.
The next step for me in this coming week is to build a compost bin. With this project, I have high hopes that many of our neighbors will be on board and contribute to the compost. In this way, I am not only changing how my neighbors and housemates through away trash but also educating them on why doing these things are important in the first place. With the compost, I plan to start a garden. We bought soil and wood to raise the garden; now all we need is a community willing to contribute to feed our worms!!
Thank-you so much for sharing, Catherine! I was also at the women’s march in Charleston! I agree that we are all connected and that our personal choices make a difference in each other’s lives.