It’s time we humans took a long hard look at ourselves and how we’re living. In this post I touch on why we need to stop acting like we have a Planet B. Plus I share a small action that you can do today to ensure we’ll never need a Planet B.

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Back when I was in Year 11 at school all the teachers were telling us to knuckle down. I had my parents constantly on my back to apply myself. But I couldn’t see the point.

In the early 1990s when I was completing my Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE), year 11 didn’t count to the final score. Yet half the students were stressing like it was make or break time.

I cruised, stuffed around with some friends, and even skipped some classes to browse the local shops instead. Of course we were sprung by a teacher. And so, just four months off completing year 11 and starting year 12, the most critical year of schooling, I was suspended.

For three whole days.

Talk about a wake-up call!!

Of course I wasn’t applying myself in Year 11 because I knew I had a second chance. Year 12 was around the corner and in my immature mind I didn’t want to burn myself out before then. I wanted to have fun while I still could.

Year 12 was my Plan B.

Lucky for me I did knuckle down in Year 12, scooped up several academic awards and easily bagged my first choice uni degree.

But that’s not the point.

I was living life on the edge, without any respect for the consequences to my education and future if my Plan B failed.

Sadly it seems so many of us have a similar mindset to how we live our day to day lives.

We consume, consume and consume like there’s no tomorrow.

We want the best of everything right now. And we treat the planet like we own it. In fact, we’re the only species on the planet that actually trashes our own home.

The irony of this is that if we keep living and consuming like we currently are, there will be no tomorrow.

Unlike when I was 16 years old, when it comes to our environment, there is no Year 12 around the corner. There is no second chance.

There is no Planet B.

We really need to apply ourselves and seriously look after our Planet A, Earth. New planets that support life are hard to find!

When it comes to our climate alone, the trends from NASA are looking very grim….

  • May 2017 was the second-warmest May in 137 years of modern record-keeping,
  • Carbon dioxide levels in the air are at their highest concentration in 650,000 years,
  • Sixteen of the seventeen warmest years on record have occurred since 2001,
  • In 2012, Arctic summer sea ice shrank to the lowest extent on record, and
  • Global average sea level has risen nearly 178 mm over the past 100 years.

I know climate change seems like such a huge and complex problem (it is!) It can seem so overwhelming at times. Heck, we even have world leaders still arguing over if it even exists (!) But you can do something about the issue.

What can you do?

Two things!

Firstly you can live as lightly as you can on the planet and raise your children to be conscious consumers.

Secondly, you can support those who are working hard to make a difference…. be it scientists, educators or policy makers.

Last week I shared with you my exciting news that I’d been selected as one of 80 female scientists worldwide to join the second-ever Homeward Bound and fly the climate action flag on a global stage.

This selection involves me travelling to Antarctica next February … a trip that alone would fulfil a lifelong dream of mine.

But to get there I really need your support.

I’ve just launched a crowdfunding campaign and have just 10 days to raise the funds to cover my ship berth on this program…. a hefty AUD 22,000 (and this is just a portion of the total program costs).

You can choose your reward and pledge your support here

As an independent scientist, my voice is 100% my own.

The upside of this is absolutely no censorship in the statistics and information I share with you. The downside is there’s no big bucket of corporate funds supporting my work week in week out, or funding this expedition.

Any pledge of support on this campaign is welcomed.

Your pledge will only be charged if we get over the line (and we have just until Thursday 29th June to get there!!).

There’s specials on my eco-living programs that you’ll never see repeated, featured spots on my Eco Chat podcast, the opportunity for me to be keynote speaker at your event or school, or if you run your own business online, you can receive coaching or consulting support from me (extremely limited spots)! First in gets the best rewards!

Like so many things in life, early momentum is key to a successful crowdfunding campaign. Early pledgers help my project trend in Pozible and be seen by a wider audience (and get more support).

And before you think that there’s not a reward for you or that you don’t have much to give and would feel embarrassed to make a small contribution, let me share a couple of points…

Quite regularly our local kindergarten holds a fundraising sausage sizzle down the main street of our local town. I love supporting our kindergarten as they do a fabulous job. However, sausages in bread just aren’t my thing (I know, how un-Australian!!).

So I just give them the money for the sausage and tell them to keep the sausage.

If you don’t want a postcard, a calendar or another online program, but you would like to support my campaign, just choose the “Pay it Forward” option to show your support.

And if you love what I do, but feel embarrassed as you can only pledge a few dollars, please pledge anyway. If every single one of my email and social media subscribers pledged just $1 today, my campaign would instantly get over the line.

So please, see it as you’re shouting me a coffee. Yet put the price of the coffee on the campaign instead. No amount is too small. You can even pledge anonymously if you prefer but seriously, there is nothing embarrassing about pledging a small amount – I will be forever grateful!

So if you feel drawn to support me to continue to spread the sustainability message and join a credible group of women from around the world to drive action at a global level (that’s you Mr Trump!), check out my crowdfunding campaign here.

I do urge you to pledge as soon as possible though as early momentum is everything when it comes to crowdfunding. It helps keep my campaign trending high. I’d also really appreciate you sharing the campaign with friends to help it circulate as widely as possible.

Your support truly does mean the world to me and will help me do my best to ensure we’ll never need a Planet B.

Laura xx

Laura