The Environment is certainly THE issue of our generation and more and more people are jumping on the eco bandwagon to do their thing to help, or “save” it. Which is awesome. It really is.
If you’re reading this post, chances are you’re interested in eco-living and for that I applaude you. You’re probably trying to convince others to get on board the eco bandwagon too and why not? There’s room for everyone!
But have you ever thought about what drives you to be green? What was THE thing or moment that switched on your LED light globe?
What is your ECO FORCE?
Occasionally I get asked why eco is my thing. To be honest, I can’t really pinpoint when or why it became my life purpose. It has just always been there. It was there as a young girl when I told my father’s friends not to throw their cigarette butts overboard when we were out fishing. I remember being ridiculed and called a greenie by these big burly men, but I didn’t mind. I was ok with standing up for what I believed in and even way back then I realised that the average person wasn’t always aware of the impact they were having on our environment.
Fast track 25 years with a couple of environmental degrees under my belt, a rewarding career working as an environmental engineer and now a young family and eco business to focus on, I have a bit more clarity around what drives me to be green. Here are the components of my ECO FORCE.
Do any of them resonate with you?
FREEDOM
I love the freedom of being green. I don’t need to (and I don’t) buy anything from the baby aisle in the supermarket (and I still have a baby). I don’t even need to buy menstrual products (and I still get my you. know. what. each. month.). In fact, if the shops all shut tomorrow and we were all told to stay in our own homes for a week, I’d feel confident my family would have enough food from basics in the pantry, vegies from the garden and eggs from our chooks to make it through. We wouldn’t live like royalty, but we’d be ok for a short while. In short, being green gives us the freedom not to rely on society too much and that feeling is liberating.
PRIDE
Those of you who have known me for a while know I like to make stuff from scratch. Especially in the kitchen. The sense of pride I get from cooking meals, preserves and other foods from raw ingredients is indescribable. And heady! The same feeling can also come from sewing, quilting, gardening, mending, upcyling and all these awesome other green activities.
RESPONSIBILITY
I have never taken more notice of the responsibility I have to live green as much as I do today. As a mother of two young boys I am acutely aware that I have a direct influence on how they will end up leading their lives when they are grown men. This influence is something I take seriously and it’s good to see that most parents do too.
HEALTH
Going green is one of the best ways to lead a healthier life. Whether it’s eating organic, walking more, slapping less stuff on your skin or ditching your bleach for an eco-friendly cleaner, living greener has huge benefits for your health. I rarely catch a cold or get sick and am so grateful for my good health as I’m a mum and mum’s can’t afford to get sick.
SIMPLICITY
Consumerism has alot to answer for and is one of the reasons we are all just oh so busy these days. It’s the “must keep up with everyone” that just leads to people’s homes being full of stuff. Who wants to spend their weekends fighting the crowds in large shopping centres, sorting through crap, turfing stuff out, putting things away, cleaning all the extra belongings in their home? I don’t. I’m having too much fun cooking and playing with my kids.
FRUGALITY
While frugality and sustainability are different drivers to a similar end result, it goes without saying that living greener can save you bucketloads. Living more sustainably can also often help delay the return of the primary caregiver to the workforce, if this is something they choose to do, which takes me right back to my first point and my eco force, FREEDOM.
Living sustainably gave my family the freedom for me to step out of my environmental engineering career and start this little eco biz while caring for my babies, and for that, I am eternally grateful. x
So what is your ECO FORCE? I would absolutely love for you to share with me below. 🙂
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Laura Trotta is one of Australia’s leading home sustainability experts. She has a Bachelor of Environmental Engineering, a Masters of Science (in Environmental Chemistry) and spent 11 years working as an environmental professional before creating her first online eco business, Sustainababy, in 2009. She has won numerous regional and national awards for her fresh and inspiring take on living an ‘ecoceptional’ life (including most recently winning the Brand South Australia Flinders University Education Award (2015) for the north-west region in SA and silver in the Eco-friendly category of the 2015 Ausmumpreneur Awards). With a regular segment on ABC Radio and with her work featured in publications like Nurture Parenting and My Child Magazine, Laura is an eco thought leader who’s not afraid to challenge the status quo. A passionate believer in addressing the small things to achieve big change, and protecting the planet in practical ways, Laura lives with her husband and two sons in outback South Australia. 
