Live and Travel with a Little Ecological Footprint

I’ve set off on a voyage of discovery. What am I setting out to discover? New connections. Connections to the Reef, connections between people, connection to nature, and connection to self. It started with an invitation to a friends wedding in France. My first thought: I love this girl to bits, but I’m not so keen on flying all that way to Europe. Time, expense, and most importantly, a very significant carbon footprint (the level of love I have for this girl and the good times that have ensued were totally worth it!).

When it comes to helping the reef, reducing our ecological footprint is HUGE. It’s clear that action from higher levels is essential in creating large scale impactful change, but whilst our governments dilly-dally around dodging and distracting us from their most pertinent and necessary responsibilities, we as citizens and consumers can act.  

“But I am only one person, how can I make a difference” I hear you ask. How many people are we on the planet? What kind of impact could we make if we all committed to changing a few little daily habits?

I often give presentations in which I use the below image – not to overwhelm the audience with how much there is to do, but to bring to light how much is possible. We don’t have to do ALL the things. Identifying and adding ONE little thing to what each of us is already doing is a good start. 

 

So I started thinking to myself: how can I achieve what I’m setting out to do, whilst making my footprint as small as possible? Rather than getting a return flight halfway across the world for a single event (as significant and special as this person is to me!),

“how can I get the most bang for my carbon footprint buck?”

My first answer: don’t take aeroplanes. Unfortunately, given my time restrictions (due to work and other pre-standing commitments), I decided flying for the first part of my trip was most practical, and I’d just have to make up for it in other ways. Noone is perfect and we can do a LOT, but it doesnt always make sense to do everything.

So how else could I find solutions to this challenge? Well, I decided to set out to discover new ways of living closer to nature, with the smallest footprint possible. What’s involved? Permaculture, sailing, slow, on-ground travel (buses, trains, walking, hitch-hiking, etc) and most importantly, removing the hurry to get to my next destination as quickly and “efficiently” as possible (often to the detriment of the planet/reef!).

Stay tuned for a little summary of the destinations, adventures and challenges so far!