Hello, I'm Anna, and this is my environmental action blog. Thanks for reading!
One Thing Per Week was my goal when I started, that I would make one (easy) positive environmental change or complete one action, every week for one year. This proved difficult, mainly due to life getting in the way of me documenting things, and my lack of organisation skills. So it has now become my loose goal, and I'll also try and document past actions and how they are going. These actions, and the blog, are part of my larger plan to have a positive environmental impact (see diagram, below- and you may laugh at my lofty goals, but I am a committed optimist, and shall shrug off your scorn with ease). Running parallel to this environmental goal is an equally important one, I think- to show that environmentalism is fun, and can make you happy and improve your quality of life. I want to move away from the stereotype of the environmentalist as someone who is angry, demanding and unapproachable. or smug and superior. This is my learning experience, and I will make mistakes, get frustrated, upset, confused, especially when dealing with the scientific realities of climate change, and the misinformation and propaganda and greenwashing around. But I already feel more empowered (such a new age word, I apologise) because of changes I have made (see other pages for summaries of actions taken- coming soon!) and less anxious about the problem of climate change. I think this is because I am thinking of it in a positive way, in terms of actions to be taken and solutions to problems.
This is not a professional blog- I am not an expert in these things. In my other fledgling life as a PhD student I am beginning research into environmental behaviour, behaviour change, social norms and identity, but this blog is a separate entity (I don't intend to be as careful with my writing in the blog), with a different approach, although to similar issues.
Here seems like a good spot to put in my diagram about how it all ties in together. Click to enlarge!
Down to business. Australia emits the most carbon into the atmosphere per capita, IN THE WORLD! We are a wasteful, wasteful country. Why? We (mostly) live in the sub-tropics, where we don't need to heat our homes! We have reasonable public transport systems! We are going wrong somewhere (or lots of wheres).
So there is huge room for improvement. And the argument that it's the big businesses that use all the energy, or it's the governments responsibility to regulate our energy, not me, as an individual, that argument- just doesn't hold water. We are the people, people! We have the power! And that means you! yes, YOU!
phew, got a little excited there.
So, here's how I see the blog.
I'll document how I'm going with implementing new and exciting sustainable practices into my life. and I'll try to make it entertaining!
Other post topics will probably include
environmental news and resources.
environmental psyc news, and how this can apply to everyday life
talking about other environmental actions that don't fit into the 'easy' category, and as such cannot be part of my one thing per week challenge.
and more topics as I come across them.
So, I will get started, stay posted!
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