October 10, 2020
Category: Regenerative Books, Regenerative Business, Regenerative Permaculture
I have been thinking a lot about regeneration, renewal and sustainability recently. It seems that everything that I am reading, watching and listening to relate to renewal in some way – in all aspects of life – business, the earth, relationships, spirituality.
In business, I have been thinking about how we can support businesses who are doing business for the greater good. How can we support their growth and increase their market share? There are so many businesses that are just out for making the executives and shareholders richer and more powerful. Business can be so much more than that. We try to run our business with integrity and we love to see other businesses and organizations do the same. I am on a journey to support the businesses who are pursuing something greater than capitalism as we know it.
In earth regeneration and sustainability, I am devouring so much good information on what organizations are doing to bring sustainable practices to the world. Did you know that in the last 150 years, we have degraded 70% the earth’s topsoil. How are we going to grow food to feed our ever-growing population when we are dangerously close to depleting the layer that allows plants to grow. Most experts believe we only have 60 years of topsoil left. What can we do reverse that process? I want to be part of the process to heal the earth rather than degrade it. I am on my own personal mission in my own yard/garden/lifestyle but I am wanting to see this renewal take a hold on even more people in the near future.
I will write a post sometime soon including all of the facts I have been learning about what’s happening with the world’s resources right now. In the meantime, here’s a great book (One Shot: Trees as our Last Chance At Survival) that I would recommend to anyone! It not only shares the facts of where we are currently but offers hope for what we can do to bring regeneration and support the organizations who are doing just that. It is overwhelming and often feels like we don’t have any power to change things but there are so many resources out there that can guide us on our journey to regeneration.
I shy away from extreme lifestyle changes because it is like a diet where you get gung-ho for awhile and then it is so hard to be “perfect” that you eventually give up and are maybe even worse off than you started. On my “regeneration journey” to be part of a more sustainable way of living I keep thinking about small changes that can eventually turn into big changes. I think the idea of perfection paralyses, the idea that we have to get things perfect or else we can’t move forward. “Once I’m _____ then I can ______.” But if we look at this life as a journey and our journey should be bringing regeneration in all aspects of our life…then each step we take is a proud moment. Each imperfection is a chance for improvement.
So my thought was to make a list for myself (and maybe it is useful for you too!) of simple things that I can (and already have) started incorporating into my life…maybe even a couple each week. So in the next year, my life will be much more sustainable and I will be supporting the businesses that are moving towards a more renewable way of life and business. There are some duplicates because some choices bring renewal to multiple areas of life.
Renewing Food:
- Move towards exclusively organic produce.
- Move away from genetically modified ingredients. Support the companies who are Non GMO certified.
- Move away from processed foods that contain ingredients you can’t pronounce and food dyes.
- Move away from large agricultural and food companies who are degrading our resources.
- Move towards regenerative/sustainable ways of gardening and farming (like supporting your local Co-Ops and Farmer’s Markets and growing your own organic food).
- Compost your food.
- Use your compost in your garden.
- Feed your animals with USA grown food with whole ingredients.
- Grow your own food.
- Watch Kiss the Ground.
- Eat less meat. If we do eat meat, purchase grass-fed, hormone free and responsibly produced meat.
- Drink organic milk produced by responsible milk producers. (Try goat milk too!).
- Get some goats!
- Get some chickens!
- Use alternative milks (but look into the sustainability of each type…some are better than others)
- Cook more meals at home with whole foods (preferably organic).
- Purchase cereal that is Non GMO (Did you know that many children’s cereals have been shown to contain pesticides? Yuck!)
- Eat more nutrient dense food.
- Spend your money with companies who are creating renewal rather than destruction.
- Read The Year-Round Solar Greenhouse
Renewing Earth’s Resources:
- Purchase food that doesn’t have additional/unnecessary plastics (individually wrapped crackers/cookies/candies). Bag them up yourselves with reusable containers.
- Use reusable food storange containers/ball jars/etc.
- Move away from 1-use plastic products (like straws, saran wrap, sandwich bags, etc.). Replace them with items that can be used over and over again.
- Move away from large agricultural and food companies who are degrading our resources.
- Move towards renewable/sustainable ways of gardening and farming (like supporting your local Co-Ops and Farmer’s Markets).
- Compost your food.
- Don’t replace things at home as often (brooms, clothes, shoes, sheets, furniture, carpets, etc.). Each year you re-use something, huge amounts of waste is reduced.
- Try to purchase apparel that is eco-friendly – recycled water bottles, organic cotton,
- Move more towards a minimalistic lifestyle. What are the things that really bring you joy? (Thanks Marie Kondo!) Get rid of the rest.
- Don’t buy bottles of water…ever! Get a water bottle you love that will last for years. 1-use water bottle companies are taking a toll on the earth, not to mention the plastic that is being wasted. Take your re-usable water bottle everywhere with you and renew your body with drinking more water!
- Buy less home decor.
- Drive your cars longer.
- Spend your money with regenerating companies rather than degrading companies.
- Stop shopping at Amazon as much as possible. Shop at other online retailers if you have to shop online.
- Support local.
Education:
- Read a book/listen to a podcast on renewal of the earth’s resources.
- Read a book/listen to a podcast on organic gardening.
- Purchase and share books with friends.
- Start a “renewing book club”.
- Read One Shot: Trees as our Last Chance At Survival
- Watch Back to Eden Film
- Watch Biggest Little Farm
- Watch Kiss the Ground
- Visit Trees.org and see how they are sharing agro-forestry with the world.
- Visit Rodale Institute and see how they basically started the organic movement in the US more than 50 years ago and what their institute is doing for the regenearation of our natural resources.
- Watch The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (and then visit trees.org again and donate!)
Please let me know the steps you are making towards renewal and sustainability and I’ll add those to my ever-growing list. Our family has started this journey a long time ago and we have slowly been incorporating sustainable practices into our lives. In the last year or so we’ve stepped up our decisions to start moving towards sustainability in greater ways. I hope in a year or so, I can look back on all of the ways our family in contributing.
Happy regeneration!