Dear Diary

Today is my birthday. I always feel like it's a day to start something new; a 'something' that begins, and continues. 'Something' meaningful, intentional, and sustainable. 'Something' that echoes in the chamber of "Be the change you want to see in the world". So, today I begin to BLOG. 

It's an odd thing, this virtual 'Dear Diary'. With both feet in middle age I have yet to feel the normalcy of sharing my thoughts outside my circle of friends and clients. Maybe it's because they have faces, and I can feel their energy in our exchange that makes it more, well, 'normal'. However, in the last year especially, I have marveled at the power of the blog as a grass roots tool. It's so democratic. News, ideas and information go untethered and unedited into the whole, and I love it! The anti-propaganda response to The Nightly News, or at least a vehicle to tell a bigger story.

My story, or part of it, is about going 'Green'. So often in the past years I have nearly become paralyzed at what we are doing to our home; our one and only spaceship in a cold, empty place. Overwhelmed at how our negligence and ignorance is plundering the thin veneer of life that sustains us. Shocked that in my lifetime the ocean biomass, for example, has been reduced 90%. Helpless at the magnitude of it all. Most of all, in despair that I'm part of the problem. 

Eight years ago when my nephew was born, I looked into that face and I knew one day I'd have to explain. He'll ask me, "when you still had the chance, when you knew, why didn't you DO SOMETHING?!?" I've been living every day since, learning and taking action in my home, and in my business to be the change I want to see. I want to be able to look into his handsome adult face, and say, "I Did My Best". 

I am paralyzed no more (also realizing being paralyzed is actually worse than doing nothing!). Frankly, it's the opposite, I feel energized! Even in the face of the images that break our hearts, and the mountain of evidence that we are self-destructing - what we CAN do, what IS being done, the movements and organizations that DO care - this is what I'm focusing on! I am part of the solution. I have to be, we all do. (And while this may seem so obvious to many of you, here in Alberta, this 'green stuff' is radical, uneconomic thinking, and to most, just pure bullshit). 

It is my intention to share this journey, and to add to the voices of the many who want to be part of the solution.

And so it begins....Happy Birthday to me!

Stephanie

"The earth is not dying, it is being killed. And the people who are killing it have names and addresses". Utah Phillips