Monday Mix-up - New Year's resolutions and our culture of "stuff"

This is going to be my last post for the year. We are heading to Durban for a few days to spend some time with my family, visit some good friends and also to just have a bit of a holiday and I don't think I am going to have any time to post anything for a while.

It's hard to believe that 2013 is almost over! Whenever a year comes to a close, a lot of people find themselves reflecting on the time that has passed, what they've achieved, what they had hoped to achieve but didn't, what they still WANT to achieve over the next few years, what needs to change and what will stay the same. That's where new year's resolutions come from and we've all, at some point in our lives, made them. I'm personally not a big believer in them, but I DO believe in setting goals, making changes and basically challenging yourself. Resolutions shouldn't be made once a year but rather, whenever they are necessary. Even better NOT to make a resolution, but simply to DO it.

As I said a few posts back, the gyms are PACKED from January to about March as people try to live up to unreal resolutions of finally getting the perfect body. Most of them are there under duress. They don't really WANT to change, they just feel like it's something they should aspire to. As March comes and goes, the gyms get quieter and quieter until you are only left with those who are serious about their health and fitness, not people just trying to be someone they can never be. That kind of resolution is never going to work.

I started on a path of clean, organic, free-range, real food just over a year ago. Around the same time, I suddenly realised that, how I lived my life affected everything and everyone around me and I made a decision to become more aware of my carbon footprint, and also to have more respect for the planet that allowed me to be its guest for a few decades. It wasn't a new year's resolution. I just suddenly realised that change had to happen. I didn't sent a date for it. I simply changed things. I'm not saying it was instant and easy. I had a lot to learn. It was frustrating at times, for me and for my wife, GLM. I didn't give in though. It was like a switch went on in my mind and I suddenly realised change would only happen if I changed myself. If I gave in I would be cheating myself AND the planet.

I don't do things in half measures. It's pretty much all or nothing. That means that giving up is not even an option. Now that I'm aware of my impact on the world, I just can't go back. I'm only one person, but I am trying my hardest to spread the word with my blog and through my friends and family.

If you are set on making new year's resolutions then I hope that 2014 brings you to a new understanding of your responsibilities to yourself, to each other and to planet earth. Living life with awareness isn't something that should just happen now and then, it has to be constant. The festive season is an example of where people totally forget to live with awareness. The problem with the festive season is not over-indulgence in terms of food, it's other excesses like the buying of hundreds of thousands of things that are only going to put more pressure on our planet and ultimately, end up gathering dust in a cupboard, and eventually, in a landfill somewhere, leeching toxic poisons into the soil around it.

I'm all for giving. There is nothing better than seeing the look on a person's face when they receive something that they want or need. It feels good. But things DO get a bit out of hand over the festive season and I think most would agree. The shops take FULL advantage of our need to spend and they stock up on all sorts of things that we THINK we need like tinsel and crackers and decorations, not to mention possible gifts for people. It's so hard to resist everything we see on the shelves.

I'm not saying don't buy the stuff. But THINK about what you buy. Re-use your decorations. If you buy crackers, at least recycle the paper and cardboard. Keep christmas paper to re-use from year to year instead of adding more to the environment. Let's face it, you seldom use it all up anyway? As for spoiling the kids, well, in my opinion, kids just have TOO much stuff already. We buy one gift per niece, nephew or godchild. They are usually too overwhelmed by all the presents to really take in what's happening. They will also invariably attach themselves to ONE of the toys they received and play with it to death and the rest might as well be stuck in a cupboard. In fact, my sister doesn't allow my nephews to have all of their toys at christmas and birthdays. Half of them are put in the cupboard for use a few months later. Old toys are periodically sorted and given to children's homes to prevent too much clutter. At least they are being re-used. But what happens when they finally break and get thrown in a bin? They end up in a landfill to stay there for thousands of years.

Why must we keep creating this culture of STUFF. We create the expectation that we can just keep collecting more and more stuff and that it's ok. We should rather be educating our kids about the effect that all of this "stuff" is going to have on the planet.

I read something really scary today. Julienne Stroeve is a scientist who has studied Arctic ice for decades. Every summer she travels north to measure how much ice has melted. She already knows that climate change is melting the ice fast, but recently, when she went there, she received a nasty shock. Vast areas of Arctic ice have disappeared, beyond our worst expectations.

The experts have been warning us about this for years. As the earth warms, it creates many "tipping points" that accelerate the warming out of control. Warming thaws the Arctic sea ice, destroying the giant white 'mirror' that reflects heat back into space, which massively heats up the ocean, and melts more ice, and so on. We spin out of control. In 2013 everything from storms to temperatures, was off the charts. We all know this.

This might be cute if it wasn't so frighteningly true.

Why should this affect you? The Arctic seems so far away... It may be, but the effect you have on it is not so far removed. Every time you put a chemical into the environment, you are contributing. That cigarette smoke doesn't just disappear, it makes a serious impact on the environment. That Loreal shampoo and conditioner, that Omo washing powder and sunlight liquid is not just disappearing. It's going into our water supply and into the environment and its effects are devastating. And the sad thing is that's not just you using it, it's almost EVERY household in every town, in every city, in every country all over the world. No wonder we are experiencing such extreme weather.

We CAN stop this, if we act very fast, and all together. If we don't, it's a given that the human race will be extinct in a few decades. The earth will still be here. She will heal and regenerate, but we will be gone.

This is a perfect time of year to start living consciously. It's a perfect time to teach your kids too. If you are the kind of person who prefers to set a date for a resolution, then this is a pretty good time. A new year, a new start. If every person made a decision to be more aware, we'd actually stand a pretty good chance of saving ourselves.

Sound dramatic? It's not really. It's just the truth.