Over Christmas I went to several sessions at Limmud (a Jewish Festival of learning) about the environment.

In one of them we talked about the story of a person who made a hole in a ship. Why did they do it? To dip their feet in the water? To fish? To cool down? Why? And what did the other people do to stop them?

When reflecting on the environment we are all in our own innocent way making holes in the ship we call the planet;- by our over reliance on using plastics, electricity, petrol, convenience products, excessive consumption etc. Sometimes we are not even aware of what we are doing. 

Sometimes we buy things to cheer us up and make us happy. Forgetting that happiness is within us always and buying things only provides a short term fix.

Before Limmud I had started to increase my awareness in this area, watching Stacey Dooley’s documentary on ‘Fashion’s Dirty Secrets’ was a real eye opener for a start. After Limmud thanks to what I learnt from Debbie Young-Somers when I went to the supermarket I was more aware of the excess packaging that can’t be recycled than I had ever been before and we have now decided to collect this and send it back to our supermarket to make the point.

A truth that I have seen and I point out to people when I’m teaching innate health is that once you see something different about something it can’t be unseen and you start to act accordingly.

May this year we all start to see things that make us more responsible for our fragile planet and act accordingly.

May we be more open to the happiness that is within us and always there but for the momentary thinking that clouds it over before it passes and the sun comes out again.

That is my wish for all of us.

If you would like some ideas of small things we can do to make a difference to the environment join the Changing Our Consumption in 2019 Facebook Group