Are you inspired to live more sustainably on our Earth? Firstly - congratulations! The Earth needs more people like you.

This page is where we can all share stories of the ways we choose to live lightly on the Earth and teach each other. I'm so glad you're here. :)

 

What is Sustainability or 'Living Lightly'?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines being sustainable as "a method of harvesting

or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged."

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Basically it means that we live our lives in a way where we don't run out of oxygen, trees, fish,

fuel or other resources by either reducing the amounts we use or by not using them altogether.

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I'm sure you can think of many examples where we can either replace or use less of something so that there is plenty for the future. If you cut down a tree, plant another one (or two); walk or ride your bike to the shops instead of driving so you use less fuel; take shorter showers to reduce water use; take 'nude food' to school instead of heavily packaged food that means lots of rubbish going into landfill and polluting the land around it. You get the idea!

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Here is one example that I am passionate about in my life: we love to fish, but if we kept every single fish we ever caught, no matter how big or small, then people in the future may not get to enjoy fishing because there wouldn't be many left! That's why in recreational fishing there are limits to how many fish you can keep and the sizes that they must be as well. It ensures that we can continue to enjoy catching barramundi and golden snapper and so can people who live on the Earth after us.

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If you'd like more information about sustainability, I recommend watching the video on this website.

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What can I do?

The short answer to this is: A LOT! It's easy to get overwhelmed by all the things affecting our Earth that we see in the media and learn about at school; climate change, pollution, animal extinction, plastic in the ocean.

 

It's also easy to think, 'I'm just a kid, surely only adults can make a difference.' My students often start off this way but there are lots of things YOU can do to live more lightly on our Earth and I'm going to share just a few to get you started on that path. I'm hoping you can share your ideas with me as well.

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Some things we do in our life to live more lightly:

We grow our own vegetables and fruit depending on the season. Here is just some of the produce we grew this year:

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We have chickens that eat our scraps and insect pests, give us eggs for breakfast and fertiliser for our garden:

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We have a compost bin for the scraps chooks won't eat which becomes beautiful rich compost for next season's vegetable crops:

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Because of these simple steps we:

• shop less often and don't need to buy vegetables or eggs which might be transported from hundreds of kilometres away, meaning we use less fuel.

• reduce how much of our rubbish goes into landfill because we compost scraps or feed them to the chooks.

• don't need to buy chemical fertilisers for our garden to help it grow.

• don't need to use pesticides on our gardens which can often poison bees and butterflies.

• spend a lot of time out in the fresh air enjoying the bush and the birdlife and seeing all the changes in the environment throughout the year.

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Tips for living a more sustainable life:

Now you don't have to do what we do to live lightly - we all can do it in our own way. Not everyone has the space to have chickens or grow great big vegetable gardens, but the best thing about sustainability and living lightly is that the things that make a difference can be BIG or small.

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Here are some ideas with links to some great online resources:

• Grow your own vegetables

• Start a worm farm

• Set up a compost bin

• Have some backyard chickens

• Recycle and upcycle as much as you can to save on things going into landfill.

• Make your own bags to take shopping

 

Here are some ideas from you:

Send me some ideas through my 'Say G'day' page so I can

add YOUR ideas here!

 

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Have you got any stories to share or questions you'd like to ask?

Please share stories, tips, questions and ideas through my 'Say G'day' page or by emailing  me at bldraper@gmail.com This page is about YOU and I'm always happy to learn from other people, especially kids!

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Here are some links to websites that share great ideas and ways we can all love our Earth a bit more and live a little more lightly:

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          Thank you for visiting and I hope to see you again soon. :)

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