Mindful & Healthy with Martina - Sustainability: Why I Care

I don’t know about you, but I used to feel quite intimidated when the word “sustainability” made its way into my life, particularly in business, developing Eat FRESH years ago.

It was a mix feeling of ignorance (what does it exactly means?) and lack of power (how do I even do this?). Early days.

Years after, the majority of us has acquired a basic understanding of what sustainability is about:  a “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” (1)

And it is not just about environmentalism, of course, it has its deep roots in social equality and economic viability, aspects that, together with environment conservation, form the three pillars of sustainability.

If we ask ourselves why this has become so crucial in our times, the crystal clear answer is that we, as human beings, cannot sustain the quality of our life, protect our very own, and only, home, unless we embrace and prioritize the Earth and Earth’s ecosystems.

And at this point the questions that used to freak me out: how? Me? So many things should be done, where do I start? And so on…

It helped to shift such an abstract concept, from the macrocosm of the whole planet into the microcosm of the family. Family is the core unit of social change and from there, given the right conditions and inputs, the transformation begins and the ripple effect reaches other families, communities, countries, international agreements and the whole planet in the end.

Why do we even want to make our families sustainable in the first place? Simply because we are moved by the most instinctual love for our children. And for whoever is “family” to us, let’s be clear. And because it is our micro world, where we can do something about it.

Remembering Stephen Covey in “The 7 habit of highly effective people”, “Proactive people focus their effort in the Circle of Influence. They work on the things they can do something about. The nature of their energy is positive, enlarging and magnifying, causing their Circle of influence to increase”.

That’s exactly how to move forward. Little step after little step.

Start simple, start small, start with something that makes you happy and inspires you. This is how you create and sustain that positive energy that become later a cascade of changes inside you (your inner transformation) and outside you (the ripple effect).

So, either that you are starting or are in a steady journey into being sustainable, know that your every small action counts and soon you find yourself in a very empowering path.

Here, some simple suggestions or reminders in how to be more sustainable at home, around food:

• 1. Eat more organic vegetable and fruit, you can start by adding more vegetarian food here and there in your diet, it is not only good for your health but for the planet too! Find inspiration in our recipe blog

  2. Sometimes, bring your own homemade lunch in office, for the same reason above, plus it’s cool!

  3. Being inspired (and shocked) by those documentaries about the food industry and environment. Take a look at Food Inc., and others suggested by Livekindly

  4. Make your own household cleaners. You just need baking soda, vinegar, lemon or essential oils.

  5. Grown your own herbs if you can, have some inspiration here

  6. Repurpose glass jars as leftover containers, they make great props around the house, for storing food, for keeping little objects, pens and pencils and so on

  7. Use cloth napkins instead of paper. You can even do your own with old t-shirts

  8. Bring your own bag for grocery with you, have a small, easy one to carry with you always!

  9. Switch to a reusable water bottles.

  10. Install a water filter in the kitchen and say adios to bottled water for good!

And finally, let me thank each and every one of you, who keep choosing Eat FRESH: the first, green, online organic fresh vegetable shop; in addition, thank you, for example, for reusing and sending back Eat FRESH cooler bags, around 80% of them are returned on a weekly basis, this is an awesome result!

(1) “Our Common Future: Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development”. UN Documents. n.d. Web. Retriev ed 27 June 2013. < http://www.un-documents. net/ocf-02.htm>