My new blog is not only here to inform and inspire others but to also serve as my learning journal, I am a creativity addict at heart and I have a sheer love for good design and art. But design and art should not come at a price to our planet and the world we leave behind for future generations. Designers and artists play a huge role in their own and other’s carbon footprints and the environmental crisis we are currently facing. They have the power to trigger new trends, desires and wants. If they are responsible and innovative they can help change things for the better and educate others by the messages they market and the materials they use.  I hope to find answer s to my questions and a greater understanding of the environmental crisis over the coming months. My journey starts here.

It’s the beginning of November 2011 and I’m twitchy, I’m not happy about how little I know about our planet Earth, the truth about what is currently happening within it and what is going to happen or go wrong in the future. I was born in the late 70’s and the world has changed so much since I was a child and I am only in my early 30’s. All I have to say is “the internet” and that pretty much summarises how far we have come. Now I have children it worries me what I am leaving behind for them, I want to be a responsible parent, I want to lead a happy and creative life. I want nice things and a lovely home just as much as the next person, but I don’t want it to cost the earth…..literally or my children’s future well being and safety. So this is the start of my journey to stop wondering and do something about it and most of all stop being so darned ignorant and inactive!

It may seem odd that I try my best not to watch the news on TV, but I do watch it online.  The answer is for many reasons really, mainly because I find it very hard to watch something that I can do little about. I need creativity in my life in order to function but I could easily obsess about all the bad, wrong, negative or disastrous things that occur in the world and that would never do. I am the sort of person that would take it all to heart, go into a deep depression and feel as though life was not worth living, especially when you are bombarded with doom and gloom and only the odd positive article. It’s like watching East Enders, since I stopped watching it I’ve been at least 25% happier in my life…! I don’t intend of having duvet days with a litre tub of ice-cream to solve my problems. So it’s really a form of self preservation and protection for my sanity. I believe that what we see sometimes on the news , tv or in the media is not always a true representation of what is really going on.  There are many wonderful and kind things happening too that are just not newsworthy, I need balance, I think we all do. On the flip side of this odd approach I believe it is my duty to remain informed about what is happening in the world I live, and to play a part I feel makes my existence here a worthwhile one.  I do however read a lot of news online as I can pick and choose the sources of what I am reading and utilise several sources about one topic to get a more thorough understanding of a situation or event, especially when it comes to the environmental crisis and overpopulation.

I think we are all very much aware that our environment is shifting and changing and not for the better. We know our cars are doing damage; nature has a way of giving us signs and alarm bells to which I feel we should not ignore. Our bodies have built in alarms that go off when we are harming ourselves, we know that it’s not good to eat too much, we feel sick and get fat, if we smoke we cough and if we drink too much we get a headache. Simple examples I know, but stick with me there is method in my madness.

Nature gives us warnings all the time, if we feel cold our immediate reaction is to seek warmth. If we are travelling too fast, our reaction is to slow down.  These are all natural reactions, if someone dies, we feel the need to grieve, if you experience seeing a new life enter this world it brings joy and euphoria and so on.

But how do you react if things go wrong in a developed world or system? To a manmade system where money is scarce? You try and make more and you try to spend less, but then spending less weakens the economy which needs more cash flowing in order to become strong again. So you buy cheaper and probably import more from countries where the standard of living is cheaper therefore their prices are cheaper as are the raw materials. If the materials are cheaper than this means they are probably in abundance…………….but the question is for how long will they be in abundance and how long will prices stay cheap? 

Nature is telling us that it won’t be for that long, wood, coal and oil are certainly not in abundance in the countries that consume them the most.

I took a look at some official stats to try and understand a bit more why the UK’s economy has gone so horribly wrong.  I started with the Budget, I must point out that this is all a bit alien to me, I’m not the sharpest tool in the box when it comes to big words and political jargon, but even I can see that if you spend more than you earn you are heading for trouble. The fact that we are paying 50 million a year just on interest for our country debts is enough to make me spew with stress. So who is lending us this money and why are they charging us so much interest when we as a country are looking financially screwed? It’s immoral, it’s a total mess and it makes me feel like we’re being shafted and things need to change. Much like my own personal finances, living month to month and feeling the need to keep up with my peers own standard of living. I see us trying to compete with bigger countries who themselves cannot afford to live the extravagant and somewhat cushy lifestyles they lead. Their financial stats looked no better on the Central Intelligence Agency’s website! Do have a look if you are interested, it’s quite an eye opener. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/uk.html

Putting aside the topic of money, I want to return to my main concern, environmental crisis and really fathoming just how critical it is. The UK actually dropped down a place from 9^th worst carbon dioxide emitters to 10^th place in 2009 woop woop (Stats are not in for 2010 yet) with China steaming ahead for the worst and America not too far behind. Considering the size of our county compared to theirs it’s absolutely shameful that we are 10^th! I don’t care how many people we have living here, it’s a bloody disgrace.  This rather lovely map made by the graphic design team at the Guardian puts it in perspective; we are a dot in size. http://image.guardian.co.uk/sysfiles/Guardian/documents/2011/02/10/CarbonWeb.pdf

There is a very interesting article in the guardian that covers this in more detail and you can also have a look at all the tools on this site which is where their data has comes from. http://www.carbonfootprintofnations.com/content/emissions_worldwide/

Another easy to follow article here http://www.clickgreen.org.uk/analysis/general-analysis/12268-us-tops-global-carbon-footprint-league-table-%E2%80%93-uk-comes-10th.html

So how can I play my part in helping to keep this beautiful world we live in safe and stable for my children and my future grand children? 

Through education, design and innovation I hope to improve my skills for making and shaping interesting and inspiring environments that are not just functional but sustainable and hopefully in their own way a piece of art. I also plan to utilise my 10 years of experience in new media and marketing so that others can follow my journey, help educate me, themselves and others to be more thoughtful and informed about the purchases we make and more innovative with the things we no longer need or want.

We really are living in a pivotal time and we need to make enlightened choices and sensible choices about our impact on our planet.  The population is going to grow and we need to accept this, there are many theories about  the population levelling itself out in 75 years, I will investigate this another time, but for now what we can’t have is a population that grows with the same disposable attitude that the current generations have (I include myself here).  The time for change has come and we need to fully embrace it, I don’t care if I do this alone and my blog is only there as an online reference for myself and my own children to learn from.  But I so hope that it will serve others as a useful resource for balancing nature, home and happiness.

Personally I want to spend less, enjoy creativity more, live in a richer environment without the need for having a richer lifestyle and more than anything I want to make my existence a positive not a negative on this planet.