5 individuals inspiring us in their mission to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle

Greta Thunberg
https://www.facebook.com/gretathunbergsweden/
https://www.instagram.com/gretathunberg

You’d have to have been living under a rock to not know who Greta Thunberg is.

Now one of the world's most recognisable and influential environmental activists, at only 18 years old, Greta Thunberg is a force of nature. Her straightforward speaking approach and hard-hitting, emotional speeches have taken the world by storm.

Thunberg's activism began after she convinced her parents to adopt several lifestyle choices that would reduce their own carbon footprint, mainly becoming vegans and abandoning air travel.

Encouraged by these changes within her family, she began skipping school on Fridays and protesting outside the Swedish Parliament reading Skolstrejk för klimatet (School strike for climate). Soon thereafter, other students took Greta's lead and began to organise similar protests in their own communities. Together, they organised a grass-roots movement under the name Fridays for Future, that saw students around the world organise school climate strikes on Fridays.

It was the start of a global movement and one that would inevitably see her address the World Leaders of the United Nations in 2019, where she was invited to speak at the Climate Action Summit in New York City.

To avoid flying due to its environmental impact, she famously traveled across the Atlantic on a zero-emissions yacht. In a journey that lasted two weeks, her speech caught the attention of millions as she blamed world leaders for stealing her childhood with empty promises and lack of action.

Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and TIMES person of the year (the youngest ever), Greta doesn’t just talk the talk, she walks it too. And thanks to social media, her actions have spread and influenced millions of young people all over the world to organize and protest.

Her passion, dedication and bravery are a constant source of inspiration. Greta is, without a doubt, worth listening to and supporting in 2021 and beyond.

Rob Greenfield
https://www.instagram.com/robjgreenfield/

Rob Greenfield is an adventurer, environmental activist, humanitarian and has dedicated his life to trying to show that living a more sustainable lifestyle is possible.

At 24, through books and documentaries, Rob began to become aware of the social and environmental issues affecting the planet. And more importantly, realised how he was personally contributing to many of these problems through his daily actions.

Like many, he started with small changes such as shopping local, reducing the amount of trash he created, eating a more whole-food, local diet, removing chemical products from his life and using reusable bags and water bottles.

These small changes felt good and he began to take greater leaps of change such as getting rid of his car, pulling all his money out of investments and banks harmful to the environment and decreasing his dependency on money altogether.

He has lived a colourful life and goes to great (some say extreme) lengths to bring attention to important issues. He has pledged to end food waste across America and has dived into more than two thousand dumpsters to demonstrate how nearly half of all food in the U.S. is wasted, while a lot of Americans don’t have sufficient food intake.

Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus
https://www.theminimalists.com/
https://www.instagram.com/theminimalists/ 

Minimal living, maximum meaning.

That’s the message that Joshua and Ryan not only live by, but dedicate their careers to sharing with the community.

Through their website, books, podcast, and documentary, they’ve reached the homes and ears of more than 20million people globally, teaching people that less really is more.

Minimalism is the thing that gets us past the things so we can make room for life’s important things—which aren’t things at all.

It all started with a lingering discontent. They were approaching their 30’s and achieved all of the milestones that modern society expected from them. They had successful careers, expensive cars, lots of money and a huge house filled with all the type of ‘stuff’ you can imagine.

Sure, from the onlooker, they were successful, but that didn’t mean they were happy. They were stressed, in debt, lonely and were on the road to sickness and depression.

So, in 2009, they decided to make a huge change, quit their jobs, sold their stuff and went on the search to find maximum meaning.

At first glance, people might think the point of minimalism is only to get rid of material possessions: Eliminating. Extracting. Detaching. Decluttering. Letting go. But it’s more than that, explain the two life-long friends.

Being a Minimalist isn’t about focusing on having less, less, less. We make room for more: more time, more passion, more creativity, more experiences, more contribution, more contentment, more freedom. Clearing the clutter from life’s path helps make that room.

Check out some ways that you can take on a more minimalist approach in your lifestyle today!

Anne-Marie Bonneau
https://www.instagram.com/zerowastechef/
https://zerowastechef.com/

A sustainable lifestyle starts in the kitchen.

Concerned with the planet’s plastic pollution problem, Anne-Marie went completely plastic-free in 2011.

She realised that most of our trash came from the kitchen, so to cut down on plastic waste, she began shopping organically at the farmer’s market, filling up on staples in the bulk sections of grocery stores and making more food from scratch.

Anne-Marie not only has a number of wonderful cooking tips she also offers great advice on sustainable ways to buy food, manage the kitchen without plastic and how to store supplies.

When shopping at the grocery store, she takes glass jars, stainless steel containers and homemade cloth bulk bags to use for fruit, nuts, flours and anything else needing storage. Any food packaged in glass jars are reused.

The Zero-waste chef recently wrote a book filled with a use-what-you-have mentality, focusing on recipes that are affordable and tips on reducing waste in the kitchen.

Her top 3 crowd favourites are:

- Rescue a bread loaf from the landfill by making Mexican Hot Chocolate - Bread Pudding
- Revive sad, old greens to make a delicious pesto 
- And using a ton of leftovers like ricotta whey to make tortillas

If you want to learn more on cooking with scraps, creating fermented staples, and using up all your groceries before they become waste, buying Anne-Marie’s book is a must.

“While one person eliminating all their waste is great, if thousands of people do 20 percent better it will have a much bigger impact on the planet. The good news is you likely already have all the tools you need to begin to create your own change at home, especially in the kitchen”

Anne-Marie also hosts a number of day/week/month challenges that help you effectively begin your journey to living a zero-waste lifestyle, check them out here and join one with a friend.