Sustainable wellbeing and green living

Have you heard the saying you can’t spell earth without “art”? Artists and creatives have always helped to shape society by helping us to critically examine who we are and what we value. With environmental issues it is no different, creatives in the visual arts, performing arts, as well as writers, musicians and playwrights give us a new depth of understanding the various faces of topics like climate change, deforestation, ocean pollution, consumerism, loss of biodiversity and so on.

Art moves us

To me, there has always been something moving about the way creatives can bring light to an issue. They often do it in ways that go beyond words, right to my emotional connection to the issue. Or they bring someone’s personal story to me in a way that helps me see the...

Sometimes the effects of global warming can seem far away or unrelated to your personal life. However, this couldn’t be further than the truth! It is highly likely that wherever you live, you have already been affected by climate change – perhaps without even realizing it.

That unseasonably warm winter you’ve been enjoying? The frequent forest and bush fires? The prehistoric animals being discovered in the melting permafrost? These occurrences aren’t coincidences. They are a result of our changing climate.

Climate change is no longer a distant threat, and people are starting to take notice.

Saving Pond Hockey

Svante, a father of two who lives in Helsinki, Finland, is one of those people who have begun to see the impact that climate change has on his family’s everyday life. In his case, increasing temperatures have started to impact his ability to play ice hockey.

Ice hockey is the number one sport in Finland, and a beloved pastime for Svante and his...

Composting is a method of waste diversion. As with anything related to sustainability, our main goal should be to decrease the amount of waste we produce, and this means wasting less food. However, there are plenty of food scraps that are produced when we cook at home, and I truly believe that cooking dinner is an act of sustainability.

Composting is a great way to dispose of food scraps and waste. Not only does it help to reduce carbon emissions, but it also helps to rebuild soil quality, and gets us more in touch with natural processes, right in our own backyard!

So, what to compost?

Food scraps are the best and most straightforward things to put in your compost bin. Food scraps are the inedible portions of food such as peels, rinds, and husks. These are not to be confused with food waste, which are edible portions of food that are thrown away or allowed to go bad. While some food waste can also go in the compost bin, we have to be more selective here. More on that in a moment....

The interests of future generations are often on our minds when we think about lasting environmental damage. But wouldn’t it be amazing if we actually followed through and held our governments to account when it comes to protecting natural resources for future generations? Well, this is what brave children are now demanding all around the world. And guess what? It is gaining traction!

Discussions surrounding environmental sustainability often mention the protection of resources, preservation of biodiversity and ecosystems, as well as environmental restoration. These goals ensure that not only present generations are provided for, but that future generations will be able to survive and thrive as well. This sentiment is expressed in the 1987 Brundtland Report which defines sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”

The current climate change crisis...