CHANGE THE BEHAVIOUR & THE LOVE WILL COME.

We are co-inhabitants of Earth, not sole inhabitants. Yet mankind has lost this sense of community and our relationship with Mother Nature.

I believe we are all born with a connection to the natural world.  For me, it's something I haven't lost so I have naturally invested my time into it and over the course of my life my eyes have naturally grown wider to the issues it faces.

It's important we open our eyes to the world around us, to absorb instead of ignore, and to appreciate instead of neglect. And to ignite our child-like curiosity and love for our planet we have lost along society's predetermined path to adulthood.

There is something so special about a child's wonder at the natural world. We need to embrace this and encourage this in our children, and help ensure this flourishes and evolves as they grow.

Sadly a blend of youth and societal pressures, the schooling system, the outrageous speed of technology advancements, the media and our obsession with consumerism can all slowly quash a young person's curiosity and imagination and connection to Earth.

I feel many are living a life riddled by tunnel vision and are blinded by a future they feel pressured to create, not the future they actually want for themselves. And in doing so, people are losing touch with the source of everything.

I used to feel so confused at why a love and appreciation for nature isn't it just there for some. I didn’t get it.

I was so convinced that passion feeds behaviour. That making people realise their love for the environment would in turn ignite action to change. But the light bulb moment for me was a university course on how to effectively work with businesses on how to be more environmentally friendly. It showed me that it is first a person’s behaviour/actions that must change and then the love and the appreciation for nature will evolve from that.

While many of us feel helpless in the pursuit of a sustainable world, we do hold the power in our choices and in our behaviours.

People power is an extraordinary thing and we can achieve extraordinary things for our planet if we harness this and demand a shift in the status quo.