Hello lovely readers!

Welcome to the first post from Lore and Lotus (that wasn’t birthstone lore) in quite a while!  Thank you so much for perusing on over to our Journal.

Today, we’re going to start our very first mini educational series:

Conscious Consumerism

This series will be published every other Friday, from today, July 12, through to September 20th, unless we decide we can’t live without it, in which case this could go on longer… Today’s topic will be the first of 6 topics concerning Conscious Consumerism and its impact on our Earth, lives and habits.

And today’s journal entry is a Guest Blog, introduced by our dear friend and coach, Melody Duarte, (@melodyrosee), Dream Building Professional, As just a few of her accomplishments, Melody is the mastermind behind a variety local Florida businesses, including: CEO and Founder of Just Start, LLC (@_juststart), champion/founder of non-profit Change Is Ours, Inc, and everyday greenery lover @dailygreenthumb.

As such, Melody feels very strongly about our mission for educating and introducing sustainability into our businesses, networks and lives.

Without further ado, we present to you Conscious Consumerism, Part 1 – The Overview, by Guest Blogger Melody Duarte:

Conscious Consumerism 

By Melody Duarte 

 

The bottom line is our planet is in trouble. I wrote about 10 sentences and erased them before I settled with that opening line. Our planet is in trouble. period. The other bottom line is we need to do something. So what is it going to be? 

When I started doing research about “Conscious Consumerism” the first article I came across was titled “ Conscious consumerism is a lie. Here’s a better way to help save the world” written by Alden Wicker on the platform called Quartz. Talk about a shocker. I encourage you to read that article and a few others after this. Don’t let this blog be the last you read and research on this topic. Our planet needs us. We have no other option but to change as a society and we are all individually and equally responsible. 

So here are two truths: 

• Every choice you make every single day does matter. Every penny you spend on any item funds either the destruction or healing of the planet. 

I write this as I currently have over 120 water bottles in the back of my car that I purchased for a community service day event I was hosting with Change Is Ours, Inc, Plant Philosophy LCC, and The Green Goddess. I felt so guilty as I purchased the plastic water bottles but admit that I did not plan for another option and felt I had no other choice. This is where the problem lies. We as a society have created norms for our daily lives that produce an obscene amount of waste. We have become so comfortable that we hate any type of inconvenience. Change is not welcomed. We’d much rather continue living life as we have always known it then make the BIG changes our planet needs.

The three major players to the planets destruction is fast fashion, the food industry, and single-use plastic. All of which are fed monetarily by our own desire for more. Have you ever heard of The Minimalist? Or the concept of minimalism? Do yourself a favor and check them out. This concept of having less to be able to have room for more is so simple and profound it is no wonder it is so easy to miss. What is all the stuff you spend on really doing for you? Are your relationships more important than your stuff? Would you rather spend $50 on a new pair of shoes or $50 treating your best friend to drinks and appetizers? Being a conscious consumer does not only mean purchasing goods or services from companies who are eco-friendly. It also means being conscious of what and when and why you are buying something. Plain and simple, stop buying things you do not need. You have control over what you do or don’t buy that does or does not produce excess waste.  

2. The world needs YOU to become more involved in your local government and politics.  

That’s right, I said it. Your community needs YOU. Take a moment in this instant to google your local government, commissioners and community leaders. Who are they? What do they do? How can you offer assistance and support? 

A huge fallacy we all have is that we do not have a say in what goes on in our communities. We all have a voice and as a society we need to rise up and use them more by talking to our community leaders. Public opinion has always been the number one thing to move and change the status quo. So why haven’t we all taken the blessing we have of being Americans to utilize our first amendment right to use our voice? 

A few of my friends read this and thought my words were a little too strong. My friends, I MEAN to cause a sense of urgency.

 

Our planet is in trouble and while there are many great organizations doing work it takes everyday consumers like us to:

“change the way we live, change the way we eat and change the way we treat eachother.”

– Tupac

If you’d like to talk more on sustainable practices email me hell@juststartfl.com, or my partner in crime in all this, jackie@loreandlotus.com.

Let’s change the world together.