You Matter!

Hi all! I missed writing to everyone on the day itself, so I will exclaim with glee, HAPPY EARTH WEEK! It deserves a full week, right? Noëlle and I were out and about last Monday, enjoying spring's blossoms and birds and the long-awaited Pacific Northwest sunshine. We walked by the river, sat outside in the grass and appreciated the natural beauty around us. Later that day I stopped for a coffee at one of my local roadside stands, and while ordering a latte I struck up a conversation with Ange, the delightful barista and owner, after asking whether the soy milk (which I rarely order) was organic. Well not only did she have organic soy milk, she also had organic coconut, almond, hemp, AND rice milk. Waaay outside the box for a small town coffee shop, and I was overjoyed! So I ordered hemp. Then she cheerfully demonstrated her approval by sharing that "hemp is better than soy, which acts like estrogen in the body." Wow! My pretty, local barista offered such thoughtful information! Had I not already known this, I would have been extremely grateful for the enlightenment. As it was, I appreciated her boldness and willingness to share, to choose helping others and passing on important information over fear of speaking up or of being "annoying." As I drove away, sipping my 12-oz. iced latte, I started thinking how truly connected we all are and how vital basic communication and information sharing is. I was also appreciative that Ange had hemp milk. And I got an idea for a post...


The fact that eco-friendly, non-toxic and "green" are on-trend means more product availability and education, which suits me just fine. But at some point the "trend" itself will wane. Thankfully, unlike hyper color and troll dolls, I think this is one trend that is here to stay. How do you "get over" living healthfully? How do you go back to toxic cleaning products once you switch to all-natural? How do you resume buying "conventionally grown" produce covered in hazardous chemicals, after becoming accustomed to eating organic fruits and vegetables? So you may be more "crunchy" lately, as it's the chic thing to do, and that is fabulous, but now as the trend teeters on lasting change, and it becomes up to us to progress or abandon it, I ask us all to do our part to progress it. That means A) you can't be "fair-weather crunchy" and B) you can't hide out and do it quietly.

There is a reason that Herbal Essences is now exclaiming that it is sulfate-free, following a whole host of personal care products to make the shift. A reason that on a recent radio commercial, Chipotle proclaimed to its listeners that it uses "non-gmo corn." And a reason why Yoplait's current tv commercial reports that the company "listened to you" and removed high-fructose corn syrup from its yogurt. By the way, that Yoplait commercial finishes, "anything else we can do for you, let us know." That reason, my dear crunchy chic guys and dolls, is that there are people who are willing to share, willing to use their voices, willing to stand up for their convictions and even make unpopular decisions until they become popular. What you think and how you act has influence. And with that comes awesome power and responsibility. Are you ready to take it on?

Never has our world been more physically connected than it is today. At no time in history has the voice of the masses echoed louder in the ears of the decision-makers. In today's world, manufacturer and consumer are cozy social media neighbors. The corporation is just a post or tweet away, nearly eradicating the former chasm of separation. Today we can communicate directly with a company via email or a Facebook or Twitter account. Every Facebook "like" and "share" is counted. Pinterest is the fastest growing website EVER. And it's just people sharing ideas. Today a petition on Change.org can alter public and corporate policy, and that means people like you are creating change. People who are speaking up and making a difference. Think of what has been accomplished throughout history by an individual sharing a conviction. Martin Luther King and his March on Washington. Susan B. Anthony and Jane Addams publicly demanding the vote for women. Somali supermodel Waris Dirie bravely sharing the horrors of genital mutilation. Yes, these are monumental cases. But they were sparked by individuals not unlike the rest of us--individuals with ideas and voices. The results were historic and life-changing not just for themselves but for millions of people long into an untold future. Just imagine if Dr. King and Susan B. Anthony had had Facebook event pages!

So how do YOU spur change? It's really so simple. Start conversations with your friends and family, share important information on Facebook and Twitter. Use taste and discretion, take an objective point of view, and remember that less is more. When appropriate, send emails of both praise and disappointment to your favorite companies. Ask the hard questions of those who act unethically and take the time to thank the righteous for their good work. Talk with your waiters at restaurants about where the food comes from. Ask how the meat was raised and encourage them to check out their local farms and farmer's markets for fresh products (this of course also means YOU need to do your homework.) Strike up a dialogue with your barista about whether the milk is organic (particularly if it's dairy or soy), and then share why it's so important. And then, take the information seriously. In other words, be prepared to make the "uncomfortable" decisions if you don't like the answers. Sharing information is the first step, but our actions seal the deal. If we buy non-organic, it sends a message. If we shop at Walmart instead of our local garden shop, it sends a message. Nothing goes unnoticed, what we do always shows up somewhere as a clear message to someone. So now that you know you aren't invisible, are you curious about the message you're sending? And furthermore, have you considered what is being done with and because of that message?

Ghandi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." Nothing to me is more true. If we don't give the world reason to change, it won't. If we don't speak up, we won't be heard. If we don't tell a compelling story with our actions, the outcomes may not be what we hope. So I encourage those of you who have discovered the importance of natural living, in any capacity, to speak up! Share! Help complete strangers! Help them to help more people, and so on. Yes, you definitely matter. We all do.

So here is our homework: choose one "green" product you love and find out why it's better, what the ingredients are and how they compare to less natural alternatives. Then, have one out-of-the-box conversation with one person about this product before next post! The more you do it, I promise you, the easier and more natural it becomes. Take it from me. I have done it a time or two :)

"Never underestimate the power of a small group of people to change the world. In fact, it's the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead, American Cultural Anthropologist