RE: Photo Series #53: Simple Sunday Photography | A Message from Nature
I love this point you have raised! What a treasure is water indeed, most of us taking for granted every single day. If we could all be a bit more conscious every day about our usage of something (anything really), such a huge difference can be made. I don't like it when I'm told "do you think one person can make a difference?"Ughhh
Last week my husband and I lived in a campervan during our trip and we had a small reservour of water to use for everything. Because the quantity was not so big and we didn't want to end up with no water in the middle of nowhere, we had to be super careful with how we used this previous resource. Little drippings to rinse our dishes, never ever letting the water running generously etc. basically being paranoid about the use. When I came home, I guess in a week the habit had already formed and I caught myself doing the same thing. First thought was "but I am at home, we have plenty of water, who cares!" Then the second thought was "oh my god, I'm so spoiled. why shouldn't I care just the same anyways?"
Even a small action, even from just one person does matter! Imagine what we can do collectivelly!
Sorry I wrote so much - this topic is so close to my heart! Thanks for raising it!
Thank you so much for commenting Flo, I'm glad this post has reached at least one more person.
It's great that you brought your experience with the camper van, that's exactly what I compare.
If I can live inside an apartment, why can't I live in a car or a boat? What is holding me back? I'm going through this deep, deep, though lately.
Does it happen to you? when you are travelling you are full of energy to do everything, but once at home feels really lazy and spoiled? Like the comfort takes all those small, but important, difficulties away.
There's a really good interview with Amyr Klink (the author I've talked in a post) where he asks exactly your question.
"If I've lived with exactly 2,75 L of water a day crossing the Atlantic on a rowing boat, why do I spend so much at home?"
Yesterday, I went to the bathroom to wash my face and for some reason the pipe below the sink disconnected spilling the sink's water all over the floor, I took a rag to rinse it when I realised "dude, this water here is clean, why isn't the sink connected to the flush reservoir?" After all we only use this to clean our hands and face!
And then it all came down "Why my building doesn't have solar pannels? Why not collect rain water?"
Now I'm here, thinking about moving to a car or a sail boat to build something more sustainable and maybe bring those questions to public attention.
The same goes for trash found in nature, just if everyone thought like us "I make a difference, I'll not leave my trash" but that's a whole new subject.
You are on the right track! I think you are asking yourself all the right questions, planting all the "seeds" so that you can then make the changes towards a lifestyle that is more in line with your values and your intentions in life. The hard challenge (for me at least) is that city/town life in capitalist countries is not made/set up to be simple, self-sufficient, and eco friendly with nature in mind. That's the reality. So maybe that's one of the reasons why we get so bored, less inspired, discouraged and disconnected when we come back from adventure. I myself have been pondering on these issues for about a year now and I feel that now I have to take action, it is only up to us at this point to be proactive, one day at a time :) This is great :) I think there is a big movement, big awakening across the globe about conscious living.
Exactly!
I think that our generation lives in a so fast pace life that we're feeling the time pass faster than our grandparents or parents - it's information, internet, news, all being thrown in our minds - that's why we are trying to reconnect with nature.
We don't want that 9-5 job anymore, yet the "old" society is having a hard time understanding that; my parents for example just can't understand how I'll live in a car or a boat, because in their generation they were not given such option.
I see here in Brazil more and more people feeling that living in a city is not the way to go, there's a clear movement of people moving into cars to travel around, the number of sailboat residents is incresing, even the usage of bicycles instead of cars is getting bigger.
Yes about all the fast pace and info being thrown at us constantly driving our need for a simpler life in nature; we are in the position to look for alternatives thanks to having no issues of hunger, thirst, security, war to face...therefore let's not forget how priviledged we are 🙏
Unfortunately I cannot have this discussion with my own parents. They would not understand either.
So happy to hear about these movements in Brazil! It is much easier when we are surrounded by like-minded people :)
You are absolutely right!
I've read a text once entitled "Traveling is not for everyone", at first I thought the title was kinda strong and arrogant, but then I understood it was talking exactly about what you are saying, it was actually a critic to very privileged people who can afford to choose a different life.
After that I've decided to travel for 2 months with almost no money, to feel how it is the necessity to fight everyday for food and a place to sleep. It for sure has changed a lot of things in my life.
From all the places you have visited, what was the one more degraded? What are people doing to change that?
Because here we have some starvation regions and lack of water, but government seems to just forget.
Cambodia was heart breaking for me; even though it has been years since the genocide has stopped, the poverty is so vast, and sadness and fear in people's faces has not vanished. They are the most gentle people I have met. Unfortunately, Vietnam's government has still so much power over the country, that can you imagine all of the fees to see Angkor Wat (45usd per person, and there are millions going to see it) end up in Vietnam's hands instead of helping the country recover. Not sure what the people there are doing or even can do, but personally when I visit such places, I try to pay for services directly to local people. For example, we were in Angkor Wat for 3 days and we hired a personal local guide to tell us all about the temple, the history, the people. He is the one that told us about all the fees going to Vietnam. Normally we never hire guides, but in this case we thought we could help a little. Did the same in Nepal and Egypt Seeing that the money stays in the country and with a company that hires locally and treats its emplyees well.
I can imagine! It's so sad to see power supressing the people, it's like people are trapped in that system without being able to fight back. I try to imagine how much they could achieve by working together.
Hats off to you for thinking about contracting guides to help.
I've heard that Cambodia is super cheap in terms of accomodation and food. Is it a violent country?
In Brazil the violence is getting worse everyday...
Oh my goodness, not violent at all; quite the opposite: they are such gentle, good people. It is super cheap there. Anywhere in SE Asia (except for Singapore) is dirt cheap to travel, esp when compared to Europe.
And, I think you're amazing for deciding to travel for 2 months with barely any money. I can't even begin to imagine the courage that takes. Hat off to you friend!
Nah you should not think I'm amazing, amazing are the many families in the poor parts of Brazil that live the month with the same amount of money I had at the time, they need to feed the whole family I was only me.
But I gotta say it was a lot of fun and not that easy, I had to find some minor works to keep on going (i.e. cleaning and gardening)