This is not normal.
It’s not the new normal.
Stop calling the current Wildfire situation “normal” because it’s not.
It’s a combination of many factors: poor forest management, changing forest types, and increasingly influenced by a changing climate which encourages forest fires to take on aggressive behaviours.
This is not the new normal.
Calling it the new normal only allows compliance in our consumeristic lifestyle.
We’ve been hard pressed to get people to jump on board with reducing consumption of the environment from petrochemicals to water. The normalization of the environmental changes around us doesn’t encourage a reduction in consumption, only the continuation of our current lifestyle. It becomes less of a wake-up call, and more of a strategy to survive.
Instead of thinking about how to cope with wildfires, we should be thinking about how we can consume differently. Normalizing this lets us continue to consume single-use plastics, guzzling gasoline, and filling our lives with stuff at a rate that will destroy the planet in a way we can’t even imagine.
I’m not perfect. I won’t ever claim to be. I’m just another person trying to make changes, and trying to encourage the conversation to provide the support in normalizing a life of less, and a life of laundry not landfill.
This is a time to buck up and start thinking about what we can do next.
It’s more than just a straw and ziplock bag. This is talking about real change that hurts. It’s about how I should travel less, drink less pop, and maybe give up beef. It’s about reusable products, sourcing from local farmers, and buying responsible textiles. It’s about so many great ways to reduce our footprint and encourage local skills and talent.
The climate is changing, and we can try to be better citizens of the Earth by taking less and giving more.
Live simply, love yourself, and enjoy nature.
If you made it this far, I would love to know what’s one thing you can change today for a better tomorrow, because I need the inspiration, encouragement, and passion of others to help myself be a better eco-citizen of this planet.
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