ABOUT US...JENN AND KAYE SIMPLY LIVING SUSTAINABLY
We have been growing vegetables, reusing jars and recycling all manner of articles since childhood when these practices were known as good common sense. I handed my clothes down to my younger sister, knitted my first jumper at 10 years of age and wore my school shoes on the weekends (I am still getting therapy for that one).
Jenn used old envelopes to write the card game scores on, fed the food scraps to the chooks and saved butchers paper for painting and wrapping gifts.
When Jenn took up the challenge of studying sustainability we 'upped the ante' on our homebased sustainable practises. Living in a duplex with awesome neighbours we reduced our consumerism by sharing household items such as an iron and a vacuum cleaner (who wants to own one of them out right any how!). We also shared our veggie garden, compost heap and our pet cat! So far encompassing the economic, environmental and social aspects of sustainability.
We depressed ourselves watching documentaries on how we are all destroying the planet, cursed those we noticed reading junk mail and made a bold attempt to eat only from our own veggie garden...don't ask how that worked out!
Then we got heartened by the amount of times sustainability was mentioned in local businesses, some even employing a sustainability officer, and decided with a little more effort there is hope for the world yet.
Our challenge now is to change the way we live, using simplicity and sustainability as key principles. It sounds easy, downsize from a duplex to a tent, learn to eat less, and be mindful of spending, but it is certainly proving to be our biggest challenge. Living alongside the cafe culture we know and love, we now pack our own 'coffee shop' thermos and cups, enjoying giving to others, we now find 'exclusive' gifts in Op Shops, and our entertainment now comes by tuning into nature and all that it has to offer.
We still have a long way to go, and the rest of our lives to get there, possibly wearing the same T-shirt we bought from the Op Shop five years ago, but hey, as long as the sun comes up every day and powers up our solar panel we will keep on 'upping the ante' on simply living sustainably.
When Jenn took up the challenge of studying sustainability we 'upped the ante' on our homebased sustainable practises. Living in a duplex with awesome neighbours we reduced our consumerism by sharing household items such as an iron and a vacuum cleaner (who wants to own one of them out right any how!). We also shared our veggie garden, compost heap and our pet cat! So far encompassing the economic, environmental and social aspects of sustainability.
We depressed ourselves watching documentaries on how we are all destroying the planet, cursed those we noticed reading junk mail and made a bold attempt to eat only from our own veggie garden...don't ask how that worked out!
Then we got heartened by the amount of times sustainability was mentioned in local businesses, some even employing a sustainability officer, and decided with a little more effort there is hope for the world yet.
Our challenge now is to change the way we live, using simplicity and sustainability as key principles. It sounds easy, downsize from a duplex to a tent, learn to eat less, and be mindful of spending, but it is certainly proving to be our biggest challenge. Living alongside the cafe culture we know and love, we now pack our own 'coffee shop' thermos and cups, enjoying giving to others, we now find 'exclusive' gifts in Op Shops, and our entertainment now comes by tuning into nature and all that it has to offer.
We still have a long way to go, and the rest of our lives to get there, possibly wearing the same T-shirt we bought from the Op Shop five years ago, but hey, as long as the sun comes up every day and powers up our solar panel we will keep on 'upping the ante' on simply living sustainably.