February 24, 2008
How I became an eco-crusader
The North Shore/Stanley Park skyline
Someone asked me recently about my interest in environmental conservation. I replied that I've always been interested in it. In recent years, however, this interest has come to fruition in ways I couldn't have predicted.
Growing up, my parents taught me to turn lights off when I'm no longer using a room, to keep dimmer lights on lower, to compost and to recycle. It was part of our everyday lives. School programs from BC Hydro drilled energy savvy and safety into our little brains through fun performances. TV shows like Captain Planet and the Planeteers made earth-saving fun. I couldn't understand people who brought themselves to litter (and still don't), and used to make faces at semi-truck drivers for their polluting vehicles. In the summertime, the evidence of pollution in the Lower Mainland manifested itself as "hospital gown green" haze in the corner where Mt Baker sat behind the Valley. Mom took her library books home in a cloth bag and brought her plastic Safeway bags back to the store for recycling. She encouraged me to wash clothes on reduced energy settings and in the summer we let the sun take over for the dryer. (Eventually all my clothes needed to be washed in cold water and hung to dry.) From a young age I was aware of clear-cutting, Amazonian deforestation, and acid rain.
All this culminated in an unquestionable responsibility toward the environment: keep it clean, reduce/reuse/recycle, plant trees, and conserve energy.
Things began to change after I started post-secondary at Emily Carr. Climate change was heating up in the news, and the concept of sustainability became the biggest external factor in our education. In our design program we went from building small Flash sites on clean energy, sustainable housing or fish toxicity, to entire campaigns and grad projects on topics such as organic food, plastic bags, the World Urban Forum, product life cycles and safe cosmetics. Everything I'm now passionate about presented itself in some way in those last two years at Emily Carr. Instructors made a point of addressing these concerns through design, or art for that matter.
At the same time, one of my sisters was bringing healthy living into her life and her family's in more profound ways that included organic food, safe cosmetics, home-made foods and crafts, and toxic-free products. Let's just say I took that idea and ran with it. The rest of my family is now interested and together we share ideas and discover new things.
Today my choices and concerns are built upon those fundamentals I learned since childhood. There's something in me that makes me very passionate about positive change, about wanting to see good in the world and about wanting our environment and ourselves to be healthy. I think it's a duty that all of us have in living on this planet; unfortunately so many take it for granted. I understand nobody's perfect, and each of us can't do everything, but every single person on this earth CAN DO at least ONE thing to make it a better place. I'm doing as many as I can and with as much heart and commitment as possible, and I think it's working. I'm fighting for it because I have a vision, a vision shared with millions of others. I believe in the power of the individual and of the collective to change the world. That's my driving force. And I'm so glad that I came this direction and that I am doing this. When you do it you'll feel the same way.
Where does your story start?
About
I am a communication designer in Vancouver, BC. Most of my writing and community activism are in the interconnected issues of public transit, local eating and food security, politics, health, environment, and sustainability in general. At heart, I'm a geek and a total treehugger. Nature, tea, good food and great company make me happy.
Currently reading:
"Trauma Farm: A Rebel History of Rural Life"
Brian Brett
Featured project
Comments (3)
Great post, Erika and thanks for all the credit! Don’t forget the thermostat kept low, set back even further at night. We’d get a few grumbles about that sometimes. Your dad and I were both brought up to be thrifty with everything including energy use. We didn’t have recycling back then, nor buy as much stuff either, and there was less packaging and more local food. Times have indeed changed and we may be shifting back to those days, in fact we need to be.
Thanks. Yeah I thought about that one after the fact!
I’m looking forward to seeing that shift back. Life will be so much better…
Great post, Erika. It’s interesting how sometimes our parents influence our lifestyle and sometimes, we influence our parent’s lifestyle.
After I embarked in environmental work (in my late teens), my Mom decided to do much more than what she used to do (water conservation was always key at home, but she also tried many other things). But I do recall my grandparents and my parents trying to be environmentally conscious. It’s just that we were five boys and my parents worked full time, so they drove fairly regularly. But we used only one car for the longest time (it was so fun to travel all 7 of us!)
Actually, as I write this, I can now remember that yes, much of my own environmental drive is the result of my parents’ upbringing … and here I thought I was the one teaching them a lesson!
:)