How I Feel About Eco Anxiety #shorts

Do our individual actions make a difference? YES! Of course! And sure, every one counts. Be it supporting a BIPOC owned business, saving a plastic water bottle, or standing on the front lines protesting Line 3 (love that for you)! EVERY thing we do makes a difference. And we need all people showing up imperfectly.

BUT knowing this can also lead us to feeling overwhelmed, inadequate, and like we're not doing enough. 😟

Especially when you start comparing yourself to others' lives on the internet (who have a different life and set of resources than yourself), even though we know that social media is everyone's highlight reel. Even someone's "relatable" and "unedited" posts are cherry picked. AND THEN we read terrifying headlines about climate change and see others' inaction. It's the perfect recipe to feel hopeless, overwhelmed, and burn the heck out.

What's the most important thing to remember is that: Sure, our individual actions make a difference, but in the grand scheme, they're small. That's because THE SYSTEM wasn't built for a sustainable lifestyle.

🛢️ The oil industry created the concept of a "carbon footprint" to place blame on the consumer, and not on THEIR product that we RELY ON and need to live our lives.

♻️ They also created recycling so that consumers would feel better about using their plastic, and put the blame on us.

It's not our fault that we're reliant on their plastic packaged food for survival —it's the top 100 companies, politicians, and billionaires who HAVE THE ABILITY to make changes, but deny to do so at warp-speed.

So take the pressure off yourself, know that your few flaws are not ending the world. Keep speaking up just as you're doing. And get louder when you can. Show up imperfectly. It's about systemic change. Just as mama earth is intricately complicated, so is solving climate change.

It's not all on you. TOGETHER we make an impact. And you're doing great, sweetie! LUV U!! xoxo

🌝 Internet Social Things:

[ashtontawton]

Thank you for this - I've got a 6 week old baby and I've beenn using cloth nappies (or diapers) as much as possible. Sometimes everything gets too much and I resort to 'eco' disposables which I know will end up in landfill. I've REALLY beat myself up about it despite having already used about 250 cloth.
But your post is full of truth, it gives me a bit of perspective!
I really admire you and you inspire my eco efforts, its good to see you posting again 😊

[gregoryalee]

Don’t worry about what you cannot control. Do your share and let the rest go.

[melissal]

Your hair is looking really long and amazing!

[Lizzz]

You are so beautiful! and even more beautiful for the message you send out 💓

[blessingplant]

Thank you for this💜 Currently still somewhere in between, but makes me feel better by having some guidance on where to head.

[toughsoftieyogi]

This used to be me. 😭 I used to deprive myself of *almost* everything that came in plastic or cause (plastic) waste. I was not happy and struggling to not kill the planet with one mistake. But I realized that in order for me to not create any waste or any negative impact to the world, I should stop existing. Because while I'm still here, whether I like it or not, directly or indirectly, my existence would produce some sort of waste that could harm the environment. I was so caught up in protecting the planet for the future generation that I could not enjoy the generation that I was actually in.

[maiahN]

This is me and how I want to feel! Thanks for the reality check and the change of mindset. Btw what are the 20 contributing companies?

[BallinBunBun]

I'm forever stuck the first person, I don't like to prescribe to anything but realism. We ARE doomed, in some sense.