Living in PNG I must declare straight up that I will not be eating or buying much local, and have no choice but to rely on imported products. But I am thinking that forcing my family to change habits when we return to our very comfortable life at some stage, is on the menu. I think it's time. Our wealth and good fortune (collectively) makes us fortunate but also seems to be a source of potential havoc for the future. I am waiting and hoping that we will see some proper leadership from governments on climate change, carbon emissions and our total dependence on fossil fuels for everything (what do we do when they run out - Plan B, anyone?), but am starting to sense that change must come from all angles, all the time, from now until when it arrives.
What this means for me - I am probably going to have to learn how to garden (it does not come naturally and every basil plant in the family has lasted for exactly one garnish before death). Maybe we will even revive the plot of land we bought in a community garden before our first baby was born ... this is almost three years ago now, and the land remains unworked - to say the least. I had grand visions of ploughing away with my beautiful newborn baby strapped to my back, but this was before I came to understand the reality of getting anything done, such as the simple purchase of toilet paper (unbleached) was fraught with roadblocks when you have a kid on your back (literally and otherwise).
So yes, we shall grow our own food. And perhaps we shall milk a goat ... another learning curve but not insurmountable. And as for those plane trips - we will buy a caravan and paint daisies on it and holiday annually at Ulladulla. We will find a way of driving around in an electric, non-carbon emitting fashion. Perhaps we will get a horse instead of a Prius (and feed it only locally-grown organic products). Our family will wear only what we already have and recreate it in many new exciting ways ... oh how lucky our kids will be, especially when the school disco rolls around. We will not upgrade our technology, and I will proudly continue to use my old Nokia with the missing button (the one that does everything) and cannot even take photos. We will walk wherever we can (within reason) and do so with a smile on our face. I will give the bird to Woolworths, once and for all (for anyone who knows Dickson Woolworths in the ACT - this has been a long time coming anyway, whether or not underpinned by sound ethical framework).
What am I saying here? The whole process is quite strange because we actually have to undo the amazing progress of humans over the last few hundred years to attain a better, easier, more prosperous life. Now that we have it, we need to start living a little bit poor again, and saying no to some of the stuff we really don't need. It is definitely a strange reversal. And the other thing that is strange, is that while there is definitely a growing movement and noise in our communities to change our ways, massive chunks of humanity are still aspiring for the basic stuff - some clean water, a community powerpoint to plug them in to the grid. The imbalance is completely whack, but I think we need to live as though we are part of the whole story. For me, I am lucky enough to be on the side that needs to wind down my wealth, I wish this was a larger part of the current debate in Australia (which happens to be one of the highest consuming/emitting countries per capita, internationally).
We are so lucky - let's get active in this debate and act like the global citizens we pretend we are not.
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