March 18
Perfection is over-rated!
The thing that I’m loving most about A Year in a Day is the generous sharing culture that is emerging. Each person who contributes, does so because they want to share hope, kindness, ideas, and skills, and create a supportive community committed to restoring planetary health. We’ve been inspiring one another to rise to the existential challenges we’re facing in a way that’s extremely enjoyable. It’s a daily reminder that we’re not alone and together we can do soooo much.
This week I received one of the most beautiful gifts I’ve ever received, from Heather in Tasmania. Over social media she’d heard about my efforts to find reusable sanitary pads, and my attempts to learn to sew, and yesterday a parcel arrived with patterns and a set of handmade sanitary pads at all different stages of construction, so that I could work out how to make them. There were also half a dozen beautifully made masks for me, and half a dozen for my fellas!
This is the kind of world it is a real joy to live in!
I tend to be quite gung-ho about starting things, then get crippled by the anxiety of actually taking the first steps.
Last week Chris at the Stitching Post in Katoomba set up my overlocker so that I could actually use it. This week Heather provided me with simple patterns to follow.
I finally felt empowered to give it a go and cut up more of the flannelette cot sheet I used to create makeup remover pads last Saturday, as well as a nice thick, but damaged, old bath mat for the internal padding.
What no one can give me is skill …. that will take time and patience. I’ve spent the night struggling with the overlocker eating the edges of the pads as I tried to sew them. Nevertheless, I now have two of my own handmade pads and a much deeper sense of confidence that I could make more and get better at it over time. All thanks to the kindness and generosity of people keen to share their expertise.
(I’m also grateful that I have a beautifully made set of 7 that I ordered from Bird in Milk in Woodford and the two first ones I’ve made only need to be backups!)
How are other people contributing to A Year in a Day?
Some time over the last few days, Heather packaged up masks, patterns and sample sanitary pads to send to me so that I could share them with others.
Today Carla picked quinces to make jam and Libby invited all her friends on FB to the Planetary Health Initiative page to get involved in A Year In A Day (she has 682)!
Others have started emailing me about actions they hope to do on the 7th April for World Health Day so that we can try to reach 365 actions in one day. Would love everyone to contribute on that day if you can!
Is it worth taking action?
Research by academics at Leeds University, engineering firm Arup and the C40 Cities climate group has identified that 73 per cent of all changes needed by 2030 to keep the world on course to meet the Paris agreement targets need to be made by governments and industry. But private citizens have considerable influence over the remaining 27 per cent.
Join #AYearInADay Citizen Science Project to see if we can all inspire one another to do more to restore planetary health
We’d love you to collaborate with us and share any actions you take to restore planetary health in the comments below or on our social media. While we welcome you to share ANY ACTION you take to inspire others, we’ll be recording NEW or EXTRA actions that people take as part of our tally, because we’re trying to inspire one another to do more than we’re already doing. Feel free to copy some of the actions our participants have been sharing – the action only needs to be NEW for you.
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