A place called Commonground

The 2011 Sustainable Living Festival may have wrapped up a month ago, but the team behind the Festival continues to live and breath the magic as they plan for 2012.

2012 planning kicked off with a weekend away at Commonground in Seymour. A magical place that fosters collaboration in the mist of serenity and nature.

"Commonground is an Intentional Social Change community established in the early eighties. The founders were a small group of social activists exploring their best collective contribution to the creation of a just, nonviolent and sustainable world."

Commonground is a place that fosters the "keep it real" movement. The place seems to put me at ease, where social norms are no longer a priority. Getting in touch with nature, getting in touch with the people around you, and quite simply just breathing. And to think all this is found in our own backyard. I can only hope this kind of community spirit continues to thrive. It may have taken years and much blood, sweat and tears to achieve what they have, but the outcome, well it sure makes me wonder why one would ever doubt magic. Think, a place made from recycled materials, a place where resources are shared (co-housing), a place where the pool is the damn that is warm from the natural sunlight. Make it what you want. For the crazy Festival kids, 3 words: Royal Rajasthan Discotheque.

The Great Debate - Is Environmentalism Failing?

One of the highlights from the 2011 Sustainable Living Festival.
A sold out event, naturally. If you missed it, here's your chance to catch up or if you were there, a chance for you to take a trip down memory lane!



Starring - David Suzuki, Ian Lowe, Christine Milne MP, Anna Rose, Clive Hamilton, Phillip Sutton, and moderated by the one and only Julia Zemiro

February Wrap Up

It's been a pretty crazy month or so. While slowing down, I ended up being immersed 24/7 in a world of sustainability and environmentalism. I have been on a mission, Mission: Safe Climate. A mission joined by the likes of David Suzuki, Michael Reynolds, aka Garbage Warrior, Charlie Pickering, Julia Zemiro, Adam Bandt, Clive Hamilton, Anna Rose, Catherine Deveny, and the list just goes on....

It's been super amazing and to top it off, I did get to meet not just one but two internationally renowned environmentalists. Booyah! Just gives me more ammo to continue the mission.

The good news, the bad news...

So I have some bad news but it's mostly good news. Shall we start with the bad, lets. The bad news is, I'm way busy. The good news is, I'm way busy doing something I luv. Finally, green chick has got her groove back, metaphorically speaking. It's been two years of sacrifices but totally worth it cause I now feel like I'm finally cruising. I'm on a road that has my name all over it!

The news? Well as I write this blog entry, I write it wearing the media/comms coordinator hat for the Sustainable Living Festival. How crazy is that. The role kinda fell into my hands and here I am working with an awesome brunch of people, passionate, intelligent and so chilled. When it's right, it's right as when it's hot, it's hot. Not only do I get to take the reigns of the role, I also get to work on all areas of the festival while expanding my sustainability knowledge. Double win! The program for this 16 day festival is freaking amazing. Three words: David Suzuki Awesomeness.

As I just mentioned, it's taken me two years to get to this place. Finding oneself is a hard thing to do when you have all these outside influences and social norms to fight against in order to think truly for oneself. Amazingly I feel I have grown to be a better person. For every challenge and experience I have faced, I have been able to take something away from it. Sometimes it's been about learning the truth about oneself and other times it's been about coming across people with qualities you don't ever want to have. Surrounding yourself with people you respect as oppose to people you think you should know will guide you into the person you want to be. And everyone is different.

So first week into 2011, all is RAD.

While I don't want to get too ahead of myself, I must say exciting times they are at Green Chic. Thank you sincerely for taking this journey with me and I hope you are inspired to live the dream. No matter what the dream is, it can work but you need to take that risk and be true in what you do. Let instinct and karma guide you.

"If you think you're too small to have an impact,
try going to bed with a mosquito"
- Anita Roddick (The Body Shop)