My Sustainable Roots...

It was the endless wildflower fields I roamed through, the trees that grew with me, the sunlight that lit up every room of a house that raised me. It was the broken down recyclables greeting you at the door, the reused yogurt containers filled with leftovers in the fridge, it was turning sap from our trees into maple syrup. It was home.

I was raised on the outskirts of a small town. Living in an isolated area within an isolated town didn’t leave me with a huge social life. I spent the majority of my days wondering the woods finding peeled birchbark scraps, climbing trees and eating wild strawberries. Living on 20 acres of land, my days were filled with unplanned ventures with my mom and sisters. We’d do picnics in the fields, hikes to nearby ponds and make attempted igloos out of the snow during winter. My life was centered around nature, which in the end has heavily influenced my immense respect for it.

As the years have gone by I’ve had to say goodbye to the home that taught me the beauty of nature. Though in different homes, I still live in a community that is surrounded by bountiful trees, crispy clean air, and water spread to every end. Living in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan has given me a unique connection to nature as I live within its purest form. This being said I’m constantly reminded of how we need to preserve it. My parents showed me this path of respect as they themselves have always been big nature lovers, it's one of the reasons they moved up here. Growing up with these environmentally conscious parents made me a bit of a “granola” person and by that I mean with a general health-focused lifestyle or as a “civilized hippie” you could say. For me it’s always been the norm to have a trash bin and recycling bin, to eat mostly organic food, and the most basic rule to thumb, to never litter. My parents ingrained these basics into me, but as I've grown older I’ve seen the necessity to branch further into the world of eco-consciousness.

Over the years I have become a lot more aware of my actions and how they affect the environment around me. It’s evidently reworked my brain and how I think in my everyday life. With every action I take, I go through the thinking process of “Do I really need this”, “Is this reusable”, “Is there a better, more sustainable option?” Buying clothes to simply turning off lights when I leave a room all play into this environmentally conscious mindset. This past year I’ve switched from body wash to bar soap, single use plastic bottled shampoo and conditioner to a company who refills and reuses metal bottles and face wash that is truly all natural. I have also started shopping on “Depop” a thrifting app instead of buying new unsustainable clothes. These steps though small, have shaped me to be a more conscious human in many aspects of my life.

As I look to the future, I dream to create sustainable practices that’ll heal our earth back to its natural beauty. This includes campaigning for the use of more sustainable alternatives, boycotting unethical brands, and being a persistent climate activist in the fight for solving environmental issues. My passion and drive is all to thank for a childhood spent in fields of wildflowers, tapping maple trees in the backyard of a house that raised me, and parents who taught me love, respect and care for our mother earth.