A tree spoke to me as we drove past it the other day. Her girth and mighty embrace was tangible despite my fleeting glance. "That tree must be 600 years old!" I remarked out loud. She reached out to me and I heard her voice. I felt her limbs. Her weight. Her strength. Her wisdom. Her ancestry and her connection... to the past.. to everything... to me.. And you know what she said? "Go do work. Find a way. Make them understand with your words and your deeds. I see

A true short story. I heard trees request things of me a few times; their message was loud and clear. We have our usual chit chat in passing, but their requests have been defining moments in time and I take them with the utmost respect, in fact, if you were to ask me "Why do you do what you do?" My answer could simply and factually be "because the trees told me to...." I'm not one to blindly follow orders, even when they seem to come straight from above, but the tree talk re

The cost of 25 kuruş per plastic bag ruling that came into effect as of January the 1st 2019 here in Turkey is a start towards sustainability. One that is just the tip of the iceberg but none the less a step towards transformation in the habits of consumers, stores and producers alike. Asides from the plastic bag ruling the government has joined many countries in implementing a “Container Deposit Legislation” Producers will be charged a contribution towards recycling infrastr

The New Year is a great time for turning a new leaf, starting afresh and for most it‘s symbolic of our renewed rigour to be the best that we can be. But ‘best that we can be’ at what? Most of us have had a lifetime’s worth of imposed expectations that we have come to perceive as our own. Of course, we can aspire to be fit and healthy, but if we aim to lose weight is that in the name of health or the fashion industry? When we strive to do better at work is that in the name of

Hatchimals are some seriously f*cked up stuff! Now I'm not going to dwell on this except to ask: Why do we need to create fake nature and fake nurturing opportunities for kids to feel connected and loving? OK so we've been doing it for some time... there has been all kinds of weird stuff designed to entertain kids and sure, I'd rather kids used their brief attention spans on nurturing a toy than a puppy that would end up on the street, but still, are there really no opportuni

For future stories to be told we have to make it that far, and to get there we need an all-round shift to Conscious Living. So what does it mean to be living consciously? We are 'living' of course, but are we 'conscious', awake and aware? Do we have the courage to live the way that awareness prompts? ..... And do we really have to bother? To answer that last question I'll quote Jenny Andersson, founder of We Activate the Future; “We have 60 years left in our soils, 3 out of 9

The skinny black cat spies upon us with her bright yellow eyes. She is feral and fearful, never closer than a few meters away and only that close because I put food out. Other cats upset Zilla. Zilla is our cat, we adopted and domesticated her, we even had her reproductive organs chopped out so she'd comply with our idea of cohabitation, to save her the inconvenience of procreation and also responsibly ensuring a controlled population. We love our cat. She's almost 10 years o

A movement of multiple acts of cleaning to prompt NOT LITTERING in the first place and to instigate that as consumers we avoid single use plastic. On May the 5th we had a Clean up on the local beaches of Şile, for those who missed my post about the event this is a brief synopsis of why we bother, what we gained from trying and how we plan to take it from here. So far Turkey has been slow to pick up on the international improvement regarding littering and recycling. Some munic

Your Invitation to our Clean Up Event - Şile. 5 May 2018 So far Turkey has been slow to pick up on the international improvement regarding single use plastic and how litter is recycled or disposed. Some municipalities have local success and some, like Şile are struggling. The efforts of the municipality itself need some scrutiny to see where improvement can be made in areas such as the location and visibility of bins, availability of recycling bins and the design and use of p

The story of nature and nurture continues like an undercurrent....the irrevocable connection that makes us a part of the evolving story of this planet. Spring feels like the start of something. It tricks us with intermittent flurries of snow and days of grey, but gives rise to the yearning for summer’s nonchalant arrival. Spring is taut anticipation of the emergence of new from the old and warmth from the cold. Many of us identify the seasonal changes with transition in our l

I read the news again. Apparently the world is a depraved, evil place. I wonder how can we dig ourselves out from under the dead rhino, drowned babies, the murdered and the murderers, rapists and the unscrupulous? The world is full of amazing and good things happening right now, but we are manipulated by a paralysis of fear. Can't we refuse to buy the bad news and refuse to eat violence as entertainment? Can't we actively choose art, life, sharing, creating, healing, producti

Stitched up as we are I figure we can Lilo it out of here. Recently I read another article about how it's now considered fact; we are all doomed and sadly no one has a real solution. (Though George Monbiot had the best shot at it apparently so I'm reading the recommended book.*) Then, with my mind still on impending apocalypse I sat to have our film slot with Mia, my four year old daughter. She gets to choose. 'Lilo and Stitch'* is a fun film and portrays the relationship bet

When women thrive so too can the earth, everything and everyone else. Equality is one of those things that only works multilaterally. We tend to see and approach subjects and issues in isolation, but when it comes to the quality of our lives and all kinds of equality, whether issues of race, gender, wealth or any other form everything is intrinsically connected. Achievements or failings chalked up in one area are to the benefit or detriment of the whole. Nurture Culture is de

This is a short version of Rearing the New Generation. Parenting is challenging, but not just for the usual reasons. Many of us are trying to bring our kids up to be capable citizens of a fair and sustainable world. How can we enable our kids to get things right? To avoid projecting stress upon children and overburdening them we need to set a positive example; the initial evolution has to occur in us. Ridding ourselves of our judgmental and defeatist mindset is essential.

Our predominant behavioural patterns will become the emerging future of human kind; so let's act accordingly! For a shorter version of this see: Bringing up the Kids Consciously. Being a parent is challenging, but not just for the usual reasons. Many of us are having to deal with the knowledge that change has to occur, that we must set a precedent for a new, healthier future while facing difficulties as a species that we have never faced before. Our kids will have to do bette