As leaders and delegates from 190 countries gather in Copenhagen to hopefully steer our world back into something like balance, I can’t help but bring this goal home to the individual heart. After all, creating a sustainable future means much more than just shifting our relationship to carbon. While I know how crucial the work being done on this political and economic level is, I also consider it the tip of the iceberg. Same goes for the plastic free experiment underway here at our house. As momentous as it sometimes feels, it is just a starting point. From there the layers begin to peel off, revealing the many ways in which this journey is first and foremost about heart. About learning to live mindfully, carefully, and gratefully. My father reminded me just how deep it is possible to go when he shared this with me yesterday:
“May your quest for a plastic free world unwrap itself and reveal its timeless recipe. There are many ways to keep things fresh in this world. One simple method that I’m learning is to bring myself to love the other the same as I love myself. The friction of such learning is causing the tight plastic cover that has enveloped me to soften and to begin dissolving itself.”
Many prayers that all those in Copenhagen, and all of us in our corners of the globe experiencing our share of the human experience learn, gently and surely, to do the same.
Kyce Bello 