Good on You

"I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all to matter, to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all.” - Leo Rosten

It was the first day back at work on Tuesday and the day panned out as most first days back after holidays do. There was a bustle of excitement as the team all moseyed into the office one after the other to our new home on the 13^th floor. We had been moved from the 14^th over the Christmas break, so it was kind of like the first day back at school when you get a new class room.

After about 5 minutes the excitement had worn off. It had become apparent that our new class room was not quite as good as our old one. Goodbye view of the MCG L

On the plus side we now have magnetic walls, so I set about sticking up my little miss sunshine magnets. I gave Mark the ‘welcome to laugherland’ magnet to go with his sidesplitting Dad jokes. Sometimes they are so funny that the rest of us forget to laugh, so this will be a nice prompt for me as I now sit next to him.

On a side note, today Mark is wearing his new joggers with his suit. I thought it must have been the Mojo sparkle rubbing off on him, but he says it’s because he forgot his business shoes. Either way it is a ripper look. Good on you Mark.

Just as I was done decorating my news space, Jess made the call for coffee to which we all keenly answered ‘Yes’, except for Rich, he doesn’t drink coffee, but I still like him because he comes running with me. Good on you Rich.

I was so keen for my morning brew that I forgot my keepcup and had to race back to my desk to find it.

Did you know that Australians use an estimated 1 billion disposable coffee cups each year? 

Unfortunately, the vast majority of coffee cups are made of polystyrene or plastic-coated paper. They are a huge contributor to our waste problem, so I try my hardest not to make it any worse. 

I am so pleased that a few of my team members now bring their keepcups on our coffee adventures too! Here is Claude being smart. Good on you Claude.

While we were waiting for our coffees the talk turned to new year’s resolutions. I don’t really feel like I have made one this year as my resolution to run 12 marathons was hatched back in October. None the less, I am going to claim it - after all it is a firm decision to do something and it is in 2017.

Like a lot of people, I was happy to see the back of 2016. Not because it had been a particularly bad year, but because I am so excited for what 2017 has in store.

I marked the start of my 2017 adventure with a tree planting. Mum found a little silky oak that needed to be moved out of the rose garden and Dad helped me plant it. I think this is probably going to be one of the best looked after trees in history. Dad has even put up a gigantic tree guard to ensure it has the best chance to grow. And after we planted the first one we went and planted three more. I think Dad is just excited as I am! Good on you Dad.

"When you plant a tree and you see it grow, something happens to you. You want to protect it, and you value it." - Wangari Maathai

He is not the only one mind you. I spent the holidays with my family up on my parent’s farm. It was just delightful and a much needed break to relax, restore and reconnect. I managed to get a few runs in and was thrilled to have Mum and my sister join in on the excitement. Mum even gave me personalised running singlets and a hoodie for my Christmas present. On the Saturday we held our own ‘Paddockrun’ to make up for missing out on parkrun. It was fun and even the three dogs joined in. They must have been excited too because they kept peeing.

I am so proud of my sister Sal. She has set herself the goal to run 5kms this year and she punched out 3kms on the Paddockrun and then some. Good on you Sal.

The significance of a tree planting is that it aligns with the charity that I will be raising money for throughout the year.

The Green Belt Movement (GBM) is an environmental organisation that empowers communities, particularly women, to conserve the environment and improve livelihoods. GBM was founded by Professor Wangari Maathai in 1977 to respond to the needs of rural Kenyan women who reported that their streams were drying up, their food supply was less secure, and they had to walk further and further to get firewood.

I first learnt about the GBM when I was invited to attend the Premiere of Years of Living Dangerously, a National Geographic Channel documentary on climate change.

    

Years of Living Dangerously provides first-hand reports on those affected by, and seeking solutions to, climate change.

Extensive research shows that the world’s climate is changing, largely due to human activity - and if people, policy and business continue as usual, the economic and social impacts will be felt by all.

Tragically, it is no longer ‘if’ as climate change is already being felt by people. What really makes my heartbreak is that it is the poor people in developing countries who will bear the brunt of climate change and suffer most.

And now we have Trump in charge of one of the worst countries in terms of carbon emissions and he does not even believe in climate change. To make matters worse he has elected Scott Pruitt, another climate change sceptic to lead the US Environmental Protection Agency - suggesting that he will keep his pledge to dismantle President Obama’s efforts to combat global warming, and withdraw America from the Paris climate accord.

Grrrr… It makes me so angry! But I turn the anger into energy and use it to make me run faster.

Anyway I digress… the episode that I saw was Episode 3: The Uprooted in which Actor Don Cheadle and New York Times columnist Tom Friedman tackle the problem of what happens to people when the earth’s climate begins to warm, ocean waters rise and drought begins to plague more and more land.

Tom Friedman sees refugees going to Europe from land that is parched. They cannot feed themselves or their families and country leaders seem hesitant to help.  Friedman accompanies a UN representative to the middle of Africa, The Green Belt, where the daytime temperature is 47 degrees! 100,000 hectors of land are gone every year to drought and there is actually an invasion of sand dunes contributing to the refugee crisis.

In 2015 there were reports of close to 20 million refugees worldwide. That’s nearly all the people in Australia – with no home!

I must admit that studying climate change can be very depressing at times. It is not hard to get overwhelmed by the problem and unfortunately it is a common reaction by people when they even hear the word climate change. Recent studies have shown that public concern for climate change has steadily decreased and is partly contributed to by the way that it is portrayed in a negative light by the media.

Psychologists warn that this doesn’t work and that the best way to create engagement and action is through positive stories.

The more people start believing we can create a better society with lower carbon emissions, the sooner they can start taking action.

The Green Belt Movement is a positive story and proof that people can make a change. Wangari eloquently articulates this in her quote ‘It’s the little things citizens do. That’s what will make the difference. My little thing is planting trees.’

What I like most about The Green Belt Movement is that it is tackling climate change at its core and empowering people to be part of the solution.

You see, the trees have an important role not only in climate change mitigation but also in reducing vulnerability to climate-related risks. The Movement is working closely with institutions to improve the resilience of farming systems and livelihood strategies of smallholder farmers to current climate variability. Also, long-term climate change is being pursued through the increased use of trees for intensification, diversification and buffering of farming systems.

In 2015, the Movement provided training to over 200 rural women and community-based organisations who have in turn trained over 20,000 members of their communities in natural resource management and impacted thousands of others.

Just amazing. 

Wangari you are truly an inspiring leader and you have certainly inspired me. My ‘little thing’ is to run. You will certainly be my motivation to do my best and the fundraising has been kicked off with a very generous donation of $150 from Mum. Good on you Mum.

If you would like to help you can donate via the donate button on my blog.

With just 10 days to go until my first marathon the countdown is on and when I am not out running I am thinking about it. My training has been a bit more relaxed compared to the last two marathons but I am feeling confident and my Mojo is firing on all cylinders.

I’ll give the parkrun a good crack on Saturday before tapering off next week to ensure I am fresh and ready to go next Sunday.

Happy New Year Everyone and… Good on you for being you.

Happy running x