The Freedom Diaries

😍 nature in all her beautiful glory at Nusa Penida

Intersectional Environmentalism or Environmental Justice advocates for both protection of people and the planet, recognising the interconnectedness of all things 🌍

The Tirtar Empul water temple in Bali is over 1000 years old and is a site of prayer visited by pilgrims from all over world.

Whether you have a regular spiritual practice or not, taking the time to critically assess your life and your actions, and challenge your awareness can be a very reviving and purifying feeling.

Visiting the water temples, and guided through a mediation and prayer by our local tour guide Putu, I realised how long it has been since I’ve simply sat with ‘myself’ and listened to the words that poured forth from my unconscious. To me, taking this time for myself is a kind of communion with god. It was beautiful, unearthly, and so so so badly needed in the moment.

I prayed for all the usual stuff that I guess other people pray for. But it centred my priorities and made me reflect over whether or not my thoughts, words and actions are truly aligned with the things I think, feel and desire.

The water was freezing. Wished I’d learned the Wim Hoff method! But I felt so grateful for this moment with myself. 💕

I recently came across a post on a well-known sustainable fashion Instagram page, promoting judgement of consumers who consume fast-fashion brands or cheap unsustainable clothing. The post suggested that people were probably lying to themselves about their budget and that they could surely afford to shop more sustainably. They then offered some ‘budget’ options for sustainable fashion, with pricing starting at over £100.

I do strongly believe that those who can afford to should buy better made clothes, but anyone living in a high income country needs to accept that their role in environmental destruction is HUGE, regardless of where they shop. If you own a house, drive a car, have your own bank account… you’ve likely done more damage than 50% of the world.

It’s easy to judge others, but let’s reserve these judgements for businesses and ask for more from them. If the top tier management of the Zara’s and H&Ms of the world cut their profit margins, they could be sustainable and fair trade. It’s not that sustainability always has to be expensive, it’s just that these managers want an unfair slice of the pie and in our inequitable capitalist society, we let them have it and even posit the idea that they’ve earned it!

Sustainability doesn’t exist in a classist and capitalist society, so here are some thoughts on navigating classism when discussing sustainable practices….

☀️ new friendships, new beginnings ☀️

👗Can clothing be ethical? 👚

As Patrick and I start the process of creating a sustainable fashion brand here in Bali, it has become increasingly obvious that exploitation is not just a part of the industry, but is the very basis of it’s success....

💵💰The prices just don’t add up...

❌We’re being sold a lie that clothing is a cheap commodity. It is NOT cheap to produce clothing, and the only way to offer clothing at the low costs we see on the high street is by using the cheapest most environmentally unsavoury fabrics and the cheapest labour, usually found in countries such as Bangladesh, where unionising is illegal and workers have few other choices.
❌ buying more expensive clothing doesn’t necessarily make it more sustainable. Some brands (such as Levi’s or Urban Outfitters) simply charge more, but use the same factories as cheaper stores (like Walmart or Primark)

So if you don’t want to be part of this system of exploitation, what can you do?

✅ Research brands before you buy. What are their commitments to the environment. Are they transparent about where their clothes are made?

✅ Support local tailors in your area and get clothing hand-made for you. This may cost more than what you are used to, but the quality is likely to be higher, and a perfect fit for your body, so it can last longer.

✅ Shop second hand/ organise clothes swaps with friends. This is my all-time favourite way to revive my wardrobe when I’m bored of it!

✅ Rather than buying clothes on a whim, or giving in to shopping therapy, buy fewer clothes at a higher quality, so that they will last longer and you’ll feel more proud to own them.

Do you have any tips to add?

🚪💕 isn’t this door just so beautiful?! 😍 I love coming home to this!

🐋a little fact about me - I spent one summer working as a host on a whale watching yacht in southern Sri Lanka... 🐋

During that time, I would wake up at 5am and be down on the docks at dawn, and as sunlight was breaking over the Indian Ocean, we’d be out on the water, sailing through smooth cobalt blue seas out towards the whales! But what I saw shocked me...

😭the oceans were full of trash! There were hundreds of thousands of bottles, plastic bags, plastic cutlery, and all kinds of other plastic s**t...

So, how can we protect our oceans?

🐠 reduce plastic waste! 🐠
Well ok sure, we’re all using less plastic straws, less plastic bags, etc etc, but did you know there’s plastic in your yoga pants? in your receipts? In the labels on the things you buy? The only way to reduce this is to educate yourself on the companies that you choose to buy from.

🐡 eat less fish 🐡
Wanna help sea animals? Don’t eat them ☺️

🎣 if you do eat fish, go for line caught fish 🎣

The nets used by big fishing trawlers often ends up polluting the ocean, and the trawlers themselves cause huge damage. If you eat fish, opt for line caught.

🐟 reduce carbon emissions 🐟

Global warming is heating up the oceans, damaging corals and upsetting the delicate balance. Ride a bike rather than drive a car when you can. And avoid flights when there are other alternative ways of traveling.

🐬 use natural products 🐬

The products we use on our body end up in our waterways and can make their way into the ocean. Opt for natural skincare and body care products over chemical ones. And never wear non-natural sunscreen when going in the sea!

Do you have any more to add? I’d love to hear your ideas! 💕👇

☀️how we ended up in Bali ☀️

So, maybe you’re wondering what on Earth Pat and I are doing in Bali and how we ended up living here?

2020/2021 ended up being a difficult global shuffle for us. Patrick is Canadian and I’m British, and until the Pandemic we never realised that could be an issue for us! When we left Australia (where we met) at the beginning of 2020, we had planned to spend the next two years in Vietnam. But the pandemic had other plans for us!

In the last two years we’ve lived in Vietnam Canada, England, Portugal and Poland... constantly having to move every time one of our visas ran out. We knew we couldn’t continue like this. So we wrote a list of countries we’d like to live in and we settled on Bali.

✈️ getting to Bali was quite the journey. I left Poland to go back to England and couldn’t get back in to meet with Patrick, so we met in Istanbul instead and flew from there. We had to quarantine for 5 days in Jakarta and produce 2 negative tests and then we were allowed in!

Once in Bali, we spent months signing contracts and organising legal arrangements so that we could register our business here and stay. And now finally we are glad to say that our business is officially set up in Indonesia and Pat and I can relax again, knowing that we don’t have to move again!

I’m so grateful to be in the country I love, with the man I love. This year had many unexpected turns but it feels great to be ‘home’.

❤️

✨ new business coming soon ✨

Pat and I have been working behind the scenes for the last few months and we are excited to announce that we will soon be launching our new business! More details coming soon, but I can share with you that it is of course something to do with sustainability! ☺️

🌿 living a more sustainable life requires shifting to a more sustainable mindset! 🌿

When you start out making sustainable changes in your life, it can be really tempting to...

❌ throw away all plastics that you’ve already accumulated
❌ get rid of clothes that don’t fit the sustainable ‘look’
❌ buy a whole bunch of sustainable products
❌ beat yourself up for making a mistake or decide and go back to your old lifestyle because ‘it’s too hard’

Instead, why not try..

✅ Accept that everyone makes mistakes. There will be times when waste is unavoidable. Just move past this and keep trying! Living in a state of guilt is not a sustainable mentality.
✅ GO SLOW! Make smaller lifestyle changes first and then build up. Little changes each day add up quickly
✅ realise that your life doesn’t need to look Instagram perfect. Being eco friendly will look different for everyone and can fit all budgets. It’s not about how it looks!
✅ use what you have! If your house is full of plastic bags and other items, find new and creative ways to re-use them, rather than just throwing them all out!
✅ finish all your items completely before getting rid of them for eco friendly/natural options.... for example of your bathroom is filled with half finished shampoos in plastic bottles, use each and every drop before going out to buy a solid shampoo bar that fits your new lifestyle.