When we were a family of two, discussions around food were more restricted to personal choice, habits developed over period of time and also the diverse cultures that we came from, it wasn't ever about mindfulness about how what we consume is grown, sold, branded and consumed.
It was much later when my daughter was born and the entire way of looking at consumption changed is when we started going through the labels in details, started asking questions about where was it grown? wasn't their a local variant available? was the produce pesticide free? was a local community involved? were machines involved?
Once we were on this journey we knew their was no going back and it couldn't just be about food at home, it had to extend to our extended families with whom we dined and met and sat and chatted over food, it had to extend to the eateries that we frequented for meals and more! it also had to extend to our communities which we were a part of, some involving my daughter and some involving our work!
With this realisation the conversations were always very realistic and relatable and without any effort on our part the entire family was eventually on this journey together, it was seamless! Kids in the family are growing up to be able to talk about food choices and make them consciously without much help from us and that's a relief. We frequent farmers markets together, ask the kids to be decision makers and prepare their own grocery lists at the same time talking well about how our local communities need our support.
We buy things that we value and that add value to our lifestyle, a small change that we made was choosing better detergents and instead of paper towels we moved towards reusable washable towels, with a little bit of an effort the waste was considerably reduced, kids were involved and rewarded with game nights on being the least wasteful, was a win win all over!
So In retrospect It just makes the process worth it, its valuable when my daughter walks up and asks the right questions about whether she can refill the bottle of cleanser that we use instead of buying a new one, its reassuring and just kindles a hope that probably the planet is going to be inhabited by people who appreciate it more now than before!
OurBetterPlanet aims to enable such conversations and experiences in each family and thrives on the fact that we are indeed working towards creating a better planet!
