Following on from my last blog post, I am continuing the series of offcuts from my forthcoming book, “Stop Drifting, Start Rowing: One Woman’s Search for Happiness and Meaning Alone on the Pacific”, due to be published on October 15th this year. Please drop me a message if you would like an email reminder when the book becomes available.

The final instalment, Part 8…..

The environmental challenge – a many headed monster?

Although the environmental challenge may seem like a many-headed monster, the basic question is very simple: if everybody did what I am doing, day after day, what would the consequences be in a year? In five years? In a hundred years? In a thousand years? That is the fundamental criterion of sustainability.

The good news is that shifting consciousness does not cost anything, and can be achieved in an astonishingly short space of time. Cultural shifts have happened before, and can happen again. As the bumper sticker says, Shift Happens.

We are seven billion souls, adrift on our tiny liferaft in the vastness of the universe. If we lose this, we lose everything. We must do what we have to do. Let’s rise to the challenge we have created for ourselves. We can do it. We just have to want to. Our future lies in our hands. Let’s surprise ourselves with our own courage, and do what we know is right.

This work isn’t always easy. I know a bit about tackling projects that aren’t easy. There are many times at sea when my motivation wavers, and I wonder what the hell ever possessed me to do this. But the thing that keeps me going is that I have a powerful reason why. I just have to keep my eye on the goal, and know that in the end it will all be worthwhile, because I am fighting for something that I care about. Ask yourself, is our continued survival as a species something that you care about? In your heart of hearts, do you believe we are worth saving?

You are somebody too

For all our many faults, I absolutely believe that humanity is worth saving, and that we can do it. If we all pull together, we can build a better, greener future, the same way that I row across oceans – one oarstroke, one mindful action, one wise decision, at a time.