In honor of our beloved Pacha Mama, in 2017, my husband and I (fairly newly weds at the time) affectionately and ambitiously decided to buy our first house together…. off the grid! We are talking 10,000 feet up, tucked in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, where there isn’t trash service, electricity or along any mail man route. Remember how I said ambitious? Yes, and it was. But the difficult challenges we face in our lifestyle are brushed aside when we get to witness the miracles of nature around us. Like, having a moose prevent you from getting to your driveway, or a black bear pressing his nose against your glass window making you feel like a zoo animal, or walking through a swarm of monarch butterflies migrating on their journey south for the winter. What better opportunity than to start the foundation of our lives than in a sustainable, earth loving way?

We jumped on the opportunity to purchase a place that was sorely in need of renovation. We  suspected the cabin only had enough solar panels to power a converted van. I found this out one day when I stayed late into the hours of night working away at our reno projects. My husband was on shift at his fire house, so I was all alone happily painting away, covering a white coat over the purple walls (okay who am I kidding, painting is tedious!). Then all of a sudden my painting came to a halt, and every light that was on instantly powered off. With there being no street lamps that line our road, and a new moon, I was in pitch black darkness, fumbling around trying to discover where exactly I had put my car keys. I reached for my cell phone to use as a light, but shoot, that was dead too and no way to charge it. And then I thought, how I would put away all the paint materials?  I couldn’t clean the brushes because to run the water, our well pump required electricity, and there wasn’t any. Even though we suspected the solar system needed an upgrade, my mind couldn’t help but to consider the worst: oh great, this is the perfect scene for a horror movie, young woman, in a dark cabin in the middle of the woods tucked remotely high above modern society. Should I just start screaming now before the serial killer pops out of the dark?

Soon thereafter, we purchased slightly used commercial solar panels, from a local mountain guy that went by the name of Solar Johnny. He basically flips used solar panels for a buck, so if you’re interested, d.m. me on insta and I’ll connect you. These solar panels  came with 21 hundred pounds of batteries that would store the gathered energy from the sun in the darkest of winter months.  But I wondered, what would come of these batteries when we needed to replace them? Johnny took our old ones to sell to, guess who? Somebody who needed solar panels for a van.  I wanted to make sure that we were really being mindful of our lifestyle choices, and well prepared to sustain the longevity of this new eco way of living. But not only did I wonder about our large batteries, I always wonder about where any battery should be disposed of, and do other people think about these things?

The lesson that I would like to share here is, although it would be immeasurably impactful for everyone to live completely off the grid, it’s also possible to make incredibly big change on our planet through seemingly small efforts. To be a mindful, conscious consumer and make a real impact on earth, we have to assume power. One of the biggest mistakes we can possibly do as humans is have a mindset that “somebody else will take care of it,” or “possibly in the future I’ll adopt more green habits.” Sadly, there was a woman by the name of Catherine Genovese who was raped and murdered in the courtyard of an apartment building in NYC and there were 38 witnesses, and potentially over 100 people saw this attack; but nobody bothered to call 911 because everyone assumed somebody else would. This is called bystander apathy. All it would have taken was a small effort to make one phone call. We can’t have environmental bystander apathy while our natural resources are being stripped, and climate change is occurring before our eyes. The earth’s biological clock is ticking, and the time for you and I to step up and join efforts is now. We each need to look in the mirror and recognize that it is only us that can make a difference. No leader, no government, just you and I. Besides, we as a collective have the power of mass consumer behavior. We drive the markets and how the world works. Let’s apply our hearts with an unprecedented level of compassion to truly care for the earth, and let’s start a global trend of small change.

We can be mindful of our consumption, but equally important is that we are mindful of how we dispose used items. Recycling and upcycling are important, but let’s include E-Cycling in the mix too! Whether it is a triple AAA battery, or a large 100 lb solar panel battery, or any sized electronic device, one easy way to support mother earth is to ensure that our electronic devices are safely disposed of.  Keep this in mind the next time you get that fancy mobile upgrade. Cell phones contain over 40 toxic chemicals and hazardous materials such as arsenic, lead, beryllium, antimony and cadmium. Be sure that you E-cycle your electronics so these materials don’t contaminate our earth or water supply.  You can find a drop off to E-cycle your devices at Earth911.com.  On a large scale, when 1 million people safely E-cycle their mobile device, that will total 35,000 lbs of copper, 772 lbs of silver and 75 lbs of gold that can be recovered, and the harmful materials will be safely contained.

Committing your life to small change is a beautiful way to unleash your inner hopeless romantic that is yearning to express love for our Pacha Mama! When I see news headlines and get discouraged, well first, I turn off the tv, but then second I just remember that if the masses do a small thing each day together, the impact would be revolutionary. A fiber of spider’s silk, when woven together creates one of the toughest materials on earth. Each day, let’s all remember we individually can strengthen or weaken the web of life.