I’m Rachel Papworth. I’m a bird-loving, green-minded, semi-vegan fitness freak living in wonderful Brighton (on the South coast of England), within walking distance of the sea and the South Downs National Park. I’m blogging as part of the process of developing a new business, based on two things that run through me like Brighton runs through seaside rock: decluttering and reducing my environmental impact.
I’m proud that I live a relatively low impact life (at least for someone living in the UK). Using The Resurgence carbon calculator, I worked out my carbon footprint for March 2010 to March 2011 as 6.3 tonnes. That’s 63 per cent of the UK average. Yet I wouldn’t describe my lifestyle as radical or alternative. I’m not living off the land or opting out of mainstream culture. I even went on holiday (to Morocco) during the period for which I’ve calculated my footprint.
It is a clutter-free life though. I hate clutter! Always have. I used to try to make my younger brothers declutter their bedrooms when we were kids. Emphasis on the ‘make’. And the ‘try’. These days I recognise that people can only be helped to declutter if they actually want to. And that only they can decide which of their belongings actually IS clutter. 🙂
And, for me, decluttering and living a low impact life are inextricably linked.
I’m not complacent by the way. If you check out Resurgence’s carbon calculator, you’ll see that the sustainable global CO2 quota is only 2 tonnes per capita per annum, so I can’t be said to be living a sustainable lifestyle. And I’m constantly finding ways to tweak my lifestyle to reduce my impact.
I recently realised that focusing solely on my personal impact isn’t enough to satisfy me. I want to make a bigger difference than that. I want to help others to live lower impact lives, and create spaces that they love to live and work in, and that work well for them.
So I’m going to launch a new business. A green decluttering company. I’m going to help other people reduce their environmental impact while organising their stuff and creating spaces they love to be in.
If you long to (or love to) declutter, and/or you’re looking for ways to reduce your environmental impact (without going to live on a commune), click on the link to subscribe, and watch out for the products and services I’ll be offering soon.
And please comment on my posts. I love feedback. And I’m always open to new ideas for ways to declutter and go green.