It’s not easy for me to write about Australia for different reasons. First of all because it’s the country where this project was first conceived. I was in Perth one warm January morning in 2011, and I started writing down some ideas. I had thought about starting a website where people could read, write and share stories about sustainable living different to the consumerist model, knowing that the world is going in the wrong direction. Once I got back to Italy and immersed in my daily routine, I had put the project aside and I picked it up just last year while I was in San Francisco at the Mind the Bridge Startup School. The idea was to collect these ideas and then connect them somehow. I thought about travelling around by bike with a camper following me, where I could sleep and relax. On board the camper would be a physiotherapist, a driver, a photographer/film maker and a secretary who could record the stories and share them across various social networks, which would make them spread quickly in real time. But with this budget in mind, I would have had to ‘kneel down’ to some sponsors who weren’t very green or sustainable. So, here I am, with my bike, my four four-seasons bags, a little hotplate and a huge wealth of knowledge that grows everyday and allows me to grow and alleviates my fatigue. I can tell you, with great certainty, that there’s never been a better idea. In addition to the project, I’ve found a new life journey and experiencing every minute of it is fantastic. In fact, at this very moment, as I’m writing this on a wooden bench in front of a beautiful sunset near a small lake in New Zealand, I’ve got goose bumps. I can’t decide whether to write about the reflections made while I was with some financial analysts who work for Morgan Stanley on the future of the Australian economy or when I met some managers of the Energy Research Institute. But I’d run the risk of boring you with numbers so I’ll write about something else. I consider Australia to be one of the most liveable countries in the West, mainly due to the way the people here approach life. I was welcomed here and put up casually, like in many other parts of the world. Even people who I had never met before let me stay with them, based simply on trust. Based on trust, the other day I was in a cafè and had a cappuccino. After a lovely chat with the barrista, I received an invitation to dinner at her parents’ house and was given a bed to sleep on for the night. Again, based on trust, last week I was left the keys to a house, with instructions on how to lock up because the owners had to leave early in the morning. I can remember a while back, even in my country, not only in Australia, when people lived more serenely and the front doors were literally left open. Now it almost seems like we can’t trust anyone because everyone is fighting their own daily battles, chasing who knows what. We need to chase something, but more often than not, we run without direction or clear objectives. It’s confusing but we still need to run. I’m of the opinion that if we want to live on this earth with as little impact as possible, we have to first slow down and, before organic food, renewable resources or electric cars, we need to put people first and not things. The true meaning of life is to help those in need. I think it’s the only solution. The economic crisis, in some ways, should help us reflect on this. The latest Oxfam report (Working for the few) states that the 85 richest men in the world have an annual income equal to 3,500,000,000 people. Need I add more? This fact should help us understand that this system doesn’t hold water and will continue to generate inequalities to the detriment of everyone. History repeats itself. We continue to see poor people who dream of being rich, or better, to possess ‘things’. But the rich get richer. Too bad they decide the rules of the game. The game, if this is the game, has been lost from the beginning. Therefore, I think on a large scale, we need to focus on a redistribution of income while on a smaller scale we need to look back. We still remember what good things our grandparents have passed on to us but we still need to focus on education for everyone and those innovations that could help improve quality of life. So turn off the TV and turn on your brain because the happy consumerist model isn’t real. Stop cheering for one or the other and let’s learn to be objective. Let’s read more and go back to living a life of real socialization, with human contact with the people we love. Like my mom used to say in Sardinian, “megliu pobari ma in saruddi” which means it’s better to be poor but healthy. Even though, on this journey, I’ve learned that poverty is something else. I’ve thought about this and the result is that I don’t want to be rich in this life. I’d rather enrich my wealth of knowledge. Now, I’d like to wish you a lovely day. Why not leave your car at home, if you can? Walk or ride a bike. It starts from the small things. Oh, and, don’t forget to smile. It’s good for you and it’s contagious. Stefano
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 08:15:47 +0000
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