A Journey Toward Sustainable Living

Sustainability. It is a word with so many meanings, intentions and definitions. To us, it started with the realisation that the way we live mindlessly today makes no sense. Living a life of always working for more, wanting more and supposedly needing more made us ask the all-important question: What is enough?

On top of that, climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution and the onslaught on the environment made us feel that we are part of a system driving us to exact irreparable damage to the life systems on this planet. We wanted to opt out as much as possible and do our share to restore and nurture biodiversity.

We looked at issues individually for a while: The effects of high meat consumption led us to shift to a predominantly plant-based diet. The proliferation of waste and its environmental impact made us consider how our purchases and habits can change to reduce waste. So on and so on. After a while, we realised this way of going about a sustainability journey was too small. It has an air of sacrifice about it rather than excitement. We needed to change the principles of our way of life and then take action from there. More than that, we needed a vision, something to go towards and not away from.

This became even more important when we bought Fiáin Cottage and the surrounding land. Now, we had to decide how to manage or not manage the ecosystems we found on our land, the cottage renovation and extension, the garden and any animals we bring in. Around us, the system of nature dominated and dictated most of the outcomes. We wanted to dance with it. So we set about to learn more. This is our journey.