International Women’s Day was Saturday the 8th of March.
The theme this year was INSPIRE CHANGE calling for advocacy for women’s advancement everywhere in every way, and challenging the status quo for women’s equality to bring positive change.
In light of this wonderfully stirring theme, we’ve also made it the March theme for the 1 Million Women blog! We’ll be sharing the inspiring stories of women from all walks of life, who are changing the world for the better everyday. Never think that 1 person can’t make a difference, because we can and together we are a community of women changing the world!
Today we’re celebrating the inspiring Emine Mehmet
1. Describe yourself in 3 words? (Or more if you need too!)
Umm…. creative, intuitive, energetic, passionate
2. Tell us a bit about your story, what you do, what you’re doing at the present ?
What I do is communicate sustainability to the public in a way that makes it easy to apply to the everyday home. Some of the ways I do this is by writing and speaking about it and representing companies who have sustainable products they want the public to know about.
As an example, I’m setting up the sustainable stage for the HIA Sydney Home Show at Sydney Olympic Park in June this year. The theme for the stage is ‘Your Future Home is Sustainable’. We’re setting up part of the stage as a room in construction, the rest will be a completed room. The idea is to showcase sustainable products and materials you can use when renovating or building and help you make informed choices.
I also have a homewares range I call ‘Salute to the Sun’ . I’ve just added hemp and wool rugs to it, which I’m very excited about.
3. What inspires you to lead a life that is better for the planet?
The Planet itself – it’s so generous, giving and amazingly beautiful. I think we forget we’re only visitors here- Mother Nature will be here way after we’re gone. The problem is, we don’t know what the Planet will look like in the future. I want to leave the Planet in a better state than when I arrived. That motivates me to keep following this path.
4. What do you think are the unique strengths of women taking action on climate change and living more sustainably?
I think it must be a strong connection and appreciation of the Planet combined with natural female nurturing where we want to nurture everything including the environment.
5. We know the time is now to act on climate change! Do you have an inspiring message about living a more sustainable lifestyle you’d like to share with our 1 Million Women community?
It might sound a bit strange, but I find the more you consider the environment, the more of a connection you have to it, the better you feel and the more you want to do. It’s a normal human state to have contact with nature, we need it - today’s lifestyle limits our interaction and that isn’t good for us.
6. What’s your top tip for living sustainably in the modern world?
Be a mindful consumer – think about what you’re buying, where its from, what its made of, who made it and what will happen to it when you’re done with it. It will really make a difference to how much waste and what kind of waste you leave behind.