Anyone who has followed me for a long time knows I’ve always been an avid environmentalist, advocating against GMOs, championing organic food, sustainable fashion, natural medicine and responsible corporate practices. For decades it seemed I was in a minority, fighting what seemed like an uphill battle against media propaganda lauding genetically modified food as humanity’s saviour, hiding toxic mining practices and attacks against indigenous conservation efforts. Five years ago, something changed- all of a sudden the protests I was going to became a thousand fold bigger, humans of all ages and political denominations demanding change, asking for corporate transparency. I remember standing in a sea of people covering Sydney’s domain as far as the eye could see in all directions, crying tears of joy at people fast waking up to Earth’s continued pillaging by unscrupulous interests who didn’t care about our children’s future. The feeling of being surrounded by tens, if not a hundred thousand people who really love this planet was overwhelming, heart bursting, euphoric. This is it! - I thought - soon we will be living in a new world, the tipping point has come!
Alas, it was just the beginning of the movement’s balkanisation into factions which either saw Global Warming and it’s system of carbon credits in tandem with increasing Big Corp control over Earth’s precious resources, our lives and human right laws as a necessary evil, their reasoning being that humans had multiplied like cockroaches into a terrible plague on this Earth, sucking all of it’s resources dry and barren, useless eaters requiring a small group of unelected corporations and billionaires to control how we live our lives and those who wanted to wait up just a second and evaluate the science behind this new Green Agenda better to ascertain if running with this new ideology is wise to begin with. If the world is so overpopulated that the entirety of human race can fit into the state of Texas at NYC density, carbon made up only 0.04% of our atmosphere, most of which was produced by Earth herself through natural activity and the same group of people who chastised everyone on reducing their footprint seemed to be using up by far the most resources as well as carbon in the world, some even emitting footprints of small countries while many carbon credit buy out schemes couldn’t even be verified, was any of this apparent doublespeak and hypocrisy really helping anyone or just lining the pockets of some fat cats selling us Utopia propaganda without merit?
Some began to see the Green Agenda of Carbon Credit plans and 15 minute city lockdowns as a useless corporate scheme leading society into increasing tyranny behind a green mask, starkly divided against those who came to trust the government, media and trendy celebrities standing firm behind increasingly unhinged policies like restricting people’s movement, killing low carbon nuclear power to burn more coal and cutting down millions of old growth carbon capturing forests to set up wind mills which cannot replace a constant energy source, aren’t recyclable and destroy animal habitats. Whilst one side pushes temperature charts showing a clear rise in the last 80 years, others want to know why England used to be a major wine producer for the Roman Empire when today it is too cold to grow grapes there and what happened during the medieval warming period when temperatures were much warmer than today? Why aren’t we allowed to talk about solar cycles which influence Earth’s climate and the growing numbers of esteemed climate scientists who do not agree with the official story , claiming science has been captured and manipulated by corporate interests? Why aren’t we allowed to table the huge environmental impact of batteries, the permanent damage to land and water mining for their components unleashes, the child labour , the fact most cannot be recycled or that they are produced in China, a country which itself keeps building new coal mines?
Today, discrepancy between these two factions grows larger and larger - I personally had to admit I could no longer buy a story which sold rampant pollution, destruction of habitat, unscrupulous business practices leading to environmental catastrophes, corporations announcing water isn’t a human right and the expansion of cancer causing, glyphosate loaded GMO farming as less important than reducing the planets’ temperature through newfangled, unproven schemes. Temperature of Earth has changed since its inception, in fact, it would be correct to say historically it is climate change that is Earth’s constant. Earth is not a greenhouse with glass walls but an elaborate system of absorption and re-distribution that goes much further than the prevailing science of today illustrates, a recent study showing methane may actually contribute to cooling instead of warming as we previously believed, making those masks for cows ridiculously unnecessary.
Worryingly, the movement seems to have shifted from hippies looking to discuss and solve problems utilising nature to those with authoritarian tendencies forcing myopic, profiteering solutions invented by some of Earth’s biggest polluters. Greenies of today see no discrepancy or hypocrisy in thinking they are helping the planet by making energy so expensive that the poor cannot afford it, nonplussed their climate action extremism creates a two caste system of those financially privileged and able to pay for expensive carbon credits allowing them the freedom to travel and those assigned back to the dark ages and climate lockdowns of restricted cities. Somehow in all this death cult virtue signalling we have forgotten that man is nature too, a part of Earth herself, a being she has nourished and developed for hundreds of thousands of years.
All men have the same birth right to roam this Earth, eat clean food and water, buy land and choose what they do with their bodies but all totalitarians seek to deny this premise, claiming they hold authority to put restrictive rules upon free men for the betterment of society. I began to see toxic patriarchy coming from factions on the left where I only used to notice it on the right before, the other horseshoe end of extremism, both sides believing man is somehow separate from Nature yet her boss, wrangling control over her by any means necessary, even if it involves causing more harm. We need to start working with Nature’s wisdom, learning and using her ways to heal, instead of always trying to be clever, showing off our narcissism through synthetic solutions. This ego stroking which asserts our own intellect as superior to hers leads to a Munchausen by proxy-esque psychosis where we invent ever more complicated solutions which end up causing more harm, each time correcting her reactions to our interventions with solutions which are in antithesis to her ways.
Even an idea as seemingly innocuous as pushing veganism refuses to acknowledge the damage of intensive industrial mono crop farming required to transition man to an animal free diet, furthering a reliance on pesticide usage, nitrogen fertilisers, GMOs and corporate power, whilst ironically, increasing overall animal death count. Speaking to farmers I came to find the grain and vegetable fields are regularly razed of any and all life - rabbits, gophers, insects, butterflies, birds and field mice are completely destroyed in mono farming , facts my vegan friends were wholly unaware of in their kindhearted yet wholly deluded martyrdom as fauna’s saviours. Veganism isn’t supportive of life’s diversity, in fact intensive farming destroys our dirt’s bacterial concentrations - the very thing giving our ground life, fertility and capability to trap carbon. Neither am I a fan of factory cattle farming either, seeing animals cramped within too small stalls under artificial lighting as cruel and damaging to the planet too, but why aren’t we looking for new solutions, or at least returning to ancient indigenous farming wisdom such as the Hawaiian method? In times of old, Hawaiian islands overproduced food, growing the right plants and fruit trees at elevations perfectly suited for optimum harvest, whilst letting animals roam freely under their canopy, eating fallen fruits and in turn providing free fertiliser to the food forest? Why aren’t more environmentalists demanding holistic solutions to world’s problems anymore, instead of giving away all our power and money to a select number of corporate interests and their synthetic, carbon intensive, polluting and profiteering plans? Under “modern” farming methods Hawaii doesn’t produce enough food anymore, relying on importing, whilst depleting their land of essential nutrients and yet we call this progress?
Instantly, it all made sense, a light had come on - Earth, like our own gut microbiome, thrives with vibrant health when we encourage microbial diversity and variety of plant, insect and animal life, hooved species pushing their excrements’ bacteria deep into the ground under their limbs, spurring growth and interconnectedness between a myriad of organisms requiring waste’s nutrients and bacteria to thrive. Is carbon really humanity’s enemy like billionaires with designs on its capture claimed? Carbon after all is the necessary building block of life on Earth, literal food for plants - in greenhouse nurseries, we vent carbon dioxide into the spaces to increase plant growth and we know that if levels in the environment decreased under 0.02%, plant life on Earth would die. So how did we come to a place in science where some interests demonise carbon into literal devil spawn, whilst legacy science shows it as a necessary and beneficial part of our ecosystem?
They say ‘when a student is ready, a teacher appears’ and the Universe quickly alerted me to Zach Bush, or shall I say Dr Zach Bush, a triple certified MD,leader in the field of microbiology and all around genius hunk passionate about a radical departure from chemical farming and pharmacy and a return to holistic health. With his bulging prefrontal cortex and Encyclopaedic knowledge , listening to this man speak is a journey in history, medicine, science and nature, a delight of intelligence, empathy and reason, satiating curiosity for factual answers whilst imbuing life with gratitude for this unfolding miracle that is Nature and her amazing intelligence. I had been a fan of the man for many years before I got a chance to hear him talk in Sydney a few months ago as part of his non profit Farmers Footprint network tour, an illuminating experience I wanted to share with you, one that provided me with so much hope for the future.
Zach argues it isn’t the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that are a danger to the planet , instead it’s our reliance on glyphosate farming which is leading us into complete annihilation. By destroying massive swaths of fertile land, creating vast dead zones incapable of retaining bacteria and hence carbon, let alone worms, insects, bees or animals, we lose the capability to not just cool the surrounding atmosphere but in large enough areas disrupt normal weather patterns and with that endanger entire continents’ survival. With every introduction of new generation GMO seeds preloaded with increasing levels of pesticides, we lose more and more life from our soil, until it is useless, dry and toxic, incapable of carrying or sustaining life. 4 billion tonnes of glyphosate are unleashed on the world each year, killing all life, from bacterial to human, animal and insect. Most toxins are fat soluble , meaning our body can sequester them into our fat deposits, away from the brain but man creates a water soluble poison with an ability to enter any organ, passed easily through our water supply, now biocumulating in breastmilk.
We further destroy our fish, fungi and whole ecosystems through rampant overuse of nitrogen, causing massive algae blooms killing off coastal fisheries half way around the world. Sahara desert was one of the most fertile places in the world once, Romans in Biblical times noting they could walk from one side of Africa to the other without ever seeing the sun, the canopy too lush and tall to let light through. Pointing to the world’s map, Zach swipes over a huge swath of desert extending northwest from Sahara into Middle East, Russia and Siberia to the Arctic circle, encompassing 1/3 of the planet’s land, a desertification which happened only 1500 years ago, land lost because of human intervention and ecocide.
First Egyptians dammed the waterways, then Romans came to conquer Northern Africa, utilising a devious technique of covertly throwing salt on farms a year before their scheduled take over, thus ruining land’s fertility, destroying harvests in order to induce widespread hunger and apathy, ensuring a smooth and painless takeover. It takes around 50 years for the soil to clear salt concentrations but in the end, it was the Roman Empire who shot itself in the food, collapsing due to supply chains getting longer and longer, their richest soil disappearing into sand, destroying 2 rivers and with it the vibrant macrobiome they created around them. If you think man wouldn’t repeat such stupidity, I hate to break it to you but every herbicide and pesticide from 1970s onward until very recently contains high concentrations of salt in the form of phosphate salts and the like. Man has been on a new suicide mission and we’re taking everything down with us- just in the last 50 years of chemical farming, this modern version of salting the fields, it’s estimated 97% of arable land in the world is now depleted or severely depleted and on it’s way to desertification.
To illustrate interconnectedness of all life, Zach shows us how desert countries rich in oil were once verdant paradises, their oil being the result of plant decay, then goes further to describe his visit to the Amazon rainforest and his surprise that the soil in the Amazon isn’t rich with carbon, instead, all the carbon is concentrated in the canopy itself which creates its own climate underneath it. Turns out it is Sahara desert which feeds Amazon’s plants, nutrients carried over on wind patterns, our planet a life sustaining organism drawing what it needs from one part of the planet to deposit it in another - Savannah puts all the carbon into the soil, that soil travels over and the Amazon rainforest brings it back up to the canopy - the cycle of carbon life. Yet if humans begin clear cutting the forest for raising animals, that cycle is broken.
Even the horrible fires that befell NSW back in 2019 proved countries don’t exist in a vacuum, separate of each other’s woes. Sydney hit some of the highest rates of PMT.5 ever recorded due to the disaster, 700-800 parts per millilitre of carbon particulate, when the danger zone is anywhere from 30-40pm. These fires poisoned the atmosphere of Australia for a moment but then covered the entire world 7 times around. Interestingly, PMT.5 happens to bind to viruses, especially coronaviruses. Zach claims just 2 days before news of the pandemic struck , he was telling media the next pandemic was due to come out of Wuhan, since this area is not just saturated with glyphosate spray but experiencing unprecedented levels of pollution now coupled with a cloud of carbon particulates circling their way around the world from our raging fires. Man is nature, we cannot keep poisoning nature without killing ourselves in the process.
Zach feels we have the most audacious project to undertake after creating the biggest crisis in human history- our own disappearance. We have poisoned ourselves into a situation where 1 in 8 children have ADHD and 1 in 30 autism, science predicting that by 2035, 1 in 3 children in the USA will be diagnosed with autism. 1 in 2 are already diagnosed with cancer, the largest business ever created, 4 trillion dollars spent in the United States alone on chronic disease management each year, pharmaceutical earnings twice as big as military or oil spend. Numbers are staggering but it’s the declining number of sperm which is really marking human extinction, on average a loss of 52% of sperm counts in western countries in the last 4 decades, in the USA closer to 60%, 1 in 3 males there infertile by sperm count already.
Unlike the new death cult environmentalists who wish extinction upon the lowly cockroach that is a human ( but never offer themselves up for sacrifice ) screaming we need to reduce our emissions back into the dark ages to survive, Zach sees in humanity Universe’s divine expression, a miracle of life, a bright spark of biology able to heal our planet through intensive regeneration. Project Biome offers an ambitious yet feasible path to healing Earth’s land, including the re-greening of those parts of Africa, Saudi Arabia and Russia that we lost a 1500 years ago by utilising all this free carbon dioxide in the air, plants’ favourite food. Calling it a boon for humanity’s future, audience laughs when Zach thanks BP, Exxon Mobile and Shell for getting all that oil out of the ground where it wasn’t helping anyone, grateful to Ford motor companies and others for transferring it to the atmosphere with their engines because it is them who have created potential for the Greenest Planet ever by transferring that carbon right where it needs to be to make it work for nature. Zach is serious - he says it’s stupidly exciting because in 200 years we could create so much soil and plant life that in the future we could grow our bodies as big as dinosaurs.
Zach’s plan makes scientific sense, doesn’t require newfangled technology or a corporate takeover of our planet - this could be why it’s not being talked about in corporate owned media or by WEF sponsored environmentalists. His plan is hopeful, exciting and beautiful - by creating and building more topsoil on barren lands, we are able to convert that land back into carbon trapping, plant growing, animal nurturing spaces brimming with a diversity of microbial life. Opposite to the death cult and it’s fear mongering, Zach promotes a life cult - a world more green and healthy, fertile and prosperous than even our wildest dreams could imagine - all it takes to materialise this world is farmers around the world getting together and saying no to standard farming practices destroying nature whilst we, the populace , support them on their way. Zach has overseen farms which began as rock and dust grow 10 inches of fertile topsoil, for the first time in decades sprouting plants and with them attracting an explosion of new life. The question is, can a network of farmers around the world come together to realise a common goal? Perhaps if we all spread the word and help them on their way, Utopia on Earth isn’t just possible but already on its way.
For more information on how you can get involved please check out Farmers Footprint network.
Sustainability is a new buzz word in fashion and for good reason – turns out the clothes business is the second biggest polluter in the world, just behind oil. Yep, I winced too but the facts remain- fast fashion is costing the planet. It turns out a humble t-shirt requires 3 years worth of drinking water to produce the cotton needed for it’s production alongside heavy pesticides. Not only does la mode guzzle water, creating environmental disasters where it’s produced but it also pollutes it – it is estimated that 20% of water pollution comes from the treatment and dying of textiles with harsh chemicals.
The carbon footprint isn’t pretty either- 10% of global carbon emissions can be attributed to clothes production’s long supply chains and cheap synthetic fibers emit gasses like N20 which is 300 times more damaging than CO2. An average Australian buys 27kg of new textiles every year and then discards 23kgs into landfills, mostly cheap fabrics made from petroleum that further pollute the environment when incinerated. And if all this makes you feel like you never wish to shop again, here is the silver lining; brands are hopping aboard the sustainability train at record speeds since 66% of millennials have said that they would pay more for sustainable fashion. And it’s not just staple basic brands such as Everlane or Allbirds that boast eco credentials- sustainability is getting sexy across the board. Prepare to feel optimistic as we look at some designers that exist in this exciting new sphere of fashion with our gorgeous model Rae, herself a marine biologist in training.
(Above)This bustier is made by Wynn Hamlyn who stress local, ethical manufacturing and utilize a variety of natural fibers. thus minimizing environmental impact. Susan Driver hand makes jewellery in Brisbane using sustainably sourced metals and stones whilst the bumbag is by St Xavier who practice fair trade and invest in underprivileged communities - products are handmade in Northern India generating sustainable income for 500 men and women.
KowTow is a NZ label that prides itself on utilizing organic cotton whilst being environmentally conscious and providing certified workers’ rights and safety, not to mention creating cool jumpsuits. Lingerie is by Lonely, another NZ label that has been accredited child labour free whilst protecting the environment with the safe disposal of waste materials and Jewellery is from Tiffany & Co who use sustainably and ethically sourced metals for their pieces.
The Conscious Collection is a label by the giant H&M who created this dress and earrings. They have pledged to use 100% renewable or recycled materials by 2030, are using 59% sustainably sourced cotton now and recycled nearly 18 tonnes of textiles in 2017. The coat is by Arnsdorf who rebooted after 5 years with impeccable eco credentials- the label not only has full transparency on fabric sourcing which includes organic cotton and indigo dyed denim but also on manufacturing costs and wages. The pieces are meant to be timeless- the brand offers in house fittings and lifetime repairs too. The bag is by St Xavier( as mentioned before )
Kit X is a label that has been at the helm of this movement and it’s founder Kit Willow is passionate about ethically sourced materials, developing eco fabrics and fair treatment of workers whilst creating pieces that look amazing like this dress. Temple of The Sun jewellery uses sustainably produced silver and gold plating which has either been recycled or sourced from a certified mine and produced in a boutique, ethical fashion.
Maggie Marilyn creates luxurious, modern and quirky clothes that are sustainably and ethically produced and this gorgeous dress is no exception. Byfar is a Bulgarian shoe label produced in a small Italian family factory that utilizes sustainable dead stock leather rescued from luxury Italian factories
Matches Fashion is jumping on board the sustainability movement by promoting many new designers and this dress by Kalita sees the designers utilizing sustainable materials whilst hand dying fabrics
Fashion practices are shifting but as consumers we are the ultimate creators of change so let’s choose with our wallets by supporting labels leading the way in creating a cleaner future that doesn’t give up on the fashionable factor.
This story appeared on Vogue.com.au here!
Photography: Alice Wesley-Smith
Model: Rae Rodriguez from IMG
H&M: Claire Thomson
Styling & words : Tanja Gacic
The holidays are nearly upon us and with them the inevitable search for the perfect swimsuit. Living on Bondi beach, I tend to live in mine ; if I’m not actually lying on the beach in it, it is always underneath a dress, denim cut-offs, or a kaftan. Here, in Australia, we are so lucky to have a myrad of amazing swimwear labels that produce the best, most flattering swimwear in high quality materials. For this story, I collaborated with JETS, a legendary Australian swimwear label that is not just fashionable but ecologically conscious too. I feel that introducing sustainable technologies in fashion is so important , after all we all wear clothes but producing them can come with a substantial environmental footprint.
JETS proudly facilitate the latest approach in green and sustainable manufacturing practices utilizing digital textile printing at the JETS HQ and printing on recycled fabric with the fabric off-cuts also recycled into alternate uses, such as sporting equipment, as opposed to being disposed at landfills. Proudly Ethical Clothing Australia Accredited , Jets’ printing process uses substantially less ink than screen printing methods, leading to less waste and water consumption, paving the way for conscious, responsible fashion practices.
In this editorial, I played around with swimwear from both the JETS by Jessika Allen and JETS White Label, a high fashion Luce style swim range in creating 5 distinct characters to match the personalities of the swimsuits, all hitting the beach in their own fun and glamorous way.
Tapping into the medieval, chainmail, gold encrusted trend currently sweeping Fall Winter 14/15 , this one piece from the JETS' White Label is heavy on cool detailing. Joan of Arc would approve. (Celine necklace, Balmain cuff)
With overtones of Marrakesh and beautiful colors, this triangle bikini is slightly padded too, providing lift as well as insta boho cred. Beads optional.
Sailor ahoy! I love high waisted,vintage inspired swimmers and this gorgeous bikini also comes with a cool wrap around top that can double as a cute stripy crop for afternoon cocktails ( Jets bikini, greek fisherman's hat, Adidas slides, Cartier Love bracelet)
Lazing on a yacht or in a 5 star resort never looked more glamorous.This black one piece from the White label collection is universally flattering with it's beautiful detailing. Throw on a maxi skirt and delicate sandals - why not use this swimsuit as a luxury bodysuit too?
A girl certainly won't be a wallflower in this high waisted, retro style, floral strewn print bikini that screams summer fun. Fields of flowers not necessary
Photographed by Alice Wesley-Smith
