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2 Women Who Will Inspire You To Live More Sustainably

There is this thing about inspiring people. Their achievements, personalities and stories impress and empower you all at the same time. They make changing the world feel doable, and you can't help yourself but follow.

Today, we'd like you to meet 2 of the many women who keep inspiring us and everyone we share their stories with, by being a living example of how small everyday actions affect the world in a big way - Selina Juul and Pashon Murray.

Selina Juul

Photo: stopspildafmad.dk

In today's food industry, we, the consumer, hold the higher power, and can have the biggest impact on food waste - in both directions.

"By the end of the century, we need to produce at least 70% more food on the very same area that we have today. It is basically impossible, especially if we're already producing 1/3 of our food for the trash. Food waste is also a waste of time. An average Western household spends about 5 hours a month to buy food to feed the garbage. It's a waste of money, because an average American household spends about $1000 a year on wasted food."

To put it into perspective, we waste and lose enough food to feed every single man, woman and child three times over.

Selina alone has helped Denmark reduce its national food waste by 25%. She is the founder of the "Stop Wasting Food" movement, is the Dane of the Year 2014, and writes about food waste for Huffington Post. After you hear her story, you realize how easy it actually is to feed the 795 million people who are starving just as you're reading this, while saving you money, and make you wonder why haven't you done it before.

We'd really suggest you to watch her TEDx speech, where she not only briefs you on the importance of reducing food waste, but also on the food waste traps and just how easy it is to avoid them:

Related post: "How To Reduce Food Waste With Indoor Gardening"

Pashon Murray

Photo: Doug Coombe

When we think about climate change, we think about reducing our carbon footprint. But are we approaching it correctly?

Pashon Murray, a composting and urban community gardening activist, and a MIT fellow, has directly helped change Detroit's carbon footprint by co-founding a local composting and biomass collection company Detroit Dirt, and is continuing to do so by educating people about these matters across the borders.
"Carbon is not our enemy," she says, "it's the building block of life. The problem - and the solution - are a simple matter of balance." By burning fossil and doing agriculture the way we have, we've moved carbon from the soil and the biosphere to the atmosphere, disrupting this balance.
"Specifically, we have moved 880 gigatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which is heating up the planet and destabilizing our climate."
What she's doing, is putting the carbon back into the soil. "Scientists recently discovered that applying a thin layer of composte one time starts up an ongoing positive feedback loop, that brings more and more carbon into the soil each year."
Pashon is another empowering example of how one individual with enough passion and seriousness towards an issue can single-handedly change the mentality of a whole community. Read more about her story on thegentlewoman.co.uk - it's truly fascinating.

Which are the women that have inspired and empowered you? Let us know in the comments below and subscribe to our newsletter for the best stories!

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