Every Woman's Guide To Saving The Planet

Natalie Isaacs

• Publisher: ABC Books
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780733339677
• eBook ISBN: 9781460710784
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Environmental Conservation & Protection
• Index: Biological Sciences

Part memoir, part toolkit by the inspiring founder of 1 Million Women, the global movement empowering women to take action on climate change

Sydney mother of four and former cosmetics manufacturer Natalie Isaacs used to think climate change was someone else's problem. But when she set out to reduce her power bill by 20 per cent and achieved it easily, she had an epiphany. Realising that women make most of the purchasing decisions in the home and so have genuine power to make a difference, she went on to found 1 Million Women. With members and followers now numbering more than 700, 000 and counting, the community is a global movement that actively empowers women to engage with and take action on climate change by making simple changes to the ways they and their families live their lives.

Every Woman's Guide to Saving the Planet is Natalie Isaacs' inspiring story combined with a practical tool kit for reducing your carbon footprint and mobilising your community around the biggest issue of our time -- climate change. With loads of tips, tricks, easy-to-understand info graphics and an inspiring can-do message, this book is for every woman who wants to make a difference but just isn't sure how.

Find out more at 1millionwomen.com.au

About 1 Million Women

A decade ago, I was inspired to create, from scratch, a new women’s organisation dedicated to fighting climate change by changing the way we live.

The story of 1 Million Women is the story of individuals – like you and me – taking on one of the hardest challenges our modern world knows: changing our own behaviours and the way we live our daily lives. This includes the stuff we buy, the food we consume, the energy that powers our homes and vehicles, and the waste and pollution we’re responsible for every day.

Here’s how it all began.

Back in 2006, when I was running my cosmetics manufacturing business, I realised there was a huge disconnect in my life. There was a bunch of prompts, which I share in the chapters ahead, but in essence I was becoming conscious of climate change and the huge threat it poses to people and planet. I had this growing awareness, but I wasn’t doing anything about it. I was talking the talk, but I wasn’t walking the walk.

So, I decided to do something, and reducing my family’s electricity use seemed a good place to start.

Within a few months, without too much effort, I’d cut our energy bill by 20 per cent. Result! I was hooked! That sparked the beginning of my climate-action journey. A journey that changed my life forever.

I could easily have stalled there. It was far from clear what I should do next. Yes, I’d taken this initial step, but where on earth do I go now? To find out, I hit the internet to see who and what was out there. I discovered a world full of organisations dedicated to the environment. While many of them were wonderful in their own way, none of them spoke to me personally. None gave me an emotional connection with what I’d just gone through.

I’d only just moved on from inaction and unawareness, and I would have loved to have found an existing organisation that said: ‘Don’t worry, we get it. We’re just like you. It doesn’t matter that you’ve been floating along doing nothing. Come with us now and let us show you what you can do next.’

When you take those first tentative steps to changing your lifestyle, you want like-minded people around you – not to mention a healthy dose of reassurance.

I felt there must have been millions of women like me, who sat outside the ‘green belt’ of activism and weren’t acting because they simply didn’t know what to do, or where to start. I thought that if I could tell them all that had happened to me – how easy and effective making those small changes could be, how empowered they’d feel from it and where that could lead them – they’d want to come along for the ride.

The genesis of 1 Million Women was taking shape.

I still didn’t know a lot about climate change. I didn’t even know the name of my country’s environment minister at the time. I wasn’t an activist. I’d never even marched for a cause. And I certainly didn’t know how to grow a movement.

Self-doubt assailed me. Did I even have the right to be acting in this space? Who was I to tell others how to live their lives differently? But the power I felt from my own experience kept me going, as did the incredible support I received from women (and men) around me from the very beginning.

Imagine if there was a way to harness that extraordinary power each of us has so that, together, we can shape the kind of world we want to live in.

With the help of some amazing women, I began to flesh out the idea of a new movement. 1 Million Women.

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I was just one woman who had taken action and made a difference. But I couldn’t help thinking: imagine how powerful millions of us would be.

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As with most start-ups, raising money was a huge hurdle in the beginning, but when we reached out for help, the response was there in a heartbeat. We found vital financial support as well as pro bono offerings from so many sectors – legal, accounting, PR and advertising – all of it filled with generosity and passion. Then came the ambassadors. Sixty wonderful women, from all walks of life, became ambassadors for our cause. They gave their time for nothing because they believed that the time was right for women to take centre stage in this climate fight.

After two-and-a-half years of planning, 1 Million Women was launched in mid-2009 at the University of Sydney. I was so nervous I could barely breathe. What if no one turns up? What if the media don’t get behind it? What if no one ever hears about us? Walking into the venue and finding a crowd of 300 people gathered was gobsmacking. I think it was the first time I’d seen all the people I’d been working with in the one space – 1 Million Women was real! And I needn’t have worried. We got lots of media coverage.

Afterwards, while a few of us were debriefing at a pub around the corner, one of my friends checked our just-gone-live website. ‘Oh my God, we’ve got 400 people already!’ she shrieked.

Our movement had begun.

We began with a single, clear proposition. Join up and commit to cutting 1 tonne of carbon dioxide pollution from your life within a year, and we’ll show you how. What we were saying was: when it comes to acting on climate change in your daily life, we know the path. We’ve walked the road to self-empowerment, and it’s a pretty great place to travel. Let us show you the way.

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The 1 Million Women message is specific: we need a lifestyle revolution to fight the climate crisis, and women are the powerful agents of change.

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In hindsight, building our 1 Million Women community has been not so different from the way I cut that very first electricity bill: by taking one step, doing one thing, seeing an incredible and immediate result, and letting the guaranteed empowerment we felt drive us to our next step. We can all profoundly change the way we live in exactly the same way – one step at a time. That’s how we’ll make a difference. To this day, action – and easy, small steps – remains at our core.

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If there’s one practical step I could tell you to do straight away, it’s this:

Next time you want to buy something, stop. Take a breath. And ask yourself: Do I really need it?

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We empower women and girls to take practical action on climate change through the way we live. Through the choices we make every single day – saving household energy and implementing clean energy options, addressing this crazy world of overconsumption, dealing with food waste and starting better food practices, getting from A to B with the least impact on the planet, supporting sustainable fashion and the economic power of women. And we show the power of our collective impact when we act together.

From the very beginning, our aim has been to appeal to people’s hearts as well as heads, to move people in a way that helps them genuinely change the way they live. We’re learning every day, and every day we’re asking: Did that work? Did we help to change behaviour? Was that event effective, or would a campaign have worked better?

There’s no doubt that the collective strength of women taking action themselves, and supporting each other along the way, makes a massive difference.

You’re the voice

Before the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, which lead to the historic Paris Agreement in 2016, we wanted to do something hopeful and big. Something that rallied people who weren’t engaged in the whole UN process and bring it to them in an uplifting way. Something that spoke to our belief that only climate action gives us climate hope.

We landed on covering John Farnham’s legendary song, ‘You’re the Voice’, with, of course, some big voices: Wendy Matthews, Deni Hines, Melinda Schneider, Ursula Yovich and a whole bunch of wonderful women.

Everyone gave their time to pull together this beautiful project, using the power of music to convey a simple message.

It’s a glorious thing to witness women, who previously haven’t been engaged, move from inaction to the camp of action, and discover how empowering it is. Every day, I have the privilege of seeing women share their experiences and their advice, their achievements and their thoughts. And finding their voice, because that’s what comes with empowerment: you gain confidence in what you’re doing, and you find your voice.

If you’re taking action yourself, inevitabl...

Table of contents

• Dedication
• Contents
• About 1 Million Women
• Part 1: Saving the Planet
• Part 2: Saving the Planet: Toolkits
• A Million Thanks
• About the Author
• Copyright