Is making bread the most important thing you can do for the planet?

Hey ,

It was a comment on something I posted on Instagram.

'My lecturer told me that the best thing you can do for the environment is to make your own bread.'

I was puzzled. I mean sure, making bread has got to be better than buying an industrially-produced, plastic-wrapped supermarket loaf, but the best thing you can do?

I asked the commenter to explain and I've been thinking about what she said ever since.

It's not about the bread,' she said. 'It's about the pace of life that gives you time to make it.'

Nurture is one of the nine pillars of Making Design Circular – the idea that, as an environmentalist, you've got to take care of yourself.

But I've been getting it all wrong.

I have been talking about how environmentalism is the work of a lifetime, so we have to take care of ourselves so that we can keep doing it.

But what if taking care of ourselves is the work?

If we want to live in a world where everyone has time to make bread and grow veggies, walk and cycle instead of driving and flying – if we want to slow and eventually stop the ever-accelerating pace of the 'take-make-waste' economy and replace it with something more circular, surely the most effective way to start is by slowing down ourselves.

Now, of course, there is privilege inherent in that statement. If you're holding down multiple jobs just to make rent, or you're raising young children or caring for elderly parents, this probably all sounds pretty pie in the sky.

But if your rent is covered and your caring responsibilities aren't overwhelming you, could you slow down?

Are you creating, in your own life, the sort of world you hope to bring about, or are you replicating systems of extraction (including from yourself) until that day comes?

Because there won't be one single day when we announce "planet saved" (or more accurately planet-dwelling species saved!) and suddenly the smog clears to reveal clean air, trees-aplenty and cycle lanes everywhere.

We have to think about the lives we hope to live in that world and start living them – in all the tiny ways we can, right now.

Right, I'm off to bake some sourdough!

Just kidding, but I have started by adding a yoga break to my afternoon, so I can walk away from the demands of my desk for an hour each day to slow my roll...

How could you start to bring a little more spaciousness into your day?