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Why We Founded Simply EcoNomads

  • Vittoria
  • Sep 19, 2017
  • 4 min read

I am going to briefly introduce myself: I am Vittoria, the co-founder of Simply EcoNomads, a minimal guide on how to travel sustainably. Together with my boyfriend Adam, we intend to see the world, but most of all to reduce our footprint on the planet and share our experience to help whomever would like to learn to live with less and more healthily. Our plan is to leave our flat in London, leave our full-time jobs and go on a wonderful adventure across the world using the least polluting transportation and lifestyles. But what compelled us to take this decision?


While me and Adam were in Tuscany for 3 weeks in July of this year we made 100 decisions, all of which brought us here today, having this website and making incredible plans for the future.


Just to give you some context to the story, my grandmother bought a quirky little house in a medieval village of an island in Tuscany, almost 50 years ago. My mother and uncle used to go there when they were children, and so did me and my brothers. We spend almost every summer there and it holds such a special place in our hearts because now that we have left Italy, we have a place to go back to that remains always the same and that we can call home. Me and Adam visited the island 3 out of 4 years we have been together, and we have made amazing memories of our own because this place is just a gem: the clearest, most transparent sea I've ever seen, uncontaminated nature, incredible landscapes, just breathtaking. Unfortunately this year the sea was still beautiful as always but we notices a lot more plastic than we used to. Actually some days we had to dodge the bags and bottles and trash to get to a spot without any. It was heartbreaking.


That's when we had to face the fact that we were not doing enough for the planet.

It is sad that you have to see something dear to you go to waste to realise you have to do something about it.


However better late than never! So we started making a lot of plans of what exactly we were going to do once we went back home, and all we cared about was having as little impact on the planet as possible. We looked into tiny homes, self-sufficient housing, eco-friendly vans, a lot of different solutions. However we didn't exactly want to settle down, we wanted to see the world! And that's when we thought of Simply EcoNomads.

The 2nd of August 2017 marked the Overshoot Day, in other words the day we have officially used more natural resources than our planet can renew in the whole year. Currently we are exhausting more raw materials than Earth can replenish and in order to satisfy our demand we would need 1.7 planets. We are steadily marching towards a polluted future, a wasted environment, and a wildlife ravaged by our lifestyle. Even though we have always been environmentally cautious, we had to face the fact that there was still so much more we could do, and that is why we created this website: we wanted a place where we could talk about those burning topics and demonstrate how you can live while travelling, costing nothing to nature!


It is absolutely normal to feel overwhelmed in front of those enormous issues, and the majority of people want to do something to help they don't know where to begin! That is also why I felt compelled to share our story and our journey: by following this blog you will discover all sorts of topics around sustainability as well as practical methods you can apply to your everyday life to decrease your footprint and reduce your weight on the world.


One of my favourite quotes from Gandhi is: "Be the change you want to see in the world" and don't let perfection be the evil of good. Everyone can become a Simple EcoNomad and pledge to aid the planet. All you have to do is:


Get informed: an informed person has its own destiny in its hands and can decide responsibly. It can be saddening to discover the truth of our reality, but only through awareness we can change the current situation. Ignorance cannot be an excuse.


Take part: once you have discovered the truth, you have to do what is necessary and become part of the solution. It only takes 21 days to establish a lifestyle change, then our brain learns to reprogram itself. Change is uncomfortable, but if we all did our part the sum would result in an incredible improvement for the world.


Share you story: I am fully aware of how difficult it can be being pioneers of a new idea, because not everyone will share our views and understand our motives. Voltaire said: "It's impossible to save people who revere their chains", but it is important to do the right thing even if it means standing alone. Explain your reasons and be an example for others, sooner or later someone will become curious and come around.


I hope you will enjoy our content and discover something new that can help you lead a healthier eco life.

We are here to help you become part of the solution, and you can count on our support to reach your goals. We are just one click away, so don't hesitate to contact us with any queries or ideas.

 
 
 

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