Well, hello there and welcome back. My name is Stephanie Safarian and you are listening to episode

156 of the Sustainable Minimalist podcast. On today's show, we are exploring the space between environmental advocacy and despair,

as we define those uncomfortable and prevailing feelings associated with caring about the planet

in a culture that just isn't doing enough to curb climate change.

Eco- Madness is that feeling I often feel and perhaps you feel too

when an environmental dilemma hits you with a tornado of confusion,

hopelessness, anger and frustration all at once simply because there is no perfect answer.

Now here's a real life example that I experienced just yesterday. A few months back a friend had

dropped off bags of clothing for my oldest daughter, which I of course was very excited about.

My daughter at the time was a bit too small for the clothes, so I packed him away and just yesterday I pulled them out. As I was

looking through the bags I noticed that there was an awful lot of synthetic items.

Think yoga pants for kids. And so while I was thrilled and fortunate to receive these

clothes I also wondered what those synthetic items would do when I watched

them and so now all of a sudden I items would do when I watched them.

And so now all of a sudden I'm worrying about micro fibers

and micro plastics in the ocean.

And then, of course, my mind goes to the immense plastic problem

and how because it's so big

there's nothing I can realistically do on my own,

in my own house to curb this problem,

and which then, that thought then

ushered in the feelings of frustration and anger and ultimately hopelessness.

...