Kathryn Nelson, also known as the Plastic Free Mermaid, is an activist, author, and adventurer who has dedicated her career to creating positive change in the world. Kathryn quit single-use plastics in 2009 and has been spreading her natural way of living ever since. She is an advocate for sustainability and protecting the environment for future generations.
What three words would you use to describe your family?
Love, Joy, Presence
What has becoming a mother taught you about yourself?
My intuition is my most powerful guide in raising my child.
My body is incredible.
The womb is a portal to another realm!
In this portal, when the veil was thin, my child chose Dylan and I. What a gorgeous experience to create this bond and to bless me with the opportunities to love deeper and protect this beautiful, joyful child.
Becoming a Mother has given me great hope! I know my child chose to come to Earth, here and now. Therefore, I will do my best here whilst at the same time vibrating high with true joy for his sake, so he has the most love and joy I can possibly create. 💓 This is my current philosophie de vie. To reflect his light and drench him in love and joy.
In terms of sustainable living, we can all only do our best, even as a Mother it has felt harder to manage, and Mothers can do everything!!
our best will change on the day to day, so allow yourself to achieve at different levels each day, and do include challenging ourselves to go harder some days!
Do you have any great daily practices or habits in place as a family?
Yes!We start each day with a morning routine that looks something like this:
Meditation and Yoga (Rain still sleeping or on a walk with Dada).
Go for an ocean dip (100% with Rain, he loves the beach).
Rain’s grandparents and Dylan have coffee & I have a matcha with our local milk.
We have chats and then we all start our day! Bit of work, exercise, cooking yummy food, and outdoor play!
What does living sustainably mean to you?
These words all get thrown around and used up so many times they lose their meaning a bit. Green, natural, sustainable, regenerative…they become a buzz word and they get used in the marketing of products that are not truly green. So I feel we have to rename this lifestyle again.
The word sustainable means to be able to sustain, maintain or keep going. The rate we are consuming is too fast, too much, of the wrong materials, and lacking solid end of life plans.
So this lifestyle I love is slow. It is simple—not many ingredients or materials. It is using abundant and renewable resources. It is localized and has waste management built into the plan, whether it’s composting or reusing or reselling or planting etc.
When I imagine what is the best lifestyle for my soul, my heart, my body—I know it is living interconnected with nature. I try to live how my ancestors would have. I also...
- Avoid packaged and processed foods.
- Buy milk from a milkman.
- Buy fresh produce from local organic small farms.
- Eat out less.
- Cook more at home for family and friends.
- Play outside, in the sunshine, in the tide pools at the beach and in soft floored forests where sunshine peeks through the trees.
What’s your favourite plastic free living tips that others can take action on right away?
Commit to making little changes! Don’t overwhelm yourself (or your family) by trying to go 100% overnight. It’s impossible. build your earth friendly lifestyle bit by bit. Go to the farmers market, make it part of your weekly routine. Go to the bulk store and stock up on your soaps, make it part of your monthly routine. Make your own deodorant, toothpaste, and all purpose cleaning spray (so easy).
I follow the 80/20 rule. 80% wins and 20% losses. I’m still winning, but since I have joined this family, I have had to increase my leniency and go slow with the eco conversion.
Any final words of wisdom for those looking to live a more environmentally friendly life?
We don’t need 100 products, we need a few. We need to simplify things. It’s actually easy to live this way. It’s affordable. The earth provides so much. We just need a healthy relationship with nature.
For cleaning, make apple cider vinegar and use this for all cleaning needs for all surfaces.
Bicarb mixed with coconut oil is toothpaste, if you add arrowroot powder then it becomes the best deodorant imaginable. Bicarb is also a great shampoo, laundry detergent, all purpose household cleaning agent.
Make a routine for the things you can’t get at the store, most common is plant milk. We blend fresh organic oats with cold water to make oat milk. Goes off in a couple days when made fresh, we would never drink that plastic packaged stuff from stores full of oil and preservatives.
Never give up! It’s our planet. Always come back to a strong “why.”