hi my name is Ruby and I’m a minimalist
this is my jar of trash full of 10
months worth of my trash and this is my
shopping bag and this is the place where
it all began
so what does this got to do with
anything well I have a problem with this
capitalism but allow me to explain it’s
really a genius system providing people
with the means to grow their power
wealth and business empires it’s easy to
pursue luxurious and selfish economic
interests pushing people further down
the scale of the poor I was right in the
middle of this at the age of 13 my life
was hectic I was attending a private
girls school in the inner suburbs where
every girl wore the same uniform and
ironically the same casual clothes on
the weekend the starter pack was
standard 2x new leggings with a North
Face puffer jacket and a white cotton on
t-shirt I bow down to these latest
trends my friends were on the streets
feeling unlucky that my parents didn’t
want to buy me high in fashion so i neva
tably began to obsess over my wardrobe
and my looks my target leggings
billabong hoodie and Dan lock bullies
didn’t live up to the trend and
surprisingly these brands and our
awkward twin bodies allocated us friend
groups everywhere I looked I felt like I
needed to conform to what everyone else
was doing wearing and buying all the
advertisements told me that buying
consuming and collecting more stuff
would only make me happier and bring a
life of success I was truly disconnected
from the world around me and myself
because buying more things didn’t
actually make me happy nor didn’t make
so let’s look at the bigger problem the
harsh reality is that consumerism is
drilled into everyone’s lives so let’s
look at Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in a
way that’s never been done before on our
bottom three levels we have our
physiological safety and belonging needs
these can all be satisfied once we can
put food on the table have a roof over
our heads and a community of people to
connect with once those needs are
satisfied we can move up to our
self-esteem needs however we may seem to
seek a sense of self-confidence
self-worth through buying things that
may represent our and financial
individuality this could be through
wearing an expensive watch
driving an expensive car even just
accessorizing the simple Chanel bag this
inevitably
will not meet our self-esteem needs
because it’s only masking the
insecurities that are still hidden
inside and because this hasn’t been
fully satisfied we have been prevented
as a Western culture from reaching our
self-actualization needs to pursue our
life’s passion and purpose Western
society has got us in a cycle of
consuming that is preventing us from
reaching our full human potential so how
can we move beyond this consumerist
chokehold when I was 16 I moved to Bali
Indonesia to attend the Green School and
once I moved there I was transformed
into this crazy passionate
environmentalist constantly surrounded
by nature literally living inside of
bamboo surrounded by this international
community of changemakers learning to
make our world sustainable so this idea
of minimalism came up after I was
fascinated by the idea that we could
live with little stuff and still be
happy I also noticed that in our green
community we were talking about
sustainability but most of us weren’t
living market for our huge villas to
pensive travels and wardrobes full of
yogya I started off with a mission to
inspire others and myself included to
walk our talk so I had to make some
decisions to start up with moving
between Melbourne and Bali I had to
really decide what I truly needed and
that could fit in a suitcase so I came
up with a question to guide me through
this and that was what brings deep value
into my life do I need this item or do I
want this item so my suitcase became
smaller my wardrobe smaller as well and
my blog content way more meaningful it
was this great feeling being in the
present moment feeling grateful for what
I already have
and as soon as I started to realize the
surroundings around me I also noticed
that everything else I was buying that
didn’t exactly end up in my wardrobe
were things that I used and then threw
away so I was openly talking about how I
cared about the environment but I was
still contributing to the consumption
problem so that convinced me to buy
myself a glass jar and make a vow to
never throw a piece of trash into the
landfill again and what are we seeing
here see some plane tickets some
clothing tags and some straws and of
course the napkin this is really a
reminder of the unavoidable the things
that I’ve mistakes for in in that
process or has ended up there because I
can’t find a solution
it sits on my desk at home so I’m able
to see it and I believe it the out of
sight out of mind mindset doesn’t exist
there and so becoming a zero-waste
advocate I essentially begin to
repurpose recycle and upcycle more
materials like my shopping bag for
example made from upcycle Hessian and
rice
so as I was doing this my zero-waste
footprint became smaller my wardrobe
even smaller too and I began to sense
this new feeling of belonging as a
minimalist in fact these three aspects
self others in nature is a philosophy
known to Balinese as tree hitter karana
or in other places as human connection
the connection between everything so how
could we move beyond this system that
we’re living in since all of nature is
working towards something bigger than
itself a unifying collective movement
perhaps the answer to our problems is to
question the system that we’re in would
that regrow my connection as a
minimalist and would that regrow your
connection when I also move back to
Melbourne I noticed that my minimalist
mindset died out moving back into a
house with four walls concrete paths and
no backyard produce garden and a family
who didn’t want to compromise for my
minimalist mindset
I even had conversations with all the
old acquaintances about things that
didn’t involve the environmental problem
I walked shopfronts of clothes and I
felt the first sense of temptation in
six months I was truly disconnected from
myself in the world around me so imagine
a world where our governments help to
reach our full potential where we can
connect ourselves in nature surround
ourselves by it notice that we’re a part
of it not separate to it where we live
in harmony with everything to be able to
consider this even a reality we need to
look at the fact if it’s sustainable and
it is looking at the sustainability
compass for use at Green School a system
that shows the four interconnected
systems of life we see that minimalism
has a
positive effect on all three aspects
nature well-being and society however
economy seems to be the missing link and
I mean it makes sense because we can’t
implement a minimalist society into a
linear economy that’s still functioning
it’s simply contradictory because trends
come and go products are sold and then
disposed of there is so much energy
wasted and trash poising the environment
there is no cycle to anything so a
solution to that would be to look at the
circulation of all energy a system where
we can see how our actions affect the
world around us and in turn ourselves a
circular one all of us have the power
today to focus on our impacts and their
actions because we know they have an
effect on everything looking into the
future our choices could become a
collectivist moon for the better of the
world so by questioning your own
conditioning you’re essentially
our choices could become a collectivist
movement we are a part of nature not
separate to it our human nature exists
to do so so how can we make this sort of
world well we need to choose to decide
to think consciously make conscious
decisions
what do you truly need what makes you
happy
it means meditating for gratitude
what are you grateful for now by asking
this you’re essentially challenging your
own conditioning because consumerism is
fueled by insecurity and can be remedied
by mindfulness it means connecting to
the natural world think reduce admire
grow the cycle of life even in your
backyard these steps won’t change our
world today but they will convert our
consciousness to a higher level of
connection something we’ve been
so when the fossil fuels run out the
honeybees die and when you discover
there’s more to existence than we
realize is when our human connection
becomes a revolution for change just
think about it thank you [Applause]
this is my jar of trash full of 10
months worth of my trash and this is my
shopping bag and this is the place where
it all began
so what does this got to do with
anything well I have a problem with this
capitalism but allow me to explain it’s
really a genius system providing people
with the means to grow their power
wealth and business empires it’s easy to
pursue luxurious and selfish economic
interests pushing people further down
the scale of the poor I was right in the
middle of this at the age of 13 my life
was hectic I was attending a private
girls school in the inner suburbs where
every girl wore the same uniform and
ironically the same casual clothes on
the weekend the starter pack was
standard 2x new leggings with a North
Face puffer jacket and a white cotton on
t-shirt I bow down to these latest
trends my friends were on the streets
feeling unlucky that my parents didn’t
want to buy me high in fashion so i neva
tably began to obsess over my wardrobe
and my looks my target leggings
billabong hoodie and Dan lock bullies
didn’t live up to the trend and
surprisingly these brands and our
awkward twin bodies allocated us friend
groups everywhere I looked I felt like I
needed to conform to what everyone else
was doing wearing and buying all the
advertisements told me that buying
consuming and collecting more stuff
would only make me happier and bring a
life of success I was truly disconnected
from the world around me and myself
because buying more things didn’t
actually make me happy nor didn’t make
so let’s look at the bigger problem the
harsh reality is that consumerism is
drilled into everyone’s lives so let’s
look at Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in a
way that’s never been done before on our
bottom three levels we have our
physiological safety and belonging needs
these can all be satisfied once we can
put food on the table have a roof over
our heads and a community of people to
connect with once those needs are
satisfied we can move up to our
self-esteem needs however we may seem to
seek a sense of self-confidence
self-worth through buying things that
may represent our and financial
individuality this could be through
wearing an expensive watch
driving an expensive car even just
accessorizing the simple Chanel bag this
inevitably
will not meet our self-esteem needs
because it’s only masking the
insecurities that are still hidden
inside and because this hasn’t been
fully satisfied we have been prevented
as a Western culture from reaching our
self-actualization needs to pursue our
life’s passion and purpose Western
society has got us in a cycle of
consuming that is preventing us from
reaching our full human potential so how
can we move beyond this consumerist
chokehold when I was 16 I moved to Bali
Indonesia to attend the Green School and
once I moved there I was transformed
into this crazy passionate
environmentalist constantly surrounded
by nature literally living inside of
bamboo surrounded by this international
community of changemakers learning to
make our world sustainable so this idea
of minimalism came up after I was
fascinated by the idea that we could
live with little stuff and still be
happy I also noticed that in our green
community we were talking about
sustainability but most of us weren’t
living market for our huge villas to
pensive travels and wardrobes full of
yogya I started off with a mission to
inspire others and myself included to
walk our talk so I had to make some
decisions to start up with moving
between Melbourne and Bali I had to
really decide what I truly needed and
that could fit in a suitcase so I came
up with a question to guide me through
this and that was what brings deep value
into my life do I need this item or do I
want this item so my suitcase became
smaller my wardrobe smaller as well and
my blog content way more meaningful it
was this great feeling being in the
present moment feeling grateful for what
I already have
and as soon as I started to realize the
surroundings around me I also noticed
that everything else I was buying that
didn’t exactly end up in my wardrobe
were things that I used and then threw
away so I was openly talking about how I
cared about the environment but I was
still contributing to the consumption
problem so that convinced me to buy
myself a glass jar and make a vow to
never throw a piece of trash into the
landfill again and what are we seeing
here see some plane tickets some
clothing tags and some straws and of
course the napkin this is really a
reminder of the unavoidable the things
that I’ve mistakes for in in that
process or has ended up there because I
can’t find a solution
it sits on my desk at home so I’m able
to see it and I believe it the out of
sight out of mind mindset doesn’t exist
there and so becoming a zero-waste
advocate I essentially begin to
repurpose recycle and upcycle more
materials like my shopping bag for
example made from upcycle Hessian and
rice
so as I was doing this my zero-waste
footprint became smaller my wardrobe
even smaller too and I began to sense
this new feeling of belonging as a
minimalist in fact these three aspects
self others in nature is a philosophy
known to Balinese as tree hitter karana
or in other places as human connection
the connection between everything so how
could we move beyond this system that
we’re living in since all of nature is
working towards something bigger than
itself a unifying collective movement
perhaps the answer to our problems is to
question the system that we’re in would
that regrow my connection as a
minimalist and would that regrow your
connection when I also move back to
Melbourne I noticed that my minimalist
mindset died out moving back into a
house with four walls concrete paths and
no backyard produce garden and a family
who didn’t want to compromise for my
minimalist mindset
I even had conversations with all the
old acquaintances about things that
didn’t involve the environmental problem
I walked shopfronts of clothes and I
felt the first sense of temptation in
six months I was truly disconnected from
myself in the world around me so imagine
a world where our governments help to
reach our full potential where we can
connect ourselves in nature surround
ourselves by it notice that we’re a part
of it not separate to it where we live
in harmony with everything to be able to
consider this even a reality we need to
look at the fact if it’s sustainable and
it is looking at the sustainability
compass for use at Green School a system
that shows the four interconnected
systems of life we see that minimalism
has a
positive effect on all three aspects
nature well-being and society however
economy seems to be the missing link and
I mean it makes sense because we can’t
implement a minimalist society into a
linear economy that’s still functioning
it’s simply contradictory because trends
come and go products are sold and then
disposed of there is so much energy
wasted and trash poising the environment
there is no cycle to anything so a
solution to that would be to look at the
circulation of all energy a system where
we can see how our actions affect the
world around us and in turn ourselves a
circular one all of us have the power
today to focus on our impacts and their
actions because we know they have an
effect on everything looking into the
future our choices could become a
collectivist moon for the better of the
world so by questioning your own
conditioning you’re essentially
our choices could become a collectivist
movement we are a part of nature not
separate to it our human nature exists
to do so so how can we make this sort of
world well we need to choose to decide
to think consciously make conscious
decisions
what do you truly need what makes you
happy
it means meditating for gratitude
what are you grateful for now by asking
this you’re essentially challenging your
own conditioning because consumerism is
fueled by insecurity and can be remedied
by mindfulness it means connecting to
the natural world think reduce admire
grow the cycle of life even in your
backyard these steps won’t change our
world today but they will convert our
consciousness to a higher level of
connection something we’ve been
so when the fossil fuels run out the
honeybees die and when you discover
there’s more to existence than we
realize is when our human connection
becomes a revolution for change just
think about it thank you [Applause]
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