Glen Forrest resident Rhiannon lives with a strong intention to integrate her personal values, home life and career. With a sharp, analytical mind and a heart full of love for the natural word, she’s building a direction strongly informed by her degrees in Political Science and International Relations, Economics, a post graduate qualification in Education, as well as a wealth of personal and professional experience.
‘In my daily life, I’m moving towards a more minimalist lifestyle’, she said. ‘I’ve come to realise that I don’t need much. I experience so much joy just by being in nature. My partner and I have been paring down our material possessions and waste. For example, we buy waste free products from places such as the Wasteless Pantry. I’m committed to supporting regenerative farming practices, which are an important climate solution, so we buy our weekly groceries from Dirty Clean Food. For about nine years I’ve mainly eaten a plant-based diet. ‘
‘I want to live in harmony with the natural world, to understand the ecosystem I live in, to be connected to where my food comes from,’ she said. ‘My dream would be to buy a place here in the hills and rewild the land, as well as learn about and do permaculture practices. I have a huge interest in Earthships, the Greenprints approach to thriving within our ecological limits, off grid housing and Tiny Houses. One day I hope to build a home that has a small ecological footprint.’
Rhiannon has also made sure her money works for what’s good. After considering what Market Forces has to say about divestment, she switched her superannuation to Australian Ethical and her savings to a bank that doesn’t fund the fossil fuel industry.
In her part time work with the New Economy Network Australia (NENA), Rhiannon helps run online courses and events that challenge the idea of prioritising economic growth at all costs, and promotes alternative economic systems, such as Doughnut Economics and Ecological Economics. She also works as a community organiser for the Conservation Council of WA (CCWA) and mobilises action for campaigns, such as Gaslit.
‘One of the good things to come out of the difficult Covid times’, she said, ‘was to see that to be happy, you have to live for something bigger than yourself… and to live more intentionally… I’m very happy with where my life is going now’.
Rhiannon, your happiness brings hope to the world – for an economic system with wellness at its heart, and for a carbon neutral, sustainable, fossil-free future. What an inspiration!