Judy Stockdale's story

Hi, my name is Judy Stockdale. I am 64 years old, I live in Enderby, BC, and I am one proud mother. This photo is of me on a bicycle trip to New Zealand where a friend and I cycled 1700 kms, and went from Bluff to Cape Reinga in 2003. A great way to travel and see a country. I love the pace.

I have felt strongly about environmental issues since Rachael Carr's "The Silent Spring" in the early 70's. I have had cloth shopping bags for thirty years, and I remember teaching school kids the 4 "R's" in the 1980's: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Reclaim. I remember thinking the most shocking thing about our misuse of Mother Earth was species extinction. Once they are gone, they are gone forever, whereas pollution, deforestation, ozone depletion, population explosion could all be fixed over time. Global warming is different.

Facing this issue will require a combined effort and commitment from everyone in every corner of the globe, and it all starts with each of us taking one small step. My wish is that we could have community stores that only sold local produce, or at least shops that indicated local produce. Maybe we could reduce our impact in this way and get more trucks off the road. Maybe others could express their wish for a more sustainable future, and who know where this might lead. A huge wish list for sustainability. Yeah! Meanwhile my husband and I farm and garden organically (Certified Organic), and we try to encourage wildlife and biodiversity through planting native flora. We carefully select who we donate our money to and who we support politically.

We try to maximize the effect we have politically, environmentally, and socially. There is lots more we could do, and that will be our challenge!