Introducing Holly Brooker
Home » Blog » Holly Jean Brooker » Introducing Holly BrookerHolly Jean is an urban girl with a green edge, and we're thrilled to welcome her to the world of Good bloggers. Holly's interested in the reality of eco-living in the urban environment, as well as Government policy and initiatives focused on sustainability.
Hey, I’m Holly Jean and am excited to blog my way through 2010. I am a typical 28-year-old urban girl trying to live a little bit greener for the sake of my health, the environment, and my pocket.
One of my sisters is a true greenie who knows the ins and out of every chemical and toxin on earth, and thinks its a bit of a joke that I’m an eco-advocate. The joke part is that I’m a total urban girl who loves the hustle and bustle of city life (which ultimately causes damage to our environment, as well as creating a culture of dependency on big corporations!). Yes, I eat meat products, and some non-organic foods, drive a non-hybrid turbo car, eat out and buy things packaged in non-recyclable products. However I do have a genuine passion to live a life that is as natural as can be, within the constraints of city life, and I try my best to make environmentally friendly choices.
My individual desire to live holistically and naturally stems largely from my childhood, growing up as a “sickie”, as I was endearingly called. You name it, I’ve had it. Glue ear, grommets, tonsilitis, asthma attacks, 12 ear surgeries, ear drum skin grafts, viral meningitis (twice), compressed vertebrae (resulting in three hospitalizations). I’m pretty much a health insurer’s enemy. Because of my poor health, and consuming copious amounts of evil antibiotics, I grew up desperate to protect my weak immunity and be healthy!
For me, eating right, exercising and preventing free radicals and chemicals from damaging my body is a way for me to have control over my health. I resist using chemical-ridden toxic beauty products on my skin and hair and search for healthier, paraben- and toxin-free alternatives. I’ve also become more interested in finding natural cures to ailments (in a scientific way, not a hooky pooky way) without using the packs of codiene, tramadol, voltaren and the like which doctors regularly give me as a “fix”. I’m more interested in preventing these ailments in the first place!
Aside from my focus on improving my own health and wellbeing, I do have a few other interests!
My husband and I run a company called urbanmac ltd (www.urbanmac.co.nz), with the desire to enable self-sufficiently among fellow urbanites, particularly through helping city slickers grow their own organic veggies. Growing our own food ultimately benefits us individually and collectively as we share our produce; and environmentally and physically as we reduce the consumption of excessive pesticides and sprays in our bodies, as well as through our soil and waterways. At urbanmac we supply untreated, plantation-grown macrocarpa kitset raised garden beds, to enable urbanites to grow their own organic veggies in limited spaces. We offer a consultation package, as well as Organic Eko Soil for easy ready-to-plant deliveries. We also sell beautiful and durable untreated macrocarpa outdoor furniture. We are totally making gardening hot in the city!
Having majored in politics and sociology at Auckland Uni, I am intrigued by the sociology of eco-living, and policies around sustainability. I am interested in the practicalities of Government initiatives and policies aimed at improving sustainability in our precious Aotearoa. I have questions around how sustainability actually works in the community and in society at large, and how effective community and Government initiatives are in this area, and which initiatives have been successful and why.
This societal view of eco-living is coupled with a semi-street edge, with my work as a teacher in New Zealand’s largest Pasifika-populated high school, a decile one school in south Auckland. Here I run the Senior Health Programme, focusing on wellbeing (hauora), health promotion and the socio-ecological perspective of healthy living. My teaching job is incredibly rewarding, topical and thought provoking—not to mention exciting, as it enables me to encourage and empower young people to make smart choices to improve their own wellbeing, and that of the community, through health promotion.
Aaaaand … I like to write! About real life stuff that makes people think, encourages them, inspires them to live healthier, better, longer. It enables me to analyse, articulate and re-define my own philosophy around living holistically. Writing is a way for me to think. It helps me get out my ideas, revelations, insights, confusions and issues I’m currently consumed by.
So, I’m going to write about all of these things: the logistics of eco-living, effective and ineffective sustainable practices, realistic Government initiatives and schemes, individual and community hauora and environmental care, teens and eco-living, organic gardening, the relationship between individuals, communities and sustainability, eco-friendly beauty products and fashion—and whatever else hits my mind as I’m stuck on the motorway in my super-comfy turbo car on the way to work (which I do feel a little bit bad about driving, so try to offset the damage by driving less frequently and more fuel-efficiently—don’t hate me!).
Sun March 14, 2010 @ 01:40 PM
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