Read Online - Mother Baby & Child Magazine

mama me-timemother, baby & child october 2013GoddessBy Stephanie McGuinnessVictoria FerrisVictoria Ferris is an Irishenvironmentalist who graduated in theEconomic and Social Sciences fromTrinity College Dublin. From there, she choseto gain some work experience in Geneva as itis considered the crossroads for humanitarian,scientific and environmental institutions inEurope.This enabled for the expansion of herwork to the more needy and went on toestablishing and managing social enterprisesin Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and India, as apro-poor Business Developer. Such a rolefocuses on fair trade, corporate socialresponsibility and applying business modelsto meeting commercial objectives. Thisaims at simultaneously reducing poverty byempowering small scale food producers andconsidering sustainable options.“The only way for any kind of future isinterdisciplinary solutions for cooperative, defossilised,minimal waste economic models. Anenvironmental perspective is a very necessaryperspective for businesses and governmentsto have to ensure humanity’s future. Our hostplanet has finite resources and minerals. Thereis no plan(et) B.”A project close to her heart is a localbeekeeping initiative, which involves nurturing90approximately 20,000 honeybees. “Beesare the world’s most important pollinator offood crops. The importance of bees cannotbe underestimated, since many flowers andplants evolved with bees, so without themthey cannot survive. It is estimated that onethird of the food that we eat each day relieson pollination mainly by bees”.Victoria encourages everyone to embracebeing green on a day-to day claiming thatsustainable living is all about lifestyle choices.Support of local farming, fair trade andhandmade products, cycle or walking andcreative recycling are simple yet productiveways to contribute.“To freecycle is when you don’t need anitem anymore you post it online and offerthat someone picks it up for free. Take alook online for others involved in this locally,or use your Facebook account to make anappeal in your status or start a local group. Ifnothing local is available, there are plenty ofonline petitions to sign and share”.Victoria is currentlydoing her MScin EnvironmentalChange &Management atthe EnvironmentalChange Instituteat the University ofOxford. She can bereached atferrisv@tcd.ie.