Earth Day Q&A With Katie & Mick

-Tell us a little bit about each of you, your relationship, and your story. 

We met at University of Delaware where we both studied nursing! We were in the same classes/groups/lectures throughout all four years of school, but we did not get close until our senior year when we both studied abroad to South Africa and Tanzania! Katie fell in love (unknowingly to Mick) during the trip! However, nothing happened until we returned back to school! Legend has it a drunk kiss in a bar bathroom started it all… and the rest is her-story!! Haha. After we graduated we moved in together, moved to a new state to start our nursing careers, and Katie proposed (and beat Mick to it) in September 2020!

-What is one of your favorite places that you have traveled to?

Katie: I loved traveling to Portland, Oregon! We went in fall of 2019 and stayed in a tiny home! This was our first time trying out “tiny living” and it sparked our joy to one day live like that as well!

Mick: It’s either Portland or Seattle, but I really liked when we went to South Africa and Tanzania!

-Explain your relationship with nature and sustainability.

We try to live very consciously regarding our actions and how it affects nature and the environment. We have adapted many habits to try to reduce our waste, be more sustainable, and hopefully influence others to make small changes! We actually posted a video on our YouTube channel of ways that we try to be sustainable! For example, we use reusable grocery bags in place of plastic bags, we buy bulk and repurpose glass jars to cut down on single use plastics, we use shampoo and conditioner bars to also cut down on single use plastics, we compost our food scraps to reduce our waste and to repurpose this for soil for our spring plants/herbs, and we try to avoid fast-fashion when we can and thrift our clothes (we love a good thrifted find!!)!

-Do you believe in climate change? Tell us your views.

Heck yes! Is the sky blue?? We’ve both believed in climate change for as long as we can remember- probably since we were little kids. Katie’s mom even called her a “tree hugger” because she was a recycling queen! Our view about climate change is that it is real. It is happening all around us and more people need to acknowledge that. We feel as though there is a large majority of people who do not take this matter seriously, and this delay in changing our actions will severely cost us in the near future.

-What is your favorite natural environment to be in? Forrest? Ocean?

Mick loves the forest and mountains while Katie loves both equally!

-What are some ways that people can show that they love the Earth?

Make tiny changes to your daily routine! Change your toothpaste to toothpaste tabs to cut down on single use plastics, swipe out makeup wipes for reusable cotton rounds, make a vegetarian or plant-based meal once or twice a week, walk/bike/carpool when you can, use rags/dish towels in place of paper towels, volunteer for a beach or park clean up! If we each adapt tiny little changes the results can be big!

-Why do you choose to eat a plant-based diet?

For the health benefits, for moral reasons, and the environmental implications! We have watched many documentaries and listen to podcasts that go further in depth about the various benefits of taking on a plant-based diet! Our favorites are “Forks Over Knives”, “Game Changers”, and “The Plant Proof Podcast”!

-If you could speak with nature, what would you ask it or what would you talk about?

So many questions come to mind!! I think we would definitely apologize for the way humankind has been treating nature our entire existence! We would ask if nature has any advice to change our actions and what we can do to help! How great it would be if nature could talk to us- maybe then people would believe it!