At the beginning of January, we launched our new bottle of organic wine in collaboration with the “ Ça Commence Par Moi” movement . Our desire: to put the subject of ecology and the small gestures that change the situation on a daily basis at the heart of the discussions . Something to suggest new topics for discussion, initiate taboo ideas and open the debate with your loved ones on the subject of ecology. To find out more about Ça Commence Par Moi , we invite you to meet Julien Vidal , its founder and author of the three books “ Ça commence par moi ”, “ Ça va change avec vous ” and “ Giving back power to your money ”, through this interview. Are you ready to engage with us?
Who are you ?
“My name is Julien Vidal and I am an ambitious and proud eco-citizen . I am the founder of the “It starts with me” movement , which helps to equip proactive individuals with these eco-citizen issues so that they become ambassadors of change.”
Visit the site to discover the actions to be taken on a daily basis to become an agent of change
What was your trigger to launch the Ça Commence Par Moi movement?
“It went from becoming aware of seeing the landscape around me change over the years and air pollution in general - especially in Grenoble because I come from there.
I became aware of the impact of humanity on our environment and on the planet. It's a little music that constantly ran through my head and that made me wake up to these questions.
At the beginning, I tended to point the finger at others, to see only the inconsistencies of each other, whereas myself, I was not in coherence with that. By going to live in Colombia and the Philippines, I saw the extent of the damage to living things as a whole and to nature with the typhoons which are multiplying in particular .
It's unfair, because the effects of climate change are generated here and can be seen there . Here in France, we hardly pay the costs when we cause the most harm to this planet. Returning after 7 years of living elsewhere than in France, I see that the promise to make us happy by exploiting the living is biased because it is false. I told myself that I was going to change things by being in the “It Starts With Me” incarnation .
Before, we talked about small gestures, which was very simplistic. We limited eco-citizen action to frustrating and anxiety-provoking action and I thought we could go much further. So I set up these 365 actions to start with a more ambitious transformation. And what I realized is that we have a lot more actions within our reach than I thought.
If we dare to tell about our changes , to be a spokesperson , to make others want to do the same step by step with each of their talents… we can go much further.
Today, Ça Commence Par Moi is an association that aims to re-energize the imagination and in particular with the glorious 2030 podcast to move towards milestones that make us want to regain our ability to dream.”
If you had to give the 3 most impactful and relatively simple gestures to implement, what would they be?
“There is no magic recipe. There are a lot of domains and data that change depending on each one but I would say the first things to consider are:
- give power back to your money : our money can support ecological, social and solidarity initiatives. (note: we suggest you read more here or there )
- change the way people get information : the main media are owned by billionaires. You have to dig into the independent media that don't talk about something for money.
- Don't fall into the trap of competition . We can't all live like Béa Johnson (note: if you don't know her yet, here is an article about her ) respecting a perfect zero waste lifestyle , but putting her eco-citizen approach at the service of creativity, of the liberation of happiness - what I call inner ecology - it is possible.
Editor's note: Julien has been a vegetarian for 10 years. In his book “It Begins With Me” , he tells us about the positive impact of initially reducing our consumption of meat and fish. He is a fan of his bike and the inner well-being that it gives him to go for a ride on the banks of the Saône (he is from Lyon, like us!). These are also other avenues to explore in a step-by-step journey towards eco-citizenship.
Discover the “it starts with me” box with 2 wines and Julien’s book
For any order of the box or the bottle in collaboration with Julien Vidal, we donate 10% to their association “Ça Commence Par Moi”
If we jump to 2030, what do you see?
“In a glorious 2030, we will pay even more for global warming , the earth system is still digesting the mistakes of our past. We will have to accept the heckling more and more consequent. I also think of the positive sides. In 2030 I think I will be even more rooted in my territory, in the regeneration of ecosystems and the restoration of life, and more sensitive to the present moment.”
What messages did you want to convey in your books?
“A book is a very good tool for putting important topics back at the heart of conversations. It helps to de-dramatize and have more serene conversations, to accelerate change. It is also a pretext to create new conversations, it is a sharing tool that allows us to wish the best to those around us, it is a privileged time between us at the table which brings a lot of conviviality.”
Where to buy your books?
“I've written three books: ' It Starts With Me ', ' It Will Change With You ' and ' Giving Power Back to Your Money '. To order them, the best thing is to support small bookstores like lalibrairie.com or placedeslibraires.com .”
Bookstores only lost 3% of their turnover. The French realize that culture is part of our life, that it is as important to us as any other basic necessities. There are strong branches that we cling to despite the pandemic.”
What is the thing that gives you hope for the years to come?
“Before the health crisis, it was said that the French were unable to change and to be united. But we can clearly see with the pandemic that we have been able to stop a country, to show solidarity with the most deprived, to offer meals to the most vulnerable, to adapt quickly... We have put our life for...
This change, we must make it for biodiversity. You have to dare to question yourself. Everything is so simple, we can all decide to put in place small actions that change the game and yet everything is so slowed down or postponed. The soil is already in place for change and especially with young people today who have something intuitive to say about ecology.”
What is the thing that amazes you the most?
“I love being on my bike, the city of Lyon is magnificent. I like to see it from my two wheels. And more generally, it is to see how resilient nature is. 4.6 billion years of R&D is no small thing. If we leave nature alone, we see that it has a great ability to regenerate. You have to trust nature.”
For those who reach the end of this article, we wanted to tell you once again that we donate 10% of the turnover of the boxes and the collab bottle to the association "it starts with me", so it's up to you to play 😉
