TRANSCRIPPTION S1E1 -INTRODUCING GREEN BUSTERS

Hi, I'm Maddie from the World is Home, and I'm Charlene Unwrapped, and today I would like to welcome you to episode number one. In today's episode we want to introduce ourselves to you and tell you why listening to Greenbusters could just change your life.

Let's start by how we met. We met on a cold day last winter, and I had just recently moved to Brussels and didn't really have any time to make new friends. But I was involved with the European Waste Reduction Week and found out that one of the projects organized then was a Bea Johnson speech. I've never met Bea before, but my volunteers in Jakarta had told me a lot about her, and about the way she would use her waste to an absolute minimum. So, I decided to go and see her, or listen to her. In the room behind the stage we had some drinks and snacks and cookies, and we were chatting. But the person, I noticed the most was this beautiful brunette nodding really energetically in agreement to almost the exact same things that I was. And I found that the conversations we had after that speech stood out from that day. Shame she lived that far away all the way in Abu Dhabi. Luckily she was passing by Brussels to hear this speech, because from that day on, we started chatting about our journey towards a better lifestyle, one that was not easy, one that was not always filled with happy news, and one in which finding like-minded friends is particularly rewarding. The Greenbusters podcast is the result of that meeting. So, who was this mysterious Charlene. And why did she get on a yacht from South Africa to Abu Dhabi, and stay there. Charlene?

Thank you Maddie. This mysterious woman is me. Born and raised in South Africa and now living in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates and married to a handsome Lebanese man. I am an environmentalist, a lawyer, a yoga teacher and a mom, all in one. How did I arrive in the UAE? It was never part of my plan, but back when I finished school I took an interest in sailing. And it so happened that my dad built yachts at the time, and after sailing halfway around the world, I came to the UAE to meet my sister's future husband, who I had never met. I signed off in Dubai, I fell in love with the place, and never left - that was around 15 years ago. And by the way you make yacht life sound so glamorous - but I really worked hard back then!

You did! Oh my gosh, lucky girl!

Before then, I grew up on a farm, and spent much of my childhood outdoors and in the water. I was always drawn to nature. However, despite this passion for being outdoors and my passion for the environment, I always thought I was doing my bit for the planet, and it was only a few years back did my eyes open to the fact that I really wasn't doing much at all. And it wasn't that it was intentional. It was more down to the fact that I was not aware of how my actions were impacting the environment. I never knew how my almost weekly shopping sprees for new outfits and bags and shoes were contributing to fast fashion. I didn't even know and had never heard about fast fashion back then, or that all my individually packed plastic Ziploc bags that I used to put into my kids lunch boxes were actually doing more harm than good.