Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. These words are often part of Anglican burial services. Today on Ash Wednesday, as Catholic priests annoint the heads of their parishoners with ashes, they will say ‘Dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return.’ Regardless of religious persuasion or atheist views, these words are profound for all of us. They remind us of our humble origins and mere mortality – we come with nothing, we leave with nothing. Truths that bind the human race as one. Sobering thoughts we know, but appropriate for today. Thoughts that  should also extend to consideration for the precious resources of our planet, which exactly like it’s inhabitants, are not immortal and never ending. Ash Wednesday is the start of Lent, a time for giving up sweets, chocolate, alcohol, cigarettes, television, or any other favourite thing you feel is a worthy sacrifice for the duration of Lent. Perhaps today can also be the start of creating some new habits that may help sustain our environment. Dealing efficiently with household waste and reducing food waste, supporting our local producers who use ethical farming and production methods, using local farm shops, butcher’s, fishmongers and farmer’s markets for our weekly shopping, are all actions which can promote a healthy environment and local economy. From small beginnings big things grow. ‘You must be the change you wish to see in the world’, are words attributed to Mahatma Gandhi. Some dispute he ever said them. We like to think if he didn’t say them, he would certainly have thought them. They ring true as somewhere perhaps to begin on our own individual campaign to live better, this Lenten season.