Saturday 3 April 2021

Nature, and my role in reversing climate change

A mini-blog/reflective journal, from a self-confessed air-head.


Nature and my role in reversing
climate change



I've described myself as a nature-worshipper from quite an early age, though I can't pinpoint exactly when.  It's just always been within me, somehow.

I grew up in an idyllic little town, living right on the edge of some fairly extensive meadows and a little network of streams and rivers.  So us kids spent large portions of our lives, especially our summers, in the fresh air engaged in wholesome outdoor pursuits (mostly wholesome, anyways).

My special place was some woodland to the north of town where I used to take our doggo on long walks.  And I once spent the day sunbathing stretched out comfortably on the trunk of a fallen tree in a meadow, while the dog had a wonderful time in the long grasses.  (I cried, later, when I found they'd sawn the tree up into bits to remove it.)

Absolutely golden memories, which I'm lucky to have and which I treasure.

I composed a (sort of) haiqua about that fallen tree:-
Peaceful tree
In meadow sunshine
Though many years felled
Soothes the spirit still

As I got older and went off to university I still loved to spend time in the outdoors.  I recall each spring sitting in the sun watching the squirrels chasing one another round and round tree trunks in their courtship dance (usually while I was supposed to be doing something else).  When the trees bloomed each year I loved to shove some stems of cherry blossom in my hair!  (Yes, I'm that type of person -- and I've also been known to hug trees!)  I once spent a fine summer's day lodged in the forked branches of a tree reading a book of second hand poetry I'd picked up that morning, snoozing, sipping pop and snacking on a loaf of fresh, crusty bread from the bakery!

Again, golden memories.

After graduation, I spent years trying to gain employment somewhere like 
The Wildlife Trust, but unfortunately that didn't work out.
(I'll always be glad of the years I did spend working for Oxfam, though -- some may have their criticisms of that organisation, but I learned a lot).

I didn't only use those natural spaces for my own needs; I recognised a need to give back to nature from a pretty young age as well.


I recall drawing "save the whales" and "save the ozone layer"/"combat the greenhouse effect" & similar all over all my notebooks and numerous items of apparel (this was before the internet and hashtags were a thing), along with the CND symbol in school.  ☮️  I insisted that my whole family cease to purchase CFC propelled aerosols.  
I've had a variety of boycotts -some of which are still going to this day- against a number of companies, since my early teens.

Later in my teens I held letter writing campaigns to companies, such as the 'big 5' energy companies (nowadays there are many more than those 5 or so -- happily, some of them are at least somewhat  committed to providing green energy).  I wrote to my local newspaper, too.  My mum still talks about the time I went off to take the dog for a walk and returned hours later with bags full of litter I'd picked up while out there in the woods, and the subsequent letter I wrote to the local paper.

My mum and I campaigned for years, protesting planning permission for housing estates on some of local the green belt.  We held the developers off for a long time (not just us, of course, there were other local people too -- "the people united can never be divided!")  Those developers have since gone ahead and obtained some land from at least one local farmer and now, with the addition of numerous additional housing estates, the town is growing and growing, for better or worse.  As are most other towns and cities, at least in my part of the country.

If I'd known of a local Greenpeace group when I was growing up, I'd have joined it (or at least hung around them all; but, as I say, it was before the days of the internet).  In uni I branched out a bit into the realms of social justice causes, too.
I'm ashamed to say I've only recently learned that the two causes are interconnected, because the negative effects of climate change always impact the poorest and most disadvantaged communities, first and foremost.

If you're reading my blog then there's a good chance that you're someone who's concerned, maybe even alarmed (like me, and Greta), about climate change.  So I don't propose to go on about all the reasons climate change is a threat and why it needs to be reversed (as much and as fast as possible).  There are plenty of websites you can visit to find out that info, if you're not already familiar with it.

But I'd like to provide (as a linked Google doc, below) a list of some of the things we can do as individuals, which can help.  We may not all be able to go on protest marches every weekend, or have wealth we can invest in ethical & green stocks, or be the CEO of some huge corporation/a head of state with the power to implement policies which can positively impact the climate.  Obviously.  These things all need to happen, for sure; but what if (like me) you're not in a position where you've any real influence over those things...?

Well, then the things in the list are at least actions you can take, from your armchair (like me!)  Share the Google doc (and other relevant articles) with friends, family and colleagues -- try to do (or encourage others to) a little something every day or so, or just each week or so (whatever you can manage) and it all mounts up, for the better.

Some of my favourites are the Ecosia search engine and The Rainforest Site, along with the Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace sites.

Please see the Google doc, below, for the full list.

💭 Please also share your ideas in the comments here, to add to the list, too.  The more the merrier, and the bigger the better! ðŸ’­





Photo credits (all photos from Unsplash):  forest by Kunal Shinde;  town in valley by Luca Pozzoli;  fallen tree by Thomas Allsop;  cherry blossom by Yustinus Subiakto;  (Wildlife Trust, Oxfam and Save the Whales logos);  wind turbines by Thomas Reaubourg;  meadow by Dave Lowe;  'community' graffiti by Mike Erskine;  climate change placard by Markus Spiske (logo is Extinction Rebellion's);  'planet burns' placard by Ethan Wilkinson (again, logo is XR's);  armchair by Hjalte Gregersen; grass by Markus Spiske.


All logos shown are the intellectual property of the organisations in question, and I recognise the -no doubt- trademarked status of all of these -- they are shown here under fair usage, and in the interests of promoting the organisations in question.  If you are the owner of one of the IP logos shown in this post or the associated Google doc and you wish it to be removed, please get in contact with me via the comments section and I'll take care of it as soon as I see your comment (but please note it could take some weeks).  Thank you.


Cookies/data
European Union laws require that EU visitors be given information about cookies used and data collected on this blog.  Google/Blogger 
have added a notice on this blog to explain Google's use of certain Blogger and Google cookies, including use of Google Analytics and AdSense cookies, and other data collected by Google.  If this notice does not display and you are in the EU, please will you notify me in the comments section.  Many thanks.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Book review (partial): You Can Heal Your Life, by Louise L. Hay

    Forgive my book review, I'm not used to this so it almost certainly won't take the form of conventional book reviews or ones you...