Tuesday 15 October 2019

But what can little old me do....

I'm getting increasingly frustrated with the headlines and soundbites around the climate emergency and the attempt to paint small actions as inadequate, ineffective, "not enough". It makes people feel helpless, hopeless and dangerously, gives us permission to bury our heads in the sand and say what's the point? I might as well carry on as I am, after all "they" say it won't be enough and doing or not doing that thing will involve a change, a bit of effort, not doing something I like doing as often as I want to, learning or trying something new and could be a bit scary or different and I'm already busy/tired/poorly/struggling to make ends meet enough as it is....

After all one person not using peat in their gardens isn't going to save all the planet's peat bogs, one person not using herbicides and pesticides isn't going to protect all the soils and lives of all the creatures that depend on the micro-organisms that live within it, one person switching to a re-usable cup and water bottle isn't going to stop the production and dumping of plastics in our ocean, one person switching to the bus rather than driving to work isn't going to suddenly result in improved air quality in all our towns, one person taking the train from London to Scotland instead of flying isn't going to stop that plane taking off and... you get the picture.

But what, for me, is getting lost in all this is the multiplier effect - whether deliberately or just plain ignorantly our media and vested interests are feeding us a line that we just might not be able to make enough of a difference by our own behaviour, that dangerous implication that maybe just maybe we therefore shouldn't bother even trying. And yes, I know there is a danger here of my sounding like a completely paranoid conspiracy theorist but that doesn't change the facts that folk with money and livelihoods at stake will always try to influence the outcome of an argument in their immediate favour - apart from anything else that's human nature - what's in it for me? how will I benefit? immediate self-preservation - it's just what humans do.

However, all these "it's not enoughs" ignore a vital fact, no matter our creed, colour, gender, age, location, beliefs, education, income or any other characteristic we like to label and pigeon-hole each other with, we are a society, a collective of people who share this planet and hold the key to our own survival - the planet will exist whatever we do, it won't be the same but it will be here, it's our species and the other creatures that suffer from our choices and actions, it's our children who struggle to breathe on their way to school, our watercourses that are getting clogged up with poisons, soil run-off and rubbish of all kinds, our food-chain that has been contaminated with plastics and poisons... we have been and still are doing this to ourselves by our own small, cumulative actions and in-actions over centuries and now that we actually understand what is happening and can even see it with our own eyes, feel it with our own breath and know that things can be different if we want them to be, surely it just makes sense that we make whatever small choices or changes we can just on the off-chance that it starts to improve things for everyone...

11 comments:

  1. At the beginning of the year my 25 year old daughter became very anxious about the climate emergency/global warming/call it what you will. She was doing everything she felt she could do, but felt that it wasn't enough. One day I turned the discussion to the hole in the ozone layer that we had all been told was going to kill us when it was discovered, years ago. It was ordinary people who decided to shun CFC's when the facts became known. Where they led, big business was forced to follow and the hole began to close up. Things started to change much quicker than the doomsayers had predicted. THAT is what gives me hope when the news churns out yet more bad news environmental stories. Tracy XX

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    1. Hello Tracy and thanks for commenting. I think it's the attempt to make us feel hopeless that frustrates me the most too. I hope your daughter realises she's not alone.

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  2. Just found your blog and this post so resonates with me, so thank you. I think the only hope for mankind is for us all to make our small difference, because this will force change. Business is consumer led and we need to refuse to be powerless and feel we cannot make a difference. Will follow your blog now and wish you well. Thanks, Jan B.

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    1. Hello Jan and thank you. Hope you continue to like the posts.

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  3. Amen to all you. I share your feelings and regularly wonder what is the point to anything I do, or anyone in a tiny country like England. Until the massive populations (Russia, China, India, America) change I despair of us making any difference at all.

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    1. but that is just the opposite of the point I'm trying to make Jayne - as long as we all think that whatever we can do no matter how small it is, isn't enough, then nothing will change, If everyone just focuses on doing what they can and doesn't give in to the helplessness and hopelessness that only serves those who profit from the destruction of our resources then I truly believe things will change.

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    2. My apologies, I was not trying to contradict you. Very sorry.

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    3. No apology necessary Jayne -misunderstandings create conversations!!

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  4. The zero waste shop that I get my milk from, put this up on their fb page,
    'We don't need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly, we need millions of people doing it imperfectly'
    So true!

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    1. Hi Ann,thank you for popping by. I think this is a really good message for everyone.

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  5. I think both individual and societal action is necessary and feel slightly guilty for not getting involved with campaigns or protests, even though I think I do OK individually. I think some of the criticism of the inadequacy of small scale actions is from people who are unwilling to take those actions themselves but happy to put their name to a protest.

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Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to comment, due to an upsurge in "odd" comments all comments are moderated. I hope it won't put too many of you off. I think I've also finally fixed the issue that meant we couldn't reply to comments
Tx