I have been reading Sir David Attenborough’s latest book, A Life on the Planet -My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53916142-a-life-on-our-planet?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=566rrPbWme&rank=1 ), with increasing dismay as the news (certainly not new to me but elaborated by this venerated, seasoned planet warrior, who has spent years examining the length, depth and heights of the planet) that we are fast approaching a point of no return, where we would have done irreversible damage to the planet and the ecosystem, that it will head towards extinction. As well as showing off the beauty of nature the author is passionate about how we as humans have continued to impact our habitat by operating off the paradigm that we are the only important beings and everyone and everything has to give way to our comfort and wellbeing, not to mention the wealth of corporations who take a very short term view, with profits being the bottom line. In short, we are really and truly facing extinction and destruction of the planet, unless we all start taking drastic action soon.
On a personal level, I am what you might all a closet environmentalist, who is passionate about the environment. I use Enjo cleaning products (https://enjo.com.au/), recycle almost everything including soft plastics, and often do not bring home plastics if I am buying items like vegetables. I am the nightmare shopper at the market and greengrocer, who presents loose vegetables and fruit at the checkout and am quite bemused that the checkout person asks if I want a bag. After taking all the trouble to bring my items to the counter not in bags, I expect them to use common sense to know that I am therefore not interested in taking more plastic home. Usually I am standing there with my own bag in hand when they ask this question. I have often had to soften my response as I understand that most of these workers are simply going through the motions and really have no interest in deducing what each individual shopper might need or be thinking. I am not unthinking or unfeeling about the extra effort checkout people have to go to, to manage loose items, so I often use the paper bags provided for mushrooms instead of plastic bags, when buying smaller items like chillies or smaller quantities that fit in those bags. I dream about the day when all retail outlets provide alternatives to plastic bags and when plastic bags are banned everywhere in the world.
The climate crisis is becoming more and more evident as we continue to see weather events such as the ‘rain bomb’ which recently caused devastating flooding in the Queensland south east and New South Wales north-east and continues to affect those areas. While these areas are known to be prone to flooding, the once-in-100-years events seem to now occur at least every ten years.
I am interested in comments as to how the average citizen can contribute to combating climate change. Some things that come to mind: walk more, drive less; take public transport as often as possible; plant more trees; support organisations such as Greanpeace; eat less meat and more vegetables; grow your own vegetables organically; recognise the environment is part of us and we are part of it, and think about ways to reduce our impact on it. This BBC article provides a list of ten things we as individuals can do, with explanations as to why and how it will make a difference: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20181102-what-can-i-do-about-climate-change
As a student of A Course in Miracles I also want to share an article by Greg Mackie, who ponders the question of what we can do about global warming and offers a spiritual perspective: https://circleofa.org/library/global-warming/
Thanks for your blog, nice to read. Do not stop.
Thank you!