The ripple effect
There was a lot of talk about Earth Overshoot Day a couple of months ago as the global date for 2018 was August 1st. Jo wrote about it here.
Then an article came up on my husbands's news feed a couple of days ago saying that the earliest overshoot date was Qatar with February 9th. Understandable, I suppose, if you're trying to sustain a city in a desert. But second is Luxembourg, with a date only ten days later. Luxembourg? Really? I've been there- it's a pretty ordinary country full of pretty ordinary people. I've no idea what they're doing to use up their allocated resources so fast. And it gave this year's overshoot date for the UK as May 8th. That's my wedding anniversary, which has nothing to do with anything except that personally significant dates make you notice things. (May 8th is also WW2 Victory in Europe [VE] day so we find endless Place du 8 Mai in France, which is very nice!) It also means we're about 2 planets short if everyone on Earth lived as we Brits do.
I did start wondering if that means all my efforts to live more lightly are futile. I tried talking to my family who all tutted sympathetically and carried on with what they were doing. It was starting to feel hopeless- another part of Mum being a bit of a hippy and nothing to take seriously. And why would anyone bother, when national governments aren't exactly taking robust action? I'm not just thinking of the orange wonder in the White House- no government is doing enough.
And then I read the lovely Margo's latest blog post, More Thoughts on Straws. Margo was inspired to replace plastic straws with non-disposables by the actions of an acquaintance and her blog post about it inspired somebody else, who may then inspire somebody else...and so it goes on. It might only be straws, but sometimes it only takes one small change to start thinking of a bigger picture. If you can manage without a disposable straw, what else can you manage without?
Just one person's actions can be a catalyst for changing maybe just one other person's behaviour and that change can ripple out, spreading as it goes. And of course, governments are reactive, not proactive. The issue of plastic in the oceans is not new. People have been worried about it for years, but when the tipping point is reached and it is of concern to enough of the population, governments will legislate for change. We need to remember we can all help reach that tipping point. I need to remember that.
What really made me think about the effect one person can have was that on the same day I read a post in a log by Helen Moffett, about Make do and Mend (and with a photo of a National Trust property about 10 miles from my house, although she lives in South Africa!) In a previous post she'd written how inspired she was to see a lone person collecting plastic rubbish on a beach. This time there were four people. Had they seen the previous lady? Read Helen's blog? Either way "There is hope." she says. I think she's right.
I still wish I could make change happen quicker though.
Then an article came up on my husbands's news feed a couple of days ago saying that the earliest overshoot date was Qatar with February 9th. Understandable, I suppose, if you're trying to sustain a city in a desert. But second is Luxembourg, with a date only ten days later. Luxembourg? Really? I've been there- it's a pretty ordinary country full of pretty ordinary people. I've no idea what they're doing to use up their allocated resources so fast. And it gave this year's overshoot date for the UK as May 8th. That's my wedding anniversary, which has nothing to do with anything except that personally significant dates make you notice things. (May 8th is also WW2 Victory in Europe [VE] day so we find endless Place du 8 Mai in France, which is very nice!) It also means we're about 2 planets short if everyone on Earth lived as we Brits do.
I did start wondering if that means all my efforts to live more lightly are futile. I tried talking to my family who all tutted sympathetically and carried on with what they were doing. It was starting to feel hopeless- another part of Mum being a bit of a hippy and nothing to take seriously. And why would anyone bother, when national governments aren't exactly taking robust action? I'm not just thinking of the orange wonder in the White House- no government is doing enough.
And then I read the lovely Margo's latest blog post, More Thoughts on Straws. Margo was inspired to replace plastic straws with non-disposables by the actions of an acquaintance and her blog post about it inspired somebody else, who may then inspire somebody else...and so it goes on. It might only be straws, but sometimes it only takes one small change to start thinking of a bigger picture. If you can manage without a disposable straw, what else can you manage without?
Just one person's actions can be a catalyst for changing maybe just one other person's behaviour and that change can ripple out, spreading as it goes. And of course, governments are reactive, not proactive. The issue of plastic in the oceans is not new. People have been worried about it for years, but when the tipping point is reached and it is of concern to enough of the population, governments will legislate for change. We need to remember we can all help reach that tipping point. I need to remember that.
What really made me think about the effect one person can have was that on the same day I read a post in a log by Helen Moffett, about Make do and Mend (and with a photo of a National Trust property about 10 miles from my house, although she lives in South Africa!) In a previous post she'd written how inspired she was to see a lone person collecting plastic rubbish on a beach. This time there were four people. Had they seen the previous lady? Read Helen's blog? Either way "There is hope." she says. I think she's right.
I still wish I could make change happen quicker though.
Comments
Post a Comment