Inheritance

The garden I've inherited
(author's own photo)

When I was 4 years old my dad sat me down and showed me the atlas. He pointed to Canada and told me we were going on a big boat to live there and that is what we did. In the holidays Mum and Dad took us camping by the lakes in the big Canadian forests. I remember sometimes we went to the Algonquin National Park. Dad liked exploring “virgin forest” and looking for moose. Luckily he never got close to one. He had romantic notions about unspoilt “Urwalt” picked up from reading Karl May books as a teenager.

I remember being scared once when Dad took us all looking for bears. I was glad that we didn't see any on that occasion. When we did it was a mother Black Bear and her two cubs foraging at the back of the campsite garbage dump with us safely on the other side, not far from our car. On another evening when we were eating dinner outside our tent we heard wolves howling in the distance, which was also a bit scary for a little girl who had been brought up in the suburbs of a country where dangerous animals had almost all been exterminated in earlier centuries.

I did find it interesting to see a beaver dam though. It was only a passing glimpse as we drove past but I can still recall that image. Closer to home I liked to see the small jewel coloured hummingbirds which visited the Nicotiana flowers, which my parents had planted in the front garden.

After a few years we returned to England because Mum missed her family and friends. She never learned to drive and the bus service in Burlington wasn’t good. My mum and I were both born in Hampshire as my grandmother, her mother and at least three more generations of my great grandmother’s family had been.

Back home my dad had to make do with walks in the New Forest, a large part of which was plantations between open areas of heathland. The pockets of native trees, some of which were probably the remains of ancient forest, had a much wider variety of plants and birds for me to spot. I went to one of those areas on a fungus foray organised by my school. Thankfully much of the New Forest still remains in tact today.

On country walks in the New Forest or in the countryside around where we lived my mum would tell me the names of the wildflowers and the birds which we saw, just like her mother had done when she was a girl. She had walked for miles with her mother from a young age and then cycled longer distances with her family when she was old enough. My father passed on a love of trees and forests in particular and my mother, her love of birds, butterflies and wildflowers, but they both loved nature and I have inherited that love and respect of the natural world.

I remember flocks of lapwings on fields near my house in the Autumn. Close by is an area named Peewit Hill, so lapwings (aka peewits) had been common there for a good while. I think they continued to visit after the big Tesco store was built, but then the fields stopped being ploughed and were used for car boot sales. The lapwings stopped coming. Now there are houses where the fields once were.

All around me many of the fields and woods of my childhood have been built on. I appreciate that people need to live somewhere and the demand for houses in the South East is very high. It would help everyone in the UK if jobs were spread more evenly over the whole country. As it isn't some areas suffer from high unemployment and empty buildings while others have to suffer the destruction of the countryside and an increase in noise and pollution with regular traffic jams at busy times. 

Since the Industrial Revolutions Britain has lost 50% of its biodiversity (wild plants and animals), leaving some key species on the edge of extinction. We have lost much of this in the last 50 years, so in my own lifetime. I mourn the lack of birdsong and the loss of so many wildflowers, and the fact that we're driving hedgehogs, common toads and turtledoves to extinction, but it's not just about sentiment; without a healthy environment, inhabited by healthy populations of a wide range of wildlife, we will be less resilient to climate change and food could become scarcer.

You can read more about what scientists at London's Natural History Museum have discovered about the state of nature in Britain here.

I have been lucky to inherit my parents' garden. I worry what sort of world my children will inherit, so I shall do what I can to improve the environment in my garden to provide what habitats and food for wildlife I can in that space. It already has bushes where birds make their nests and I'm busy adding more flowers to try to provide nectar and pollen for as many months as possible. I've planted some flat open flowers like daisies and single dahlias, as well as penstemons and foxgloves for insects which prefer tubular flowers. Variety is the key to feeding a wide range of pollinators. If everyone in Britain did what they could to help wildlife, nature in Britain would be in a better state.

I'd love to hear what you're doing to help nature.

The Reality of Climate Change

Bumblebee on yellow Scabious flower
(Author's own photo)

Is Climate Change Serious?

From early in this century I started to notice people talking about global warming and the harm it would do to the world we know. It seemed hard to believe that the world around me was really in any danger and as our government didn't seem to feel any great urgency to act I wasn't unduly worried.

I watched the 2006 film "an Inconvenient Truth"fairly soon after it came out. It was shocking and worrying but I didn't know what I could do to change anything, so I forgot about it. Again, part of me assumed our politicians were working in our best interests, so were bound to do something about it if it was important.

Waking Up

This all changed early in 2019. People were talking about Extinction Rebellion, a group who were taking global warming seriously and were quoting climate scientists when explaining why they thought we all needed to take it seriously. Then David Attenborough presented a programme on the BBC called Climate Change: the Facts in which a number of eminent climate scientists explained what global warming and climate change were and how the high amount of fossil fuels were are burning is causing it. They also explained the serious consequences of us carrying on as normal.

If you haven't already seen it or haven't watched it recently I recommend you finding an hour to watch it when you aren't too tired, although I hope the message is serious enough to wake anyone up. It's crucial that we all understand what is happening. Sadly the lack of action in the last few years means we're going to find it extremely difficult to stay below 1.5º C of global warming. The programme now seems a bit optimistic, but if we pull out all the stops we might still make it.

Climate Change the Facts on YouTube 

It's still available on the BBC as well.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00049b1

We're Better Together

Photo credits Hurca!

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead (cultural anthroplogist, 1901 -1978)

When we're on a long journey it can be helpful to have companions to encourage us on the way.

A group can sometimes achieve more than an individual acting on their own, too. Together we can share knowledge and resources. 

A group of local residents concerned about the climate and related issues will be in a stronger position to discuss ways to reduce GHG emissions locally, restore nature and to build local resilience with local councillors than individuals acting on their own. Sometimes councillors listen. Sometimes being more sustainable and environmentally friendly saves money, for instance installing solar panels of council buildings. Sometimes councillors understand the urgency of cutting greenhouse gases and the dangers of global warming increasing.

The Climate Majority Project UK

A group of well known people have recently started the Climate Majority Project UK. Among them are Prof. Kevin Anderson, Mike Berners-Lee, Lord Deben, Prof. Mark Maslin, Chris Packham, Jonathan Porritt, Kate Raworth, Rupert Read, Michael Rosen, Swampy and Dale Vince.

On their website is a list of "Climate Hubs", which are "essential gathering spaces where people can come together, build relationships and collaborate on local climate action initiatives. They’re a meeting place for existing climate networks and new initiatives to learn from each other and co-ordinate their efforts. They’re also much needed places of mutual support in the face of the climate emergency."

I'm pleased to see groups in Godalming and Guildford, where I used to live, on the list, but I'd love to see groups in Hampshire, and particularly in the Hamble Valley where I live now, join the list. 

Check this list to see if there's a hub near you.

If you are part of any kind of Climate Hub do you have any tips for getting one started?

Transition Towns

You might have heard of Transition Towns. Southampton has a Transition Town group. The idea started in Totnes and was co-founded by Rob Hopkins in 2005. I heard him speak around that time and I found his ideas inspiring. Back then he was encouraging communities to build a resilience for a time when there was a scarcity of fossil fuels. Now we know that's unlikely to happen before fossil fuels make our planet too hot for us to live on, if we carry on as we are. Many of the ideas are still relevant, although for different reasons. Growing as much food as possible locally will reduce food miles and the associated GHG emissions, for instance. Amongst other ideas, Rob Hopkins suggested growing fruit and nut trees on public land.

Today there is a whole Transition Town Network spanning the globe. It calls itself "A movement of communities coming together to reimagine and rebuild our world".

Independent Climate and Sustainablilty Groups

If you ask your local councillors or search on social media you might find that there are independent groups of local residents working on these issues already.

Steps Towards Sustainable Living Part 2

Humpback Whales
(Photo credits Christopher Michel)

 

Time to Reflect

Over the last few days I've looked at several ways in which we can reduce our personal greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and live more sustainably. 

The IPPC recommends that every country halves its greenhouse gas emissions by the end of this decade if we are to stop global warming getting out of control. It's true that our government needs to do much more, much more quickly to make this possible. We have to hope that by voting wisely and letting the government know how important we think this is the next government we have in the UK will make reducing greenhouse gases and making the infrastructure of British society more sustainable their top priority. 

Time to Consider

As responsible citizens we can all play our part and it's vital that we try to halve our own emissions over the next 6 years. This is why I'm using this blog to suggest as many ways as possible for us to reduce our own emissions.

Over the last few days I've looked at 

• Walking more and driving less for short journeys

• Buying less stuff we don't really need

• Using less unnecessary disposable plastic

• Wasting less food and keeping it out of landfill

• Helping pollinators and other insects

• Transitioning to a more sustainable diet

If you're doing all or any of these things already, that's really great. Keep up the good work and don't be shy about talking about why you do these things and how you benefit.

If all this is new to you don't feel overwhelmed. Take your time and choose ideas which fit your lifestyle, your personality and your budget. Take it one step at a time and don't think it has to be all or nothing. Every little helps, as they say. 

They also say we have to Act Now! Today is the best time to start out on our journey to reducing our carbon footprint (the amount of greenhouse gases our choices help to produce) and increasing our carbon handprint.

Carbon Handprint is an idea to help people realise that no contribution is too small. Anybody can make a difference to the environment, and the world will be a better place if we all try to do our bit.

Time to Act

If you can start to change one area of your life every month that would be ideal. However, I know that sometimes we need to take things more slowly, so go at a pace that suits you. If you feel like making one change a month that's great, especially when they're small changes. Making too many bigger changes at once could lead to burnout or feeling overwhelmed so don't overdo things. Six years isn't long, but one change every month in that time will be 72 changes by the end of the decade. Pace yourself to win the race.

Time for Government to Act

In some ways six years isn't very long to turn things round, though. Governments have known the transition to renewable energy was necessary for a good 30 years. It's now extremely urgent that we get to 50% renewable energy for everything in the next 6 years. To achieve a 50% reduction in GHG emissions no-one can open any new sources of fossil fuels, whether coal, oil or gas. The failure to do so will put an increasing number of human and non human lives at risk with each passing decade and is highly likely to end human civilisation, perhaps by the end of this century.

Time to Protect Nature

Protecting nature is an important part of fighting global warming. Halving our GHG emissions by 2030 also means a 50% reduction in everything that results in less CO2 being absorbed from the atmosphere. So we can't keep destroying forests and cutting down mature trees, killing any more peat bogs, destroying healthy grassland or wetland, damaging the delicate ecosystems on the ocean floor or endangering the balance of life in our oceans.  If we keep doing these things more CO2 will end up in the atmosphere and global warming will get worse.

Did you know that whales store a lot of carbon in their large bodies? They also have a large influence on the ecosystems around them. As a result they play an important part in determining the temperature of the planet. We need more whales, so it's important that they should be protected everywhere.

Time to Find Allies

So we have to choose who we vote for very carefully, whether for local government councillors or for our Members of Parliament. Sometimes it's hard to know which politicians will help our country achieve the goal of reducing GHG emissions by 50% in the next six years.

If we also find ways to influence all these people when they make decisions that will shape our future that would help a lot too. We could attend council meetings to find out what's being discussed and to ask pertinent questions if we are given the opportunity. We could try to begin a correspondence with local councillors or our MP. Signing petitions can influence government decisions sometimes. Some people join peaceful protests. These can also influence decisions sometimes, but we've seen in recent years that politicians don't always listen to protests. The risk of being imprisoned for protesting peacefully has also become greater in the UK recently.

Eating to Save the Planet

A tasty veggie burrito with salad
in the Sustainability Centre Cafe

Consumers Choices Decide the Future

However bad global warming gets it's unlikely to destroy Planet Earth. When we talk about saving the planet we really mean saving human beings and the other lifeforms we share our planet with. The choices we make today, this year and for the rest of this decade are likely to decided whether our children inherit a warmer planet which is a bit more difficult to live on but has most of the animals they grew up with and on which most areas are still habitable, or whether they inherit a planet on which most lifeforms will soon die out. 

It's therefore vital that we choose wisely and carefully in order to give our children and grandchildren the best possible chance of a decent future without any more unnecessary suffering than is normal in the world as we know it

What we eat has an affect on our own health, but it also has an affect on the health of the climate and our environment, and so on the health of every living thing.  This means that the choices we make are crucial in shaping the future of life on our planet.

Eat Organic

If we choose some organic produce, not only are we consuming less potentially harmful chemicals, but the  fewer toxic chemicals there will be in the environment from spraying them onto conventionally grown crops and into the surrounding environment, and from rain washing those toxic chemicals into rivers and other water courses. This will help insects and all manner of other wildlife to have a better chance of survival, and we saw I my last blog how important wildlife, and particularly insects, are for a liveable climate and a thriving environment.

Moreover artificial fertilisers, weedkillers, fungicides and pesticides are all made from fossil fuels, so the more of them being used, the worse global warming with become.

You can buy organic fruit and veg in supermarkets or from veg box schemes, or you could grow your own.

Less Meat

If we eat less meat, fewer forests will need to be chopped down to grow grass for grazing. 

We need more farms like Racy Ghyll Farm, run by James Rebanks and his family the Lake District and other people like them, who sometimes call themselves regenerative farmers. They are not intensive farmers. Rebanks moves his stock around regularly so that no area of pasture is overgrazed allowing nature to thrive on his farm. He has also restored hedgerows which had been ripped out when larger fields with room for large farm machinery were the fashion. This more nature friendly form of farming produces less meat than if all the fields were being grazed to the maximum and supplementary feeding was implemented to make up for any shortfall in nutrition, but it's so much better for wildlife and the environment and produces far fewer greenhouse gases than if it were dependent on machinery, artificial fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides. Healthy grassland absorbs more CO2 than overgrazed pasture. A more natural diet with a wider range of fodder plants could even result in better digestion for the livestock and less methane production. 

Moreover, large, intensive farms produce vast quantities of slurry, which can easily wash into rivers adding to the problems caused by the excessive amount of untreated sewage currently pouring into them. This increases the risk of diseases spreading to humans, other mammals, birds, insects and all other wildlife. I understand that it's thought possible that industrial scale poultry farms have helped to spread bird flu. Slurry finding its way into rivers can result in people who swim in them picking up diseases such as E.coli. 

More Food from Plants

If we want to be healthier we are encouraged to eat more vegetables and fruit and other food from plants such as beans, peas and lentils, nuts and grains. Eating less meat also helps to reduce climate change and keep our environment healthier, so basing a lot of our meals on vegetables, pulses, grains and nuts benefits everyone except those with intensive livestock farms. Cashews are great in stir fries and some curries. There are also lots of delicious curries, stews and soups using pulses instead of meat and fish.

Eating less meat doesn't mean eating no meat. You can have beans with a little bit of beef in chilli con carne or you can enjoy a meat free, three bean chilli, which is just as tasty in my opinion, and have the occasional meat based meal. The same applies to everything else. You don't have to become a vegan to make a difference. If everyone in the world ate half the amount of meat they do at the moment, then half the land used to raise livestock currently could be returned to nature and no more virgin forest or ancient woodlands or meadows would need to be destroyed for pasture or to build industrial scale farm units on.

Eat Pulses to Save Money

Eating pulses like peas, chickpeas, beans and lentils is usually cheaper than eating meat. To save money my mum would regularly make lentil soup, especially in the cooler months. Dhals and chilli made with beans but not meat are also cheap and easy to make if you prefer your food on the spicy side. By eating cheaper pulses some of the time you will be able to choose higher welfare meat raised in more environmentally friendly ways when you do eat meat.

So it's worth experimenting with some meat free meals for your health and the health of the planet, and maybe even for the health of your bank balance. What's your favourite meat free meal? Let us know in the comments

Helping Insects Helps Us All

Painted Lady Butterfly on Hidcote Pink Penstemon
in author's garden, August 2021

Humans Need Nature

Many plants and animals are struggling because of climate change.  Some are in danger of going extinct, yet we all depend on them to help us stop climate change getting worse.

Plants have a central role in regulating our climate, which is why we need large numbers of many different plants to mitigate global warming and keep our environment healthy.  All plants absorb CO2, not just trees. 

The destruction of the Earth’s vegetation, by felling forests,  draining wet lands, building on scrub and grassland etc is making global warming worse. If we don't stop the destruction we will suffer even greater climate change than we are already. All kinds of animals have helped to create these landscapes and keep them healthy. Insects alone play a crucial role.

We Need Insects

‘If we and the rest of the back-boned animals were to disappear overnight, the rest of the world would get on pretty well. But if the invertebrates were to disappear, the world’s ecosystems would collapse.’ -  Sir David Attenborough

Almost 90% of the world's wild plants depend on animal pollination as do 75% of the most important crops globally. 

Over 100,000 invertebrates, including ants, bees, butterflies, beetles, flies, moths and wasps, along with more than a thousand mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians take on the job of pollinating plants. This biodiverse group of wildlife buzzes, flutters, and creeps from plant to plant, dining on protein-rich pollen and high-energy nectar. As they move, they transport and deposit pollen, fertilizing plants and allowing those plants to reproduce.

If we destroy insects and other invertebrates by destroying their habitats and poisoning them with pesticides, weedkillers and any other toxic chemicals they won't be able to keep the flowers that depend on them alive. It will also make it difficult to grow many crops. 

Birds, bats and many other animals depend on invertebrates for food. This is another reason why there needs to be an abundant supply. All life depends on all other life. If too many creatures go extinct we will all start to feel the affects.  

This is why we need sweeping reforms of how all land is managed, from large farms and estates to local parks and roadside verges. Until that happens all ordinary individuals can change is what happens in our gardens or any other outdoor space we manage, even if it's only a window box.

Giving Back to Wildlife

You might have heard of No Mow May. The idea behind this initiative from Plantlife is to encourage as many people as possible to leave a suitable area of grass to grow long, preferably all Summer, to allow wildflowers to grow and set seed, but also to enable insects and other animals which live in long grass, and wildflower meadows to thrive. When we are able to do this in part of our gardens, we are helping to replace the meadows and grasslands, which have been destroyed to make way for human "progress" over the last centuries. Our own houses might well have been built on them. 

My parents always bought new houses, so all the homes I inhabited as a child were probably built on natural or semi-natural spaces. The house I have returned to live in was built on erstwhile strawberry fields, but before that it might have been meadow or more likely woodland as there was a small copse nearby when I was growing up, now mostly built on. Many of the fields of my childhood have been built on too, some very recently. A growing population does need somewhere to live, but it would be good if all of us could give something back to help nature, which is why I've been letting my lawn grow long and doing other things to help pollinators.

In my last garden I finally persuaded my husband to stop using weedkillers and pesticides after living in the house for ten years. We noticed the difference within a year or two. There were a lot more birds, bees ad butterflies in the garden and grasshoppers became noticeable in the grass. More recently we started letting part of the lawn grow long there and stopped pulling out all the weeds. During lockdown I noticed shield bugs on the garlic mustard. Some were hawthorn shield bugs, presumably attracted by the hawthorn in our established hedge, planted by previous owners. I also started noticing the different types of hoverflies and native bees.

Pollinators are very important insects, so here a some suggestions for how we can help them:

How to Help Pollinators

1. Leave some grass to grow long over the Summer, if possible.
2. Don't use pesticides or herbicides, both of which can kill insects & other invertebrates and are very probably harmful to humans, pets and other animals too.
3. Grow different types of flowers, some flat shapes like Daisies and Verbena bonariensus, bell shapes, tube shapes like Penstemons, Foxgloves and Fuchsia, spikes like Lavender, Nepeta and Salvias etc. Different insects are different sizes and have different types of tongues.
4. If you don't have a garden you could grow smaller varieties in a window box or pot.
5. Deadhead flowers, mulch with organic compost, and water well to keep the plants healthy and flowering for longer.
6. Try to provide flowers from early Spring through to late Autumn.
7. Leave corners of your garden to provide habitats.
8. Buy peat Free Compost. Peat bogs are home to many special animals and plants, including the Large Heath butterfly, which is declining across Europe. There are now good alternatives to peat available from garden centres.
9. Join in the Great Big Butterfly Count, an event organised by the Butterfly Conservation Trust which is happening now until the 6th August this year. It happens around the same time every year to monitor the state of the UK's declining butterfly population.

Are you doing some of these things already? Perhaps you'd like to pass on some tips. What else can we do to help pollinators and other insects? Let us know in the comments.

Waste Less Food to Fight Global Warming

Waste not, want not is something my mother often said when I was growing up. 

Wasting food is a common problem in Britain and other parts of the world today, which, on average, was costing the British consumer around £700 in 2021, before food prices went up. So avoiding food waste could certainly result in big savings!

According to WRAP, 45% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can only be tackled by changing the way we make and consume products and food.

About a third of all the food produced in the UK or imported into the country is wasted. 4.5 million tonnes of edible food is thrown away each year by UK households.  

When food waste is disposed in landfill, it produces methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. This process occurs over many years, which means that the methane generated in landfill today is the result of food and other organic waste being dumped there for decades. Food going to landfill today could be producing methane gas decades from now, continuing to make the Earth hotter.

Wasting food is a common problem which, on average, was costing the Britisher consumer around £700 in 2021 before food prices went up. So throwing less food away could result in big savings!

The UN's Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 is to halve food waste by 2030. Government planning and policies and action by the agriculture, food manufacturing and hospitality industries will be very important, but ordinary people can play their part too. The choices we make as consumers will influence industries and the government.

Here are some ways to reduce the amount of food we waste:

• Before your food shop think about what you need, check what you already have and make a list.

• Resist BOGOF offers. Don't buy more than you need even if it's on special offer.

• Buy fresh produce fairly often so it's less likely to go bad before you eat it.

• Don't serve yourself or anyone else too much.

• If people are hungry they could have a second helping. If there's food leftover in the pot it could be frozen or put in the fridge for a day or two and if you can't eat it any other way perhaps it could become part of a soup or stew.

• Stews and soups are also great for using vegetables that aren't looking too appetising but are still OK to eat, like the limp celery at the bottom of your fridge.

• Keep your fridge below 5º C to make sure everything stays fresh as long as possible.

• Don't throw away anything that's past its Best Before date if it still looks, smells and tastesOK. If it's still edible but not very appetising, cooking it could transform it into something delicious.

• Use By dates need to be taken more seriously.

• Vegetable peelings, apple cores and any other uneaten, raw pieces of fruit or vegetables are best added to your compost bin. If you don't have a compost bin then the food waste bin supplied by your local council is the next best place for it.

• If you can't avoid throwing cooked and processed food away, remove it from any packaging and put that in your food waste bin to keep it out of landfill. Keeping food waste out of landfill and  processing it in a composting or anaerobic digestion facility instead, which most councils in the UK now do,  avoids the generation of landfill methane and also extends the lifespan of the landfill.
  
  
  Other reasons for keeping food out of landfill are that the processes involved in growing, making, distributing, storing and cooking our food all use a lot of fuel and water and produces a lot of carbon dioxide (CO2). Moreover without food waste we would need less land for crops and more could be left for wildlife, too.
  
  
  There are so many great reasons to cut back on food waste. Let me know in the comments what has helped you most to cut down on food waste at home or what might help you waste less food.
  
  
  There's loads more ideas for avoiding food waste on the Love Food, Hate Waste website.
  
  
  WRAP is a climate action NGO working around the globe to tackle the causes of the climate crisis and give the planet a sustainable future, established in the UK in 2000. There's a lot of information about food waste on their website.

The Problem with Plastic

 

The problem with plastic is that in many ways it's amazing stuff. Plastic is a very versatile and useful material that can be made into so many forms. This means that we've started using it for all sorts of things and it's everywhere. Unfortunately it's also toxic and long lasting. Also, plastic is made from fossil fuels, so its production is a serious source of GHG emissions.

Plastic is Extremely Harmful

Whilst acknowledging that plastics have conveyed great benefits to humanity and made possible some of the most significant advances of modern civilisation a report in the Annals of Global Health earlier this year went on to say is now clear that plastics are also responsible for significant harms to human health, the economy, and the earth’s environment.

The report continues:

These harms occur at every stage of the plastic life cycle, from extraction of the coal, oil, and gas that are its main feedstocks through to ultimate disposal into the environment. The extent of these harms not been systematically assessed, their magnitude not fully quantified, and their economic costs not comprehensively counted.

On top of this plastic manufacture has grown at an alarming rate and only a small proportion of plastic is recycled after use. Further on the report states: 

Plastics and plastic-associated chemicals are responsible for widespread pollution. They contaminate aquatic (marine and freshwater), terrestrial, and atmospheric environments globally. The ocean is the ultimate destination for much plastic, and plastics are found throughout the ocean, including coastal regions, the sea surface, the deep sea, and polar sea ice. Many plastics appear to resist breakdown in the ocean and could persist in the global environment for decades. 

Marine plastic pollution endangers the ocean ecosystems upon which all humanity depends for food, oxygen, livelihood, and well-being. 

Human Health Findings: Coal miners, oil workers and gas field workers who extract fossil carbon feedstocks for plastic production suffer increased mortality . . . 

During use and also in disposal, plastics release toxic chemicals including additives and residual monomers into the environment and into people . . .   . . . Infants in the womb and young children are two populations at particularly high risk of plastic-related health effects. 

Conclusions: It is now clear that current patterns of plastic production, use, and disposal are not sustainable and are responsible for significant harms to human health, the environment, and the economy as well as for deep societal injustices. The main driver of these worsening harms is an almost exponential and still accelerating increase in global plastic production. Plastics’ harms are further magnified by low rates of recovery and recycling and by the long persistence of plastic waste in the environment.

The Commission "supports urgent adoption by the world’s nations of a strong and comprehensive Global Plastics Treaty . . .

International measures such as a Global Plastics Treaty are needed to curb plastic production and pollution, because the harms to human health and the environment caused by plastics, plastic-associated chemicals and plastic waste transcend national boundaries, are planetary in their scale, and have disproportionate impacts on the health and well-being of people in the world’s poorest nations.

The above are brief extracts from the report. If you would like to know more I recommend reading it. It's easy to understand, but I don't want to make this post longer than necessary.

Steps to Freedom from Plastic

So you might be wondering what you can do while we wait for a global plastics treaty to be adopted.

 First of all, please don't feel you need to purge your life of all plastic. If you own useful plastic items throwing them away is probably the worst thing you could do for the environment. Swamping charity shops with unwanted plastic is probably not a great idea either. 

Cut Back Where Possible

The most important thing to do is to cut down on as much unnecessary, single use plastic as possible. Disposable single use plastic is the biggest problem. While it would be good to find sustainable alternatives to blister packs for tablets and medical syringes, they are currently necessary for health and hygiene purposes. What ordinary individuals need to work if on, if possible, is cutting down on water and other drinks in disposable plastic bottles, likewise single use bottles for toiletries and cleaning products. 

First steps to cutting single use plastic from our lives could include:

Refusing single use plastic bags and take your own reusable bag instead.

Choosing drinks in glass bottles or metal cans and buying at least some milk in glass bottles from your milkman. Milk and More now sell plant milks in glass bottles too, if that's your preference. If you have a local, independent dairy near you they might do so as well.

Finding a local refill shop where you can refill our existing plastic bottles with toiletries and cleaning fluids. If you don't have one near to you consider buying 5 litre containers of products from companies such as Suma, Faith in Nature and Bio D, which are also environmentally friendly. I used to visit a refill store regularly when I lived in Godalming, but I haven't found one near me in the Hamble Valley yet, so I buy in bulk from Ethical Superstore. Although my house is fairly small there is room for the large containers in my garage. It would be harder to do without suitable storage space. If I take the 5 litre containers back to the refill store in Godalming they will give them back to be reused. They're also useful for storing excess water from my water but when it's raining.

If you like to take a bottle of water out and about then more than once in a blue moon it's better to take it in a reusable water bottle. BPA free plastic is safer than some plastics and is more lightweight than a stainless steel bottle. That sort of bottle is fine for occasional use, but if you use one on a regular basis then there could be health benefits to choosing one made from stainless steel. Reusable, portable coffee cups are also available.

I'll go into more detail about some of these suggestions in later posts.

First Steps Towards Sustainable Living

 

So what can you and I do to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions? 

Is the little I can do worth it?

Yes, whatever any of us can do is worth it, especially if we travel much or buy a lot of stuff, but there are all kinds of changes we can make to how we live which will make a real difference.

Travel, Transport, Manufacturing and Heating/Cooling are the biggest sources of CO2.  Transport is the largest emitting sector of GHG emissions, producing 24% of the UK’s total emissions in 2020 (406 MtCO2e). 

In 2020 domestic transport was responsible for emitting 99 MtCO2e (million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent), a 19% reduction from 2019 and the largest fall in emissions on record, which is encouraging, but we can't afford to be complacent.

So I thought it might be good to start by thinking about how we travel and how much we buy.

The Joy of Walking

If we are fit and healthy we can make less unnecessary journeys by car we will be producing less CO2 emissions. If we walk to the post box or the corner shop and notice the birds singing or a little flower along the way and mention that to someone else, perhaps they will realise they could enjoy walking short distances too. Increasing the amount we walk instead of drive will improve our health and quality of life.

So what's stopping us? We might feel we don't have time, often because we're stressed and worried about everything we need to do. Just a short walk for ten minutes or so could help us feel less stressed, think more clearly and be more productive. 

Tiredness is another problem. Sometimes walking for 5 or 10 minutes several days a week will energise us and it could increase our stamina over time. If it doesn't help it's probably time to discuss the problem with our GP unless we already know the cause.

Walking more and driving less will save us money. The less we drive, the more money we'll save and the less greenhouse gases and pollution we'll produce. Walking  can lift our mood and improver our health too. 

Pollution from traffic is very bad for people's health and the busier the roads, the more polluted the air will be. The less we drive, the better for the health of everyone around us, unless our vehicle is run on renewable energy. 

If you need to buy a car consider buying an EV if you can afford one with a battery life to suit your needs.

Have you found ways to drive less? Do you have any tips for people who are finding it hard not to drive everywhere however local? Do you drive an EV? If you have anything helpful to say about any of these things please tell us in the comments section.

The Joy of Enough

Most of us buy more stuff than we need, myself included. Most of us think we really need more than we actually need, myself included. 

What's important will vary from person to person, but sometimes we think we need something because we grew up thinking we needed it, or were persuaded by an advert we need it, or think we need it because our friends have one and seem to like it. 

How much do we use the things we think we need? If we're thinking of buying something new, how have we managed so far without it?      Will we find it very useful or enjoyable for very long? Are we sure we don't already have one? I'm sure I'm not alone in having bought something I forgot I had because it had been out of sight at the back of a cupboard or drawer. There are benefits to a tidy and decluttered life.

The less we buy, the more money we will save and the less greenhouse gas emissions we'll be responsible for. Once we have everything we genuinely need the rest is really clutter. Although I'm one of those people who enjoys a certain amount of clutter in the form of decorations like vases, candlesticks and cushions. I find they make my home feel cosy. Much of what I have of that sort I've had for a decade or more and some has been inherited. We all need to decide which less essential items help to make our house feel like a home and how much we need. Keeping the things we have for longer and replacing them less often all helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

If you find you get bored with your soft furnishings easily perhaps have a set for Summer and a set for Winter so you can have a change of scenery without buying new things so often.

What's helped you resist the urge to buy more than you need? Feel free to share your favourite tips in the comments.

Whatever you do, however small it's the first step on the journey to a more sustainable, more environmentally friendly life and very possibly a healthier, happier life too.

The Future is in Our Hands

Wind farm on Kefalonia
(Author's own photo)

So how do we stop pumping out greenhouse gases? How can we try to keep the global climate habitable so that Earth continues to be a place where human beings and most of the existing wildlife can live and thrive?

Renewable Energy is the Future

We have to switch from fossil fuels and transition to clean, renewable energy. We've started to do that in the UK and many other countries are doing so too.

Most of us here in the UK have lifestyles which depend on fossil fuels, so if they suddenly became scarce or unaffordable most of us would struggle. 

Speeding up renewable energy production could happen quickly if the government didn't restrict new onshore wind farms and solar energy.  If ageing wind farms are modernised they can produce much more energy more efficiently. As I write Scottish Power has started to dismantle 26 wind turbines which have been in place since 1995 and plan to replace them with 14 larger, more modern wind turbines which are expected to produce five times as much energy by 2025.

Governments must do more and faster

We need a government which will encourage the construction of the cheapest forms of renewable energy which it is possible to put into place as quickly as possible. The batteries to store renewable energy when the wind stops blowing or the sun doesn't shine now exist, and they will improve as research and development progress.  If we still need nuclear energy as back up then that could continue, but nuclear plants takes much more time and money to build and there are more safety aspects to consider and put into place.

Voters and Consumers have Influence

As voters we can elect candidates for positions in local and national government who are committed to a renewable future, a healthy environment and keeping global temperatures as comfortable as possible. These aspirations aren't compatible with a Neo Capitalist economic policy. We need business leaders to care more about the people they affect and the environment those people live in rather than believing that making as much profit as possible is the only thing that matters.

As consumers we can choose the most sustainable options we can afford whether we're shopping for food or clothes, or deciding which energy supplier to use, where to go on holiday or which car to buy.

A New Way of Thinking is Needed

It's not all about renewable energy. We need sustainable farming practices too. We also need to let mature trees live unless they are a real danger, leave the grass in part of our gardens and wider community to grow long, avoid using peat and generally take care of local wildlife. Losing so many of our wild flowers, insects. wild birds and other animals isn't just a shame, it's not helping us to tackle climate change either. Nature is our ally and we need to find out how to work with it instead of against it.

Last but not least we need to consider how much of anything we really need. Excess consumption is a serious problem not only responsible for large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, but also for the destruction of nature. Even buying more cheap things than we really need creates unnecessary harm, but the richer someone is, the easier it might be for them to buy more than they need. There's a lot to be said for learning to be satisfied with enough and not succumbing to the allure of clever marketing or peer pressure. 

Our Carbon Handprints Matter

Every small change we can make to reduce our GHG emissions will make a difference. These little things add up and become what is being called our Carbon Handprint. Carbon Handprint is an idea to help people realise that no contribution is too small. Anybody can make a difference to the environment, and the world will be a better place if we all try to do our bit.

We're Better Together

Whatever we do, most of us are likely to find it better to belong to a group of likeminded people who can encourage and inspire us, and whom we can encourage and inspire in return. Find out what's happening near you and if you can't find anything perhaps you can find a few people who want to start a group with you. Groups of local people will find it easier to influence what happens in their community too.

Greenhouse Gases - What Are They and Where Do They Come From?

 

Infographics on the evolution of greenhouse gas emissions by sector

Carbon Dioxide is talked about a lot and CO2 is sometimes used as shorthand for all greenhouse gases, but GHGs are not all the same. However, CO2 is the main GHG produced by human activity.

Carbon Dioxide could last forever in the Earth's atmosphere .

Human activity such as burning fossil fuels like coal, oil or natural gas along with the burning of biomass (wood and other non fossilised plant material) produces almost all the CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere. We burn these products to fuel transport and provided energy for manufacturing, heating and cooling, and powering all our electric devices, unless we have sourced the energy from a renewable source.  CO2 caused by human activity also  includes wildfires deliberately started by human beings for various reasons. Deforestation and other changes in how land is used is another way human activity contributes to CO2 emissions.

Minimal CO2 emissions occur naturally caused by natural wildfires and volcanic eruptions, respiration of plants and animals, melting permafrost and even the weathering of certain rocks.

Methane appears to be the most short-lived greenhouse gas spending only about 10 years in the Earth's atmosphere, but it causes a lot more warming than CO2.

Human activity is responsible for 60% of methane in the atmosphere produced as a result of leaks from fossil fuel production and transportation, landfill, livestock digestion and manure, rice farming: natural gas, deliberate wildfires or biomass burning.

40% of methane in the Earth's atmosphere is from natural sources: plant-matter breakdown inwetlands, lakes, and ponds; naturally occurring wildfires and biomass burning; termites; the ocean: sediment and permafrost.

Nitrous Oxide lasts for about 110 years in the Earth's atmosphere and causes significantly more warming than CO2 or methane.

Human activity such as the production and use of organic and commercial fertilisers, burning fossil
fuels and burning vegetation, results in about 40% of the nitrous oxide in Earth's atmosphere
60% of the methane comes from natural sources, primarily bacteria breaking down nitrogen in soil and the
ocean.

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs, namely CFC-11. CFC-12, CFC-113) persist in the Earth's atmosphere for between 52 to 93 years and result in a far greater warming effect than any of the other GHGs. 

All chlorofluorocarbons in the Earth's atmosphere have been produced by humans from refrigerants, solvents and spray cans containing CFCs. 

In the 1990's concerns about CFCs causing a hole in the ozone layer led to a number of directives which phased them out of general use or even banned them in many countries. However, it seems they could still be in use in some parts of the world.

You can find out more here 

Global Warming in a Nutshell

An illustration of how greenhouse gases warm the Earth
(source unknown)

Some basic facts about Global Warming, the phenomenon causing Climate Change:

Global Warming has come about  because human beings have been pumping more and more Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere. People burning fossil fuels like gas, coal, oil, diesel and petrol have been responsible for the increase in GHGs, which scientists tell us has been happening since the Industrial Revolution.

The Purpose of Greenhouse Gases

The temperature of the planet we live on is determined by the balance between the energy from the Sun and how much of that energy is lost into Space. The remaining energy is absorbed by both the land and ocean.

This process warms up both the land and the seas, which then radiate their acquired warmth as long-wave infrared or ‘heat’ radiation. This effect has been measured in the atmosphere and can be reproduced time and time again in the laboratory. We need this greenhouse effect because without it, the Earth would be at least 35 ° Celsius colder, making the average temperature in the tropics about -10 ° C. 

So, in a nutshell, without greenhouse gases the Earth would be too cold for very much to live on, polar bears would live in the tropics and the rest of the planet would be largely uninhabitable. However, you can have too much of a good thing.

Too Much Carbon in the Atmosphere

As snow falls, it is light and fluffy and contains a lot of air. When this snow is slowly compacted to form ice, some of this air is trapped. By extracting these air bubbles trapped in the ancient ice, scientists can measure the percentage of GHGs that were present in the past atmosphere.

Scientists have drilled over two miles down into both the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, which has enabled them to reconstruct the amount of GHGs that have been generated in the atmosphere over the last half a million years. Tests on these ice cores reveal that levels of greenhouse gases (GHGs) have gone up and down over the Earth's history, but they have been fairly constant for the past few thousand years. Global average temperatures have stayed fairly constant over that time as well, until recently.

What Is Causing Global Warming?

Global Warming has come about because human beings have been pumping more and more Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere. People burning fossil fuels like gas, coal, oil, diesel and petrol have been responsible for the increase in GHGs, which scientists tell us has been happening since the Industrial Revolution

Gases in the Earth's atmosphere such as water vapour, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide are known as greenhouse gases (GHGs) because they warm the Earth's atmosphere by absorbing some of the long-wave radiation from the sun. 

One of the ways in which we know that atmospheric CO2 is important in controlling global climate is through the study of what the Earth's climate has been like in the past. Evidence for past variations in greenhouse gases and temperatures come from ice cores drilled in both Antarctica and Greenland.

For more than 200 years, since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution people in Europe have been burning fossil fuels like oil, coal which were deposited hundreds of millions years ago. Burning these  releases the carbon back into the atmosphere as CO2 and methane (CH4), increasing the ‘greenhouse effect’ and raising the the Earth's temperature.

In effect we are burning fossilised sunlight and this has increased the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). This human activity is increasing the greenhouse effect and warming the Earth more than is desirable. So too much carbon in our atmosphere is causing the overall temperature of our planet to rise. If this keeps happening we could end up as toast! 

In the last century industrialisation has grown all over the world so that more and more fossil fuels are being burned to keep up with the demand for production. Trees and plants absorb some of the CO2 in the atmosphere, so the clearing of land for agriculture, industry, house building and other human activities has also increased concentrations of greenhouse gases.

If you want to learn more about Global Warming and Climate Change the NASA website explains it well here.

Climate Change and What We Can Do About it.

GeoColor imagery showing the smoke from wildfires raging in western Canada. In early May 2023 

Severe flooding in various parts of the world such as India, Japan and Spain is being reported with alarming frequency. At the same time we're hearing about unusually hot heatwaves and droughts all over the world. A country can be in the midst of a lengthy drought one day and then suddenly be inundated by torrential rain which causes flash floods the next. Moreover wildfires seem to be more frequent in many parts of the world and some of them are hard to control.

This is not normal weather. This is a serious cause for concern.

Why is this happening and can we do anything to stop it?

Climate scientists are pretty sure why it's happening. All the evidence points to the greenhouse effect of certain gases. When these Greenhouse Gases collect in the Earth's atmosphere they make the whole of our planet warmer, which is why the affect is called Global Warming. Global Warming changes the Earth's climate. This changed climate makes weather in any given area more likely to be extreme and unpredictable.

We might not be able to stop it entirely but if we do nothing it's likely to get worse and worse.

If we all cut our greenhouse gas emissions and transition to renewable energy and find ways to use less energy as quickly as possible we might be able to stop things from getting too bad.

To do this we all need to pull together as if our lives depend on it. It's hard to predict who will be affected or when, but it's certain that many lives will depend on our efforts and no longer just those living nearest to the Equator.

Welcome to my new blog and thank you for reading this far. 

In future posts I shall explore what is happening and what we can do about it. 

After reading about both the problem and possible solutions over the last four years I shall explain things as best I can in ways that are fairly easy to understand with links to more information when appropriate.

 If you've chosen to read this blog perhaps you've already read a lot about it all too so it might not tell you anything new, but you might know someone who would find it helpful, in which case please share. It's important that as many people as possible understand what is happening and what needs to be done to turn the situation around. 

However, interacting with others who can support, encourage and inspire us is also very helpful.