Walking Lightly

A blog by Estelle D

Sometimes I think I must be getting old and then I wonder, Is it me? Or has the world truly gone mad? Straight up, let me say that I believe in young people. One cannot work as a secondary school teacher without believing in young people. I have taught students way smarter than I will ever be and I believe these young people will hold solutions to current issues and world problems, many of them created by the generations which have gone before them. As a grandparent, I understand how vitally important it is to never rob young people of hope in their future world and I determine not to become and old grumble bum moaning about the world’s problems and how superior it was was back in the good old days of my youth.

So today I read with interest the article in the Sunday paper about the 20 year old university drop out who has become the face of “Extinction Rebellion” and the major demonstration to be held on August 6th, Rebellion Day. This young man is obviously very smart and I don’t want to say too much as you can do some research and find out all about “Extinction Rebellion” I am sure. However, I do have some problems with this new breed of protestor who believes they have the right to disrupt ordinary citizens lives whilst bringing as much media attention to themselves as possible. I have worked with young people, and while they want to change the world they, on the whole, do not seem too keen on making quiet and personal choices to do so.

Students would persistantly request the air con be turned on when it was just a little hot. I would say let’s open the windows and if we need to, put on the fans; let’s choose an option that uses the least energy. Likewise when it was cooler they would request heating, because rather than wear warm clothes, they would dress for summer and freeze. My point is that we can all make changes which will help our world, we can all walk more lightly on the globe. The trend seems to be to make a lot of noise trying to force others to make the changes we want to see but reluctance to make sacrifices ourselves. As Ghandi said, “you must be the change you want to see in the world”.

Below are some ideas which anyone can implement and if enough people do so we can all walk more lightly on the globe.

Shun single use plastic anything. In fact, avoid plastic as much as possible in the first place; if you do use it be sure to recycle and dispose of it thoughtfully. Plastic is posioning our waterways and oceans. It is posioning us.

Bigger is not better. Seek moderation in all things. Less is more. Take less of everything that is consumable. Enjoy more of the blessings of nature.

Plant a tree. Compost.

Pay attention to the little things. “He who is faithful in a little is also faithful in much”. If you look after the little things the big things will look after themselves. So every “little” action which supports and sustains our environment improves the big picture.

“Wilful waste makes woeful want”, an old quote from my mother, paraphrased as “waste not want not”. Wasting resources of any type is not cool, cut waste in every area of life.

None of these things are earth shattering and they won’t make media headlines but if enough people do them the planet will thankful.

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