There Is So Much You Can Do! Climate Change, Global Warming

[bronchitikat]

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest yesterday, Dear Reader.  Sometimes . . .

Along those lines, I was reading something about Jeremy Clarkson (think TV presenter, Top Gear, petrol-head, big blokeish bloke,) who said that he is a farmer and plants loads of trees per year.  He was also quoted as saying,

"I accept that Climate Change is happening, but I can't do anything about it, I'm not a scientist."

What! !! !!!     Though I realise this could be a journalist getting Headlines.

To what has Clarkson been listening?  Have those throaty engine noises and petrol fumes affected his brain?  There is plenty an individual can do about Climate Change due to Global Warming.

• Turn Down The Thermostat - a degree or three and put on a(nother) jumper.  Also socks/tights, etc.  If you can wander round your home/workplace in a T-shirt, boy are you (& your firm) wasting money!

• Wear a Woollen Jumper (socks, etc)  Made from Real Wool grown on the backs of Real Sheep.  Seriously, Dear Reader, there's a lot that gets sold under the label of 'wool' which is anything but.  Or only maybe 10% wool (from sheep) content.  And it's the Wool (from sheep, or alpaca) which really keep you warm.  Other fibres are available - acrylic, polyester, nylon, polyamide - but they're made from petrochemicals, from oil, and therein lies a lot of the root cause of Global warming.  Remember, a jumper (or socks etc) is a one-off expense.  Heating bills go on for longer than you have the heating on.  Ok, so it's COLD where you live, but think on.

• Replace Your Lightbulbs (as they go) with new, low-energy LED bulbs.  They're much brighter than the older fluorescent low-energy bulbs, and take a fraction of the power.  Another case of one-off expense vs continuing electricity bills!

• Insulate Your Home - walls, roof, floors.  Fit double glazing.  Triple glazing if you live somewhere Seriously Cold.  Keep what heat you use indoors!  And remember to shut the doors, particularly exterior doors.  No point trying to heat the outside in winter!  That'll save you money too - insulation is also a one-off expense.

• Use Public Transport - if you live in a city it's not as inconvenient as you might think.  Also taking your car off the road will help reduce traffic congestion and traffic fumes.  The buses will be on the road anyway.  Fewer cars will mean the buses have a chance to run to timetable.

• Use The Train.  Ok, so SWR are on strike at present making travel round the south of England a bit of a problem.  And UK train ticket prices are just that, pricey.  Though if you book up to a week in advance, preferably a couple of weeks, and are prepared to be a bit flexible, you can get Significant Reductions.  It may take a little longer, but hey - use the time to knit another pair of socks/hat/mittens.  I do!

• Do You Really Need To Fly?  Think about it.  I know some Readers have to travel vast distances for work or to meet family and friends.  Re: Work-related travel - I remember a Dilbert cartoon where the Pointy-Haired Boss insisted that Dilbert visit a customer in person.  The Customer asked Dilbert if he'd heard of Skype!  It's a thought!

• Use Less Plastic - particularly single-use plastics.  Take your own bags to shops - it ain't difficult.  Put them back in the car/shopping trolley (that's the trolley you use to haul your shopping home in.)  Always have one folded up in your pocket or the bag you routinely carry round with you.  If it's a larger bag or you have larger pockets, make sure you carry a couple of bags all the time!  Specially if you tend to drop into shops on the way home or in your lunch break.  It's not Rocket Science!

• Bombard Supermarkets and Other Food Shops - with 'Use Less Plastic' letters/emails/tweets/speak with the managers.  Write to their Head Offices, or email/tweet/message them.  And congratulate them when they actually do, rather than just make noises or promises to 'do something by 2030!'  Speaking with staff 'on the floor' you'll probably find that they're with you on this.  It's the Management and Head Office that need telling.

• Eat a more Plant-Based Diet - seriously, Dear Carnivorous Reader, you don't need to eat meat every day.  You certainly don't need to eat it every meal.  There is also good scientific evidence that eating less meat is good for your health.  Peas, beans and lentils are good sources of protein that don't 'cost the earth', though soya beans are kinda questionable (think felling Amazon rainforest to grow soyabeans as cattle fodder!  Even as people food, maybe.)  And there is always Quorn, which is nice - it takes on the flavours you put with it.  Though I tend to give TVP a miss because often it isn't.  Now when 'they' finally find a real substitute for bacon . . .  Or start mass-producing that fabled bacon-flavoured seaweed.  (That's seaweed that naturally tastes like bacon!  Not the seaweed equivalent of bacon-flavour crisps.)

• Eat More Fruit and Vegetables - preferably fresh, seasonal, locally produced.  Not out-of-season strawberries/tomatoes/sweetcorn/mange tout that require extra light and heat.  Nor yet fruit and veg that have to be shipped, far less flown, in from half way round the world.

• Buy Your Fruit and Veg Locally - from a Greengrocer (if such a being still exists), or loose (and use net or paper bags, not plastic bags.)  Try to avoid as much packaging as possible, specially plastic packaging, most of which is unnecessary.  Or if you still have a local market or Farmers' Market - get down there and raid it.  Again - watch for unnecessary packaging, plastic or otherwise.

• Or subscribe to a Veg Box scheme - preferably and Organic Veg Box scheme. Riverford Organics does one of the best rated in the UK.  Seasonal, organic, fruit and veg delivered to your door (or someone else's door if you happen to be out.  See recent entries!)  Also eggs, dairy, meat, cakes, mince pies, vegan, veggie, various organic groceries . . .

• Grow Your Own - herbs if you have but a windowsill, maybe even a couple of cherry tomato plants (we've had all of 5 from two straggly plants in our kitchen windowsill this year.  With proper care. . .)  If you have more space - beans, courgettes, strawberries, . . .  Insert favourite veg here.  No point in trying to grow things you don't enjoy eating!  If you have a concreted/paved yard maybe take up some of the paving and make raised beds, or use large pots (which is what I do.)  That way even if your space is on the dark side of your home (as ours is) you can still grow things as they're raised up to get more light.  Some veg actually prefers it less sunny.  It'll require more watering, but most councils still supply water butts - which will help prevent run-off and reduce the possibility of flooding!  Maybe get an allotment?  Or ask a friend/neighbour who has a garden but doesn't really use it if you can?  (Tip, share the produce with them!)

• Dig a Pond -  helps biodiversity.  If nothing else you're going to NEED frogs or a toad to help keep down the Ravening Molluscs which would otherwise devour your carefully nurtured seedlings (and larger plants.)  Ask me how I know!  If you have but a Seriously Small Patch - try to make sure there's a pond somewhere nearby and that intervening fences are frog/toad/hedgehog permeable!

• Plant Flowers - plant a tree or three if you have the space.  This also increases biodiversity and brings in pollinators for the fruit and veg you're trying to grow.  Win-win.  Plant fruit trees - you get the blossoms in the spring, which are wonderful, fruit (yum) and colourful foliage in autumn, leaves to make leafmould to increase soil fertility.  Plus trees are great ways of locking up carbon-dioxide from and increasing oxygen in the atmosphere.  Plants of any kind will also cheer up your outlook tremendously.  Put a few in your front garden and they'll cheer up the whole street.  (Our 'Front Garden' is usually two wall baskets.  Currently one.  But people have commented on how it cheers them as they pass.)

• Write to Your Elected Representative - point out to them that we only have the one planet.  Global Warming is real.  It's been affecting many countries for years.  It's coming back to bite us in the rich north & west too now. And about time!  All those recent floods.  The way the rose in our back yard still has two blooms on it.  In December!  It does matter, and now it's affecting us too.  Not just poor people living in other distant countries.

• Keep Writing To Them!  Climate Change isn't going to go away any time soon.  Not unless we really DO SOMETHING about it and start NOW!

• Vote - there's a General Election in the UK tomorrow.  The main issues seem to be Brexit (stupid idea, IMO) and the NHS (brilliant idea, needs protecting, IMO.)  If you can vote, but don't  - you don't have the right to complain.  And you're dishonouring those who worked so hard, for centuries, and fought, so that you can vote.  Go read a bit of history!  It's not just the Suffragettes.

• Join Extinction Rebellion - or the Green Party, or another ecological pressure group: - RSPB f'r'instance!

'K, that'll do.  I said it wasn't an exhaustive list, but there's plenty individuals can do.  Now if Governments would just concentrate their minds (Madrid Climate Convention - how many of them flew there rather than getting the train, even though they could have?)  And actually DO SOMETHING REALLY USEFUL!