🌿PEAT June Newsletter
🌿 Monday 27th May. In the last two weeks it feels like spring has arrived with an abundance of energy. When you know the pressure that our environment is under it makes you want to treasure this time of year. The PEAT climate reading group have been reading ‘Braiding Sweet Grass Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants‘ by Robin Wall Kimmera Professor of Environmental Biology. A fascinating read from the perspective of a scientist and Citizen of the Potawatomi Nation.
She embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers, and worthy of our respect and honour. Makes you wonder how things might be different now if we had followed that path. On a similar note we had a very interesting talk from Tony Harrison a renowned soil scientist about the Global Degradation of Soils. Many of the solutions lie in simple changes to agricultural practice and a return to former ways of looking after the health of the soil.
Since the last newsletter we have had the news of a UK general election. Like others I know it will feel like a chance for real system change, an opportunity to think about the future we want, not just for ourselves but for generations to come. But I do wonder how achievable this is, especially since the most noticeable feature of politics right now is ‘short termism’.
David Richard Boyd the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment when stepping down from his post said ‘ I started out six years ago talking about the right to a healthy environment having the capacity to bring about systemic and transformative changes. But this powerful human right is up against an even more powerful force in the global economy, a system that is absolutely based on the exploitation of people and nature. And unless we change that fundamental system, then we’re just re-shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.’
This year’s Great Big Green Week’s theme is ‘Let’s Swop Together For Good’. During that week there will be,
- a display in Grange over Sands library from 3rd June to 15th June, with top tips on swopping to reduce waste, cost, bills, landfill, and our impact on the environment.
- the Repair Cafe at the Methodist Church on 7/6, do bring along something to be repaired, there are people who can help with sewing repairs, technical repairs, repairs to wooden objects, leather repairs and much more
- a stall on Kent’s Bank Road on 8/6 10-1 with more ways to swop for good. Come and see us, have chat, better still come and join us
- a litter pick on 9/6 at 9-10am. We will meet at Main Street car park in Grange opposite Abi and Toms with Andy Hull, our new Westmorland and Furness Councillor joining us. All equipment will be provided, but bring gloves. It’s such an easy practical way for us as a community to come together to protect our environment and promote sustainability. If you are free please come.
One of the topics we want to encourage is a conversation about how to be a good ancestor, or how to swop short term thinking for long term thinking. How do we make decisions in the context of the planet and generations to come? Some questions and thoughts that might help.
🌿 Imagine the world you would want if you didn’t know which generation you would be born
🌿 What for you are the most powerful reason for caring about future generations?
🌿 ‘A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit’ What might that mean today? How might you think about your legacy for the future?
🌿 What do you most value that you want to keep and how?
🌿 What could you let go of so as not to make matters worse?
🌿 What could you bring back to help in these times?
🌿 Slow down and take time to think how many points your decision touches, every one of our decisions touches many points in different ways, people, environment, the planet. Balance out the needs of the now with the rights of those yet to be born
🌿 How might you become involved in protecting our natural resources for the future eg Windermere , Morecambe Bay, River Ea, swifts, hedgehogs, planting trees, wild flowers- it’s estimated that the UK has lost more than half of its biodiversity as a direct result of human activity.
🌿 How might you use your agency and privilege well - join a local environmental group, write to your MP, campaign, change banks, look at where your money is invested, consume less.
🌿 Think about how use your vote, what are the parties or your local candidates saying about the future especially about the future health of our environment, and the state of the planet for our children, and grandchildren. Check out https://www.mpwatch.org/What-We-Offer or https://voteclimate.uk/
Warm wishes Annette ( Chair)