August 20th, 2019
Hello,
I’ve just been writing to ‘celebrities’ – I’ve no idea if any of them will get back to me, but we’ll see, as I always say optimistically..! I feel that for a large proportion of people to ‘get on board’ with low-carbon choices, celebrities are needed to pave the way. I should return to the ‘world of sport’ in the future too. Dale Vince (Forest Green Rovers) is already giving hope there, at least.
The world is such a mix of ‘vibes’ at the moment, maybe always…?
One of the celebrities/high profile people I’ve sent a letter to today is Carrie Symonds, prime minister Boris Johnson’s partner – she believes, expressed in a speech she made at an event at the weekend, that the number of people who care about the natural environment outnumber those who don’t.
I hope so!
Will she be able to influence her partner, however?….
Continuing the summer holiday theme I embarked on a few weeks ago, it would be great to travel (by train of course!) up to Dundee soon – adding to the regeneration of that city, symbolised by the ‘new’ V&A museum there, is an initiative to switch to clean transport.
It boasts the largest number of electric minicabs anywhere in the UK and a council-owned network of solar-powered charging hubs.
The city council also plans to replace its highly polluting diesel bin lorries and road sweepers with electric vehicles and run subsidised electric minibuses in its poorest districts.
That brings me to another letter (well, email this time) that I’ve written today – about public transport closer to home.
Round here, there is a bus (downgraded to a community minibus) that takes us from the local villages to the market town – it runs one service on Tuesdays & Fridays only, leaving here in the late morning and returning in the early afternoon!
Better than nothing, maybe?!
I’m determined to use it (not lose it..?), but I’ve written about the subject of sustainable transport more generally, to the local councils (who of course have very limited funds these days), to Stagecoach (whose slogan is Greener Smarter Travel!) and to our MP.
Two more areas to consider this week: low-carbon farming… Great to hear that even ‘The Archers’ is addressing the issue of climate change. Pip, Ruth and David have a low-carbon plan for Brookfield. I need to look into this more, when I have more time – I can’t quite ‘get my head round’ how keeping cows at all is good for the Earth.
I would like there to be an environmentally friendly solution for dairy farmers, particularly as I’m very fond of one such family from our time in North Yorkshire, so more on that in the future.
And, before I close this week, climate change is even affecting our pets –
in Cheshire, a King Charles spaniel collapsed and died minutes after paddling in a lake; in Ireland, a labrador puppy died four days after splashing through water and two dogs fell ill after swimming in a reservoir in Cornwall.
Blue-green algae blooms are caused by cyanobacteria which release toxins when they decay. A professor at the Centre of Ecology and Hydrology has said there is pretty strong evidence that climate change is leading to increased problems, more widespread and intense blooms, across the globe.
So, let’s clean up the earth, for our dogs, if not for us! A flippant thing to say of course, but such a huge proportion of the UK population cares strongly about dogs, so is that a good place for altering behaviour to start…?
Grandmother's questions 