I hope you will understand me using a poem by Amanda Gorman again! I love her work and find her inspiring. She really is a most exceptional person. As a young black woman she is accustomed to racism. Yet she has stood up to it with courage. She became the youngest inaugural poet at 22 when she read her poem in front of the world at Joe Biden’s swearing-in ceremony in Washington. To me that needs a lot of self-belief.
We can change our world
Amanda Gorman: The Hill We Climb
We just need to believe that each of us can make a difference.
That light is there for us too.
When faced with the world as it is today I shudder, and you must also. I wonder as an eighty-year-old grandmother what on earth can I do to make a difference. I don’t live in a community of activists, I don’t have money for funding large projects, I live in semi-rural France, I don’t even have a huge amount of energy, so how can I help?
What I do have is two wonderful adult children and six amazing grandchildren whose futures I care about passionately. I also have a vision of the sort of life I would like them to lead. Of course they will make their own decisions. But I have a vision of a world: where people care about Nature, where there is an environment that is restored and thriving, where one can hear the birds sing, the rivers are clean and healthy and one can walk in the mountains and see the sky. I want a world at peace where people live in communities and share, where there is no more loneliness and most people have a purpose in their life. I want it to be a place where money is not king and where kindness reigns.
My strength is that I don’t give in!
You will be saying no doubt, like the Irish do, that “you can’t get there from here!
I believe we can.
What is happening already out there?
Of course it feels we are surrounded by powerful, wicked people who don’t care about us, only about profit and their lifestyle. Yes, there are many of them! But there are many more wonderful people who care about the world, and who want it to work for everybody. You have seen inspiring examples in my other blogs.
What is missing from our active fight-back is the people who are sitting at home saying, “it is too late to make a difference”, or “I am only one person”, or “I can’t possibly make a difference”, or “it is too hard”.
And there are those who are weighed down with problems of their own, who are preoccupied and stressed. These I understand, but I invite everybody to find a way. Sadly there are many millions of people who feel such negative things and do nothing.
It needs all of us.
This quote from Al Gore keeps me on the straight and narrow:
Creating a Better Future – How Can You Make a Difference?
Find a Community
If you don’t feel like being active as an individual there are a number of ways of getting round that problem. Working in a community can be one of them.
Get2gether has some ideas on that. They say:
“Community work makes people feel included, valued for who they are and that they do matter. Being part of a community means having a wider support network through shared experiences and gives people a sense of purpose, feeling less alone and contributing to something bigger.”
You may not be lucky enough to live in a community but there are many different types you can join, and they will be happy to have you.
- Some local farms, (especially regenerative ones) like to encourage volunteers and you would really be helping the planet.
- Some towns and cities grow vegetables on unused land for locals to pick. In the UK there are endless communities who like to use this land for fruit and vegetables. The Conversation newspaper talks of a “Right to Grow” Law in the UK which would allow locals to grow fruit and vegetables. If passed, this would allow groups to use neglected land to grow food for local people. This is being encouraged by the group Incredible Edible which already does that. This group is always looking for helpers and helping to grow things is a wonderful way to take part in a community. Other groups like that exist.
I know these communities also exist in America and in countries in Europe.
You would be helping the environment and also making friends.
- Are you good at fixing things? I am sure a Repair Café would love to have you.
- Can you sew? There are many clothing repair and restyling places available. You could help avoid a huge amount of waste rotting in landfill sites in developing countries, and also make new friends.
- Set up your own community of friends and neighbours. Have coffee together and talk about the climate and what you can do together to help.
- Set up an energy community. Raise money to put solar panels on barns, schools, hospitals or any roof tops you can find.
- Start a writing group to write to politicians, the press and bankers about the importance of their actions in the fight against Climate Change.
- Start a climate café locally and help educate other people about what is needed.
Working in Community
Join an Organisation
There are many organisations out there who need help. For example Greenpeace, WWF and Oxfam. Even if all you do is help them raise money for their various environmental causes, that is a lot. Often there are other ways of helping.
If You Are a Teacher
Can you get together with your colleagues to teach the children about the world and its needs? Even getting them working in the garden helps. Planting seeds can instil a love of nature in young ones.
Help Wildlife
If animals and birds are your thing, join a wildlife trust and help revivify the environment and conserve biodiversity.
They Need Your Help
Approximately 58 million birds have been lost globally in the last year!
Raise Money
Money is always useful in the fight against Climate Change. Raising it in your community is nicer than doing it alone. Find a group with a cause.
Give Money
If you really are too busy to help, giving money can help many causes. I like to give money to an organisation called Open Democracy. They have very little to do with the climate, but they are a very free press dedicated to open publishing. We need a free press and better democracy in order to fix Climate Change.
You Can Make a Difference
So, for an individual who hesitates to be involved, there are very many things you can do. Do have a look at some of my other blogs for different ideas.
Please remember it needs everyone to be involved, so go out and round up some friends and do something to make a difference, and then talk about it.
Thank you.
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Photos by Doreen Hosking, The Tampa Bay Estuary Program and by Jan Meeus on Unsplash