The little things we can do to protect our planet
WE are in strange times. The current crisis has shown how risky the global economy is. It may be sensible to make cars in Korea but does it really make sense to import our garlic from China.
It’s the economy stupid! Or is it the stupid economy?
- Does it really make sense for billions of euros to flow from Ireland each year for fossil fuel energy and then pay hundreds of millions of Euros to Europe in fines for lack of action on carbon reduction targets and climate action?
- Does it make sense to import millions of tons of industrially produced grain and fertiliser per year to produce industrial food for export, and this at the expense of our biodiversity?
- Does it make sense then to import the majority of the food we eat from all around the world – grown with chemicals, wrapped in plastic and delivered with fossil fuels?
- Does it make sense to spend all our money and credit flying around the world looking at images of other cultures whilst we damage our own culture to create the same false image for others?
It’s the economy...at the expense of local wealth and community.
We have been living in the fairy tale of infinite growth – this is as an illusion and is neither real nor sustainable. It has taken a Swedish teenager to call us adults out on this. And still we can choose to ignore or pay attention to her words of warning.
We can choose to see the current COVID crisis as a wake up call. The air is cleaner, the world is quieter – we can hear the birds and they can hear each other. Most of us have been able to slow down, to have more time on our hands, to spend time with each other, spend time in nature, to be creative.
It makes sense to properly develop our own local renewable energy systems now, including small scale and micro-generation of energy. If this investment went to individuals, farmers and communities rather than big business it would create large amounts of local wealth.
It has been shown again and again, that if money is generated locally and spent locally, a higher percentage of this money stays within the community. Kerry Sustainable Energy Coop (KSEC) are a local voluntary group working to promote this approach (www.ksec.ie).
We must agree as a society to pay more for food, this vital resource. Only in the past 30-40 years have we started to take access to food for granted and now expect to be cheap and all year round. This model is utterly unsustainable on lots of levels.
It makes sense for our farmers and communities to be adequately resourced to produce local food for local communities from locally produced resources. This would create vibrant local communities with the farmer at the heart of society rather than isolated as they are now. It would also encourage young people who are looking for purpose and reason beyond money. It would bring food and biodiversity to the heart of our communities, rural and urban.
It makes sense for us to holiday (mostly) at home. We can discover our natural heritage, landscape and history that is on our doorstep. We can build our own local culture and be proud of it.
We are as individuals irreparably damaging the planet by all these unnecessary flights. Yes, we may have to travel to visit family and loved ones, but we must reassess all our unnecessary journeys.
We can consider slow travel where we take rail and road, instead of flights. We have seen how we can change how we live in the past few months. We have slowed down and the planet has benefited from it. Stay at home and get involved in the local economy and in leisure that is creative and healing for planet earth.
We only have one planet. If we take care of it, it takes care of us!