I am trying my best - I assure you
FOR someone who frequently struggles to remember what day to put the bins out and what colour waste bags are needed this week, I’m struggling with this COP26 thing. It’s taken me a week to get my head around the name.
Apparently, it stands for the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties.
Of course, I am not alone in having COP26 problems. Both UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and USA President Joe Biden were (allegedly) caught having 40winks at the conference.
I am willing to forgive President Biden. He is, after all, 78.
Even at a youthful 62, I find that sitting down in the same place for more than an hour will send me off to the Land of Nod. I can fall asleep in a dentist’s waiting room and on the train commute between Llanelli and Swansea – and frequently do!
As for Boris sleeping? Don’t go there.
I’d also mention his cavalier attitude to wearing a mask, were it not for his inability to wear a suit, shirt and tie properly. And don’t get me started on the hair! Other people having COP26 problems included the veteran American journalist Wolf Blitzer, one of the most respected TV news anchors in the United States. The CNN presenter looked rather like Billy No Mates as he couldn’t even get close to the COP26 conference HQ in Glasgow. The 73-year-old presented his daily reports from a studio which featured the backdrop of Edinburgh Castle. Perhaps his production team were reluctant to explain to him that Glasgow was 47 miles east down the M8? Or perhaps they thought Glasgow didn’t possess anything of architectural merit to keep American viewers interested? Meanwhile, two of the biggest players in the world’s future, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, didn’t bother attending. I don’t pretend to fully understand the mechanics, the science and the policies behind much of the climate change debate. But I do recognise it as the sort of game children might start in the playground. You’re either all in the game, or there’s no game at all. And, as our scout leader once reminded us: on a camping trip it only takes one person to pee in the pond to spoil the drinking water.
As much as I’ve been wrestling with watching COP26 playing with political footballs, I do know one thing; it all starts at home. We can all do something as individuals and families to lessen the stress for Planet Earth. For example, I am typing this in my home office wearing mittens, thermals and a fleece. My friends (I still have at least two!) will tell you that this is down to me being tightfisted and saving on ‘the gas’. I prefer to label it as my contribution to keeping the Earth’s temperature down.
Of course, sometimes, our best of intentions are scuppered by things outside our control.
For example, I remember working on the Olympics and Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro in the summer of 2016.
Our bosses had explained how the event would be one of the greenest Olympics ever staged, with a huge emphasis on recycling. We found this a little hard to believe, having seen the heavy plastic and rubbish pollution in the sailing competition base at Guanabara Bay – and having seen raw sewage escaping into many creeks alongside sporting venues.
On Day Three of the Olympics, I had a conversation with a colleague, who remarked that the Brazilians were trying their best, pointing to one of the massive cardboard bins.
The bins had two holes for rubbish - one marked ‘general waste’ and the other marked ‘recycling’.
My colleague was less impressed with the Brazilian recycling effort when I lifted the lid off the bin to show him that the inside of the cardboard bin contained only ‘one’ massive black plastic sack. In other words, whatever slot you pushed your rubbish through, it was all going to the same place.
In this case, it could have been destined for Jardim Gramacho, the largest landfill in South America – a dump piled nearly 300 feet high and spanning 14 million square feet. Every day, approximately 8,000 tons of trash – the weight of four elephants – finds its way to Jardim Gramacho, a place name which bizzarely translates to Gramacho Garden!
As I said earlier, we can all do our bit to help the planet, even if obstacles are sometimes put in our way.
For example, I used to enjoy the stroll to our local bottle bank, until the day the local council closed it down because they couldn’t agree who should be responsible for keeping it tidy.
Another minor setback for Planet Earth, perhaps?
But I can assure you I am trying my best. For example, I am committed to recycling. The head of the household, aka Mrs Lloyd, will insist on calling it ‘hoarding’ – but I see it as holding on to clothes, books, records and other ‘valuables’ until they come back into fashion. Those flares will come in handy again some day. And I’m convinced the Denim revival is just around the corner!
We can all do our bit to help the planet, even if obstacles are sometimes put in our way