Individualism a drop in the ocean

HAVING been used to shredded cardboard for breakfast from an early age, my favourite meat, in pecking order, was chicken and pig. However in the post Chicken Run and Babe era I became hooked on fish and my stunning cod tray bakes were a key bargaining tool in the recent EU/ UK fishing deal.

Alas, Netfix intervened and Ali Tabrizi’s controversial Seaspiracy, despite the criticism, has enough fact checks to shrivel up a tuna sandwich and turn pink salmon to its original grey.

The film claims that the ocean, critical to sustain life on earth, is being destroyed by the fishing industry. The sea floor is being devastated by bottom trawling, fishing equipment is the main polluter, the bycatch of seabirds, dolphins and seals is appalling and sustainable fishing is not possible.

So, full of microplastics, I am now a born again veggie and feeling good at my lack of complicity with the slaughterhouse and the trawler. However, as revealed by Climate Central last week in its coastal screening maps, Llanelli, Burry Port and Kidwelly are predicted to be submerged under water by 2050 based on current climate trends. That shocking scenario makes my individualism a drop in the ocean.

That’s why Ocean Rebellion were in Cornwall a couple of weeks ago at the G7 Summit demanding immediate action to address the climate and ecological emergency, and that is why the announcement of Lee Waters that the Welsh Government will freeze new road building projects is so welcome. Robust measures are needed to reach the Wales target of net zero emissions by 2050.

Our individual actions are important but the real difference in a climate emergency is made by national and international governmental action. The alternative is a minister for coastal flooding and the restoration of the Carmarthen coracle.