Stop feeling overwhelmed by environment and act

I’m sure, like me, many readers watched David Attenborough’s documentary Extinction: The Facts on BBC1 last Sunday evening, with a growing feeling of horror.

Pangolins, the world’s most trafficked species, contained in net bags ready to be boiled alive so that their scales, no different in chemical structure to our fingernails, can be harvested as ineffective medical remedies.

Monkeys jumping into a river in a desperate attempt to escape an advancing forest fire. A killer whale corpse tangled in a fishing net. The examples of the way that humans are impacting the world’s biodiversity just went on and on.

Blue Planet II did much to raise awareness about the problem of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans, and prompted many people to change their attitude and habits towards the consumption of single use plastic.

However, Blue Planet II was nowhere near as hard hitting as this.

The problem is large and complex, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by it, but the way to begin overcoming this feeling is simply to start working on the solution – to do something.

In this respect Attenborough’s timing is perfect for the residents of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.

The Council’s Environment and Climate Change Strategy is currently the subject of a public consultation, which closes on September, so those who haven’t responded yet still have over a week to do so. The different environmental groups in the Borough have come together to produce a document that will help residents to respond to the consultation.

If you are part of a local environmental group they will be able to provide you with a copy.

If you’re not, please email us at plasticfreewindsor@gmail.com and we will be delighted to send it to you.

At the end of the documentary David Attenborough describes this as a “critical moment”. It’s time to stop feeling overwhelmed, it’s time to start.

PAUL HINTON Plastic Free Windsor