Climate Change

With 100 days to go before the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen my brother received a letter from Greenpeace.

The letter's content was not news to him and was not news to me. We know that the current way of human civilization needs to change urgently. Collectively we humans have grown in numbers and power and developed a destructive capability that needs to be checked. The future would seem bleak.

One conclusion I have come to again and again is that each one of us needs to make sacrifices. We have been accustomed to consuming far too much and being far too blasé about our impact on our home. The planet is not an infinite resource and it is not an infinite rubbish bin.

Assessing the situation it could seem we have nothing but bad habits, bad habits that are mainstream (common-sense). The change in our civilization needs to be great, and the swifter and more effective it is, the more of the world’s wonderful beauty we can conserve.

A change needs to be made, and what better can we change than ourselves? The simplest option is to reduce our negative impact on the planet’s environment. In many ways, to do less, consume less, make do with less. Such change would require self-discipline and sacrifice - exercises that do reap their own rewards. The future would be oh so good.

My brother made some more specific points for individual change. Here are four ways in which we could take immediate action to help save the planet:

1. Write to our so called leaders and let them know what would make them popular with us. Would you support them going to the UN Climate Summit and agreeing to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions you can legally produce? Please follow this link: http://www.actoncopenhagen.decc.gov.uk/en/subscribe
   
2. Donate money to support worthy campaigns. Would you like to know more of Greenpeace’s campaign? http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/climate-change.
   
3. Change what you buy. One pound one vote! Don't pay your electricity bill to a company that burns fossil fuels. Switch to an alternative such as this company: goodenergy.co.uk
   
4. Each one teach one. Talk to each other. Take a serious issue seriously - it needs discussing at all levels of society.
   

October 2009 - From London

I have been back in London since the end of April. Almost half a year has passed since the journey physically came full circle. I am not in the same place I started in.

"I hardly feel like I was away. I'm back to the same old routine. Nothing has changed."

Not one of the those statements is true. The journey is not over. It goes on... for the rest of my life... perhaps on even further.

I have to say that my feet remain itchy for the highway but apart from that my body and mind crave days and nights, weeks and seasons passed in the tropical climes of South America. Friends abroad and friends at home are a part of me with or without the distances.

The seasons change outside my window, green leaves turn red, dry out and will inevitable fall. The night is longer than the day and gets longer still. Winter here is like that.

This morning I thought about approaching a girl I saw across the road to introduce myself and ask who she was. But strangers don't seem as approachable and it will take courage to bring some of the tropics back out in the UK.