So big are the three topics of climate change, nature loss and waste that, in responding to them, it is difficult to know where to start. Recently I came across a very useful framework for thinking and doing which might be helpful. It is called ‘What? So what? Now What?’
To simplify I will take just one of the three: climate change. But this tool can be applied to all of them. In any case, they overlap. First: What? We know that climate change is real and its effects are intensifying; that millions are suffering and dying because of it; that it is driving migration on a global scale; that extreme weather events are affecting every part of the world, leading to more powerful hurricanes, to widespread floods, prolonged droughts, intense heatwaves and uncontrollable wildfires … all this and more.
So what? What does all this mean for and matter to me? So far, compared to people in other parts of the world, we may have been relatively untouched by all this. But we have not escaped entirely and it is no good hoping that we will escape in the future as the planet warms further.
In Cumbria, we remember only too well the three floods of the century, each one worse than the one before, and each one displacing hundreds from their homes. We also remember the damaging heatwaves and the increased death rate with each one, and the wildfires on the fells. So climate change already matters to our health and well-being, to our food and water security and to our finances (there is a cost to all of these).
Looking at the vexed question of migration, many of the people risking their lives to cross the Channel are fleeing countries where climate change and conflict driven by climate change have made life impossible. They may not put it that way, but that makes it no less true.
Now what? What can I, or we, do about it? The answer at the individual and household level may be ‘not much’ relative to the size of the problem. But it is not and never will be nothing.
So think of what’s possible for you that you haven’t done already. It may be small changes to your diet, with less meat and dairy and less wasted food; conserving energy by adjusting your thermostat and putting on warmer clothes this winter; flying less (or not at all); buying less: making do and mending; being more understanding about migration; talking to your family and friends about what you are doing; helping us when we plant trees and bash balsam; coming to our climate café and our Green Screens; being on our mailing list – the possibilities are almost endless.
Why not join us at sustainablekeswick@gmail.com?
Joe Human
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