I feel like I have been slapped round the face with reality and feel compelled to take action!
After many years of hearing about climate change and making some very feeble and half-hearted attempts at changing the way I live, last week it was driven home to me that there is no longer any time for apathy.
Up until now, yes I have been saddened and shocked by the research and information that I have happened upon and have been increasingly alarmed with Sir David Attenborough’s recent warnings. However it took Greta Thunberg to tell me (though I have probably heard it before but not actually listened) that in about 10 years time the effects of climate change on our planet will be irreversible! Suddenly all that I could visualise was my two boys, who will be about 15 and 18 by then, turning to me at that point and saying well what did YOU do to stop this?
I suppose I have been waiting for the government to take it seriously, or large corporations to make it easier for us to make these lifestyle changes, or my local community to overwhelmingly get involved for the changes to become mainstream (all very bad excuses), however I now realise that no one is going to do this for us. Urgent action needs to be taken by everyone if we are to succeed.
Many people have already made positive changes to their lifestyles and I wish these actions had made it to the top of my priorities list earlier (I have a lot of lists). But I am finally taking responsibility for my own actions and committing to make meaningful changes to my life to reduce my (and my family’s) carbon footprint on this precious earth.
Don’t get me wrong, I have no idea how to find this new path, it is going to take a lot of research, trial and error, and hopefully a lot of collaboration. I have set up this page primarily to share what I am doing so that hopefully other people will be inspired and (if I have done some of the leg work) will find it easier to make changes to their lives too. It will also serve the very important purpose of keeping me motivated when the changes get hard to make!
I am not a writer or fully understand the technicalities of climate change so I will be keeping it simple based on my understanding of what are the best actions to take, but if you think there is a better option for me to try please do let me know.
My carbon footprint is never going to be perfectly neutral but I am going to do my best. Surely it is better to do something imperfectly rather than not at all. I need to be able to say to my boys that I did something about it before it was too late.