Image: A BAG FOR LIFE. Mixed Media on Canvas. 153 x 122 x 3.5 cm. 2019.

A BAG FOR LIFE.

During this crisis the Co2 emissions around the world have plummeted to 2006 Levels. Our countryside has returned to nature, our skies are clearer of air traffic, our roads less busy, our air quality improved. We have all noticed this transformation and not surprisingly many are reluctant to return to the bad old days. Certainly lessons will be learnt and internet conferencing will, I suspect, take the place of previous travel commitments for both individuals and businesses. It is easy to blame others for the environmental crisis but we in the developed world must hold our hands up and admit that we are culpable. Those of us who enjoy travelling by air or road, those who enjoy the benefits of technology, those who fill their homes with the best and latest energy sapping appliances, clothes and furnishings, the list goes on. This problem goes right to the top of course and include, systems which rely on fossil fuels, waste disposal systems which pollute third world countries, decisions taken to continue and feed the production of oil and gas, etc.  In short the very fabric on which the tapestry of progress has been woven since the industrial revolution is now threadbare. These are benefits we in the developed world have all enjoyed which are rapidly contributing to its eventual demise.

You may save a bag for life or make sure you recycle all your waste, or take public transport, bike or car share to do your bit, but it will inevitably be a drop in an already polluted ocean unless we come to terms with the fact that we are ALL collectively responsible for our lack of action.  So far we have been happy with the trade off, what is gained and what is lost; unfortunately, in the long run this may be the planet itself.  Society needs a serious rethink because it is impossible for us to all live in isolation in some yurt in outer Mongolia to escape the consequences of climate change. According to Greta, the individual can make a difference, but she has shown that millions of individuals through public pressure can be even more effective. Systems which govern and control our daily lives can be made to listen but we cannot change the conversation by saying nothing.

No-one is too small to make a difference. Greta Thunberg.