Reports continue to come in about extreme weather events around the world. At the same time there are also dramatic and creative actions drawing attention to climate change
and our need to act – like this lightshow by Greenpeace onto the coal carrier that grounded on Nobbys Beach in Newcastle during the severe weather that recently hit NSW’s coastline.
On Saturday, the Climate Change Forum in Lawson was about inspiring people to action … speakers included Matthew Nott, from Clean Energy for Eternity, who has been empowering communities and school children by helping them to create human signs, and Frank Ryan from Vox Bandicoot’s Sustainability Street
On a personal level, nothing very inspired – just continued working on an action I started weeks ago – clearing out the things that are no longer being used in our house. I have so much “stuff” that this action is going to take ages, but every time someone buys something or I give something away, it could mean one less item in the world needing to be produced. This weekend I’ve had a garage sale and a stall at the community market.
On the political level I gave a presentation at the Climate Change Forum and did lots and lots of talking at the community market – again, everyone coming together as they do at the market is very much a communal political act.
Lis, Lis,
You are too hard on yourself .. take heart in the fact that your daily action of actually putting thought, ideas and information ‘out there’ are motivational and inspiring to all those who come in contact with you!
On the topic of ‘more items needing to be produced’ – have you noticed the new “serviette” fashion in restaurants and cafes? Cutlery comes with a paper serviette, then your coffee cup is sparated from its saucer by a paper serviette, and your toast is separated from the plate by a paper serviette. There are many excuses for this new phenomenon. My action is to ‘speak up’ at every restaurant. Imagine this multiplication exercise … all the customers in one cafe in Katoomba in a day, multiplied by all the days in a week, multiplied by all the cafes in Katoomba, multiplied by all the cafes in the Blue Mountains and so on. How many more paper serviettes is each cafe buying???
I ALWAYS make a point of saying something to the manager. If we all do this we can reverse the ‘trend’.
I’ve noticed all those paper serviettes but have never thought the whole logistics through, Thankyou Josephine.
Food is one of those life’s little essentials, so that taking action around food makes a powerful statement.
Last night I went to a Cittaslow Meeting. For those who don’t know the Slow Food Movement and Cittaslow – Slow Food is an International non profitable organisation founded in 1986 and is represented in over 80 countries; the Blue Mountains Cittaslow declaration on the other hand is an International recognition that our World Heritage area has a criteria that focus on environmental issues and tourism that we were awarded on March 16th this year.
It’s about using and learning about seasonal locally grown organic food; there by supporting small producers and restoring time-honoured methods of production.
We did a bit of brain storming and got all excited
about encouraging the local economony, reducing CO2 emissions, building community and eating well. We are aiming for a ‘Kitchen Garden in Every Blue Mountains Home’, and want to show everyone how to start small -harvest the yield and become as excited as we are about the possibilities.
I enjoy the simple natural way of livin’ so much more than living in the fast lane.
Lis
Hear, hear to Josephine’s comment. Rest assured your words and actions ARE making a difference. I’m one of those people who started campaigning on environmental issues at least 30 years ago, but inevitably we become tired or jaded or overwhelmed by other responsibilities. Your talk at the Climate Change forum on Saturday has given me renewed inspiration and enthusiasm.
I immediately subscribed to A Year in a Day and have taken several personal actions, including buying a secondhand bicycle (something I had been thinking about for ages but kept procrastinating). I have always been conservative with water & energy use but in any household there are always further savings to be made so I’m working on that front this week. I also removed my name from a number of mailing lists to reduce the paper overload in my letterbox. I already have a number of political actions in mind too – first, I’m going to send the details of your blog to all my contacts.
Keep up the great work and don’t ever feel guilty about taking time out for yourself. Life is meant to be enjoyable as well as meaningful and enlightening!
Hi Lis,
Enjoyed listening to you on Saturday at Lawson.
Just wrote my first ever political letter via email, and it felt really good to be able to say how I felt about climate change.
Thanks for caring for our planet, and don’t forget to look after yourself as well,
Nelda
Hi Lis
Lots of encouragement! I was really pleased to see how our water conserving measures are paying off. We are using the daily amount of water equivalent to Sydney Waters target for a water efficient 1 person household. We are a 3 person household! It all helps!