Confronting the Truth
. . . whilst retaining your optimism
Dear fellow flower friend,
When asked how to solve the huge environmental challenges that face us, the poet and activist Gary Snyder famously replied “The most radical thing you can do is stay at home”.
Reader, I’ve been stuck on my subject this week. Several years ago, along with so many other struggling with eco anxiety, I made the decision to cut my footprint - literally. I moved my business to walking distance of where I lived and cut down on getting out of town. It hurt! My world became so small! My family and friends are spread far and wide across the British Isles and in the end I bought a small car so I could spread my wings. Having set myself a challenging goal of writing once a week, a lot of thought goes into subject matter. I draw inspiration from my creative practice, from my regular interactions with nature and from conversations with others - yet I shy away from the big stuff, the fear, the WTF.
Facing the realities of climate change is hard, looking in the face of inaction, recognising and admitting that I am part of the problem. A few years ago I came across ‘Take the Jump’ - six simple lifestyle shifts anyone can make to contribute positively to societal change. They are simple changes: keeping products for at least 7 years; buying less clothes; restricting flights to one every three years; eating green - plant based, no waste, healthy amount; switching energy provider; specifying where your pension funds are invested; using public transport.
So, I do, at all times, as many of these things as I can. And even though I have this niggling feeling that just one individual changing their behaviour is not going to make much difference, I try to stay optimistic. And then I came across this: ‘Net Zero’ is Latin for ‘kicking the can down the road’ which, if you have ten minutes and the stomach for it, I urge you to watch and share. Be prepared for a very uncomfortable ten minutes from Kevin Anderson, one of UK’s most senior climate scientists. It is difficult and it is painful but we have to confront this and maybe confronting the reality will jolt us into action, and despite my misgivings, if all we can do is change our behaviour then that is what we must do. Anderson says
There is lots of rhetoric, lots of good words, lots of optimism about the future that you will hear about. But we are heading towards 3 to 4 degrees of warming across this century, an absolute climate catastrophe for all species including our own. And all we are doing so far is giving rhetoric and optimism and greenwash.
Bloody hell, it’s hard, isn’t it? I’m not the only one waking up in the morning and doom scrolling, am I? Reading about another wildfire, temperatures rising across Europe, another natural catastrophe. It hardly sets you up for the day does it? Some days I struggle to get up and get out because it can be hard to see the point*, and most days I question what I’m trying to do both with this and my art practice, like, is it worth it? (*There is a point though, there’s always a point - my cat, my clients and my children - not necessarily in that order. I’m not depressed, I just have a heavy dose of eco-anxiety.)
And yet. Good news breaks through too. New fields of study emerge, and in this brave new world in which we live, new fields of study can develop very quickly. Take the soil microbiome. Studies into micro biology started in the seventeenth century with microscopy - developing the ability to look much more closely at living organisms. Plants and fungi were classified in the early eighteenth century and the first vaccines developed in the late 18C. The field broadened and developed and in 1928, antibiotics were discovered. Watson and Crick famously identified the double helix structure of DNA in 1953 and subsequent discoveries, research and emergent knowledge within this field has been huge. In 2010 the Earth Microbiome project launched - a global study of soil - and in June 2023 a study revealed just how effective a healthy soil microbiome is at storing carbon.
So maybe this is a new way in which individuals can help - stop tidying away your garden waste, let it rot back into the soil and let’s do everything we can to improve the health of the soil beneath our feet. Could companies who have promoted intensive farming methods change tack? Rather than producing chemicals which leach the very life out of our soil they could find ways of nourishing and enriching the soil?
We must have optimism, without it, moving forwards can be difficult. So here’s my latest: I am currently mulling over a big idea, I want to develop The Paper Meadow Project I delivered in Wirral Schools over the last school year. I have big ideas and big plans for a project which I believe the project I would benefit and stimulate positive change in several areas: creativity, environment, mental health, connection to nature, building communities. So right now, I am looking for potential partners (in the areas of space, funding and creative delivery - potentially museums, cathedrals, libraries) to discuss a proposed project all about Bringing Giant Flowers into Giant Spaces. If you are feeling creative and optimistic and you or someone you know is prepared to think BIG please do get in touch, I’d love to talk!
That’s all for this week folks and thanks for reading. I have stayed at home for the past seven years (Gary Snyder, if you are reading**, I am listening) and in a week I am flying overseas for a family holiday. So don’t worry if I don’t write next week, but I will send a postcard from Spain.
Please comment if you are moved to do so and feel free to share.
With love and optimism! Ling
**wouldn’t that be something!
Feel free to be in touch. I made 9 giant flowers through a commission with Wirral Environmental Network, Eco Schools and a wirral Unplugged in 2022, from recycled materials - plastic, rubber - and metal. At the time I was not able to follow up with workshops in schools but now do not have the same caring duties.