By Anne Southern
THIS August, ӣƵ has seemed like a little haven of tranquillity in a turbulent world. I have wept over dead babies in Gaza and the sufferings of the Rohingya, and despaired over any prospect of peace in Ukraine.
Closer to home, I have been appalled at the riots based on mindless racism. The perpetrators seem unable to recognise their shared humanity with those who endure perilous journeys in order to escape from imprisonment and torture, who want only to work and live a better and safer life. Other parts of the world are suffering fires and earthquakes, unendurable heat, hurricanes and the spreading mpox virus.
Here we seem to be cut off from all that, and some try to persuade us that the climate crisis, which is behind many of the world’s problems, is not man made, and in any case nothing that we in our tiny island can do anything about.
One of our biggest news stories is achieving the funding so the air display can go ahead. I thought I was the only one who dislikes this event, though last year I was encouraged to see that there is a growing number who spoke out against it. Some of my objections may seem trivial – that the closure of the Avenue makes it very hard for us to go about our usual pursuits and that the holiday given to schoolchildren is very disruptive and spoils the impetus of prime learning time when they are fresh from their summer holidays.
Last year I rode my bike past the crowds lining St Aubin’s Bay and the children there were clearly more interested in playing with each other behind the crowds rather than watching what was going on. And this year we won’t see the Red Arrows, which at least are entertaining. I hate the noise that disturbs our birds and the tranquillity of my garden. More serious is the fact that it glorifies machines of war and that it burns fossil fuels, causing pollution. I know many will scoff at my objections (please don’t write in) but I hate the attitude that whatever we do in this small island can have no global impact.
I like the hymn beginning “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me”. It recognises the importance of individual action. Some actions are always wrong, some can be justified and others are only wrong if large numbers of people do them.
Walking on the grass will do no harm if done by one person, but can ruin the lawn if many people do it. The many are made up of individuals, all with a responsibility to do the right thing. We often say that ӣƵ punches above its weight on the global stage; we also contribute more than our share of carbon emissions, not all attributed to ӣƵ.
If we travel by plane, those emissions are attributed to the country where the airline is based. We say that China and India are responsible for large amounts of emissions (though per capita they are much smaller than ours) but it is our responsibility when we buy goods produced there.
The main source of locally attributable emissions is car use. We know what we need to do, but giving up our cars will require a nudge in the form of better bus services and more bike lanes. To reduce air travel we could also do with a more reliable ferry – we thought our holiday in Herm was going to be easy on the planet, but the cancellation of our return ferry from Guernsey meant we had to take to the skies to get back. Condor may be OK when it works but horror stories due to technical faults abound.
And this is where we need governments to guide individual action and co-operate on a global scale. The Labour party in the UK is relying on growth to deliver better public services. But doesn’t growth mean buying more stuff? And is buying stuff bad for the planet? If I buy new clothes (my favourite hobby) I must be contributing to global heating. But if I don’t, will that contribute to businesses collapsing, more shops in King Street lying empty and people in poorer countries losing their livelihood? We are told that eating less meat and dairy will mean less methane being released, but what about the fate of the farmers? Good-quality artificial meat and dairy products are being developed that could make a big difference, but the EU and USA are blocking this development to protect their livestock farmers. It is hard to know what individual actions we can take to save both the planet and the economy.
Little ӣƵ can say, “We don’t make much difference” and carry on regardless, with our comfortable lives, our holidays abroad and our luxury goods flown in from around the world, but we can’t be protected from the problems of a burning world for ever, or claim that it is nothing to do with us.
