Mr Vine, my Hubby goes along our road, weekly and collects litter, he is more than "sad", he is blazing mad, says a lot of sarf London words, that thankfully, coming from a West Sussex village, I don't understand. A lot of masks at the moment. I have been recycling for over 40 years. I wash pillows,duvet,coats rather than dry clean, keep stuff for years, I have a trench coat/mac and camel colour jacket over 40 years old (afraid they do have to be dry cleaned!!) Almost every item of furniture in our conservatory is second hand from local Hospice Shop, painted, (yes environmentally friendly water based paint)I very much wanted a log burner, on reading how bad they are for the environment, we bought, a "fake" electric one. I sometimes unpick jumpers and reknit, (I couldn't get on with knitting the yogurt. I don't buy fruit out of season, grow as much of my own as I can.Shop locally. We don't go abroad, no passports. I do have a diesel Estate, 13 years old, kept in good condition by Hubby. He tried for 3 years to change it to petrol, one we could afford to buy, certainly cannot afford to buy electric. We only have my pension. He damaged his rotator cuff, had to stop work (Vehicle Tech) in August, and is 63, 67 is his pension age.
If you don,t know where your next meal is coming from, you are unlikely to worry too much about the environment. Middle class worries.
I think that's the opposite in some cases.
People who live in poorer parts of the world most affected by changing climate etc. Are particularly aware of the environment.
As are people who subsist on the land and make use of their local environment to survive.
But I agree with you, people in this country, living in urban areas, who have no relationship with the environment naturally and may lack the time or resources to be able to, are at a significant disadvantage when it comes to understanding and caring about it.
But that doesn't necessarily mean that they don't.
No one could describe me as middle class, when we were both working, we didn't earn what is classed a the average wage between us. The posh friends I have who went to Uni, don't give a monkies about the planet.
Yes and no. I'm consciously doing a lot of things in my garden to encourage wildlife, and I guess that would make me an 'environmental' gardener. Some examples: 1. Converting a big area of lawn (about 15m x 10m) grow into a native wildflower meadow 2. Converting an ornamental pond into a wildlife pond 3. Leaving woodpiles 4. Never using pesticides 5. Maintaining a birdfeeder and cleaning it regularly 5. Favouring varieties that carry "single" flowers rather than blousy doubles 6. Replacing a long leylandii hedge with a mixed native hedge
But the reality is, every one of these steps makes me happy and enhances my enjoyment of the garden, so none of can be considered any way altruistic.
Does that make me an environmentalist or not?
If I really wanted to maximise the appeal of my garden to wildlife that would involve making difficult trade-offs between having the garden that pleases me the most and doing what's best for the environment. So what about converting the remaining three-quarters of lawn to something else, or exclusively planting native flowers, shrubs and trees (species, not ornamental hybrids) to the exclusion of anything else? All steps I could take but don't!
There's something about saying " I am an environmentalist , which carries the same " holier than thou" sentiment as " I am a vegan" We all draw the line somewhere, some in a better place than others.
Surely what you do in your garden pales into insignificance when compared to: driving a car, taking international flights, how you heat your house etc etc?
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
Surely what you do in your garden pales into insignificance when compared to: driving a car, taking international flights, how you heat your house etc etc?
exactly, add to that, buying fruit and veg flown from all corners of the globe.
I’ll further add, as I said in another post, UK gardens cover 500,000 hectares while farmland occupies 93 billion hectares. What we as gardeners do to enhance the environment is as nothing compared to the impact farmers can make.
That thinking encourages a lot of people to get into the mindset that it's not worth doing anything at all. When in fact every little thing can and does make a difference - small or not.
Garden responsibly, and encourage wildlife into your garden and you're doing SOMETHING positive to help with problems of loss of natural habitats and declining populations of pollinators etc.
You're creating a small safe haven.
It might only be small but it's something. It's of benefit to those creatures that come to and inhabit your garden.
It's not insignificant to them. It could literally be life or death.
Remember it's not all about CO2 and global warming.
Posts
Middle class worries.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
People who live in poorer parts of the world most affected by changing climate etc. Are particularly aware of the environment.
As are people who subsist on the land and make use of their local environment to survive.
But I agree with you, people in this country, living in urban areas, who have no relationship with the environment naturally and may lack the time or resources to be able to, are at a significant disadvantage when it comes to understanding and caring about it.
But that doesn't necessarily mean that they don't.
1. Converting a big area of lawn (about 15m x 10m) grow into a native wildflower meadow
2. Converting an ornamental pond into a wildlife pond
3. Leaving woodpiles
4. Never using pesticides
5. Maintaining a birdfeeder and cleaning it regularly
5. Favouring varieties that carry "single" flowers rather than blousy doubles
6. Replacing a long leylandii hedge with a mixed native hedge
But the reality is, every one of these steps makes me happy and enhances my enjoyment of the garden, so none of can be considered any way altruistic.
Does that make me an environmentalist or not?
If I really wanted to maximise the appeal of my garden to wildlife that would involve making difficult trade-offs between having the garden that pleases me the most and doing what's best for the environment. So what about converting the remaining three-quarters of lawn to something else, or exclusively planting native flowers, shrubs and trees (species, not ornamental hybrids) to the exclusion of anything else? All steps I could take but don't!
We all draw the line somewhere, some in a better place than others.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
That thinking encourages a lot of people to get into the mindset that it's not worth doing anything at all. When in fact every little thing can and does make a difference - small or not.
Garden responsibly, and encourage wildlife into your garden and you're doing SOMETHING positive to help with problems of loss of natural habitats and declining populations of pollinators etc.
You're creating a small safe haven.
It might only be small but it's something. It's of benefit to those creatures that come to and inhabit your garden.
It's not insignificant to them. It could literally be life or death.
Remember it's not all about CO2 and global warming.