Hope
I think it is fair to say that hope feels far away at the moment, especially with the wildfires in Scotland and Suffolk, two places that I love very much.
The way everything is spoken about in the news does not help, it feels like there is nothing we can do and that actually this is just going to be our life now. I am sure no one will be surprised that it has been suggested that the big corporations want us to feel hopeless.
The fossil fuel companies who are responsible for a lot of this want us to believe it is all our fault and yes there are things we can do to help but overall, it definitely isn't all our fault . In fact, a new investigation by Equals published on July 28th has found that "Emissions from five fossil fuel corporations were enough to cause about 1 in 4 heatwaves between 2000 and 2023, which would have been virtually impossible without climate change.".
On a positive note, there has been an large increase in people switching over to renewable energy, influenced by the Iran War and the multitude of problems it has caused. In fact, we will soon have access to plug- in solar panels (often known as 'balcony solar panels') in shops which is an exciting development and will help to make solar power more accessible.
There are always small steps we can take. For example, make your voice heard. This can be as simple as voting in elections, joining in with local community nature groups or writing to an MP to protest Data Centres. Another suggestion to reuse what we already have or buy secondhand. A further idea is to not use AI, it uses staggering amounts of water and unfortunately, Data Centres are being planned for around the UK, (including Great Yarmouth!).
Bees are both cute and essential for the world and they need us. Not everyone has a garden, but even putting one bee friendly plant (such as English Lavender or Garden Mint) or putting a dish of water (with stones in) on a windowsill will help our insects.
I find it difficult to have hope and I am sure there are other people feeling this as well and that is why I wrote this blog post. Keep doing the right things and if we work together, we can stop things from becoming worse in the future.
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