Together

This beautiful Chatham Island Forget Me Not surprises me every year with its delicate blues. The leaves are huge and glossy by contrast.

It has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of this blip, except that it is something to cherish and to look after.

Every Friday for the last 18 years I have written an email called the Weekly Witter, sent to a few hundred folk. What started off as a commentary on life in Queensland, primarily aimed at family and friends in the UK has gradually morphed into a commentary about living the simple life here Chez Mima and sent to all parts of the world. 

I use it to communicate the rhythm of my life, to (hopefully) de-mystify a lifestyle which most people don't experience, and (again hopefully) to encourage people to take the first, second, third steps to live more simply themselves.

Occasionally, on days when I can't bear that people don't understand the threat of the climate and resource crises, it turns into something rather more than an exposition of simple living.

So it has been today. And here it is for my Blip friends to read and digest. It has also been shared (slightly edited) with our PM, our Finance Minister, the Climate Change Minister and my MP.

"Today’s Guardian website has a laudable top news story covering this week’s UN reports which explain the irreversible nature of our climate crisis.
 
I intend to start to own this crisis and to refer to it as ‘ours’ rather than ‘the’. It is happening thanks to my life of excess, as well as yours and more than half of the other human bodies on Earth.
 
We in the developed world are all responsible to a greater or lesser extent; whether by ignorance, naiveté, complacency, acquisitiveness, ambition, habit or outright greed.
 
As sure as we are all responsible for the crisis, so we are all responsible for finding a way to dig ourselves out of the hole – or at least trying.
 
We may be too late of course, but that’s not certain despite today’s headline. As long as there is a slim chance that the future can look brighter I’m not going to give up trying to raise awareness and help other people think about what they can do to avert the very worst of the future scenarios.
 
I look at governments (even those which I admire in respects other than their climate crisis action) and businesses and wonder how on Earth I can possibly influence the thought processes and actions of those who have influence and power. After all I am a tiny ant on the surface of our planet.
 
But my desire to experience and to pass on a gentle life - one which is un-beset by cataclysmic floods, wildfires, storms and droughts – means that I can’t shrug my shoulders, roll my eyes and keep my typing fingers still.
 
So my head pops out from beneath the parapet again, for who knows how long. No doubt I’ll be ducking back down again as a result of loud responses like “It’s too late Mima” or “It’s too big a problem for any of us to solve” or “Get over yourself: it’ll never be as bad as all that”.
 
Whatever the response, I am comforted by my commitment to a lifestyle which demonstrates, to those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, that humans do not need much money or stuff to be happy and fulfilled.
 
You have heard this before, but it remains true: modern living conventions (habits) are mostly related to ‘want’ not to ‘need’ and to a perception of comfort: not to mention the desire to grow wealthier in terms of assets and finances.
 
I increasingly struggle to understand why governments continue to emphasise growth economies at a time when it is clear that our climate crisis (quickly followed by our resources crisis) is the most urgent and important existential threat we have ever faced.
 
Economic growth and climate control / our reduction of emissions are incompatible. By promoting economic growth our governments are actually promoting our worsening climate crisis. I refer you to Nate Hagens’ podcasts, The Great Simplification to explain it.
 
That this is understood and expressed by only a minority of humans is something I simply don’t understand. It is so obvious to me. Perhaps most people have never had it explained to them?
 
And as the aforementioned ant, how on Earth does my tiny voice get into the ear of those who have actual influence?
 
How do I get our Finance Minister or our Prime Minister to listen, let alone seriously consider the validity of my views?
 
Demonstrations help raise awareness, but organisations like Extinction Rebellion and the Restore Passenger Rail campaigners in NZ are almost universally dismissed by those in power and the media as ridiculous or even dangerous. Their sphere of influence is narrow thanks to these perceptions.
 
I try to expand my tiny sphere of influence to persuade those in power to cooperate with each other and with the rest of humanity; to look to humanity for riches rather than to economic returns; ultimately to avoid the very worst effects of our climate crisis.
 
Communicating with MPs and business leaders is something I can do, in the hope that at least some of my message is read and understood, and that my voice will lend strength to others.
 
And on a practical level I continue to promote a simple lifestyle, in the hope that people assess their own as a result.
 
On a day when the UN is shouting climate crisis warnings, banks in NZ and international oil companies are bragging about record profits. Surely alarm bells are ringing across the world?
 
 
I think for the first time in a Witter, I overtly urge everyone who has read this far to challenge yourselves; look at your life; examine your conscience:
 
How often do we need to be told there is a crisis? When is the line in the sand crossed?
 
When do you take up your pen, your banner, change some of your habits which cause harm, raise your voice and your concerns about our future?
 
What are you doing to slow down this catastrophe?
 
Accepting that whatever it is that you are already doing now isn’t nearly enough, what are you going to do next?
 
Let’s accept this as a positive challenge: something that we can do for the good of humanity.
 
It really is this serious."