I’ve been wondering how I should approach today’s entry. Blog Action Day has an environmental theme and so the easy option would have been to keep with the usual array of wildlife photos and been done with it.
Somehow though that doesn’t seem quite right. I thought about global warming (recently re-named ‘climate change’ to take account of the lousy UK summer this year), but I am old enough to remember being taught about the coming ‘ice age’ (big theme in the 70s, which even made it into a song by The Clash). I’ll also admit to not being sure about the evidence (computer modeling is just that, and science is notoriously inexact in its premises). A serious issue, and not something to ignore. But there’s little I can add to what is becoming quite a heated debate.
What I am sure about though is that our actions have an impact on our environment. And that western society’s relentless quest for ‘economic growth’ has little to do with the quality of life. As Lou Reed once wrote: “Does anyone really need a billion dollar rocket, does anyone need a $60,000 car?”. Or indeed, an on-life life?
I don’t know how accurate these calculations are, but cyber communities are not energy-free by quite a long shot and it’s claimed that a Second Life avatar consumes about as much energy as a real-world Brazilian. Those kind of stats don’t take into account what else we might be doing with our time, but it’s obvious that there’s an environmental cost in being on-line. There’s massive wastage in leaving your router running 24/7, or on leaving screens on standby even when you shut down. And the same goes for leaving digi boxes and TVs on overnight. So a simple thought: at the end of the day, just switch it all off.
I just checked, and apparently I need 1.8 planet earths to sustain my footprint of 3.3 global hectares. I also discovered that the UK average is 5.3 so I’m not doing too badly, but there’s room to improve. The plus is that I don’t fly. The minus is that I drive to work. Alone. That’s not going to change easily. It’s £1 to park or £3.20 to go by bus, plus it’s about 10 minutes by car or a shade over an hour by bus. So some changes are embedded in our infrastructure and are going to be resistant to immediate reduction. That’s no reason to avoid thinking about it though. There’s plenty you can do. You can check your own footprint at the Ecological Footprint Quiz.
On a personal level my interest in the environment is recent, the result of observing a rather skinny fox which decided to enter our garden back in 2005.
Watching the fox got me interested in recording what I was seeing. Hence the photography. The camera took me further afield, and I started to see things that must always have been around me but which I’d simply not noticed. I had never seen a fox. I had never seen a kestrel, or buzzard, or peregrine. I’d never seen a wood mouse. That amounts to over 45 years of walking around with eyes tight shut.
So from being a complete urbanite I now see woodpeckers, kestrels, buzzards, wood mice and a wonderful array of native small birds on a daily basis. It’s taught me a lot about what we risk. And a lot about how complex we make our lives. One of my favourite spots for wildlife photography these days is a small dewpond created as an environmental management project when a new medical school was constructed. It’s a great spot for watching dragonflies.
Look up. Look down. Look around. It doesn’t matter where. But do look. You’ll be amazed at what’s around you.
And look after it. These guys will thank you in their own way.
Images all from previous entries
UniqueView
15 Oct 2007Great article Words, I share your sentiment about really looking at the world around us. There is so much we miss as we rush around in our lives and sometimes we forget to enjoy lifes simple pleasures and the environment in which we are but a small part.
:cheers:
SittingFox
15 Oct 2007You sum up well just how rewarding it is to look about your own corner of the world. When I worked in Croydon, I was alarmed by the number of people I met who seemed to think that the UK had no wildlife. Very sad, as even in London there is plenty to see if you know where to look. I prefer the downlands, though 😉
(And I'm still exceedingly jealous of that chiffchaff picture!)
SittingFox
15 Oct 2007Foxes always know how to steal the show 😆
Words
15 Oct 2007Pete, exactly right. As I was driving home tonight I saw a kestrel hovering above a hay bale at the side of the road. And sometimes it's just the smallest detail, like this little sparrow nesting in a cavity in the side of a building.
Words
15 Oct 2007Adele, I was chuffed wiith that chiffchaff! I grew up in London and although no foxes back then (that I saw) we had plenty of squirrels and there were always sparrows around. These days foxes seem to have encroached rather more, and a couple of years back one even trotted round the White Heart Lane pitch during the middle of Spurs v Chelsea match. That's 40,000 people who have seen some wildlife to start with!
SittingFox
15 Oct 2007😀
Words
15 Oct 2007And the shoe, and the camera bag, and anything else that's left around…. 😆
gdare
18 Oct 2007Beautiful post. I live in town and except pets and some bird species I have no possibility to see some bigger animals.
Sometimes I wish I live in country 😀
Words
19 Oct 2007In England we get a lot of foxes in cities, but I have to admit I really enjoy living near the countryside after a lifetime of urban living.
culturin-mezza
19 Oct 2007I appreciate your visiting my BAD (no pun intended!)post
and I must take that Footprints quiz soon. Excellent link everyone
can learn from.
I love these pics; some have intense personal sense, all have
charming and poignant uncomplicated realism.
Tred onward with fortitude and kindness of spirit!
Vulpes vulpes
19 Oct 2007A well-written post + beautiful pics to accompany it, as always!
Words
20 Oct 2007Culturin, thanks for looking in. :up:
Words
20 Oct 2007Thanks VV!