In a few days time, with any luck, we will have elected a Conservative government, quickly followed by a vote to leave the EU.The settling of this issue will probably give a psychological boost in the country, but real change will still be a good way off.
Thus a matter that has consumed us for many years will finally be put to bed, but another issue looks set to be with us for decades to come. Climate change: – science, and the evidence of our own eyes, points to this being both real and manmade. Droughts and fires and floods have always been with us, but when they all come together ‘let not men say “they have their reasons, they are natural.” Here at Staunton there is a litany of tales about delayed and cancelled journeys, and our own works van had to be abandoned on a flooded road by the river Trent.
One local couple, more ‘woke’ than the rest of us, joined an ‘Extinction Rebellion’ march in London. The next month they jetted off to America to visit an uncle. This dichotomy. I fear, will bring rancour and guilt which will touch us all. Decisions we made daily without any thought of environmental consequences will be questioned by ourselves and our neighbours. It will turn some of us into very ‘unhappy bunnies.’
It’s of no comfort to me that the elements of this crisis have come about almost entirely in my lifetime. Growing up after the war there was no plastic, few cars, and no planes carrying tourists and goods around the world. It was a hard time, in many ways harder than the war itself. In this new dilemma we must look for ways that help the climate without unduly impoverishing our lives.