A little while ago I picked up some old magazines from one of the free bookshelves around town. It was a pile of World Magazine, which looked quite interesting to flick through.
My eye was caught by the Guest Editorial in the June 1989 issue, with the title I've used for this post.
It's by Professor Chris Baines, who I was unfamiliar with, but he's actually a well-known environmentalist who has been on TV, being one of the first presenters of Countryfile among other things.
The article begins:
"With holes in the ozone layer, dead seals in the North Sea, and Austria-sized lumps of tropical rain forests disappearing every year, what can we as individuals do to help the Earth get better?
....Time is running out. Every step each of us takes is valuable, but the urgent need now is for giant leaps forward. These are dependent on industry and government, but it's you and I who must make them happen."
This was written nearly 30 years ago, and it was clear then that time was running out and that there was an urgent need for action.
The article could have been written yesterday, because nothing has changed.
He talks about needing more investment in public transport, and using cars less - we're still talking about that.
He talks about recycling and stopping industry from polluting our rivers - and just look at the River Wye now, full of phosphates and green slime.
He talks about insulating our homes, and there's a group now which has been stopping traffic on the M25 to campaign for the same thing.
He talks about the use of pesticides in farming....
And he says that the government initiatives that were happening in 1989 were as useful as re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. Since then we've seen the National Rivers Authority and Environment Agency underfunded, and a vote in the House of Commons just a few days ago to permit sewage to be pumped into our rivers and along our coasts.
Thirty years, and not only are we no further forward, but the situation nationally and globally is far worse.
Like many people who want to go on living on a habitable planet, I have been watching COP26 with interest, but without much hope that things will change in the way that they need to.
As Greta Thunberg said: "Blah-blah-blah".
Quite honestly, I don't expect to see anything meaningful come out of COP26. I don't expect governments or the fossil fuel industry to change their behaviour, no matter what David Attenborough says, and no matter what the scientific evidence is.
People like Professor Chris Baines have spent their professional lives encouraging wildlife gardens, advising on environmentally friendly housing and sustainable water management and all the rest of it, but it doesn't seem to make a dent in what needs to be done - and the people who could take action don't seem to be interested.
I don't know what the answer is - I'm going to carry on doing what I can as an individual. I just wish I knew how to change the minds of the people in power. It was urgent 30 years ago. It's even more urgent now.
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