Pond Power!

You can help our freshwater world. It badly needs all the help it can get.

Consider your water usage. Untill our last water bill came in I thought we were relatively economical in our use of this valuable resource. The bill proved otherwise.

Letting water stream unecessarily, daily showers for longer than necessary, dripping taps, all the usual components were there.

With the help of someone with knowledge of water use we measured the amount of water used by our shower. One minute = one bucket full of water= about 10 litres. Our showering time was unecessarily long. It was sufficient to rinse off, turn the stream off , soap up and then rinse off.

The habit of daily showers is a modern phenomena, not necessary, and when you add in the energy costs from heating the water, very wastefull. People still get by very well today by daily washing, and showering less regularly. Arguably it is better for your skin and certainly it is better for the enviroment.

I can imagine that if like me you tend to be a shower lover, that does not seem particularly attractive, but being aware of how modern habits and expectations for water usage have changed over the years is illuminating.

Our lives have become so busy we feel we have to have gadgets to help us cope. Washing up machines for the washing up, washing machines for the clothes etc etc. These all use an enourmous amount of water, and the chemicals that we daily mix into it surely do not help.

Our expectations of cleanliness and hygene have changed. clothes are washed unecessarily . people staying in hotels often expect their towels to be renewed daily. We wash cars unnecessarily, spray our lawns and water gardens , unnecessarily.

In the united kingdom and many other countries, unnecessary water extraction is itself placing huge strains on the natural fresh water reserves. Even in rainy periods the water levels stay low, as they are not sufficiently replenished.

This problem wil only become more acute as we concentrate populations and ever expanding numbers of gadgets together.

Contrast this wastage with the water realities for much of the developing world, where clean safe water "on tap'' is but a dream. When you have to walk miles for a jerry can of water, I am sure that your notions about this vital resource are totally different.

Try thinking about your own usage. About the chemical coctails you use around your house and flush out into the world. About the resulting wastage and expense for you and the enviroment.

All the indicators point to this whole process escalating in the coming years, as more of the worlds population changes its perception on this valuable resource.

Be aware of his trend and try to make your own adjustments. There is a wealth of information on reducing water usage available.

Try harvesting the water that falls on your own house and using that in your garden, or for washing your car. Pay attention to the chemicals you use daily around your house.

If you want to be more directly proactive to help the freshwater world, consider making a concession to it by making a garden pond. It can be a simple one , it can be a small one, but it WILL make a tremendous difference to your local wildlife.

Pond making is simple. It is fun and a pond will give you and your family endless hours of pleasure. Just make sure that young children and pets where necessary are protected. Ensure that anything that falls in, can come out again A shallow area, or a well placed stick ofr stones can help.

I would suggest planting suitable water plants that fit with your area, preferably native species, and I would not add fish.  Then just wait and watch as the miracle of life creation unfolds in your own backyard.

Such a water feature should boost your local biodiversity. With luck it will populate itself with amphibians of all sorts (frogs, toads, salamanders/newts and an assortment of exotic looking insects).

These creatures are dependant on a suitable water source to complete their life cycles. These valuable water resources are being lost at an alarming rate through developement, so adding a water habitat in your area will help enormously.

Amphibian populations are declining alarmingly around the world. They are a canary in the mine, as their susceptibility to the effects of global warming, sickness (which tends to spread globally now with our help) and habitat loss is an early warning signal.

Their delicate skins also are vulnerable to the chemicals and pollutants with which we bombard our world.

Their very fragility is something to be valued by us.  For this gives us a clear idea of the damage being done by us in the name of progress. If we heed the warning now, maybe, we can make that better world.

A primary source of food tends to be insects, so having these animals in your garden is very beneficial to gardeners.

I would suggest not stocking your pond with fish which tend to eat the eggs and young of amphibians. Ponds should require minimal maintenance, while your waiting for them to self populate.

Amphibians and insects alike badly need a helping hand as they struggle to adjust to the massive changes we are unleashing on the world. Building a pond is one of the greatest contributions to your local wildlife that you can directly make.

Simply put, the more ponds in your neighbouhood the better. Linking populations that are struggling. Creating pathways and corridors along which our natural world can thrive. Helping to reverse the process of obstruction and isolation.

The more we can help, by providing a pond enviroment, and inspiring others to do so, the more powerfull the effect will be. You make a contribution. You become a creator of good things

When you make a difference in this way, you benefit all the other species in your area which also need the element of life.

Water, Life, Hope. Mix them together.

I believe yor garden and your life will be enriched. This act of creation by you will lead to more creation. How good is that!

The Element of life

Scientists get very exited when they discover water on other planets, with good reason. its prescence is a good indicator that an essential element for life as we know it exists.

It is then a bit ironic that we treat our own water worlds so badly.

By water worlds I mean our seas, and our freshwater enviroments, seperate but linked, and both vital to life on our planet, our home, earth.

Throughout our  history water has been symbollic. The Bible is littered with references to it. For where there is water there is usually life. The act of baptising someone, in water is highly symbollic.

Water is important. If theres not enough we pray for it. If theres too much...well, we dont like that either.

Over the years our relationship with water has changed. A vital source of life, it could also take life. It was something to be valued, respected, feared.

Now we pretty much take it for granted. Many of us now are privileged to have water on demand, 

Our recent history, has been marked with our increasing efforts to conquer, control, and use our water worlds. Examples of this include our reclaiming land from the sea, flood controls, barriers such as dams, extracting water for our consumption.

We exploit our waters by fishing, which brings its own problems. We treat our waters as dumping grounds for our sewage, and the waste generated by our modern society, including radioactive waste and dangerous munitions.

The dumping is often intentional, but it can also be accidental, as we bombard the world with chemicals which often end up in our water systems.

The climate changes we are unleashing bring with them their own challenges and changes, which are changing the acidity levels of our seas, which are also increasingly full of dangerous plastics and trace elements of chemicals that have no place there.

Food chains are being distorted disrupted obstructed destroyed. Hardly noticed by us, significant declines inmany species populations are happening everywhere.

The living planet report (www.panda.org) highlights a massive 81% reduction in invertebrate life in our freshwater world since 1970. Effectively within my lifetime.

That is some acheivement. If we had set out with the intention to do that, I am not sure we could have done it better.

Where theres water their is life. But when you see statistics such as this you have to conclude that life on our lovely lanet earth is struggling for survival.

Pure water. Symbollic, important.

Many people in the world still have great hardship to obtain it, yet our modern society is bringing with it dramatically escalating personal usage. All those usefull gadgets that we stuff into our homes use an awfull lot of it.

We have become spoiled . We expect a stream of water, when we want it. Our habits change. We cease to value it. We waste it . We defile it.

Water.If you try to do without it for any meaningfull length of timeyou will soon learn to appreciate it

This is a huge subject and I have only rippled the surface of it here. It is a huge problem , which deserves a huge response.

When our element of life is struggling so hard to sustain its life, a storm is coming.

Do we really have to be the defilers, the destroyers?. Can we not be the creators with the wisdom to enhance and contribute to a stronger natural world.

Its time to evolve. Time to transcend the negativity we have brought into the world.

Interconnectivity

"With global interconnectivity growing by leaps and bounds, the spread of information and ideas means our moral compasses will expand beyond national borders. It is only a matter of time before all of us look beyond the horizon and become citizens of both our own country and of our planet. The world will be a better place when we unite to strengthen our global village."

(Kishore Mahbubani. Dean of the national university of singapore's lee kuan yew school of public policy)

In an excellent  article published on the intenational monetary funds website in september 2012 under the title "the global community has arrived, Mr Mahbubani highlights various milestones our modern society has passed in the process of globalisation.

As our travel, communication and information technology networks have expanded and helped create a global economy, a global village, the problems associated with this expansion have become correspondingly huge (global).

You can , I believe, see a clear correlation between the rise of ' the global village' and the decline of our natural world. In my opinion , ultimately the benefits to us from this process, risk being obliterated by the problems we are busy creating in this uncontrolled experiment we have embarked on.

As our modern interconnectivity continues to grow by leaps and bounds, the same process, untill now, has been accompanied by our dismantling, degrading, destabilizing and disrupting the natural interconnectivity that has slowly been evoving since the birth of our planet.

I touched on this in my last piece on hedgehogs. We make it increasingly difficult for them because we put up obstacles (such as garden fences) that restrict their movements and channel them towards dangers we have created (such as roadways).

On a bigger scale we disrupt migration routes, for example by building roads in Africa , or oil pipelines across the migration routes of caribou, or dams that block the progres of migrating fish.

Our disruption , our interference is everywhere, from the minute, and unseen to the large scale and unmissable.

As a result we break up populations of wild species, we attack and degrade their abilities to interconnect, to breed, to sustain their populations. We isolate them in small pockets or bubbles of life, which allow for little free movement, and gradually wither away.

Our actions always have consequences, whether we are aware of them or not. One consequence of our global village is that in building it, we have violated our natural world to the extent that it is loosing its ability to regulate itself.

We have become the obstructors, the destroyers of life. Our level of disruption is expanding exponentially. There is no ryme or reason to it. The whole process has no regulation, no guidance system or sense of direction.

We blindly follow a creed called capitalism. Uncontrolled from a young age it lacks manners ethics or grace. We have fed and raised a monster. When it runs out of things to consume it will eat itself.

It is time to wake up, because this emporer has no clothes. He has been standing naked for a long time, but we refuse to acknowledge it.

In his article, Mr Mahbubani quotes the Oxford philosopher David Rodin who in 2012 argued that as we will be ''pushed'' towards a global ethic by the need to address urgent issues that are increasingly global in nature (Rodin.D,2012, ''Toward a global Ethic"")

The creation of our global village has been central in the creation of these urgent issues. They are self inflicted wounds often done under the guise of 'necessity'... often unnecessarily.

I believe that we have reached that inflection point. As more of us realise that our true quality of life is being adversely affected by the persuit of our ''lifesyles'', we will be pushed further towards the global ethic referred to by Mr Rodin.

We face a choice ultimately between truth and substance... and illusion, triviality and transcience. We had better choose wisely.

We embrace the more postive sides of our human nature, or ultimately we loose the battle for our own survival of a species. It is time to reconsider our values and goals.. It is time for vision and wisdom, for our survival is inevitably linked to the survival of all the other species on our planet. 

Maybe the time will come when a decadent, wastefull, frivolous lifestyle will be regarded as socially unnacceptable. Like wearing fur. A time when our society will celebrate meaningfull contribution more than its current facination with trivial things such celebrity lifestyles.  .

Untill then, if necessary, why not consider embracing a new ethic/moral position yourself .Why not  ''evolve'' to a place of contribution, creative cooperation and caring. You can choose to be an example.

Help wherever possible to boost the natural interconnectivity around your home area. Help to combat the trend towards isolating the natural world. Create new pathways for it..Create a friendly place for it. Bring some joy to it. It will reward you.

You can also play a vital role in making a healthy envioment and biosphere a guiding ethical principle for the 'Global village'.  Use the benefits of our new, ever expanding interconnectivity to make a better world.

Use the new power you have to communicate to spread a message of hope. We are now citizens of our own country and our planet.

The latest edition of the living planet report from the world wildlife fund (www.panda.org) published on the 27th of october highlights the damage our 'global village' is creating. I intend to follow up on that in my next piece.

Are you willing to help make a difference?

One planet. One home. Lets make it a good one to live in.

 

 

 

Giving Hope To Hedgehogs

A few weeks ago we had the privilage to watch two young hedgehogs making there way through our back garden as the daylight began to fade away. It was a heartwarming sight.

We regularly see hedgehogs, not least because Big Boy Bertus has a habit of softly picking them up and leavng them by our back door, at which point I pick them up and take them to a safe spot to re-release them.

The two we saw were relatively small and need to put on bodyweight to survive the coming winter (under 650g is a risk to survival).

Hedgehogs can have two nests per year of up to six 'hoglets", and unfortunately the odds are stacked against Hoglets from the later nests, as they have less time to build up the required bodyweght for surviving the winter.

There are steps you can take to help hedgehogs generally and at the end of tis article I will list a number of valuable web based resources which I have come across for anyone interested and concerned enough to help these facinating animals.

These iconic animals badly need our help. A familiar species to europeans, they are in serious decline in many areas. In fact they are a classic example of how the slow evolutionary processes of nature simply cannot cope with the rapid pace of change being unleashed on the world by us humans..

Their habitat (they love hedges and gardens) is being lost at an alarming rate. In England the process of stripping hedges away from agricultural areas has had a big impact as has the widespread use of pesticides and other chemicals.

Domestic gardens have become an important refuge for these animals but here too a government inspired change of planning emphasis has resulted in intensive loss of this habitat through developement.

Changes in gardening trends and fashions have rendered many modern gardens widlife unfriendly, poor in habitat, poor in food and water resources, and often sealed off from much of the natural world.

By this I mean, that modern fencing often leaves no means of access to back gardens, and hedgehogs and other wild creatures need access points (small gaps of at least 12 cm at ground level are needed).

As hedgehogs can roam up to 2 km per night this lack of access to gardens often has the effect of forcing them onto roads where they are particularly vulnerable.. Dead hedgehogs used to be a familiar sight on roads in england, but no more. Simply there are now a lot less of them to be killed.

Hegehogs have evolved over millions of years. Nocturnal animals they developed a number of mechanisms to help them survive including the skill to hibernate in a state of suspended animation over the barren winter months.

They developed spikes and their survival strategy of curling up into a tight ball of spikes served them very well over the years. They did not need to run away. They had evolved perfectly, to fullfill their niche in the scheme of things, the balance that existed.

Then came the motor car. A phenomena which we take for granted but which in less than 100 years has changed everything. We modernised our lives , our society our enviroment.

Processes which have been slowly evolving since the birth of our planet where suddenly confronted by a massive tide of change which has been unleashed by us. This tide just keeps rising.

Millions of years of evolution has proved unable to cope with our rapid innovation. Behaviour which was always an advantage has suddenly become a disadvantage.

I was moved to write this piece because over the course of the last week I have seen a huge 'spike' (sorry, I could not resist it!) in the number of dead hedgehogs on the roads. Why was this?

From what I have read it seems that around now (Autumn time) is a peak for road casualties, as young hedgehogs begin to disperse to find their own territories, search for new food resources and ultimately a safe place to overwinter.

Due to our efficiency at sealing off our gardens from the outside world, with fencing that makes no allowance for the movement of wildlife, many are forced onto roadways where their natural defence mechanisms prove disastrous.

Add to this coctail the shorter daylght hours which result in the busy commuting periods on the roads being made in the dark (when these nocturnal animals are active), and you have carnage on our roads.

What can you do to help?

Luckily there is a wealth of resources available to any one who wishes to help.

www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk (the website for the British Hedgehog preservation society) contains information on what to do if you you find and are concerned about a hedgehog, with a telephone number for further advice.

www.hedgehogstreet.org is seeking support for its campaign, and is also a valuable source of information.

www.prickleshedgehogrescue.org.uk is another valuable resource for anyone interested in helping.

http://www.sttiggywinkels.org is another.

http://www.nurturing-nature.co.uk also has usefull tips and ideas.

Consider trying to help these animals by making allowance for them in your garden.

Remember that haste kills, so take care on the roads, especially when driving at dawn, dusk and at night time.

Hedge hog numbers are in sharp (sorry!) decline. An estimated 30% in the last 10 years. Since the year 2000 a decline of 50 % is being reported.

Where will we be in 10 years without action?

The sad fact is that wherever you are in the world you will find species like the hedgehog that are struggling to survive.... this is not a problem confined to other more exotic locations.

Wherever you find yourself, there will be a way for you to personally contribute to help these endangered species, IF ... you care enough to help.

Look around you , and please let me know of any examples like this in your own area. This is after all a world wide problem.

With thanks to the many organisations and individuals doing valuable work in this area. It is not possible to list them all here.

Together we are strong

"We are all connected....and collectively we have the potential to create solutions that will safeguard the future of this ...our one and only planet."

This quote taken from the current living planet report (www.panda. org) is another key, another piece of the jigzaw puzzle that is still as yet unsolved.

We live in a world of inter-connectivity, and our modern society and the processes of industrialisation, and globilisation that it has created, are constantly adding new layers of connectivity, within our own society. This has an impact on us and also the natural world.

Interconnectivity is everywhere, between us, between us and the natural world, and within the natural world itself.

Within the natural world, these interconnections have evolved slowly, over long periods of time. These interconnections are everywhere, and yet our knowledge of this rich world of interconnectivity is surprisingly primitive and basic. Vitally, we miss, or take for granted the essential balance that has naturally evolved.

These interconnections are sometimes obvious, sometimes microscopic and not visible. In a world of natural wonders, much of the wonder is in the details, that we do not see.

This natural balance, equilibrium, has withstood the test of time. It has provided all the essentials for us to thrive as a species alongside our natural world.

Within our modern world, our modern society, these interconnections are forming rapidlyas the process of modernising our society speeds up. In recent decades there has been an explosion of change, a process that seems to be increasing exponentially.

Our unleashing of the processes of industrialisation and globalisation, has in effect made our home, one giant test lab. The experiments we are now embarking upon have consequences. We tend not to see them untill the harm is done.

In a world of interconnectivity, one bit of harm, affecting one small element of the equilibrium, can ripple onwards, and chains of harm follow. As the dominos begin to fall, the harm becomes more apparent.

We can visualise this easily within our modern society. Imagine the internet ceased to function properly or at all through a small but vital misfunction. Imagine the chaos that would follow if we were not pepared for it.

Our natural world is not prepared for the tsunami of change we are unleashing on it. There is no way it could be.

Its natural processes are far too slow to adjust to the rapid process of change we are forcing upon it. This has become a dangerous era for our home, and in a world of interconnectivity for us.

The only solution I can see is for us to collectively to work on finding solutions, equilibrium and harmony. Now is the time for that.

That process can only begin when enough motivated individuals say ... enough. Its time for change.

Individuals can inspire others. Collective actions can follow from a place of co-operation, a place of creativity, a place of caring. It is time for us to access the most noble parts of our nature.

Imagine the benefits to humankind, to the world, that could follow from the wise application of our collective powers.

Collectively we have shown the talent, to create cities, build beautifull buildings, complete astonishing engineering projects, We have placed men on the moon.

We have also misused that talent to create ugly, dangerous, destructive things. Things that harm.

Its time now for inspiration, compassion and ...creativity.

Finding solutions to the problems we are busy creating, by cooperative, creative, caring action could be a catalyst for a better, more balanced, fairer, and healthier world.

Where you can, seek to be a part of inspiring the collective action that is necessary. Your role as an individual is vital to that process.

See the living planet report(http://www.panda.org)

You, the solution.

"It is in ourselves who caused the problem, that we can find the solution".

This sentence taken from the WWF living planet report (wwf.panda.org)  is a key to a lock to a toolkit of solutions.

If we pause and look back over the journey so far, it is clear that you, me, we are the problem.

I dont want to be part of the problem. Do you?

The problem is a big problem , because a lot of us dont see it, we are isolated from it.. it is somewhere else out there.

Ignorance of a problem is very damaging to the prospects of finding the urgently needed solutions, which lie out there patiently waiting.

It is not easy to confront and challenge a problem, when that problem is the way of life that we have been born into. When the problem is a human society that seems intent on pulling away from, disconnecting with, and ultimately destroying its home enviroment.

This process is a new phenomena which this world has never before experienced.  Where a single species is now starting to run out of control, by eroding the life supporting systems that have evolved over millenia.

I believe our society (us collectively) has become a bit lost. We badly  need a good working compass and a daily dose of good old fashioned wisdom to see us through the next phase of our journey.

Be aware that as an individual citizen within our society, you are to some extent supporting it, the good and the bad, and the ugly. As an individual you can also choose to begin to ask more questions of what exactly it is that you are supporting.

Individually we can also strive to act, to bring more harmony into our lives and into our interreactions with the world. We can set an example, blaze a path, exlore the terrain for solutions.

For it is precicely because we are collectively acting out of harmony with our home that we have created enviromental problems. Seek to contribute to more harmony. Aim to become a well-being.

Do your own bit to make the world a better place. Contribute to the process of finding the solutions by being part of the solution. Where you can, try to inspire others to do the same.

The solutions are waiting if we choose to embrace them.

Remember...

"It is in OURSELVES, who caused the problem, that we can find the solution".

Not bothered? You should be.

TheWWF Living Planet report 2014, ( www.panda.org )makes for uncomfortable reading for it seems the sun is setting on our natural world as mankinds exploitation of our planet continues to escalate.

It contains some truly disturbing statistics and a quick search of the internet will reveal a number of excellent newspaper articles summarising the reports findings. For example The Telegraph, has an  articles by Sarah Knapham 30th sept 2014.

In essence the report highlights that since 1970 half of the worlds wild animals have dissapeared.

In fact a 52% overall decline is reported and this has occurred in the last 40 years.

I would ask you to consider that statistic quietly when you have time. Ask yourself where are we likely to be in another 40 years?

I can help in that. Just think about a rapidly growing world population which seems intent on emulating our western example of a model lifestyle. Think about the ever increasing demands which will shortly be made on a world of natural resources already stretched to the limit.

Think about the resulting stresses which will be impacting on an already depleted natural world, or about the species that are currently needlessly being hunted to the point of extinction. Think about the enormous loss of habitat, that has already taken place,.

Consider the enormous wastefullness, the wanton,  often unecessary consumption binge that many of us have been indulging in. Consider the society that accepts this and encourages it.

The trends are pointing in one direction. I am part of the baby boomer generation that is leading us over a precipice. Any child born today will inherit a severely diminished world, because my generation failed to appreciate its responsibilities. It failed to lead.

Somehow we got caught up in an illusion of a brave new world a modern utopia which is creating one dangerous problem after another.

If things continue as they are then if I am Lucky enough to get to 80 years old, I will personally be witness to a world which has changed beyond recognition, in my life span. A depleted world. A more unfriendly world. A diminished world which shines less brightly.

Do you  wish to be part of that legacy? Is there some hope? some Joy to be found in this situation?

I refer back to the living planet report..

"Things look so worrying that it may seem difficult to feel positive about the future. Difficult certainly, but not impossible, because it is in ourselves who have caused the problem, that we can find the solution. Now we must work to Ensure that the upcoming generation can seize the opportunity that we have so far failed to grasp, to close this destructive chapter in our history and build a future where people can live and prosper in harmony with nature.''

It continues further.....

" We are all connected... and collectively we have the potential to create the solutions that will safeguard the future of this, our one and only planet".

To any one who ever may read this post I would say you should be bothered because it is your quality of life, your home that we are talking about. It affects you, your family, those you love. The younger you are, the more you have to loose.

The next living planet report is apparently due out on the 27th of october 2016.  Look out for it, for when it comes it will no doubt give more food for thought. 

Only you can take responsibility for working on your own world.. Maybe you already take that responsibility seriously. If not why not?